By Stephanie Bunker
Moapa Valley Progress
A long caravan of 315 youth and their leaders from LDS Logandale Stake made their way to Alamo on Friday afternoon to participate in the annual Stake Youth Conference. Each year, the Stake puts on a conference for youth ages 14-18.
This year, the youth had their work cut out for them. They performed service on the LDS Church Welfare Ranch near Alamo.
But it was not all work. They youth got to have some fun before all the work began. The local kids combined with youth from the LDS Panaca Stake gathered for a dance in the Pahranagat High School gym. The kids had a good time dancing and enjoying each others’ company.
Reagan Alexander, one of the youth said it was one of the best dances she had ever attended. “There were more people to dance with and new people to meet,” she said.
Saturday morning came early as the youth got up and prepared for the long day ahead. They met at the ranch where the youth and their leaders had breakfast and a morning devotional.
A member of the Logandale Stake Presidency, Willie Frehner, gave the group direction for the day. He asked the youth to talk about Christlike Attributes as they worked. A list of attributes was printed on the back of everyone’s shirts so they could be reminded of them. The list included love and charity, knowledge, virtue, humility, patience, faith, hope, diligence, and obedience.
“Our goal was to teach these attributes,” Frehner said. “But devotionals aren’t as effective as the youth teaching each other and having a conversation about it.”
There were several tasks for the group to accomplish. They picked up dead wood, burned weeds, built barbed wire fence, dug posts, raked weeds away from fences and burned them, and gathered large rocks out of a field.
The groups worked hard for 3 hours before they stopped for lunch. Then the youth got back to work finishing up for another two hours.
“Whatever we do has to be big,” said Wendy Mulcock, Logandale Stake Young Women’s President. “The youth need to think it’s impossible because they can do hard things.”
Mulcock mentioned her favorite part of the day was to drive around and visit the youth as they worked. She said she had felt overwhelmed with the work ahead of them as she drove past the fences that hadn’t yet been cleared. But as she drove by the section that had been cleared she could see the difference they were making and knew the kids were up to the task.
“Everything they worked on is a requirement to manage the ranch,” said Ranch General Manager John Sanders. Sanders estimated that the work done by 315 people in 5 hours was equivalent to 70 weeks of work by one person, coming out to about a year and a half worth of work.
After a long day of work, the group headed home. Early Sunday morning a meeting was held where each youth had the opportunity to come to the pulpit and share his/her feelings about the experience. The main focus of the meeting was directed toward the work done at the ranch and how they related them to Christ-like Attributes. It was a great conclusion to a job well done by many youth here in Moapa Valley.
