Youth “Conference”

It has taken me awhile to decompress from this months activities, and while I’m still not 100% recovered, I have managed to finally gather my thoughts about the multi-stake youth conference 18 Lives and The Book of Mormon.  While information on this event was EXTREMELY lacking leading up to the actual event, when we asked Erik if he wanted to participate he was interested so we geared up.  There was registration that was due in March, but apparently that only applied to no one. So Erik attended several “practices” that we didn’t understand what was going on, then a couple stake leaders came to gin up some enthusiasm, because we only had about 35 kids that had signed up. The information they gave us was even more confusing and despite reviewing the web site numerous times, I still didn’t get the whole gist of the event.

BUT…still we pressed on.  It turned out that this event was a production at the Two Rivers Convention Center.  It was about a class of seminary students and through the use of pre-recorded video and live performances the story came together pretty good.  I don’t really want to take a lot time describing the actual performance (since it is available on DVD for $5), but I must say a couple other things and please understand that I say these things not so much as an arm chair quarterback, but as someone who actually gets in there, organizes things, and does them. Not to mention that if anyone in the stake actually cared to ask someone in my family to EVER do something we would seriously do it in a big way.

 1^st – The Venue

            OK, Two Rivers works great for craft shows, boat shows, banquet dinners, and the occasional prom. But as a performance venue it sucked. The viewing of the stage is difficult at best, not to mention audio and seating.  Two Rivers is not set up for any type of backstage area, as a result, most of our time was spent under Two Rivers, in the 100+ degree parking garage, that doesn’t have any restrooms. I could have understood using Two Rivers, if we didn’t have a couple of theatres in Grand Junction, like all the high schools, the college and even the Avalon. Plus, because of the seating and access to the event, there were all kinds of mis-information about how difficult it was going to be to get in to see the event. At one point, all the people in our ward were told that all the seats were gone, and if you did have some seats that you would need to be in them at least an hour early, and that you didn’t have the option of saving seats for people that you were waiting for.

 2^nd – Calling it a Youth Conference

            I recall attending a few Youth Conferences in my day, this wasn’t a youth conference.  It was a performance, which is perfectly fine and would have cleared up a ton of confusion, if the organizers had simply called a spade a spade. As a result of this missed nomenclature many people in our stake mistakenly thought the performances were only for the youth. Not to mention that other than a two great talks by Hank Smith, that was it for the “conference” portion of the event.  Why we couldn’t just call it a multi-stake musical performance is beyond me and then the “mystery” could have been dispelled.

3^rd – The Spiritual High Myth

            I attended all three days of this event.  It was a nice production, it had a great script, great music, and impressive videography. The biggest problem that I have with this whole thing is the constant and never ending “this is so spiritual” comment that was told over and over to the teenagers by the organizing adults. OK look, just because you say it, doesn’t make it so. It was 100+ degrees, you had absolutely nothing for these teenagers to do in the down time (except write in their journals of course), and yet over and over and over they were told how special it was that they had the opportunity to be in this “life changing event” and “it was/is/would be an amazing spiritual event”.  Now I’m not one to knock having a spiritual event, but I really don’t appreciate when other people inform me that I am having one. You can’t make someone have that experience, nor should you make anyone feel inadequate for not having the same experience that Molly Mormon next to them is having. 

 

As evidence of this I provide a couple of historical events, the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, not everyone saw angels, not everyone heard trumpets and that was OK, the Lord didn’t need everyone to see or hear the same thing. Did that mean the people attending the temple dedication were bad people or didn’t have a testimony? Ughh…no.  Second event: when Brigham Young was speaking to the Saints after the martyrdom of Joseph in the grove in Nauvoo. Not everyone heard Brigham sound like Joseph, but some did. Not everyone saw Joseph’s visage in Brigham, but some did, and that is OK.

 

Telling teenagers that they are in the middle of a spiritual experience is pretty dangerous ground. What if for instance they aren’t feeling the spirit? Does that mean something is wrong with them? Or worse do they think some thing might be wrong with the doctrine and beliefs of the gospel? Like I said before, I remember going to a few Youth Conferences growing up. There were some teenagers in our ward that seemed to be experiencing a never-ending spiritual high. I think they cried constantly from the time we left the church until after the Sacrament meeting report that they were, of course, asked to deliver. Every talk, every seminar, every testimony meeting, they bawled, they sobbed and they carried on proclaiming their strength in the gospel. But remember…I have lived here a long time, and I’m cursed with an even longer memory.  Many (if not most) of these same dripping teenagers are now completely out of the church, even to the point of hostility.  At the time they were praised and adored by the adults in charge, and now they fight against the church with equal zeal and venom.

 

I watched from the sidelines of this event, other than volunteering to be a chaperone I had no business being there (other than as a helicopter Mom of course).  But, as I watched I saw so many things that I have seen before, the same plays, the same players with different faces, and sadly I have a feeling I know what the score will be in a few years. Maybe that is why I’m a little cynical in teaching my children about events like this.  Lives don’t change because of a large production at Two Rivers or a trek through Wyoming pulling a handcart. Lives change when you are open to opportunities of the spirit when you are driving in a car, standing in the grocery store, or handing water bottles out at the county fair. Lives change when you serve others, smile at a stranger or just listen when someone needs to talk.

But don't take my word for it...
Alma 37:6
"Now you may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means doth confound the wise."