Eminence '08 !
As you may have seen from other blogs Eminence this year was no doubt fun and edifying.
Sadly My cameras batteries decided to die Wednesday and the extra I brought were already dead! (note to self next time make sure the extra batteries work Before leaving on Vacation!)
Here is my recap with the few pictures I have.
I arrived at Camp Sat night around 8-ish. Thankfully this year I was able to stay in a lodge room so I didn't have to worry about setting up camp in the dark. I unloaded and then headed out to find Ryan's camp site. He didn't know I was coming down Sat so I tried to surprise him but his nephew decided it would be more fun to let him know I was there.  I spent the evening with Ryan and his family just relaxing after a long car ride.
Sunday I attended Summersville. Ryan and I left early so we would have seats but even getting there 40 minutes early we had to sit in the entryway where I sadly wasn't able to hear much of the lessons. The singing was great! But I will have to ask someone else to pass along the teaching of Grant Riggins and Eric Owens. Sunday night we attended Flat Rock and were able to grab a seat up front and heard a lesson by brother Kevin Morton About remembering your creator.
Monday's speaker was Louis Garbi and his topic was "Silver in your Hair" He talked about honoring those who are older than us and those that have more experience than us.
Monday afternoon we head to the bluff where I successfully didn't get burned!!! I got some pink on my back but it never hurt and is now nicely tanned. The river was up but I didn't jump off the bluff this year. I'm sure I would have had Elijah right behind me and I don't think Ryan would have appreciated that. Ha! After we returned to the camp grounds it was time for the pot luck dinner. As always it was delish! Monday night also was the only night that I was about to join a group of wonderful signing at the entrance to the campground
Tuesday's speaker was Tom Woody and his topic was "Silver in your mouth" Tom talked about making sure our words are spoken correctly and season with grace and "Morton" Salt. (Took me a while but I got the joke)
Tuesday afternoon Ryan, Elijah, Celeste, Jenna, Zach, and I headed down the river on the float trip. Well we started out together. We got separated several times as Ryan and Elijah were the only two tied together. We meet up again several times and meet up with other groups that had gotten split up. This time though I wasn't as fortunate to hide from the sun. The water shoes I was wearing were not my normal shoes and they don't cover the top of my foot. Not thinking I didn't put any sun block on the top of my feet and they get burned very nicely!
As you can see my tan lines were hilarious! (Note: this picture was taken last Sunday, five days after the initial burn.) Because the burn was so bad I spent most of Tuesday night in my lodge room chilling from the sunburn. Sadly that meant I missed the Hot dog roast. Ryan was nice enough to grab me some food and we had an impromptu picnic on the floor of the lodge room. Afterwards Ryan persuaded me to leave my room and we played a couple rounds of Uno at the Dowdy compound, where Lelia became very frightening to be around 
Wednesday's speaker was John Lee and his topic was "Talents of Silver" John talked about the wise and foolish servants that were given talents by their masters and the two wise servant were about to double their talents with little effort and the foolish servant was not able to double his talent and spent more energy burying it than taking a risk to increase his talent.
Wednesday afternoon Ryan and I stayed around the camp ground to give my feet some more time to heal from the burn. While being lazy we found out that James had found the infamous "view" that his brother Jason has first found years ago. We decided that after church we would try and reach "the view" by sunset. We weren't able to make it by sunset but we still were able to see the beauty of God's handiwork.
(Kylee’s a bit more adventures than I am!)
Thursday's speaker was Charles Fry and his topic was "Silver in your Purse" and how we are to use our money outside of the church as well as with the church to help others.
Thursday afternoon I decided not to go on the canoe trip as I'm already deathly afraid of the S-curves when the river is down. Ryan went on without me and I got to spend some time with my roommates for the week that I'm didn't see as much as I normally do. When Ryan got back we had some leftover dinner and headed to the first showing of the “revised” talent show. Afterwards Ryan grabbed my keys and we headed off on an adventure. I had never been to Ally Springs and Thursday night was going to be the only night I was able to see it. We arrived at dusk and before we even parked I could tell there was a mist over the spring. I think it made the place even prettier.
Yep, thats the red mill in the background
See how blue the water is?
It's amazing how all that plant life survives under so much rushing water.
One of sevearl caves found on the trail
AHHH a cave monster!
Friday's speaker was Rick Sparks and his topic was "Silver in the Church". Sadly I didn’t hear much of Rick’s lesson. Ryan left at break and I was helping him get ready to leave. When I got back Rick’s lesson was already over and he was answering questions.
After Rick’s Lesson I started to pack and load my car as I was also leaving on Friday. This was the first time in a long time that I have left camp on a Friday and to be honest it was a little weird leaving with the majority of the campers.
After it’s all said and done the week was a blast and I’m already looking forward to next year! Thanks for reading! | 
