Retreat to mountain sanctuary - Church News

HEBER CITY, Utah — The Heber Valley Camp, a place of beauty and peace set apart in north-central Utah for the blessing of the young women of the Church, was dedicated in an afternoon ceremony Thursday, June 22. Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve presided over the ceremony at the Lucy Mack Smith Camp amphitheater and Elder Merrill J. Bateman of the Presidency of the Seventy pronounced the dedicatory prayer.

Young Women General President Susan W. Tanner and her counselors, Sister Julie B. Beck and Sister Elaine S. Dalton, were on the stand, along with former Young Women general presidents Sister Ardeth G. Kapp and Sister Janette Hales Beckham and other Church leaders. Elder Donald J. Butler, an Area Seventy, conducted the meeting and President Stan Miller of the Heber Valley Camp Priesthood Committee gave an official welcome to those attending.

The camp's weekly complement of approximately 1,200 young women and 500 leaders was joined by other invited guests in the congregation under blue skies at the sun-drenched location high in the mountains east of Heber City.

Situated on 8,000 acres of mostly wooded mountainside, the camp was first used in 2003. It has six campsites with cabins and one for tents, and expansion is continuing.

"Testimonies are gained and strengthened in a place like this," Elder Oaks said during the ceremony. "All of us who have been in the out-of-doors, whether it's in a girls camp or a Scout outing or whether it's in family camping or whatever we do, know that we can get close to our Heavenly Father. . . . I was thrilled when I heard that the First Presidency was devoting very considerable resources of the Church to putting this camp in place to serve the daughters of God and those who teach them."

Elder Oaks expressed thanks for the service of Young Women leaders and teachers, and the volunteers who built the camp and operate it for young women.

Referring to Mosiah 2:9 in the Book of Mormon, Elder Oaks stated, "King Benjamin said something that I think could well be the theme of leaders and teachers who use this great setting to perform our essential task which is not to give good times, but to build strong testimonies. Good times are a way to that, but they are not the ultimate end. . . . Testimonies are gained and strengthened in a place like this."

Paraphrasing the verse, Elder Oaks told the young women, "In this beautiful place which will be dedicated to the Lord and to His work for the benefit of His children, you will have a unique opportunity to have your ears opened, your hearts given to understanding and your minds opened that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view. May that be your happy experience in this beautiful place."

Before offering the dedicatory prayer, Elder Bateman talked about the growth of the Church in the Utah County area and south Salt Lake and said, "We're always scrambling to have a place for the young women to go because we feel so strongly about the value of the camp experience that you have."

Sister Tanner also spoke, saying, "One of the reasons that we have girls camp is because it is a place where young women come and . . . they learn something about who they are. They have a time when they can get away from the world in a place that's quiet. And they can feel Heavenly Father's love for them and they can strengthen their testimonies."

At a reception following the dedication, Elder Oaks and Sister Tanner told the Church News more about the Church's feelings about helping young women worldwide.

Elder Oaks said, "This is one of many camps the Church has to serve the young women. We also have camps that we participate in for families and for young men and so on. This one, you might think of it because of its beauty and size as a flagship. But it's part of a large fleet of camps that the Church has in North America and in other countries to serve the daughters of our Heavenly Father and to strengthen their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

Sister Tanner remarked, "All over the world we hope that girls will have some kind of an experience, a way set apart from the world where they can sense Heavenly Father's love for them, where the Spirit can witness that to them in their hearts. It doesn't have to be on a mountaintop. There are lots of places and ways where that can happen. I truly am thinking about girls all over the world."

She said a Young Women president from Portugal had been to a girls camp in Vernal, Utah. "She went home and thought, 'My young women need to have an experience like this.' She had a lot of difficulty finding a place that was set apart from the world. She didn't find a mountain, but she found a place where they could have some quiet and some safety. . . .

"I asked, 'What happened?' and she said, 'Because of the experience that the girls had, we will never not have Young Women camp again. It was so powerful in their lives.' So it can happen anywhere in the world and in lots of different ways and in lots of different places.

"The young women are all loved. We want them to know they're loved. They're loved by their Church leaders, from the very top, from President Hinckley on, but they're also loved by Heavenly Father. And we want them to know that."

The thousands who attend the Heber Valley Camp each summer stay in campsites named for prominent women in Church history and the scriptures such as Esther, Lucy Mack Smith and Marjorie Pay Hinckley. While sleeping in bunks inside cabins and using the modern rest room, shower and cooking facilities, the young women are surrounded by nature — forests, fresh air, animals — and its opportunities. They hike, participate in stations on a challenge course in the trees, play volleyball, paddle around Legacy Lake in canoes, meet around campfires and enjoy other activities.

In another way of fulfilling its purpose, when it is not used by young women, the camp is available to families, wards, stakes and other groups for a rental fee during spring, summer and autumn.

E-mail to: ghill@desnews.com

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