EFY 2008

I had so much fun at EFY. It was definately the best experience of my life so far. I went a month ago today, which was July 28-August 1st. I'm going to do a run down on how my week at EFY was:
July 28th (Monday): Arrive at the university ward building at 12:30. Sign in and get t-shirt, efy handbook, wristband, lanyard, and more. Then after that, we got into our groups and met our counselors and counselor group, which was five girls and my counselor Andrea. We went to our counselor group spot, which was in one of the foyers. We talked for a while, then went to our company spot which was outside, to meet our company. Our company was a combonation of boy and girl counselor groups. We played some getting to know you games and then went inside for an orientation. Everywhere we went, the guys had to escort us. They were so sweet! After orientation, we had family home evening, and we did that with our company. Then the fun mandatory stuff, counselor group devotionals, personal scripture study time, and prayer meeting with everyone at EFY.
July 29th (Tuesday): From now on we go to our company spot at 9:00 every morning. We have a participant devotional, company scripture study, and then the boys escort us to morningside, given by our session director, Bro. Chang. We have classes, given by Bro. Crimin, Bro. Hollist, and Bro. Tibbits. There are six classes, two before lunch and two after lunch, and we get to chose which four we would like to go to. Then we have free time for an hour. We get to do whatever we want for an hour with our friends, as long as we stay at the church. Then we have the first dance. It was really fun. I loved it! Then we have some other stuff. Then, the mandatory!
July 30th (Wednesday- Games Night): Today everyone wears their EFY shirt to EFY. We have the mandatory morning stuff, then classes and lunch and classes, and then free time. After that we get together as a company to decide on a design for the company flag, a company cheer, and we practice our company chant. After that, we are escorted to the park to play EFY games with our company! It's really fun. We also compete with other companies in games like the noah's ark game. The noah's ark game is where each girl is paired with a boy, and your assigned an animal to be. (Casey and I were elephants) You have to act out your animal in a race down the hill with the other people (animals) in your company. Then the usual night stuff.
July 31st (Thursday- Spiritual Day): My all-time favorite day at efy. It's sunday dress, and so the guys have to wear white shirts and ties. You have the usual morning stuff, but after that the guys and girls separate for Young Women and Young Men devotionals. Bro. Chang and his wife, Sister Chang spoke at the young women devotional. It was so amazing. We then sang the EFY medley (just the girls part) in practice for that night to sing it with the boys. Then we had free time and lunch, and back together for the Vareity Show! There were some really good and funny acts. That was really fun. Then, the devotional with a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, which the boys had to escort us to (because they escort us to everything). It was so amazing. Then we sang the EFY medley with the boys, and it is now my favorite song! I love love loved that moment. I almost cried. Definately the best day of my life so far :)
August 1st (Friday- Last Day- Saddest Day): Friday was the last day of EFY. It was such a sad day. Once again, the girls had to dress in sunday dress and so did the guys, except for they could wear colored shirts today. We had the usual morning stuff and then the guys escorted us to a special morningside, given by Bro. Chang, about dating. Guys got up during a break and did their best pick-up lines. Some of them were really hilarious! We also had the musical program people perform that day. It was cool. After all that, we got together as a company to be escorted to the banquet. It was really fun. Then we went back to our company spot to exchange contact information with people we wanted to remember- My book was full of people! Then was the last dance. Which was super fun, but also sad because EFY was almost over. After the dance, someone announced that we needed to gather with our company and put our arms around each other, for the last time we would sing the EFY medley. When the music started, this was the time I lost it completely along with my two best friends Jill and Anna. We all were crying, everyone was crying, it was really sad and also the most spiritual time in my life. After we sung, we had our last prayer meeting (still crying) and were SUPPOSED to leave. But knowing the crazy group of people that were at my EFY, we didn't want to leave, so we stayed and hugged every person possible until they kicked us out. So then someone had the brilliant plan of everyone going to Jake's Over the Top to get shakes and hang out. So that's what we did. It was so much fun to just sit and talk with our friends and buddies. We stayed there for a super long time, and then finally said goodbye. It was a really sad day, but I've still kept in contact with everyone I've wanted to keep contact with. I love all you EFY people!
I met so many friends there, including my best friend Jill, and so many other people. I love and miss you all!