Ward Youth Conference

Jonas and Jaren attended a youth conference for our ward in June. I sent a camera with them, but they were having so much fun they forgot to take any pictures. Jonas was asked to give a talk in sacrament the following Sunday and so I have attached that.

My name is Jonas Pitt and I have been asked to talk about the youth conference that I attended this past week and some of the principles that I learned there. It is the best conference that I have ever attended, but I did just turn 14, and it is the only one that I have attended.
Some of the principles that I learned are faith and obedience. When we went to Minnetonka Cave we walked down stone steps and along paths, seeing lots of rock formations with funny names like Popcorn, Bacon, and Steak. At the end of the trail there was a cavern and here, when it was time to go back, they turned out the lights. It was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of you. We were told to hold onto the iron rod, which is the word of God and it will guide us home to our Heavenly Father. This was a great activity to help me visualize the need for faith and that I need to obey the prophet and his words to help me in this “dark” world.
Another good activity to help us understand gospel principles was a short hike at night where we were told to follow the light. As a team we walked from one light to another and at each one we were given “oil” for our lamps, just pretend actually. At the last stop we were given a quote from Pres. Spencer W. Kimball and I would like to share it with you. Pres. Spencer W. Kimball, a prophet of god, has wisely told us, “the kind of oil that is needed to illuminate the way, and light the darkness, is not shareable…Each must obtain that kind of oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in righteous living. Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, Family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the – each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Deeds of kindness, payments of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage are a covenant of eternity – these, too, contribute importantly to the oil with which we can at midnight refuel our exhausted lamps. Midnight is too late for those who have procrastination”. Once our lamps were filled and we were prepared, it was time to light our lamps. It was a fun activity, but it also showed me how I need to keep my lamp filled to help me in my life.
There were so many great and fun activities that it would be hard to tell you all about them. I did also learn that you need to pay attention to instructions and follow them to get to your destination. Having teams helped us all to learn to work together and help each other. This was an awesome experience and really helped me to get to know other youth in the ward.
I would like to thank all the youth leaders, the wonderful cooks, and especially Brother and Sister Smith for all the time and effort that they put into this youth conference. It has helped me in reaching my final destination, that of living my life in order to return to my Heavenly Father. They were great, it was great and I learned that I want to be GREAT too!