After lunch, Traci had another great craft for the kids and since it was threatening rain again, we put a movie on for the kid's in the pavilion while all the adults attended break-out sessions about various topics. Michael and Suzie talked about "Improving Relationships", Darrell gave tips and tricks for "finances and investing", and Darren and Melanie hosted a discussion on "Preparing Youth for Missions."
I heard they were all great, but I attended the mission class. It was amazing! Darren and Melanie gave a really spiritual discussion on how to help prepare our children for the challenges of missions these days. This topic has been on my mind so much lately. We have had several excellent youth come home early from missions this year, and it has troubled my mind greatly. I have felt so much pressure and stress about how to parent my children to prepare them for the spiritual, physical, and emotional challenges of missions. Several of the people who attended that class have sent children out on missions, and they had so many wonderful ideas. Darren and Melanie mentioned so many things that they did as a family that helped their children, and I felt that I gained so much from the hour I spent with them. I left feeling much more at peace with my role as a parent and what I can do now. I am going to include all of my notes in a separate post because I have so much to say about preparing our kids for missions.
When the discussion groups wrapped up, we all headed to the ropes course where we were going to go zip-lining. At that point, the rain had still held off, but it was sure looking ominous. The senior missionaries who ran the ropes course assured us that we could do the activity rain or shine, so we got ready to do the course. Just as the first person got to the top of the pole and started to tightrope across, the heaven's opened and we experienced a monumental downpour. Within in seconds, our clothes were starting to drip, and we could hardly see through the raindrops pounding down on us. People were soaked to the bone, and finally the missionary couple admitted that they would have to shut down the ropes course. I was bummed that our big activity for the day had been cancelled, but not one other person complained or got upset. Everyone was completely drenched, but they were still in good spirits. After looking at everyone and thinking about the situation, I just couldn't help but laugh. At that moment, my cousin Darell and I were standing under an umbrella that someone had just given us. Stef got a picture of us laughing and smiling at the situation. It is one of my favorite pictures of the whole reunion because it goes to show that just being together can be fun when people are willing to make the best of any situation.
Everyone quickly ran to the cars and went back to the cabins to change. As soon as we got back up the mountain, the rain pretty much stopped. The micro-burst had been very isolated to our area, and the rest of our family that had gone to the other ropes course had been able to keep going. They weren't even that wet. It was funny how it all worked out. Luckily, the missionaries were able to reschedule our group for the next morning. They said they rarely have openings to bring groups back, but that morning they had one. Another tender mercy!
That night after dinner, we had an awards presentation and variety show. The fun awards for the reunion were:
Dynamic Duo: Ben and Whitney
Ultimate Rock, Paper, Scissors Champs: Derek and Chandler
Volleyball Champions: Larry Christensen Family
Bravest Camper: McKay (spent some time in the ER after smashing his finger in the door)
Gold Rock Award (we hid painted rocks all over camp and offered prizes for finding them): Catherine
Wettest Camper: Lance (he was on the zip-line when the storm hit)
Survived the Christensens: Jordan (A family friend that joined us)
The Variety Show turned out to be a lot of fun. Our family sang "Fifty Nifty United States" and had the audience stand when their state was mentioned. Natalie did some Mad Libs, one family sang a song, we saw some art work, heard a spectacular piano piece, and watched a super funny music video. After the talent portion was over, we had three of the older cousins come up and talk about "What it Means to be a Christensen." It was powerful. There were several funny things that were mentioned, but in the end, they all talked about love of family, love of the Gospel, and love of the temple in some way or another. I thought it was neat that those three things kept being said by different individuals. Bryan ended the night by bearing a powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the eternal blessings of forever families. I left feeling proud to be a Christensen.
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