Youth Conference

I ran away from my unpaid internship for three days and volunteered as a counselor for a mock EFY for kids here in New York who would never be able to afford an actual program.

We had training Sunday night--two hours of "love the kids," "lay down the law," and "love the kids." That was it.

Tuesday we showed up early at a university campus in Queens. The kids were already crowding restlessly around one small door--the only thing that separated them from the air conditioning and World Cup game just inside the front room.

Five hours later and we almost had everyone checked in. There were so many youth that showed up without registering, many of the leaders were afraid they'd run out of beds. But they had an open arms policy, and wouldn't turn anyone away.

I had already forgotten all of my so called "training" as the "youth," the tall scary youth, surrounded me. What was I supposed to say when they're shorts were too short? How was I supposed to address vulgar language? Am I really supposed to just take their cell phones and ipods if they brought them?

It was like pulling teeth to get my kids to move anywhere. However, when evening hit they somehow gained a whole bunch of energy, and they went everywhere. About half the building tried to sneak out the first night!

One of the kids in my group didn't speak any English, as he had just moved here from the Dominican Republic four months ago!

I couldn't believe how little the kids knew about the church. "What's a convert?" "What are those brothers' names? Oh, Cain and who?"

They even clapped after every testimony (a reverent and spiritual declaration of one's belief's).

The kid behind me at one of the meetings laughed and said, "Only in New York." And then joined the crowd with whoops and hollers of his own.

The theme was "Be Strong and of a Good Courage."

If I walked pass some of these kids on the street, I'm sure they would have scared the wits out of me. I thought I was the one that needed strength and courage, not them.

Out of the nearly 400 people there, I was one of 5 blonde people.

But let me tell you, I wish our U.S. culture consisted of dancing like that!

The got Brad Wilcox to come!

(A BYU professor and high profile motivational speaker for youth.)

And Sister Dalton!

(The General Young Women President of the LDS church.)

One of the youth stood up at the end to share her thoughts on the conference experience. She said that youth conference meant a lot to her (something that us tired counselors had struggled to see over the past three days). She said she had just graduated from high school and was feeling lost in her life. Her father had said some pretty unkind things about her at her graduation, and the spout resulted in a fight where her father said he never wanted to see her again. During her senior year her mother had been in and out of the hospital, and she bore that responsibility. To the hospital at 11pm, back at 6am, high school, homework, and a cleaning business just to keep her family together. This girl was 17 years old and keeping her family together. And then the father has the nerve to rag on her and tell her to get out of his house.

Sure, these kids were rough on the edges, and some of them were down right delinquents, but I can't imagine, I can't even imagine what they go through on a daily basis.

I wish I could say they all left feeling loved.

I only hope they all left feeling something.

I have so many more stories and memories from this incredible experience.

It wasn't anything like what I expected (or what EFY in Provo, Utah would ever amount to), but it was a wonderful experience.

And while I still believe the doctrine of the church is the same all around the world, I have come to believe the culture of the church is very different.

Here's what the missionaries from Queens, New York have to say about that: