Yesterday, I came home from Youth Conference. This year's was completely different from years past, mostly that it was a lot less church-centered. I mean, it still had the key points of Youth Conference...a group of friends staying up late at a host-home (mine, this time!), silly yet surprisingly amazing games Thursday night, waking up far too early every morning, a dance (this year's was the BEST yet, and was at an awesome fancy pavilion place), a really beautiful testimony meeting, and a lot of delicious food (catered for FREE by Subway's for a lunch and Olive Garden for a dinner, as amazing as that is!). But besides those crucial, awesome bits, it was completely different.
Our theme for the year was "Be Thou an Example of the Believers", and the focus was volunteering at Special Olympics in Normal, Illinois. It was a bit Olympics themed, what with "Raise your Torches High" doubling as the Olympic torch symbol, but primarily seemed to be focused on service.
I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get the spiritual classes and stuff. Those parts that lots of kids really don't love, sleep through, and mark as low on the list of favorite activities...those are really my favorite. I'm one who vigorously attends the school of thought "I can hang out with my friends whenever I want; I want to be spiritually enlightened!" and while I really need and wanted the kind of spiritual recharging I got last year, I learned a lot of things this year about other people and about myself that I really don't think I ever could have learned any other way.
In case you didn't know, Special Olympics is a wonderful organization for mentally handicapped people of all ages and circumstances to get together at find a renewed sense of self through sports and friendly competition. As sister Lopez said in her talk, those who go to help at the Special Olympics tend to go for service, to be good to their fellow man, and to experience "As much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me". We expect to go and serve as if serving the Lord. But what those who go to Special Olympics find is that we're the ones being taught. We're the ones being served. We're the ones with the unreached capacities for faith, love, respect, hard-work, and individual worth. And as we go to Special Olympics, it is like we're being served by the Lord.
Through my time serving, I met a lot of people who have touched my lives with their stories, their kindness, and their lessons. And while many of the people we met were funny, flirty, and encompass many great stories from the flirtatious Harold to the too-honest Michael, every one's favorite stories are ones of heart.
Like Jeanne and Craig. Jeanne is a blind girl with two prosthetic legs and an additional handicap who I got to escort. I brought her to her seat and her lane for her race (a 10-yard walk), and she was just so excited. I didn't realize she was blind or had prosthetic legs until later when someone told me, though I guess I should have realized because they don't let athletes wear sunglasses unless they're blind or need prescription sunglasses. And prosthetic legs are kind of hard to hide. But anyway, Jeanne had special racing accommodations for her walk, so we (all the volunteers in the tent) had to hold up a rope for her and she held onto a pipe to keep her walking straight along it. As she went by, we had to let go then grab hold again. Jeanne, despite everything, got first place through placing total trust in her helpers, the line, and what she knew she could do.
Craig was a different case. He was in a 50-yard run, and very shy. But he was excited to run and excited to race, even though everyone around him was a bit distracting and more fit. Craig didn't place very high at all (he only got fifth out of seven), but when he finished and I gave him his high-five, he was just glowing. So happy to have done his best, so pleased he was able to run so fast. Craig and Jeanne didn't care they had disabilities, Craig didn't care he lost, and Jeanne didn't care she needed help above that of the other racers.
Later on in the Youth Conference, I spotted Craig and Jeanne in different occasions, walking with their families or teams. I said "hi" to them, and just to see how much the simple "hi" meant to them really made my day. Jeanne was in the middle of a conversation with her sister, and she has become one of the most-popular stories for the Youth to retell. I mean, she basically lives an object-lesson life, and literally races the Iron Rod. And yet, she seemed almost as happy to interrupt her sister and say "hi" back as she did when she got her gold. Craig, who had been so shy and almost unwilling to talk to me, was just so pleased when I said "hi" spotting him off the track. He smiled his rare smile and answered with words that he never likes to use, because the simple act meant so much.
Of course, I didn't just learn from the athletes I met. Early Saturday morning, Jenny, Sarah, Jenessa and I met one of the volunteers who was willing to talk with us. David is one of the sweetest, funniest, most adorable little 13 year old I've randomly met. Plus, he looks like an older, cooler version of the kid from Pursuit of Happyness, so that's just awesome. Pretty soon, we realized David was Mormon, and so we hung out with him literally all day. Originally, we probably were just hanging out with him because he was Mormon. But it didn't take long to figure out that David is seriously awesome.
All day, he told us stories about his hilarious brothers, sister, and cousins. He told us about his house in Chicago, his family, his life...of course, we talked too, but David was just so funny and his stories were so incredible! We would tease him, try to get him to smile when helping roll the Shot-Put balls back was boring, and we would take him exploring with us. He got to be great friends with us right back, and caught on probably too fast that I'm easy to make fun of.
Later in the morning, David showed us his sister and cousin, and we met his brother (who actually got us some food when we were hungry). David looks just like his siblings, but his cousin is a white girl, so Jenny and I just assumed she was adopted. His brother is almost as funny as he is, and when I had to separate to meet my group, Jenny stuck with David and got to meet his twin brother over at Soccer.
As David's whole family was volunteering at Special Olympics, we figured David's twin was one of the many volunteers at soccer. But actually, David's twin brother, born 40 minutes after him, has downs syndrome. Jenny said he is just about the sweetest boy she's ever met, and she really wanted to meet their parents. She did, and much to her surprise, David's parents are both white. They have four children, all adopted, and except for David and his twin, all from different families. Although I never personally met his parents, knowing just how amazing David is from the five hours we spent with him, I can only imagine what people his parents must be. The entire family is an inspiration to me, and neither Jenny nor I will ever forget David, even if we don't ever see him again. Who knows, maybe a stake dance with the Chicago stake once he's 14...!
But the most influential person I met all weekend long, even though it was only for one little event was definitely Jim. Jim is 78...78!!...with some kind of mental handicap- though he's very high functioning; I never noticed anything out of the ordinary except his height (he's even shorter than I am!) and very uncommon dedication. And Jim, this little old man to the max, placed second in the Special Olympics level in Shot-Put, which he started playing this year.
Jim is such a kind old man, and it was great to talk to him. He told me how often he practices, how he loves playing Bocce Ball and has been using them to help practice Shot-Put and work out. He told me about his girlfriend, his friends and teammates and their sports at the day's events, and mostly loved to talk about how much he loves his sports. He also told me about an amazing camp he goes to for 10 days, with a huge lake, nice dorm-like cabins, a swimming pool, and even an outdoor movie theatre. I was super curious about this, and he seemed obviously put-off from saying it was for the handicapped. It's obvious that Jim does not think of himself as handicapped. He doesn't even think of himself as elderly! He thinks of himself as first a person with great aptitude and second as an athlete with great talent.
And yet, Jim isn't cruel, harsh, or a sore-loser. He was hoping to get first and definitely took the game more seriously than anyone else in his round, but he was so gracious and just happy to be playing with good competition. He's not bitter at all. And he's funny, with humor that's very appropriate and downright witty. As much as Jim was good company, mostly, he was an amazing example.
I learned so much from Jim about my own self. If a 78 year-old handicapped man can do so much with himself, why can't I focus on my own goals? He helped me realize that I, too, have great self worth and divine nature. I'm a daughter of God with even LESS hurdles than Jim has, I can accomplish just as much as I work for. Jim is my inspiration, and my example.
I didn't get what I usually expect from Youth Conference...but actually, I think I got more. I got examples that I'm going to carry with me my whole life, with whatever troubles I have. My life sometimes seems so hard, and my trials seem so aggravating, but I have it so easy. Too easy. I was born healthy into a family with good circumstances that I've lived with my whole life without having any sort of serious financial, physical, mental, or spiritual burdens. If people like Jeanne, Craig, David, Jim, and the thousands and thousands of other athletes and volunteers at Special Olympics can be so down-right amazing with trials that I can't even comprehend, I need to learn to do just as well. This weekend, I've found my examples. Now, it's my turn to be one.
"Freckles" can be found by Natasha Bedingfield
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