My first year at Girl’s Camp; my foot got infected from a cut. The nurse wouldn’t let me call my parents and had me keep coming to her trailer for epson salt baths. When my dad picked us up at the end of the week, my leg was black, too swollen to wear jeans, and we went to the hospital. I had a staph infection, bone infection, and almost had my leg amputated. Church paid for the bills ovi.
I did have a tetanus shot and they definitely gave me a booster after treatment. I think it got infected due to the open cut + the lake water, tbh. But it was definitely very painful and I remember crying about it and feeling too tired to leave my tent or walk to the nurse the last few days . Still wouldn’t let me call my parents. Am still traumatized
@elitechelle I'm sorry that you had to go to that. Nobody should have to go to that. It honestly sounds almost as evil as those troubled teen camps. Granted, those team camps are far more horrific from what I understand, and that doesn't make what they did to you acceptable at all. Especially since you were there for fun, and whatever else. Not bc you are some "troubled youth."
So sorry you went through that. It's a relief your leg was saved but still, letting it get to that condition because of a cut is neglect from the camp, especially the nurse. You would have needed a tetanus shot. A coworker of my mother was not so lucky, he lost his leg because of a seemingly innocent bite after playing with his dog. My mom always tells this story to convince me to get my tetanus shot. It hurts for a bit but then you're protected for 10 years (still visit your doctor in case of doubt though).
Clearly you were one of the most righteous girls at stake girls camp, since you were one of the only ones not to get sick. You could have really rubbed it in at the closing testimony meeting. "I know God loves me so much and I'm so glad he blessed me to not be sick"
Grew up non mormon in utah...no offense but learning the details about girls camp and pioneer trek the last fews years has kinda healed my inner child...I was so upset as a kid because I assumed it was like girl scout camp vibes and all my friends were leaving me outof the fun, I had no idea it was...religious... at the time. Let's just say I'm grateful I spent my summers playing video games and going to the public pool instead of singing songs about marrying missionaries or hiking in pioneer outfits.
I'm a nevermo raised in Utah and my whole middle school social experience revolved around not being fully let into cliques because I could never know all the secret experiences of girl's camp and young women's so I'm delighted to learn that it sucked!
@@Diamondelight92 interesting me too but I was very mild Catholic (I had only been to church three times in my life and I barely ever read the bible, I would pray though quite often lol)
@@caitlingill Yeah I was never very religious. It isn't very relevant to this topic though because this comment was about growing up outside of the dominant religion in my area. No level of adherence or lack thereof to another religion would have prevented me from being othered.
Omg my friend would drunkenly sing us her Mormon camp songs at our HS parties so I know some of these and they will randomly pop into my head ALL THE TIME. Especially “i am a Mormon girl I wear my hair in curls”. Then in the morning she would put on her special church clothes and I’d drop her off. Her parents LOVED me and thought I was a great influence lol
I remember going to a camp as part of my confirmation (is that even a thing in the US? Idk) and I wasn't even religious (I did it to make my grandparents happy) but even I started singing church songs because everyone else did it and there was little else to do. Makes you think about how cults work.
@@Nike-gs8igyes confirmation is a thing in the US. I actually got confirmed recently (I’m 15) in my Methodist church. I’m not religious either, but my mom is so I had to go🤷♀️
@@Ocean-blvd. it really doesn’t. My grandparents were excommunicated for refusing to give the church thousands of dollars to build a temple. Granted, I’ve heard this is very rare but did happen in the 1960’s to an interracial couple so…yeah doesn’t take much.
Tyler I'm literally so obsessed with this, like, youre hilarious in general, but this video is like listening to your unhinged friend's cousin rant about her childhood out of nowhere. I'm over here responding as you talk like "not even" and "giiiiirl" and just gasping and nodding. I'm entralled. 10/10 content.
I just ate this video UP. Oh my goodness. The short videos are amazing, but her long form stuff-especially stories like these-are so impressive and so fun!
As a gay guy growing up in the LDS church I was always so jealous of Girls camp. Because I was only friends with the girls and not the overly self righteous teenage boys.
I only went to girls camp once when I was 15. We did the whole shabang including crafting, drawing our perfect husband, camp fire songs (including an awkward ‘rap’ about wrapping paper) and a hardcore hike. It was all fun and nice in a strange way. As we were camping, we were told to keep our snacks in a separate box outside the camp as to not attract the mountain lions. Well, on our last night, right after going to bed, we hear this loud roar. The girl in my tent immediately recognized it as a mountain lion and started panicking over a pack of Cheetos that she had in our tent. The roaring became louder and louder until it was literally right next to our tent. She was crying and frantically praying, I tried to calm her but we both just kind of expected to die any minute. Suddenly the noise was gone. The next morning we learned that it’s a prank they do every year to the oldest girls as some fucked up right of passage thing
As someone who didn't grow up mormon but did grow up methodist, this is fascinating to me. Honestly all the good parts of it you mention are just features of any regular secular/non-mormon camp lol.
A close friend of mine growing up was Mormon and she had a shirt from girls camp that said: girls camp 2007 “it’s in tents”, and that’s all I needed to know
My (non-member) dad had custody of me during the summers so I only got to go to camp my last year of high school. We decorated our tent with a poster of a shirtless guy and managed to convince our leaders that it was of a missionary we got from Deseret Book. I can't decide if they were just naive or just didn't want to deal with our nonsense.
I was raised Catholic and I went to similar summer retreats like this. When I was 16 my youth group went to this huge summer camp that was a Catholic teen retreat and it is so similar to what you’re describing except it was co-ed. The drama, the hysteria, the emotional manipulation, and the constant journaling/prayer sessions are seared into my memory lol. Some of it was super fun, but most of it was a fever dream looking back 😂
Former Mormon here. I did these camps as well. Ours were always stake so there were maybe like 50-75 of us (small stake). Ours was way more...self-reliant than yours, it seems. They made us learn to cook on a fire in various ways, learn to use a compass, learn to navigate using the positioning of the sun, our hike was 5 miles and because we were in Louisiana, you can imagine that this was rather dangerous (hence why we had men there), etc. We didn't really do crafts unless we had a "fun day" but it was usually optional between that, swimming, or study time. We didn't really have prayer time at mine. We usually just prayed before meals and before that long hike. One of my core memories from this was this little old lady that was guiding our hike that had a machete. She was literally hacking up snakes that got in the path. Keep in mind, because of our location, most snakes were venomous and aggressive, so it's not like she was just doing this for nothing. As someone who didn't know what being trans was at this point (I just knew I wasn't female), that whole experience was very awkward for me. They served terrible food, so my mom and her best friend (who were our Young Women teachers or whatever you call them) would go to get us food every night when it was time for us to go to our cabins. Yes, our stake required two of the Young Women teachers to be there for whatever reason and they had their own bunks in our cabins. I know the cabin next to ours was fairly strict but ours didn't much care if we listened to music in headphones , etc. I think the worst thing was the Liahona programme. We were dressed as some whack ass version of Native Americans (I'm part Native, so this was some weird shit to me) and stand in the woods at night with nothing but a tiki torch, flip flops, and say our little lines regarding whatever spirit we were. I was individual Worth lmao. Then we had to ceremoniously walk to a beach that was also lit with tiki torches and say another line in unison while people were playing the drums. That shit was racist af. I was glad I never went back after my fourth year since we left the church at that point after the bishop tried to convince my mom to stay with her cheating, abusive husband. 😂
So I'm dyslexic, and when I read your comment at first I thought you were telling us that you were 75 years old and then you mentioned the part with headphones and I was like,"Wait, they had headphones and portable music back then!?" 😂
I got my first period at girls camp as a first year. Thank god my mom was a leader cus all the other leaders were so mean to me for no reason and I remember dipping out on certifications to nap every day. I still had a good time and bonded with a couple of the girls. Before camp the next year I was super excited until one of the camp leaders came up to me and said something along the lines of, “I noticed you were super emotional last year. I don’t know what was going on but I need to make sure you aren’t going to be like that again at camp this year.” I just looked at her in shock and it made me cry so much that I had to leave church early. Since then I always felt like an other at church and got extreme anxiety to the point where I felt sick almost every Sunday, and my parents would lecture and yell at me every week for not liking church. I was so exited when I was able to drive so that I could get a job and work on Sundays. I’ve never felt better since I left the church :)
I can’t wait till I turn 18 because that’s when I’m allowed to leave the church. I still have 5 more years to go but I stopped going to Sunday school and young women’s every week and I just go in the hall and sit down and read a book. When I went to girls camp last year they wouldn’t give me my allergy medicine so I was having a hard time breathing and I had rashes all over my arms and legs
So, I've definitely been addicted to your shorts for awhile now, but I do absolute love this!! I wasn't even Mormon, just Southern Baptist/fundie lite, but I get soooo much of this! I know it's not always the easiest thing to discuss, so I appreciate it! *Its that easy to get into Heaven, you just have to do everything they just did in this booklet, otherwise you never get to see your family again, and you go to Hell!*
I went to southern Baptist camp once as a kid because my friend was going. It was such a batshot experience that it started me on a journey to atheism. XD
honestly so relieved you're ex-mo. ive watched your reels just when they pop up on my feed but there are SO MANY secret mormon creators that it's just hard to tell who is still in and who isn't. Love these longer videos!!!!
@@melvinthebravefish9788My friend's mom is in an MLM that is going to fall apart because, apparently, the products are actually pretty high quality and aren't consumable, so there's not repeat customers or incentive to buy a bunch yourself.
I grew up evangelical in a part of Switzerland where the churches are, for strange migration reason, extremely similar to American evangelism. I could never find people from my region that understood the weirdness of those camps, but I guess I wasn't looking on the right continent lmao Thanks for sharing your experience, I know how much that can suck to remember. You made me feel way less alone !
That's very interesting! As someone from the US, I definitely don't associate evangelical Christianity with Europe. Out of curiosity, is Appenzell Innerrhoden part of that region? I was very confused when I learned that women in general didn't get the right to vote in Switzerland until 1971, and that in that canton they didn't gain full voting rights until 1990 - if evangelicalism has a stronghold in that area it would make a lot more sense as to why it took so long!
I created an emergency on the Colorado river bc my girls camp buddy got sick while tubing, and we had to pull off and none of the adults noticed. This was also one month after Elizabeth Smart, where we very close to that area and went to Colorado for camp…and, when we weren’t at the end with everyone it was an “issue”. We got in so much trouble when they found us but I my head I was like, where were the freaking adults. I also got “biggest flirt” as an award at one girls camp bc I kept meeting another camping group of boys in the middle of a meadow to kiss them. Oh, my glory days.
"A pad the size of a fish youd be proud to catch" is the best description of size you could ever make because even though it changes from person to person it's always absolutely huge in their mind
So we sang the Mormons man song at my Christian camp but it was “dairy” man. We were in Pennsylvania in an area known for its cheese and all of us children both boys and girls would sing about garrtting married and being the wife to a dairy farmer. You unlocked this memory for me. Thank you!
We also sang it, but it was the "weenie" man, it was at a camp in Illinois but I love how that song really shows off the different regions of the US lol
As another gal who doesn’t really like jello, my gran made jello with sparking water (I think she used that in place of the cold water) and it was pretty good. Also, this camp sounds like a nightmare, but then again I wasn’t raised religious. Too much praying involved lol
I was raised Pentecostal. (If you’re not familiar, it involves speaking in tongues, laying hands on us when we prayed and being “filled with the spirit.” When you were filled with the spirit you would fall on your back speaking in tongues.) We had youth camp; but there boys in a completely different cabin than the girls. But we also had separate camps for the “Missionettes” and the “Royal Rangers.” I was a missionette and had to do huge Bible studies in our Star book. (Star stood for Sarah, Tabitha, Anna and Ruth.) once you finish the program; which took about 4 years (usually late elementary and middle school) but if you finish all of the additional requirements, you could become an “Honor Star”. There’d be a big convention where you’d get a tiara, a short blue satin cape and wear a WEDDING DRESS! Now that I’m adult, we are Presbyterian. 😂
I went with my Mormon friend to the summer camps for three years. They never recruited me, and I found some of it a bit weird, but I loved the came we went to in upstate New York. It had a big cedar fed lake, and I learned so many camp skills over those three summers. I also learned a lot about other Mormons besides my friend. I didn’t think I could live like them, and I thought their rules for women were weird, especially because it was the 70s and we we fighting for equality.
It’s so great watching your channel grow! I first started watching your shorts when I saw your van life ones. I’m so glad you started doing longer videos! You’re doing such a great job! And thank you for sharing your experiences with us!
I was born in Utah but grew up in Cali and honestly I'm so glad because Cali Mormons are a different breed because girls camp was the best. I'm not a member anymore but we never did those weird camp songs, we did normal ones you'd see at a regular camp. Yeah we read the scriptures but we spent more time doing fun activities other than that
I was hoping to find a comment like this because I also grew up in CA and girls camp was like way enjoyable for me??? None of this weird stuff I feel like I hear about all the time
I was raised super mormon, loved girl’s camp, went every single year and it was my favorite part of the summer. I’m exmormon and queer now, so I definitely look back at it with a different lens. Did you ever have the emotional manipulation fest that was being dragged out to the middle of the woods to read letters from home? They had like a little area that was lit with candles and stuff, and I think one year specifically they kind of combined the iron rod activity and the parent letters which is crazy. For me the letters usually involved my parents’ testimonies, but I’m curious how it would have gone with someone whose parents are less active.
Omg!! When you talked about the iron rod game u played at camp it reminded me of this thing we had to do at Confirmation camp (… it’s a Catholic thing) where we were blindfolded and made to carry a wooden cross on our backs like Jesus through all the stations of the cross… and you could here people yelling insults like they did to Jesus and it was other peoples parents who were also at the camp 😭. And then after the whole thing they took you to a shed and u had to kneel in front of this gold cross with a wafer in it until everyone was done and I still am going “wtf” to this day
😳😬🫥 That’s insane. At my Confirmation camp we just went on a nature hike, did arts & crafts, prayed a lot, and went to Mass everyday. It was NOT difficult- just a bit boring at times. They DID NOT have to put you through all that to teach you about the importance of Confirmation as a sacrement. I’m so sorry that happened to you. That camp must have been both unnecessary and traumatizing😣
If you are comfortable with it please do more videos like this. I am currently in the Mormon church because my family is and I don't have a choice since I'm a teen. I am planning on leaving it when I'm older. But in the mean time these types of videos really help me stay sain. I especially like you're approach which is a lot more casual then other ex-mormon influencers I've seen. I would probably like to see a video on like getting temple recommends and knowing how going through the temple felt for you because I was very very freaked out by it when I first went through lol. Please keep doing what you're doing 💖💖💖
there's a lot of good exmormon content on youtube!! jimmy snow is one of my personal favorites. i was in your situation once and i can tell you it does get better and you'll be able to get out of it
As one who is not Lds, but all of my friends are, thank you sm for explaining this. All of my peers keep talking about all these camps they go to and all these different things I haven't heard of. So now I actually understand what my friends talk about! :)
i cried a lot around bearing testimony, mostly to cover up how little conviction I had. Testimony meetings are such cultish hazing exercises. I HATED being in the spotlight. My earliest memories were being brought in front of the chapel to be cute and parrot words fed to me. I loved hanging with friends in the woods, tho. stake Camp was the only time I got to hang out with my friend Jen. We smoked literal grass. Dude I got a PENNY in a BOX for Secret Sister, we did it white elephant style and we swapped boxes a lot, so I took the non-"gag"-gift for the team. I liked arts n crafts. One year we were plagued with caterpillars, and we painted them. My favorite though was floating down the river in life jackets, and the rope swing.
I enjoyed girls camp and went every year from 13-18 rotating from ward to stake camp. You didn’t talk about the regional camp. One year you could go to a church run camp in the mountains. Ours was called Oakrest. It was girls camp on another level. We did not go with girls we knew. We stayed in little cabins with 12 other girls and a camp counselor. Each building had a funny name like Dogwood (that was the bathroom). And a lodge with tables serving food. We had to make up a chant for our house and get on the table to yell it out before each meal. It was hilarious. Some of the girls seemed to know all these camp songs and games. At the end of the camp we had a firework show on the baseball field ( in the mountains!)
As a member, no one gets out of Young Women in Utah without both religious trauma and scary rich church ladies trauma. That heaven thing was so crazy, I think I would cry lol. I’m autistic but didn't know as a kid, so no one really talked to me so I didn't want to go to Young Women activities. One night, the decided on the most ~deliciously~ sweet activity idea: bringing treats to the girls' houses who didn't show up with a treat. I'm just having a casual Wednesday night as one does and the doorbell rings. My dad goes to get it and there is a group of like four leaders and ten girls on my doorstep and they ask for me. I asked my dad to tell them I'm asleep but he didn't wanna look bad, so out I went. I could tell the leaders genuinely thought this was a good idea, but I was so creeped out. I also always felt like people would invite me to stuff to do the "right thing" but then ignore me because we weren't compatible lol. Who knew trying to force a friendship between super cliquey rich girls and a queer autistic girl wouldn't work? I had one decent ward where I went to camp a couple times. I also remember doing the string thing, and I did not like doing the songs. I remember we had one game where we looked down and then looked up and if we made eye contact with anyone we had to scream, so that was kind of weird. We also started coloring each other's hair with sharpie, which started a phase of coloring my hair with markers for me. We had to do skits based on a scripture, so we chose "eat, drink, and be merry," which is generally on the what not to do list in the scriptures. But we unknowingly took it wildly out of context. Our skit started with us being missionaries going to someone house for dinner, but they were serving pig foot, which we we scared to try. We then sang, "Eat drink and be merry! Even id we have to eat pig foot!" Now whenever I see that line my head has to sing the song. I got sick from eating a couple scones the first day, so I panicked and only ate watermelon the rest of the week. Literally no one noticed me not eating enough, and I was horrifyingly proud that I lost four pounds when I got home... I also attempted to carve a bird out of a stick to give my secret sister because we had to make the gifts. Girl literally thought it was supposed to be a gun! I could've just let it go so she wouldn't know I made it but I sheepishly corrected her. Ah, times and such... If I have kids they will not have to go, and I will warn them about what happens there
Hey! I went to the "Young Women's Meetings" and also had to go to a camp! I used to smoke in the woods by a little creek with this girl that I was friends with, and she got sent home when someone ratted on us and they found her pack of smokes 😭 and it was super strict, I remember wanting to wash my hair but they said I had to boil my own water from the lake IF I could get approval from the camp leaders. I did just that, so I washed my hair and I felt like I won 😂 I still remember we were stake 11!
I grew up Mormon and went to girls camp every year (my mom wouldn’t let me get out of it). In our ward, we had a different theme every year (for example, my first year was Dr. Seuss, we also did Disney princesses, superheroes, Monsters University, etc). They’d always find a way to connect it to the gospel somehow, but that was the framework to make it fun. The YCL’s would each pick something within that to base their own tent around, we’d have a flag made out of a pillowcase for each tent with all the girls’ names on it, the craft would be related to the theme in some way, it was great. From the sounds of it, my ward was a little bit more relaxed; I remember having a lot of downtime throughout the week. We kind of did one or two big things a day: Monday we’d set up camp in the morning, have lunch, then do a service project, then snipe hunting at night; Tuesday we’d do Certification in the morning and the one main craft in the evening (they always had additional craft supplies available throughout the week, but it was optional); Wednesday we’d do a big hike and then skits after dinner (ours didn’t have to connect back to the scriptures though, that must have sucked); Thursday we’d go to the lake for canoeing (I always hated it because I didn’t like getting splashed with the cold water and half the time people capsized each other; my favorite year was the last because I finally decided to just stay on the shore, although the leaders kept trying to convince me to go out on the water), then in the evening we’d do a whole bunch of spiritual stuff-singing trees (where each tent would pick a tree and take turns shining their flashlights up at it while we sing a hymn), the faith walk, and testimony meeting; then Friday we’d pack up and go home. Of course, there’d be a morning devotional, devotionals at mealtimes, and a nightly devotional in our tents led by our YCLs, and a constant underlying emphasis on prayer and scripture study, but aside from that, it was a lot of free time to just chill (read: give each other Jedi braids, sing camp songs, and weave friendship bracelets)
I think the universe shared this video with me so I would know I wasn't alone in this horrible experience called girls camp lol. It's been a long time since I attended one but you talking about ward, stake, fhe, just brought back a rush of memories. I went to two stake camps and like you said they were the worst version of girls camp. The second stake camp was especially horrible. It was some weird version of like the oregon trail or some shit! It was a super camp where the boys came too and we all had to wear these horrible itchy woolen outfits and pull a frickin hand cart for miles. Then we made camp, and these people were so incompetent we made a camp in poison ivy! Everyone else got rashes, but somehow I am immune I guess. I don't remember learning any survival skills either. We did do a rope tying thing and lassos? Also square dancing, because fun? lol. The super stake camp was everyday a bunch of walking around in those wool clothes and then learning about people who died. The devotional part of any church activity was so awkward too. I never participated. I'd always say something like: oh jesus knows what is in my heart and I'm speaking with him now. I also remember our whole week was filled with church once you hit teenage years. There was Tuesday & Thursday nights and then church school before regular school at 6AM. On top of that I was in the group of people who had 3 hour church every sunday. The new 2 hour church must be a breeze for people! Anyways, it was fun to come across this video and hear someone else explain their experiences with mormon church, I'll definitely watch more!
Thank you for bringing up the fact that the people who complain they didn't learn stuff in high school often ignore the fact that that stuff was taught and they just didn't pay attention. It's long been a pet peeve of mine.
I really enjoyed this video. I love all your comedy shorts and after watching this video i realize its because you are kinda a kindred spirit for me, i genuinely appreciate this.
I'm a member of the church, but I converted, and I didn't get baptized until I was 29, so I missed all of that. I did, however, grow up Southern Baptist, and grew up loving Vacation Baptist School every summer, and mission trips when I was in youth. I can tell you that the girl camp sounds familiar to my experience when I was still young growing up in the Baptist church. I am a somewhat active member of the church, and the LDS culture I'm still learning, and I wouldn't say I necessarily am part of the culture or devout in anyway. Still, I have met some of the most awesome, gracious people through the LDS church, and it's a very different experience then I had growing up Baptist. I did get to do YSA after I joined and I LOVED it. I just found your channel through the Jojo Siwa video and I am enjoying your content. I definitely subscribed.
I had to do a snipe hunt at Boy Scout camp when I was 12. Also, it's worth noting that Mormons used to have their own Boy Scout troops, and Boy Scout camp in Mormon troops was basically the boy's equivalent to Mormon girl's camp. I also once faked sick to get out of camp, so I get it. Oh, I also once did the weird yard maze/iron rod game, but at Seminary not at camp.
so like all of my dad’s side of the family is mormon but he left the church before marrying my mom, but i still had an experience with girls camp when i was like 16. all my friends happened to be mormon so they invited me and i had a really great time! until one of the girls there who is the sister of my first boyfriend (also mormon) confronted me about breaking his heart. it was so weird and then camp finished by getting one of those book of mormons where someone wrote their testimony inside the cover. an interesting experience but one i never wish to have or put someone else through lmfao
Not a morman, but my heavily Christian parents shipped me off to church camp multiple times a year, this video basically described my experience as well
I grew up in Idaho where its also heavily populated by Mormans. My dads family was morman and I remember getting conned into going to a few church functions by friends and some family members and school staff saying really hateful stuff because I came out in high school. So that was fun. Always love hearing about peoples experiences from in the church. Thanks for sharing!
I only saw some shorts of you, so I didn't know yet that you actually grew up in the religious/tradwife culture. I appreciate your takes even more now. You're not just making fun of them, you probably experienced this either in your own family or with friends. Not like all about it has to be bad. But usually it's not exactly about the happiness of girls/women.
This was so interesting and I'm legitimately sorry for a lot of what you experienced. I was fortunate enough to not be raised religious and got to do the fun activities you mentioned in things like Girl Scouts without the guilt and trauma attached.
We did learn about finances in school but either a day , a week , or 10 mins. I wish the govt made a new mandatory class for seniors to learn how to do finances, pay bills, fill out a W2, etc. and my 24 year old self could use a refresher 😂
😂 a person finance credit was mandatory for graduation and we had a whole unit on it including fake job interview in middle school why do people keep saying this
@@leahdavis9434 just bc u did it doesn’t mean everyone else did 🤡 & im saying even if it’s taught a whole year/semester, it should be mandatory to take a refresher in hs 12th.
I am still a member, but I absolutely loved girls camp! I think it truly depends on where you live and who your leaders were that would make or break it. Because I went to some with my cousin in Texas and we got to do bigger event type things but there were so many girls and were a lot stricter. I've from Oklahoma so most of ours were really small and my testimony grew a lot while there. A lot of it too depends on your personality. I feel like any type of camp like this wether religious or not will be hard for girls that are introverts, don't like the outdoors, and those that are struggling with their bodies/sexuality.
I would cry if someone tricked me into putting toothpaste on my face and hunting fake badgers, i really don't think that girl was 'slow' or in the wrong at all...
I grew up pentocostal Christian and relate to this so much! I love content like this because it makes me feel less alone, would love to see you talk about this more!
I did 3 Stake "Youth Conferences" as a teenager growing up, and 2 ward YCs. Basically a lot of the same, but it was mixed boys and girls. My boy scout group was also super cool, but the YCs I did were generally pretty fun, but I also wasn't in Utah. I've heard that Trek especially is pretty rough here haha. In Oregon the leaders had to make events fun to get kids to actually come, so they usually did a lot of fun stuff. My favorite was on the "trek" we did. (Which was mostly just a large guided hike/backpacking trip through the woods for 4 days in Washington). One of the later nights we did some fun activities and stayed up pretty late, but since we were a ways out from any major cities the night sky was INCREDIBLE. I got to hang out with my friends and look at that incredible sky. I stopped caring about the religion when I was like 14-15 when I started getting pushed to go to seminary and actually starting learning more about the history of the church and the philosophy around it.b
I went to a bible camp in the mountains over thanksgiving break when i was 16, where the boys and girls had separate cabins separated by a bridge. My group of friends was a bunch of guys and the one girl. We were hanging out one evening when she suddenly started having breathing problems and grew very weak to the point where she could barely walk. It was quite cold outside so we had to get her indoors, and the nearest building was the boys' cabin, but we weren't allowed to take her in there. but us guys also weren't allowed to cross the bridge that led to the girls cabins. So i had to run and find the nearest counselor (also a man), and then run and find the nearest two random girls who could take over helping her walk to the cabin once we got to the bridge When she nearly collapsed along the way one of us tried to just pick her up and carry her, prompting the counselor to freak out about "inappropriate contact". in a _medical emergency_ . We all obeyed and just waited for her to be able to compose herself enough to keep going. Fortunately she ended up okay. Looking back, i regret that i didn't just completely ignore the stupid counselor and rules
this makes me so glad for quaker camp. it was basically normal summer camp with like quick prayer in the morning and a meeting at night. nothing culty at all, and im not even quaker
Neat video. I would definitely watch more if you decide to make more content on your Utah/Mormon experiences. Some of those stories were just wild. I know what snipe hunting is from that one episode of King of the Hill? haha. I wonder if someone on their writing staff was Mormon. I was never Mormon, but went to Girl Guide camp that was run though my church a few times. They would also do random emotionally manipulative shit, but not as bad as this. They also ran out of food and we ended up having powdered milk and other weird stuff. In one sense, I can't believe you pulled the period trump card and weren't allowed to leave. But in another sense I absolutely can, because a girl in my group/tent did get her period and they wouldn't let her leave. It was absolutely wild honestly.
I love these videos . it helps unlock some really fucked up memories, i forgot 90% of my childhood and this is helping understanding why i’m so fucked in the head lmao
i loved this video and i’ll tell yall that “girls’ camp” isn’t even exclusive to LDS - based on the schedule you read, it seems pretty much the same vibe as the Catholic girls’ camp sponsored by the church i grew up in 😭 there are probably a million camps out there for every denomination! my bestie when i was 15 convinced me to finally go but did NOT tell me just how much mf prayer and Bible analysis and worship music was involved!! i dipped out halfway through the week when the “girl talk sessions” (aka scripture lectures) got explicitly homophobic, transphobic, and anti-abortion... so i probably missed some messed up guilt-trippy stuff, but that “iron rod” shit and the heaven/cult skit is on another fucking level?!? plus the focus on marriage for literal children/teens is just so so weird. sorry for the long ass comment but i had to share my pov; Catholicism and Mormonism (along with plenty other religions, Christian and non-Christian) unfortunately use pretty similar tactics for intentionally screwing with kids’ developing brains and sense of morality 🙃
Popping in from a fucked up Mexican version of Pentecostal bullshit. Imagine it being all of the Mormon + Catholic camp BUT with added on guilt and threats of hell if you dressed inappropriately (literally wore shorts. In Texas. In the summer). Our “meetings” were hours on hours long, full of guilt until the vast majority of people were crying and/or speaking in tongues, and everyone was throughly steeped in guilt and fear. There’s so much more but it was hell I don’t want to think about anymore. But sUcH fUn MeMoRiEs 😵💫🫠 can’t imagine why I ran away from that as soon as I could
Reminds me of when I was forced to go to a DEC camp and I couldn't take it anymore. I asked to call my parents and they said no so I left and ended up in some crazy mountain town in the Adirondack Mountains where I got stuck for a day and a half before being rescued by my parents.
I love this, I grew up Catholic in Northern Ireland, born near the end of the Troubles, but I remember going to a Catholic primary school, freaking out a Priest when he asked us what we had learned over the summer and I replied that it hurt when you got knocked down in France. Anyway, I went to a weekend retreat type thing when I went to secondary school that was Quaker run, we went went to one of the mazes in Northern Ireland and stayed in a big house for members of the Scripture Union in school. I remember it was my birthday weekend, so mid-October, I think I was turning maybe 13, but I remember one of the guys who came in to give a talk dropped the bible and then accidently stepped on it, the gasps were so loud. Then a guy jumped into the lake, which was crazy because again Mid-October, which okay not the coldest in Northern Ireland but getting there. Oh, and I was in my manual wheelchair and almost having to jump from the chair because I couldn't reach the brakes easily
My best friend in high school was LDS, and I absolutely loved to hear about her ward/girls camp/young women’s drama. I went to church with her every few months, and she would always whisper weird things she knew about her ward members after we said hi to them. My favorites included a professor/student relationship, a woman who constantly talked about how many pushups she does for the Lord every day, and a girl who went to the wrong age group on Sunday school days to be with her friend.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I know it can be hard to talk about, but these kinds of videos are so enlightening and validating to others. The way you tell stories is funny and you're very charming as well. I grew up baptist/methodist so I only did AWANAs and bible camps but I totally relate to the early manipulation of religious youth organizations. I wanted to be a "good girl" so bad that I went to youth 3 nights a week at different churches for years and sang in the band every Sunday from preteen age to like 23... Now I'm sort of agnostic and the religious trauma still messes with me. Turns out you can do everything right but if you're gay then eternal suffering is justified and expected lol. Gotta love that "unconditional" love!
I feel SO validated from this whole video 😂 we did every single thing here!! You might as well have been in my stake. And don’t get me started on TREK. My parents made me go right after foot surgery. We pulled those stupid carts more than 20 MILES. And they wouldn’t let me take pain meds!
I used to work for a Mormon, at his funeral home. His dad was the Bishop at the ward he helped raise in SC, for 30 years. Their family is the most successful family in that area, and of course, w/ all the kids Mormons seem to have, they pretty much run every business in town. All of this is to say, I thought he and his family were peak rough, and it couldn't get any worse, until I met my boss' ex wife, who's from Provo.
@@jomichan8920 It is, and most of the Mormons I've met are just nice, and overall good, just a little off. My boss could've been nicer, kinda lived in a reality all his own, and had awful mood swings, because he didn't take care of his diabetes, and the rest of his family was super-duper "Smile hard, get-it-together" toxic positivity people.
I grew up Mormon in Colorado. Now I'm living in Utah and go to an evangelical church. Even though I wouldn't consider myself a Mormon now, I'm actually very grateful that I had the chance to go to girls camp when I was a teen. Sadly, so many people never have the chance to go camping, or even experience the outdoors, as they are growing up, so I feel very lucky that I had the chance to. Given, my experiences at camp were fairly different. The leaders were well organized so we never ran out of food. We also didn't have weird activities like that whole "heaven passport" thing. We did sing some of those Mormon camp songs, but everyone seemed to see them as a way of poking fun at how silly Mormon culture can be sometimes (rather than as life instructions). 😂😂😂
I see it the same way. There are good and bad things about it. I also go to a Christian church after having left. Every church can seem kind of culty to me. I’m not planning on sending my kids to any type of religious camp.
I’m not Mormon but I grew up in an area where there was a lot of them. There’s an LSD church right across the street from the high school and some of my friends would come saying that they’d been in Seminary before coming to school and I always thought that was weird. The “Mormon Mormon Mormon” song though 😬 I remember some of them singing that
It’s kindof funny how much this seems to mirror Girl Scout camp. Like I did a lot of the same stuff but without the weird religious parts and had a blast.
I always LOVED girls camp, it was such a safe and spiritual space for me. Even my last year when I didn’t really believe or feel comfortable with the church anymore girls camp was still the best. But I also live in NC and had a pretty inclusive stake. We had such a cool stake camp site with a lake and canoes and shit so that was really sick. Also as a semi-closeted woman lover I was living my feminist girl power dreams being in the woods, making friendship bracelets, and singing songs with all my friends. My favorite part of camp was teaching all the younger young women all the camp songs!! (Our camp songs weren’t gross though, they were actually cool) I also started a tradition my first year where the last night of camp we would blast music and dance and eat snacks as late as the leaders would let us stay up (so like 1 am lol). Anyway, not sharing all of this to shit on anyone else who had a bad camp experience, I just really loved mine! 💗
i grew up as a mormon not in utah and my experience was so different. our girls camp was planned mostly by the ycl’s and the leaders just planned more logistics and food and stuff. we never had a trial of faith or anything like that. our leaders were super chill people who loved us and just wanted what was best for us and we had really cool lessons about empowering each other as women and we had a backpacking trip every year that was super awesome. i had a cousin who lived in utah who came to my girls camp and she said it was so much better and came to ours every year after that. i’m glad i never went to hers in utah cause it probably would have sucked
i was in a weird transplant situation, where i was never really religious but i would visit a stepdad for the summers in salt lake city and the surrounding areas. Though my experience wasn't exactly the same as I'm a guy and the things they teach boys is fairly different. its wild that i understand the exact vibe that you are describing. the adults where usually nice about it but there was an intense feeling that they see you as an "other" to the point where i started to wonder if i was the weird one for not believing these wild ideas and just pretended to go along with it so i wouldn't be singled out and be USUALLY politely talked to/converted
Hey so LDS girl here, still apart of Young Women’s. I believe in the teaching of my church but I do not agree with the way leaders often treat the youth. I absolutely hate youth camps. I have been three times and have told my mom I refuse to go ever again because of the awful experiences I have had at these camps. I do think the camps have changed from the time you went, honestly I’ve never heard the RM songs about getting married and stuff, we also no longer have to wear knee length shorts, they honestly don’t care. They do recommend bringing long pants if the area has ticks (however girls still don’t wear pants or knee length shorts because ugly, just go heavy on big spray). But most of my awful experiences are from leaders and how they have treated me. I feel like members in Utah get so caught up in trying to be perfect that they treat anyone who is slightly different from them like they’re idiots and that “they won’t make it into Heaven” Anyways that’s just a short little rant of mine, I hate youth camps.
I’m from Wyoming and would travel to see punk shows in SLC circa late 90s … SLC is giving cult vibes like literally but honestly some of the most amazing ppl come out of that place .. especially drag queens! The queens that were disowned/displaced by their Mormon families, kicked to the streets as teens, created an underground alliance drag scene that is so creative, compassionate and progressive. The Bad Kids Club started a shelter for queer homeless youth specific to Mormon displacement. Also, everyone in Utah has amazing hair, like, SLAY!! 💖
I live in Canada where there aren’t many super religious camps, and I’m pagan myself, but I went to a leadership camp growing up and the blindfolded string activity sounds kinda like a really messed up version of something we did 😂 it was a blindfolded obstacle course type thing where we had to follow a string, but the activity was all about teamwork and communication so the people at the front we’re supposed to describe what they came across and if anyone got frustrated or fell behind we were supposed to encourage them and guide them through it and it was pretty cool. I got bullied a lot one year and also spent a day protesting and trying to call my mom lol but to no avail so I can relate to that, and we also journaled like 5 times a day about different things. When I was a “leader in training” one program before cit we did charity work and they helped us work on resumes and we fixed up stuff around camp and helped the daycamp counsellors and it was really fulfilling
God im happy i was in California. We mostly just practiced a dance, do crafts, and wait for our peer counselor to bring up the lesson we shouldve learned + sing a hymn. Lots of praying too. Morning, before meals, at night.
Don't listen with headphones. I'm a moron & didn't fix my new mic set up 😭
I put on headphones just because you said that 😂
Edit: not too shabby.
My right ear loved this video
@@1Dylan1 My left ear hated it though 😭
And it was such an interesting video too!
I listened with headphones and it was atrocious but you made it entertaining enough to not care.
I thought my headphones had finally broken lol (the left one intermittently doesn't work already)
My first year at Girl’s Camp; my foot got infected from a cut. The nurse wouldn’t let me call my parents and had me keep coming to her trailer for epson salt baths. When my dad picked us up at the end of the week, my leg was black, too swollen to wear jeans, and we went to the hospital. I had a staph infection, bone infection, and almost had my leg amputated. Church paid for the bills ovi.
Did you have a tetanus shot
@rebeccanater I mean, if she didn't, it's a bit too late by now. She would have known within the next 10 to 14 days after if she had Tetanus or not.
I did have a tetanus shot and they definitely gave me a booster after treatment. I think it got infected due to the open cut + the lake water, tbh. But it was definitely very painful and I remember crying about it and feeling too tired to leave my tent or walk to the nurse the last few days . Still wouldn’t let me call my parents. Am still traumatized
@elitechelle I'm sorry that you had to go to that. Nobody should have to go to that. It honestly sounds almost as evil as those troubled teen camps. Granted, those team camps are far more horrific from what I understand, and that doesn't make what they did to you acceptable at all. Especially since you were there for fun, and whatever else. Not bc you are some "troubled youth."
So sorry you went through that. It's a relief your leg was saved but still, letting it get to that condition because of a cut is neglect from the camp, especially the nurse. You would have needed a tetanus shot. A coworker of my mother was not so lucky, he lost his leg because of a seemingly innocent bite after playing with his dog. My mom always tells this story to convince me to get my tetanus shot. It hurts for a bit but then you're protected for 10 years (still visit your doctor in case of doubt though).
Clearly you were one of the most righteous girls at stake girls camp, since you were one of the only ones not to get sick. You could have really rubbed it in at the closing testimony meeting. "I know God loves me so much and I'm so glad he blessed me to not be sick"
“A pad the size of a fish you’d be proud to catch” had me rolling 😂
Grew up non mormon in utah...no offense but learning the details about girls camp and pioneer trek the last fews years has kinda healed my inner child...I was so upset as a kid because I assumed it was like girl scout camp vibes and all my friends were leaving me outof the fun, I had no idea it was...religious... at the time. Let's just say I'm grateful I spent my summers playing video games and going to the public pool instead of singing songs about marrying missionaries or hiking in pioneer outfits.
You were definitely the lucky one.
Interesting. Are you atheist, agnostic, or religious just not Mormon?
Girl scout camp was meh, tbh. I say this as a Utah girlie, nevermo exgirlscout lol
Does first year imply they let you go back after that?!
Yo same 😊
I'm a nevermo raised in Utah and my whole middle school social experience revolved around not being fully let into cliques because I could never know all the secret experiences of girl's camp and young women's so I'm delighted to learn that it sucked!
Hahaha glad I could provide
Interesting. Are you atheist, agnostic, or religious just not Mormon?
@@caitlingill I was raised Catholic but now I'm an atheist
@@Diamondelight92 interesting me too but I was very mild Catholic (I had only been to church three times in my life and I barely ever read the bible, I would pray though quite often lol)
@@caitlingill Yeah I was never very religious. It isn't very relevant to this topic though because this comment was about growing up outside of the dominant religion in my area. No level of adherence or lack thereof to another religion would have prevented me from being othered.
Omg my friend would drunkenly sing us her Mormon camp songs at our HS parties so I know some of these and they will randomly pop into my head ALL THE TIME. Especially “i am a Mormon girl I wear my hair in curls”. Then in the morning she would put on her special church clothes and I’d drop her off. Her parents LOVED me and thought I was a great influence lol
I remember going to a camp as part of my confirmation (is that even a thing in the US? Idk) and I wasn't even religious (I did it to make my grandparents happy) but even I started singing church songs because everyone else did it and there was little else to do. Makes you think about how cults work.
Wow you must be a nice person..
@@Nike-gs8igyes confirmation is a thing in the US. I actually got confirmed recently (I’m 15) in my Methodist church. I’m not religious either, but my mom is so I had to go🤷♀️
I’ve never been more relieved that my family was excommunicated before I was born
It takes a lot of horrible actions to get excommunicated… I wouldn’t be too happy.
@@Ocean-blvd. it really doesn’t. My grandparents were excommunicated for refusing to give the church thousands of dollars to build a temple. Granted, I’ve heard this is very rare but did happen in the 1960’s to an interracial couple so…yeah doesn’t take much.
Tyler I'm literally so obsessed with this, like, youre hilarious in general, but this video is like listening to your unhinged friend's cousin rant about her childhood out of nowhere. I'm over here responding as you talk like "not even" and "giiiiirl" and just gasping and nodding. I'm entralled. 10/10 content.
Highest compliment, ily forevs
I just ate this video UP. Oh my goodness. The short videos are amazing, but her long form stuff-especially stories like these-are so impressive and so fun!
As a gay guy growing up in the LDS church I was always so jealous of Girls camp. Because I was only friends with the girls and not the overly self righteous teenage boys.
Omfg me tooooo!!!!! I was always longing for the dumbass crafts
I only went to girls camp once when I was 15. We did the whole shabang including crafting, drawing our perfect husband, camp fire songs (including an awkward ‘rap’ about wrapping paper) and a hardcore hike. It was all fun and nice in a strange way.
As we were camping, we were told to keep our snacks in a separate box outside the camp as to not attract the mountain lions. Well, on our last night, right after going to bed, we hear this loud roar. The girl in my tent immediately recognized it as a mountain lion and started panicking over a pack of Cheetos that she had in our tent. The roaring became louder and louder until it was literally right next to our tent. She was crying and frantically praying, I tried to calm her but we both just kind of expected to die any minute. Suddenly the noise was gone. The next morning we learned that it’s a prank they do every year to the oldest girls as some fucked up right of passage thing
Drawing the perfect husband 😂😂 that’s so messed up
As someone who didn't grow up mormon but did grow up methodist, this is fascinating to me. Honestly all the good parts of it you mention are just features of any regular secular/non-mormon camp lol.
A close friend of mine growing up was Mormon and she had a shirt from girls camp that said: girls camp 2007 “it’s in tents”, and that’s all I needed to know
I think I'm starting to get why your parody videos are so on point lol
this is so slay i’ve been so into this type of content i feel like we’re facetiming
That’s the highest compliment ❤️😭 thank you!
My (non-member) dad had custody of me during the summers so I only got to go to camp my last year of high school. We decorated our tent with a poster of a shirtless guy and managed to convince our leaders that it was of a missionary we got from Deseret Book. I can't decide if they were just naive or just didn't want to deal with our nonsense.
I was raised Catholic and I went to similar summer retreats like this. When I was 16 my youth group went to this huge summer camp that was a Catholic teen retreat and it is so similar to what you’re describing except it was co-ed. The drama, the hysteria, the emotional manipulation, and the constant journaling/prayer sessions are seared into my memory lol. Some of it was super fun, but most of it was a fever dream looking back 😂
i’m curious, as i am catholic what was the name of summer retreat?
Lol bro samee
same with southern baptist
its okay you can say Covecrest (still a practicing Catholic but it is DESPITE Covecrest, not because of it lol)
Former Mormon here. I did these camps as well. Ours were always stake so there were maybe like 50-75 of us (small stake). Ours was way more...self-reliant than yours, it seems. They made us learn to cook on a fire in various ways, learn to use a compass, learn to navigate using the positioning of the sun, our hike was 5 miles and because we were in Louisiana, you can imagine that this was rather dangerous (hence why we had men there), etc. We didn't really do crafts unless we had a "fun day" but it was usually optional between that, swimming, or study time. We didn't really have prayer time at mine. We usually just prayed before meals and before that long hike. One of my core memories from this was this little old lady that was guiding our hike that had a machete. She was literally hacking up snakes that got in the path. Keep in mind, because of our location, most snakes were venomous and aggressive, so it's not like she was just doing this for nothing. As someone who didn't know what being trans was at this point (I just knew I wasn't female), that whole experience was very awkward for me. They served terrible food, so my mom and her best friend (who were our Young Women teachers or whatever you call them) would go to get us food every night when it was time for us to go to our cabins. Yes, our stake required two of the Young Women teachers to be there for whatever reason and they had their own bunks in our cabins. I know the cabin next to ours was fairly strict but ours didn't much care if we listened to music in headphones , etc. I think the worst thing was the Liahona programme. We were dressed as some whack ass version of Native Americans (I'm part Native, so this was some weird shit to me) and stand in the woods at night with nothing but a tiki torch, flip flops, and say our little lines regarding whatever spirit we were. I was individual Worth lmao. Then we had to ceremoniously walk to a beach that was also lit with tiki torches and say another line in unison while people were playing the drums. That shit was racist af. I was glad I never went back after my fourth year since we left the church at that point after the bishop tried to convince my mom to stay with her cheating, abusive husband. 😂
So I'm dyslexic, and when I read your comment at first I thought you were telling us that you were 75 years old and then you mentioned the part with headphones and I was like,"Wait, they had headphones and portable music back then!?" 😂
Of course your bishop wanted your mom to stay with her abusive cheating husband, he was probably a returned missionary and a good Mormon boy.
I love that someone else has finally made a bunch of videos on topics I really find interesting, please keep going!
yesss!! i am so glad we're forming a community of weird, chronically online people lmao
I got my first period at girls camp as a first year. Thank god my mom was a leader cus all the other leaders were so mean to me for no reason and I remember dipping out on certifications to nap every day. I still had a good time and bonded with a couple of the girls. Before camp the next year I was super excited until one of the camp leaders came up to me and said something along the lines of, “I noticed you were super emotional last year. I don’t know what was going on but I need to make sure you aren’t going to be like that again at camp this year.” I just looked at her in shock and it made me cry so much that I had to leave church early. Since then I always felt like an other at church and got extreme anxiety to the point where I felt sick almost every Sunday, and my parents would lecture and yell at me every week for not liking church. I was so exited when I was able to drive so that I could get a job and work on Sundays. I’ve never felt better since I left the church :)
I can’t wait till I turn 18 because that’s when I’m allowed to leave the church. I still have 5 more years to go but I stopped going to Sunday school and young women’s every week and I just go in the hall and sit down and read a book. When I went to girls camp last year they wouldn’t give me my allergy medicine so I was having a hard time breathing and I had rashes all over my arms and legs
So, I've definitely been addicted to your shorts for awhile now, but I do absolute love this!! I wasn't even Mormon, just Southern Baptist/fundie lite, but I get soooo much of this! I know it's not always the easiest thing to discuss, so I appreciate it!
*Its that easy to get into Heaven, you just have to do everything they just did in this booklet, otherwise you never get to see your family again, and you go to Hell!*
I went to southern Baptist camp once as a kid because my friend was going.
It was such a batshot experience that it started me on a journey to atheism. XD
@@dismurrart6648 Atheism is the best.
Lol same @@dismurrart6648
honestly so relieved you're ex-mo. ive watched your reels just when they pop up on my feed but there are SO MANY secret mormon creators that it's just hard to tell who is still in and who isn't. Love these longer videos!!!!
(j*ne......)
Lmaoooo thank you!!!
same! it’s such a russian roulette
I thought she was making fun of mormons 😢😫😭@@theorangeone420
I could only imagine the horror of liking a Mormon person
One of my top cults, along with the U.S. military and Herbalife.
HAHAHA i'm reeling at this one. Same! I love RUclips because I've found so many people with similar niche obsessions
My mom is a DoTerra girly 😂
omg a classic!!!@@melvinthebravefish9788
@@melvinthebravefish9788My friend's mom is in an MLM that is going to fall apart because, apparently, the products are actually pretty high quality and aren't consumable, so there's not repeat customers or incentive to buy a bunch yourself.
Retired Army. Can confirm. Lol
I grew up evangelical in a part of Switzerland where the churches are, for strange migration reason, extremely similar to American evangelism. I could never find people from my region that understood the weirdness of those camps, but I guess I wasn't looking on the right continent lmao
Thanks for sharing your experience, I know how much that can suck to remember. You made me feel way less alone !
That's very interesting! As someone from the US, I definitely don't associate evangelical Christianity with Europe. Out of curiosity, is Appenzell Innerrhoden part of that region?
I was very confused when I learned that women in general didn't get the right to vote in Switzerland until 1971, and that in that canton they didn't gain full voting rights until 1990 - if evangelicalism has a stronghold in that area it would make a lot more sense as to why it took so long!
I created an emergency on the Colorado river bc my girls camp buddy got sick while tubing, and we had to pull off and none of the adults noticed. This was also one month after Elizabeth Smart, where we very close to that area and went to Colorado for camp…and, when we weren’t at the end with everyone it was an “issue”. We got in so much trouble when they found us but I my head I was like, where were the freaking adults. I also got “biggest flirt” as an award at one girls camp bc I kept meeting another camping group of boys in the middle of a meadow to kiss them. Oh, my glory days.
"A pad the size of a fish youd be proud to catch" is the best description of size you could ever make because even though it changes from person to person it's always absolutely huge in their mind
So we sang the Mormons man song at my Christian camp but it was “dairy” man. We were in Pennsylvania in an area known for its cheese and all of us children both boys and girls would sing about garrtting married and being the wife to a dairy farmer. You unlocked this memory for me. Thank you!
We also sang it, but it was the "weenie" man, it was at a camp in Illinois but I love how that song really shows off the different regions of the US lol
As another gal who doesn’t really like jello, my gran made jello with sparking water (I think she used that in place of the cold water) and it was pretty good. Also, this camp sounds like a nightmare, but then again I wasn’t raised religious. Too much praying involved lol
If you make the green jello with sprite or 7up it helps a lot, too.
I was raised Pentecostal. (If you’re not familiar, it involves speaking in tongues, laying hands on us when we prayed and being “filled with the spirit.” When you were filled with the spirit you would fall on your back speaking in tongues.) We had youth camp; but there boys in a completely different cabin than the girls. But we also had separate camps for the “Missionettes” and the “Royal Rangers.” I was a missionette and had to do huge Bible studies in our Star book. (Star stood for Sarah, Tabitha, Anna and Ruth.) once you finish the program; which took about 4 years (usually late elementary and middle school) but if you finish all of the additional requirements, you could become an “Honor Star”. There’d be a big convention where you’d get a tiara, a short blue satin cape and wear a WEDDING DRESS!
Now that I’m adult, we are Presbyterian. 😂
I went with my Mormon friend to the summer camps for three years. They never recruited me, and I found some of it a bit weird, but I loved the came we went to in upstate New York. It had a big cedar fed lake, and I learned so many camp skills over those three summers. I also learned a lot about other Mormons besides my friend. I didn’t think I could live like them, and I thought their rules for women were weird, especially because it was the 70s and we we fighting for equality.
It’s so great watching your channel grow! I first started watching your shorts when I saw your van life ones. I’m so glad you started doing longer videos!
You’re doing such a great job! And thank you for sharing your experiences with us!
Thank you for such a thoughtful comment! Day made ❤
I was born in Utah but grew up in Cali and honestly I'm so glad because Cali Mormons are a different breed because girls camp was the best. I'm not a member anymore but we never did those weird camp songs, we did normal ones you'd see at a regular camp. Yeah we read the scriptures but we spent more time doing fun activities other than that
I was hoping to find a comment like this because I also grew up in CA and girls camp was like way enjoyable for me??? None of this weird stuff I feel like I hear about all the time
@@sara6423 like I remember us doing bible study and stuff but I remember the activities way more. I think we just got lucky lol.
I was raised super mormon, loved girl’s camp, went every single year and it was my favorite part of the summer. I’m exmormon and queer now, so I definitely look back at it with a different lens. Did you ever have the emotional manipulation fest that was being dragged out to the middle of the woods to read letters from home? They had like a little area that was lit with candles and stuff, and I think one year specifically they kind of combined the iron rod activity and the parent letters which is crazy. For me the letters usually involved my parents’ testimonies, but I’m curious how it would have gone with someone whose parents are less active.
i LOVE this long form content!! keep up the great work
Glad you enjoy it!
Omg!! When you talked about the iron rod game u played at camp it reminded me of this thing we had to do at Confirmation camp (… it’s a Catholic thing) where we were blindfolded and made to carry a wooden cross on our backs like Jesus through all the stations of the cross… and you could here people yelling insults like they did to Jesus and it was other peoples parents who were also at the camp 😭. And then after the whole thing they took you to a shed and u had to kneel in front of this gold cross with a wafer in it until everyone was done and I still am going “wtf” to this day
😳😬🫥 That’s insane. At my Confirmation camp we just went on a nature hike, did arts & crafts, prayed a lot, and went to Mass everyday. It was NOT difficult- just a bit boring at times. They DID NOT have to put you through all that to teach you about the importance of Confirmation as a sacrement. I’m so sorry that happened to you. That camp must have been both unnecessary and traumatizing😣
The amount of religious camps in america is baffling to me. I was raised catholic and had my confirmation but I never heard of a camp for it
If you are comfortable with it please do more videos like this. I am currently in the Mormon church because my family is and I don't have a choice since I'm a teen. I am planning on leaving it when I'm older. But in the mean time these types of videos really help me stay sain. I especially like you're approach which is a lot more casual then other ex-mormon influencers I've seen. I would probably like to see a video on like getting temple recommends and knowing how going through the temple felt for you because I was very very freaked out by it when I first went through lol. Please keep doing what you're doing 💖💖💖
If you don’t already you should totally watch Jordan and McKay! They have great videos on Mormonism as Ex Mormons !
there's a lot of good exmormon content on youtube!! jimmy snow is one of my personal favorites. i was in your situation once and i can tell you it does get better and you'll be able to get out of it
My right ear loves this, lol
Stop 😭😭😭
I dealt with the same thing 😢
I thought my earbuds were broken again :[
This was so fun and conversational. I really enjoyed listening and would definitely want more!! 💗
As one who is not Lds, but all of my friends are, thank you sm for explaining this. All of my peers keep talking about all these camps they go to and all these different things I haven't heard of. So now I actually understand what my friends talk about! :)
i cried a lot around bearing testimony, mostly to cover up how little conviction I had. Testimony meetings are such cultish hazing exercises. I HATED being in the spotlight. My earliest memories were being brought in front of the chapel to be cute and parrot words fed to me.
I loved hanging with friends in the woods, tho. stake Camp was the only time I got to hang out with my friend Jen. We smoked literal grass.
Dude I got a PENNY in a BOX for Secret Sister, we did it white elephant style and we swapped boxes a lot, so I took the non-"gag"-gift for the team.
I liked arts n crafts. One year we were plagued with caterpillars, and we painted them.
My favorite though was floating down the river in life jackets, and the rope swing.
I enjoyed girls camp and went every year from 13-18 rotating from ward to stake camp. You didn’t talk about the regional camp. One year you could go to a church run camp in the mountains. Ours was called Oakrest. It was girls camp on another level. We did not go with girls we knew. We stayed in little cabins with 12 other girls and a camp counselor. Each building had a funny name like Dogwood (that was the bathroom). And a lodge with tables serving food. We had to make up a chant for our house and get on the table to yell it out before each meal. It was hilarious. Some of the girls seemed to know all these camp songs and games. At the end of the camp we had a firework show on the baseball field ( in the mountains!)
Oh my gosh! I (not LDS) had a friend in highschool give me a Book of Mormon with the front page completely decked out in gel pen.
As a member, no one gets out of Young Women in Utah without both religious trauma and scary rich church ladies trauma. That heaven thing was so crazy, I think I would cry lol. I’m autistic but didn't know as a kid, so no one really talked to me so I didn't want to go to Young Women activities. One night, the decided on the most ~deliciously~ sweet activity idea: bringing treats to the girls' houses who didn't show up with a treat. I'm just having a casual Wednesday night as one does and the doorbell rings. My dad goes to get it and there is a group of like four leaders and ten girls on my doorstep and they ask for me. I asked my dad to tell them I'm asleep but he didn't wanna look bad, so out I went. I could tell the leaders genuinely thought this was a good idea, but I was so creeped out. I also always felt like people would invite me to stuff to do the "right thing" but then ignore me because we weren't compatible lol. Who knew trying to force a friendship between super cliquey rich girls and a queer autistic girl wouldn't work?
I had one decent ward where I went to camp a couple times. I also remember doing the string thing, and I did not like doing the songs. I remember we had one game where we looked down and then looked up and if we made eye contact with anyone we had to scream, so that was kind of weird. We also started coloring each other's hair with sharpie, which started a phase of coloring my hair with markers for me. We had to do skits based on a scripture, so we chose "eat, drink, and be merry," which is generally on the what not to do list in the scriptures. But we unknowingly took it wildly out of context. Our skit started with us being missionaries going to someone house for dinner, but they were serving pig foot, which we we scared to try. We then sang, "Eat drink and be merry! Even id we have to eat pig foot!" Now whenever I see that line my head has to sing the song.
I got sick from eating a couple scones the first day, so I panicked and only ate watermelon the rest of the week. Literally no one noticed me not eating enough, and I was horrifyingly proud that I lost four pounds when I got home...
I also attempted to carve a bird out of a stick to give my secret sister because we had to make the gifts. Girl literally thought it was supposed to be a gun! I could've just let it go so she wouldn't know I made it but I sheepishly corrected her.
Ah, times and such... If I have kids they will not have to go, and I will warn them about what happens there
Hey! I went to the "Young Women's Meetings" and also had to go to a camp! I used to smoke in the woods by a little creek with this girl that I was friends with, and she got sent home when someone ratted on us and they found her pack of smokes 😭 and it was super strict, I remember wanting to wash my hair but they said I had to boil my own water from the lake IF I could get approval from the camp leaders. I did just that, so I washed my hair and I felt like I won 😂
I still remember we were stake 11!
I grew up Mormon and went to girls camp every year (my mom wouldn’t let me get out of it). In our ward, we had a different theme every year (for example, my first year was Dr. Seuss, we also did Disney princesses, superheroes, Monsters University, etc). They’d always find a way to connect it to the gospel somehow, but that was the framework to make it fun. The YCL’s would each pick something within that to base their own tent around, we’d have a flag made out of a pillowcase for each tent with all the girls’ names on it, the craft would be related to the theme in some way, it was great. From the sounds of it, my ward was a little bit more relaxed; I remember having a lot of downtime throughout the week. We kind of did one or two big things a day: Monday we’d set up camp in the morning, have lunch, then do a service project, then snipe hunting at night; Tuesday we’d do Certification in the morning and the one main craft in the evening (they always had additional craft supplies available throughout the week, but it was optional); Wednesday we’d do a big hike and then skits after dinner (ours didn’t have to connect back to the scriptures though, that must have sucked); Thursday we’d go to the lake for canoeing (I always hated it because I didn’t like getting splashed with the cold water and half the time people capsized each other; my favorite year was the last because I finally decided to just stay on the shore, although the leaders kept trying to convince me to go out on the water), then in the evening we’d do a whole bunch of spiritual stuff-singing trees (where each tent would pick a tree and take turns shining their flashlights up at it while we sing a hymn), the faith walk, and testimony meeting; then Friday we’d pack up and go home. Of course, there’d be a morning devotional, devotionals at mealtimes, and a nightly devotional in our tents led by our YCLs, and a constant underlying emphasis on prayer and scripture study, but aside from that, it was a lot of free time to just chill (read: give each other Jedi braids, sing camp songs, and weave friendship bracelets)
I think the universe shared this video with me so I would know I wasn't alone in this horrible experience called girls camp lol. It's been a long time since I attended one but you talking about ward, stake, fhe, just brought back a rush of memories.
I went to two stake camps and like you said they were the worst version of girls camp. The second stake camp was especially horrible. It was some weird version of like the oregon trail or some shit! It was a super camp where the boys came too and we all had to wear these horrible itchy woolen outfits and pull a frickin hand cart for miles. Then we made camp, and these people were so incompetent we made a camp in poison ivy! Everyone else got rashes, but somehow I am immune I guess.
I don't remember learning any survival skills either. We did do a rope tying thing and lassos? Also square dancing, because fun? lol. The super stake camp was everyday a bunch of walking around in those wool clothes and then learning about people who died. The devotional part of any church activity was so awkward too. I never participated. I'd always say something like: oh jesus knows what is in my heart and I'm speaking with him now.
I also remember our whole week was filled with church once you hit teenage years. There was Tuesday & Thursday nights and then church school before regular school at 6AM. On top of that I was in the group of people who had 3 hour church every sunday. The new 2 hour church must be a breeze for people! Anyways, it was fun to come across this video and hear someone else explain their experiences with mormon church, I'll definitely watch more!
This was a great video! You did so well keeping it light!
Teaching self sufficiency by singing a song asking what’s a Mormon girl without her man 😭😭😭 what an experience you had lmao
Thank you for bringing up the fact that the people who complain they didn't learn stuff in high school often ignore the fact that that stuff was taught and they just didn't pay attention. It's long been a pet peeve of mine.
More vids on Utah would be awesome, this was such an interesting video to learn/watch
Not me being almost completely deaf in my right ear and the audio from this video only playing in my right hearing aid 😂😂😂
I really enjoyed this video. I love all your comedy shorts and after watching this video i realize its because you are kinda a kindred spirit for me, i genuinely appreciate this.
I'm a member of the church, but I converted, and I didn't get baptized until I was 29, so I missed all of that. I did, however, grow up Southern Baptist, and grew up loving Vacation Baptist School every summer, and mission trips when I was in youth. I can tell you that the girl camp sounds familiar to my experience when I was still young growing up in the Baptist church. I am a somewhat active member of the church, and the LDS culture I'm still learning, and I wouldn't say I necessarily am part of the culture or devout in anyway. Still, I have met some of the most awesome, gracious people through the LDS church, and it's a very different experience then I had growing up Baptist. I did get to do YSA after I joined and I LOVED it.
I just found your channel through the Jojo Siwa video and I am enjoying your content. I definitely subscribed.
the kids who walked to the gas station during high school is such s specific diss and i love it
I love your perspective and would love to hear more about your life growing up in mormonism or utah culture!
I had to do a snipe hunt at Boy Scout camp when I was 12. Also, it's worth noting that Mormons used to have their own Boy Scout troops, and Boy Scout camp in Mormon troops was basically the boy's equivalent to Mormon girl's camp.
I also once faked sick to get out of camp, so I get it.
Oh, I also once did the weird yard maze/iron rod game, but at Seminary not at camp.
so like all of my dad’s side of the family is mormon but he left the church before marrying my mom, but i still had an experience with girls camp when i was like 16. all my friends happened to be mormon so they invited me and i had a really great time! until one of the girls there who is the sister of my first boyfriend (also mormon) confronted me about breaking his heart. it was so weird and then camp finished by getting one of those book of mormons where someone wrote their testimony inside the cover. an interesting experience but one i never wish to have or put someone else through lmfao
Oh my gosh! Please make more Mormon content! This was peak comedy
Not a morman, but my heavily Christian parents shipped me off to church camp multiple times a year, this video basically described my experience as well
Loving the long form content!
This video is unlocking memories for me omfg
lol tyler you are a literal mood
Hahaha thank u
Thanks for sharing your experiences, some of them are absolutely wild. I hope you do more of these videos!
More to come! Thank you
I grew up in Idaho where its also heavily populated by Mormans. My dads family was morman and I remember getting conned into going to a few church functions by friends and some family members and school staff saying really hateful stuff because I came out in high school. So that was fun. Always love hearing about peoples experiences from in the church. Thanks for sharing!
Your hair, outfit, make up combo is stunning…you look fantastic! The colors suit you incredibly well.
Thank you so much!!
I only saw some shorts of you, so I didn't know yet that you actually grew up in the religious/tradwife culture. I appreciate your takes even more now. You're not just making fun of them, you probably experienced this either in your own family or with friends. Not like all about it has to be bad. But usually it's not exactly about the happiness of girls/women.
This was so interesting and I'm legitimately sorry for a lot of what you experienced. I was fortunate enough to not be raised religious and got to do the fun activities you mentioned in things like Girl Scouts without the guilt and trauma attached.
We did learn about finances in school but either a day , a week , or 10 mins.
I wish the govt made a new mandatory class for seniors to learn how to do finances, pay bills, fill out a W2, etc. and my 24 year old self could use a refresher 😂
😂 a person finance credit was mandatory for graduation and we had a whole unit on it including fake job interview in middle school why do people keep saying this
@@leahdavis9434 just bc u did it doesn’t mean everyone else did 🤡 & im saying even if it’s taught a whole year/semester, it should be mandatory to take a refresher in hs 12th.
I am still a member, but I absolutely loved girls camp! I think it truly depends on where you live and who your leaders were that would make or break it. Because I went to some with my cousin in Texas and we got to do bigger event type things but there were so many girls and were a lot stricter. I've from Oklahoma so most of ours were really small and my testimony grew a lot while there. A lot of it too depends on your personality. I feel like any type of camp like this wether religious or not will be hard for girls that are introverts, don't like the outdoors, and those that are struggling with their bodies/sexuality.
I would cry if someone tricked me into putting toothpaste on my face and hunting fake badgers, i really don't think that girl was 'slow' or in the wrong at all...
I grew up pentocostal Christian and relate to this so much! I love content like this because it makes me feel less alone, would love to see you talk about this more!
I could watch you read your grocery lists lol the way you talk is so compelling
I did 3 Stake "Youth Conferences" as a teenager growing up, and 2 ward YCs. Basically a lot of the same, but it was mixed boys and girls. My boy scout group was also super cool, but the YCs I did were generally pretty fun, but I also wasn't in Utah. I've heard that Trek especially is pretty rough here haha. In Oregon the leaders had to make events fun to get kids to actually come, so they usually did a lot of fun stuff. My favorite was on the "trek" we did. (Which was mostly just a large guided hike/backpacking trip through the woods for 4 days in Washington). One of the later nights we did some fun activities and stayed up pretty late, but since we were a ways out from any major cities the night sky was INCREDIBLE. I got to hang out with my friends and look at that incredible sky. I stopped caring about the religion when I was like 14-15 when I started getting pushed to go to seminary and actually starting learning more about the history of the church and the philosophy around it.b
I went to a bible camp in the mountains over thanksgiving break when i was 16, where the boys and girls had separate cabins separated by a bridge. My group of friends was a bunch of guys and the one girl. We were hanging out one evening when she suddenly started having breathing problems and grew very weak to the point where she could barely walk. It was quite cold outside so we had to get her indoors, and the nearest building was the boys' cabin, but we weren't allowed to take her in there. but us guys also weren't allowed to cross the bridge that led to the girls cabins. So i had to run and find the nearest counselor (also a man), and then run and find the nearest two random girls who could take over helping her walk to the cabin once we got to the bridge
When she nearly collapsed along the way one of us tried to just pick her up and carry her, prompting the counselor to freak out about "inappropriate contact". in a _medical emergency_ . We all obeyed and just waited for her to be able to compose herself enough to keep going. Fortunately she ended up okay. Looking back, i regret that i didn't just completely ignore the stupid counselor and rules
I unironically liked my camp experiences. I went to a couple of different religous camps and overall the mormon one was one of the best.
i did too. looking back there was definitely some weird shit that went on but i still have very fond memories of church camp
This sounds like Girl Scout Camp and Vacation Bible School combined
LOVE these long form videos!! more please
You got it!
this makes me so glad for quaker camp. it was basically normal summer camp with like quick prayer in the morning and a meeting at night. nothing culty at all, and im not even quaker
Neat video. I would definitely watch more if you decide to make more content on your Utah/Mormon experiences. Some of those stories were just wild. I know what snipe hunting is from that one episode of King of the Hill? haha. I wonder if someone on their writing staff was Mormon. I was never Mormon, but went to Girl Guide camp that was run though my church a few times. They would also do random emotionally manipulative shit, but not as bad as this. They also ran out of food and we ended up having powdered milk and other weird stuff. In one sense, I can't believe you pulled the period trump card and weren't allowed to leave. But in another sense I absolutely can, because a girl in my group/tent did get her period and they wouldn't let her leave. It was absolutely wild honestly.
Snipe hunting isn’t just a Mormon thing.
I love these videos . it helps unlock some really fucked up memories, i forgot 90% of my childhood and this is helping understanding why i’m so fucked in the head lmao
DUDE THE CONSTANT CRYING FROM EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION IS SO FUCKING REAL I ALWAYS HAD A HEADACHE
i loved this video and i’ll tell yall that “girls’ camp” isn’t even exclusive to LDS - based on the schedule you read, it seems pretty much the same vibe as the Catholic girls’ camp sponsored by the church i grew up in 😭 there are probably a million camps out there for every denomination! my bestie when i was 15 convinced me to finally go but did NOT tell me just how much mf prayer and Bible analysis and worship music was involved!! i dipped out halfway through the week when the “girl talk sessions” (aka scripture lectures) got explicitly homophobic, transphobic, and anti-abortion... so i probably missed some messed up guilt-trippy stuff, but that “iron rod” shit and the heaven/cult skit is on another fucking level?!? plus the focus on marriage for literal children/teens is just so so weird. sorry for the long ass comment but i had to share my pov; Catholicism and Mormonism (along with plenty other religions, Christian and non-Christian) unfortunately use pretty similar tactics for intentionally screwing with kids’ developing brains and sense of morality 🙃
Popping in from a fucked up Mexican version of Pentecostal bullshit. Imagine it being all of the Mormon + Catholic camp BUT with added on guilt and threats of hell if you dressed inappropriately (literally wore shorts. In Texas. In the summer). Our “meetings” were hours on hours long, full of guilt until the vast majority of people were crying and/or speaking in tongues, and everyone was throughly steeped in guilt and fear. There’s so much more but it was hell I don’t want to think about anymore. But sUcH fUn MeMoRiEs 😵💫🫠 can’t imagine why I ran away from that as soon as I could
Reminds me of when I was forced to go to a DEC camp and I couldn't take it anymore. I asked to call my parents and they said no so I left and ended up in some crazy mountain town in the Adirondack Mountains where I got stuck for a day and a half before being rescued by my parents.
I love this, I grew up Catholic in Northern Ireland, born near the end of the Troubles, but I remember going to a Catholic primary school, freaking out a Priest when he asked us what we had learned over the summer and I replied that it hurt when you got knocked down in France. Anyway, I went to a weekend retreat type thing when I went to secondary school that was Quaker run, we went went to one of the mazes in Northern Ireland and stayed in a big house for members of the Scripture Union in school. I remember it was my birthday weekend, so mid-October, I think I was turning maybe 13, but I remember one of the guys who came in to give a talk dropped the bible and then accidently stepped on it, the gasps were so loud. Then a guy jumped into the lake, which was crazy because again Mid-October, which okay not the coldest in Northern Ireland but getting there. Oh, and I was in my manual wheelchair and almost having to jump from the chair because I couldn't reach the brakes easily
My best friend in high school was LDS, and I absolutely loved to hear about her ward/girls camp/young women’s drama. I went to church with her every few months, and she would always whisper weird things she knew about her ward members after we said hi to them.
My favorites included a professor/student relationship, a woman who constantly talked about how many pushups she does for the Lord every day, and a girl who went to the wrong age group on Sunday school days to be with her friend.
Not gonna lie I woulda freaked the fuck out if I was 12-14 and they told me I couldn’t talk to my mom.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I know it can be hard to talk about, but these kinds of videos are so enlightening and validating to others. The way you tell stories is funny and you're very charming as well.
I grew up baptist/methodist so I only did AWANAs and bible camps but I totally relate to the early manipulation of religious youth organizations. I wanted to be a "good girl" so bad that I went to youth 3 nights a week at different churches for years and sang in the band every Sunday from preteen age to like 23... Now I'm sort of agnostic and the religious trauma still messes with me. Turns out you can do everything right but if you're gay then eternal suffering is justified and expected lol. Gotta love that "unconditional" love!
Thank you so much for sharing this and educating people. I had no idea what Girls Camp was before this
I feel SO validated from this whole video 😂 we did every single thing here!! You might as well have been in my stake. And don’t get me started on TREK. My parents made me go right after foot surgery. We pulled those stupid carts more than 20 MILES. And they wouldn’t let me take pain meds!
My family was done with the church by the time I was eligible for trek so I never went but I was in the LDS film about it haha
I grew up in Utah too, specifically Provo. It's.....interesting here.
Oooof Provo is rough
I used to work for a Mormon, at his funeral home. His dad was the Bishop at the ward he helped raise in SC, for 30 years. Their family is the most successful family in that area, and of course, w/ all the kids Mormons seem to have, they pretty much run every business in town. All of this is to say, I thought he and his family were peak rough, and it couldn't get any worse, until I met my boss' ex wife, who's from Provo.
@@arlowolf1690 i'm sorry but...like wdym "rough"? I thought part of the facade was to seem basically perfect from the outside looking in?😮
@@jomichan8920 It is, and most of the Mormons I've met are just nice, and overall good, just a little off. My boss could've been nicer, kinda lived in a reality all his own, and had awful mood swings, because he didn't take care of his diabetes, and the rest of his family was super-duper "Smile hard, get-it-together" toxic positivity people.
@@arlowolf1690 ooohhh I think I get it now thanks lol so it's giving crazy-abouta-crack energy
Thanks for sharing some of yourself! I love your skits and found it so fun to hear your story
Glad you enjoyed it!
I grew up Mormon in Colorado. Now I'm living in Utah and go to an evangelical church. Even though I wouldn't consider myself a Mormon now, I'm actually very grateful that I had the chance to go to girls camp when I was a teen. Sadly, so many people never have the chance to go camping, or even experience the outdoors, as they are growing up, so I feel very lucky that I had the chance to.
Given, my experiences at camp were fairly different. The leaders were well organized so we never ran out of food. We also didn't have weird activities like that whole "heaven passport" thing. We did sing some of those Mormon camp songs, but everyone seemed to see them as a way of poking fun at how silly Mormon culture can be sometimes (rather than as life instructions). 😂😂😂
I see it the same way. There are good and bad things about it. I also go to a Christian church after having left. Every church can seem kind of culty to me. I’m not planning on sending my kids to any type of religious camp.
I’m not Mormon but I grew up in an area where there was a lot of them. There’s an LSD church right across the street from the high school and some of my friends would come saying that they’d been in Seminary before coming to school and I always thought that was weird. The “Mormon Mormon Mormon” song though 😬 I remember some of them singing that
It’s kindof funny how much this seems to mirror Girl Scout camp. Like I did a lot of the same stuff but without the weird religious parts and had a blast.
I always LOVED girls camp, it was such a safe and spiritual space for me. Even my last year when I didn’t really believe or feel comfortable with the church anymore girls camp was still the best. But I also live in NC and had a pretty inclusive stake. We had such a cool stake camp site with a lake and canoes and shit so that was really sick. Also as a semi-closeted woman lover I was living my feminist girl power dreams being in the woods, making friendship bracelets, and singing songs with all my friends. My favorite part of camp was teaching all the younger young women all the camp songs!! (Our camp songs weren’t gross though, they were actually cool) I also started a tradition my first year where the last night of camp we would blast music and dance and eat snacks as late as the leaders would let us stay up (so like 1 am lol). Anyway, not sharing all of this to shit on anyone else who had a bad camp experience, I just really loved mine! 💗
i grew up as a mormon not in utah and my experience was so different. our girls camp was planned mostly by the ycl’s and the leaders just planned more logistics and food and stuff. we never had a trial of faith or anything like that. our leaders were super chill people who loved us and just wanted what was best for us and we had really cool lessons about empowering each other as women and we had a backpacking trip every year that was super awesome. i had a cousin who lived in utah who came to my girls camp and she said it was so much better and came to ours every year after that. i’m glad i never went to hers in utah cause it probably would have sucked
i was in a weird transplant situation, where i was never really religious but i would visit a stepdad for the summers in salt lake city and the surrounding areas. Though my experience wasn't exactly the same as I'm a guy and the things they teach boys is fairly different. its wild that i understand the exact vibe that you are describing. the adults where usually nice about it but there was an intense feeling that they see you as an "other" to the point where i started to wonder if i was the weird one for not believing these wild ideas and just pretended to go along with it so i wouldn't be singled out and be USUALLY politely talked to/converted
Hey so LDS girl here, still apart of Young Women’s. I believe in the teaching of my church but I do not agree with the way leaders often treat the youth. I absolutely hate youth camps. I have been three times and have told my mom I refuse to go ever again because of the awful experiences I have had at these camps. I do think the camps have changed from the time you went, honestly I’ve never heard the RM songs about getting married and stuff, we also no longer have to wear knee length shorts, they honestly don’t care. They do recommend bringing long pants if the area has ticks (however girls still don’t wear pants or knee length shorts because ugly, just go heavy on big spray). But most of my awful experiences are from leaders and how they have treated me. I feel like members in Utah get so caught up in trying to be perfect that they treat anyone who is slightly different from them like they’re idiots and that “they won’t make it into Heaven”
Anyways that’s just a short little rant of mine, I hate youth camps.
I’m from Wyoming and would travel to see punk shows in SLC circa late 90s … SLC is giving cult vibes like literally but honestly some of the most amazing ppl come out of that place .. especially drag queens! The queens that were disowned/displaced by their Mormon families, kicked to the streets as teens, created an underground alliance drag scene that is so creative, compassionate and progressive. The Bad Kids Club started a shelter for queer homeless youth specific to Mormon displacement. Also, everyone in Utah has amazing hair, like, SLAY!! 💖
That sounds awesome! I love punk music which shows did you go to?
I live in Canada where there aren’t many super religious camps, and I’m pagan myself, but I went to a leadership camp growing up and the blindfolded string activity sounds kinda like a really messed up version of something we did 😂 it was a blindfolded obstacle course type thing where we had to follow a string, but the activity was all about teamwork and communication so the people at the front we’re supposed to describe what they came across and if anyone got frustrated or fell behind we were supposed to encourage them and guide them through it and it was pretty cool.
I got bullied a lot one year and also spent a day protesting and trying to call my mom lol but to no avail so I can relate to that, and we also journaled like 5 times a day about different things. When I was a “leader in training” one program before cit we did charity work and they helped us work on resumes and we fixed up stuff around camp and helped the daycamp counsellors and it was really fulfilling
God im happy i was in California. We mostly just practiced a dance, do crafts, and wait for our peer counselor to bring up the lesson we shouldve learned + sing a hymn. Lots of praying too. Morning, before meals, at night.