Kids these days...

While I was working the other day, two of my nephews, Josh (Monique's oldest) and Justin (Marlo's oldest) were there working on a project for Michele, my mother in law. Michele is the head cook for the youth trek this weekend, and has had to do a lot of preparation to feed 300+ people out in the woods with very little resource. It's been weeks of pre-cooking meats, and treats, etc. Anyway, one of the object lessons/snacks is that each person is going to be given a sandwich bag with 1/2 cup of flour in it, and a stick of beef jerky. This is to help them to realize that the pioneers were given the 1/2 cup of flour as a daily ration for food, and how little food they had to live off of. Anyway, Josh and Justin were enlisted to help bag the flour. I had the pleasure of listening to them for a couple hours and even snapped a few pictures of them being silly. Just after having listened to them talk about school, the upcoming trek, girls and then of course, a bunch of nonesense jokes and talk that didn't make any sense to me (or probably anyone over the age of 14), I just realized what good kids they are! These boys do a ton to help in their families, they hang out with each other and other good kids and go to church activities. They are excitied about scouts and the youth trek. I'm just really proud of them, and it made me think too about my younger brother and sister who are teenagers, as well as all the Young Women I've worked with over the last few years, and I realized how grateful I am for the church being there. Because of the Gospel in their lives, and the organization of this church, our youth have places to go where they can be safe from the evils that are lurking in the middle schools and high schools (and i'm sure even elementary schools). Because of this Gospel, they know who they are, they know right from wrong, and they make good choices. I pray for these kids and the things they will encounter in the next few years, but I know they are being taught the right things. Amidst all the goofiness of the adolescent boy talk...these priesthood holders really made me proud to be their aunt that day. Covered in flour, with plastic bags on their head and all!