Torture!

I have just experienced two of the longest days of my life. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent with our youth on a trip to Manti for our stake Youth Conference. I was so excited that I had the opportunity to go with them. Although aspects of it were great, for the most part it was just absolute torture. I am trying to figure out how to describe how horrible it was and not make a novel out of it.

The GOOD: I was able to get to know the girls and leaders in my ward a lot better. Watching how amazing our girls are compared to the others in the stake. I met new women from other wards. I was able to do initiatories (which I haven't done for years) in the Bountiful Temple. I saw the Manti Temple (which is absolutely amazing, now one of my favorites). Little Caesars pizza (you'll understand soon).

The BAD: Exhaustion. Starvation. Being awake for over 22 hours (we started at 4 a.m. on Tuesday and I didn't get to sleep until around 2:30 a.m. the next morning). The noisy leaders in the room next to mine who talked (very loudly) until after 2:00 (hence the no sleeping). The incredibly disgusting dorms at Snow College we stayed in, I don't think they have been cleaned since they were used for the school year (Megan and Missy, they were even worse than the ones we stayed in for Women's Conference). Exhaustion. Hours in the sun while the youth played water games, they had no sunscreen and no drinking water. Exhaustion. Starvation. The food--oh, yuck. When not one adult will gag it down you know the kids wont. Quick look at our meals: Tues breakfast-muffin and apple (which 2/3 of the kids threw away); lunch-hogie with one slice of meat and some lettuce, small bag of chips, trail mix (which kids don't like) and a small Capri sun; dinner-choice of pork chop (so much fat there were only about 5 bites and it was very hard) or meatloaf (only about 6 or 7 bites, that is if you got past the 1st bite), stuffing (that a leader thought was rice, not a good sign), cooked veggies (I took one bite and actually gagged, I almost lost it all), a salad of just iceberg lettuce, and some gross blue punch (no water to be found yet again). Wed breakfast-french toast or pancakes (so hard you had to saw them with a knife, if you stuck your plastic for in the edges it would break), dried up hash browns, powdered eggs, limp bacon, canned peaches (best part); lunch-hogie on a 2 inch wide bread stick(?), slice of pie, and soda; dinner-Little Caesar's pizza and soda. Exhaustion. Starvation.

The whole point of this trip was to see the Mormon Miracle Pageant (Manti Pageant) and have a spiritual experience there. We were so exhausted, hungry, and dehydrated that we did not enjoy any of the pageant. In fact it was sheer torture. I was on the verge of tears the entire time, not from the spirit, but rather the desire to lay on the ground and fall asleep (which one of the girls actually did. It was not enjoyed by anyone, including the leaders. They just tried to cram way to much in to too little time. The girls were in bed asleep within 20 minutes of getting back to the dorms. The next day started early again. We headed to the Bountiful temple to do baptisms. All day the kids kept asking if we could just go home. It was miserable. There were moments of fun but it could have been such a wonderful spiritual experience if we had been allowed to enjoy it.

Okay, that was a long story, but I am still just so frustrated. I needed to vent and now I have!