“I Can Do All Things Through Christ” (Philippians 4:13) was the theme of this year’s Youth Camp for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It took place from June 27-29 at Camp Bear Creek near Connersville.
Over 200 young men and women ages 12-18 enjoyed ongoing improvements at the former Boy Scout camp, purchased by the church in 2020 — including a new shower facility, wooden tent platforms, and sanded beaches and volleyball courts.
As the 300+ acre wooded recreational camp has gained in functionality and beauty each year, so do those who spend time
there gain confidence and spiritual growth.
Seventy-four young women, 19 youth camp leaders ages 16 to 18, and 28 leaders came together to set up campsites, take classes to learn new skills, and blaze a new trail as a service project. In addition, the girls participated in archery, hatchet-throwing, rifle shooting and gun safety, swimming, river rafting and outdoor games.
A highlight of this year’s camp was a “faith walk” in the stream where the girls stopped at stations along the way to hear true inspirational stories about women in the church today. Grace Lykins, a second-year Youth Camp Leader (YCL) from North Vernon, staffed one of those stations.
On the other side of the camp, 130 boys and leaders were swimming, tubing, hiking, boating at the lake and trying their hand at archery, rifle shooting and tomahawk throwing as part of their Aaronic Priesthood Young Men Encampment. For a service project, the young men cleaned trails and worked on building a new obstacle course.
The Young Men leaders tried to teach the boys to be kind and to help each other at camp. “A lot of the young men got emotional during the talk. It touched my heart.”
When asked what they felt about camp as they were getting ready to leave, the boys shouted out, “It was totally awesome, especially the tubing and the bike trails, and the food was fantastic!”
As for the young women, they felt camp was “inspirational, amazing, interesting, indescribable, trying, and spiritually exhausting!”
Janet Peters is a public affairs representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
