habits for life

The very next week I had to leave EFY and do Habits for Life.

This is also an incredible camp that I'm so happy to be a part of!

I've always loved improving myself and getting tips and tricks for how to be successful.

This camp is based on Sean Covey's book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. It is AMAZING. I remember reading it in school when I was in 7th grade and I loved it! It's been fun to get a refresher and to help some youth to start developing the habits in their lives as well!

This is my co-counselor, Jake. He's pretty great. He was like a little brother to me and

is leaving on a mission to Japan soon!

These are our cute kids! Shade was definitely necessary this week

sometimes ya just gotta take a #selfie

On Wednesday afternoon we took a hike up Rock Canyon. This has been one of my favorite places ever since I went rock climbing there, but I had never done any hiking so it was fun to go on a new adventure! At each bridge (there were 5) we stopped for a minute and Jake and I took turns sharing quotes and discussing with the kids how they applied to the seven habits. It was so cool!

The view at the top was incredible!

We made it!!! What a challenge! Probably not the most difficult hike I've ever done in my life but in that 100 degree heat and with 14 year old boys saying, "Mary, Mary, can we go faster??" I pretty much wanted to die. They sure gave me a run for my money!

There was a group that made it to the top and then there was a group
that just took their time and enjoyed the scenery.
Aren't they adorable??

I am such a sucker for beautiful sunsets and pictures that don't require any filtering.

Yay for classes!

the boys

the girls

Though the schedule is similar to that of EFY the curriculum is completely different. It was interesting to make that switch of not talking about the gospel at all. Because although most of the kids who come are LDS, a few are not. This because a great missionary opportunity and such a fun experience for someone of another faith to come to BYU and interact with so many kids who have high standards and know how to have fun in wholesome ways. We spent a lot of time bonding, building relationships, learning about how to better ourselves and then connect with others, and strengthen leadership skills. I'm so excited for this camp to keep growing and to keep changing lives!

One of the coolest parts of the week for me was when we did an activity called Person of Impact. Each of the youth thought about someone who had really impacted their lives and inspired them to be a better person. Right before this activity, my good friend Hank Smith had come to speak to us. As he was talking, he told us about how much the 7 habits had changed his life and had helped his relationship with his dad to become stronger. I didn't know any of this before and how much the habits meant to him, but then I realized how everything he taught me made sense. When I met Brother Smith 4 years, he completely changed my college experience. He was my book of mormon and new testament teacher and I absolutely LOVED going to class every day. Now, it's not that hard when you love to learn, you love your teacher, and you love the gospel. But he is one of those teachers that really just makes the scriptures come to life. he didn't just teach us scripture stories and the doctrine, he taught us how to apply what we were learning into our lives. My freshman year of college was definitely one that I changed a lot. I was figuring out who I was, the choices I wanted to make, and was learning to live away from home. Never did the gospel mean so much to me until then. Brother Smith and I got pretty close and eventually I wasn't just a student in his class, but he became one of my mentors, a person of impact. But until this night at habits camp, I didn't realize that every conversation we had, everything he asked me to do to help me accomplish my goals came from the 7 habits. He used it all in a spiritual sense and that was when I realized how closely the habits fit in with the gospel. The thing is, truth is truth, and when we learn true principles, they were benefit our lives regardless of the source. I was amazed to learn that as we implement the seven habits into our lives, we will not only be better people, we will become more like our Savior, and we will have stronger, better relationships with those around us.