Chaperoning a convention can be a most rewarding experience. By rewarding I do not mean outward praise but rewarding in the sense of personal and spiritual growth. Relationships were made with some of our young people which we feel are beneficial to them and to us. Some have kept in contact with us from our first time chaperoning in 1981. Spiritual growth is another major benefit of chaperoning. The time spent in preparation for leading discussion groups and the imput from the young people both contribute to our (and their) spiritual growth. Sometimes the spiritual depth our young people have is amazing!
Lest I paint a picture that is too rosy I must add that sometimes we are disappointed in the amount of time some of our young people spend in preparation. At one of our discussion groups this year only four out of ten young people had even read the outlines provided for them in the Beacon Lights. We feel that so much more could be learned with proper preparation. If families would read the outlines together and discuss them at home, the young people could bring so much more to the discussion groups.
Now let’s bring the pendulum back to the positive side. On Wednesday morning (the day we planned to go to the beach) we woke up to a pouring rain. After much scuttering about all the plans were shifted around and we had Thursday’s activities on Wednesday. At our first meeting that day the young man who led the meeting thanked God for directing all things, even the rain, so that they are used for our good. Our young people do acknowledge the Lord in all things.
To smoothly run a successful convention, cooperation and a willingness to work hard are essential. I don’t think many of us truly appreciate the amount of work our young people perform. It is so easy just to say “thank you” to them for a job well done but we would like them to know that we realize that they put hundreds of hours of work into making the convention a success and we are grateful to them.
We are looking forward to chaperoning again sometime (but please let us get some sleep!).