I Am Canadian!

as a true Canadian I have done some of the most Canadian things there are to be done! Polar dips, snow swimming, hockey on a frozen pond, be emotionally involved during the Stanley Cup Finals, enjoy a wonderful picnic on July 1st and cheerfully get my timmy ho's hot chocolate on my way to work in the morning! Nothing puts me in a better mood than a stadium full of Hockey fans singing "Oh Canada, Our home and Native Land!!" yes I AM CANADIAN! and one of my favourite (yes, Canadians put "U"s in words such as favourite, honour, and neighbour) things to do is go winter camping on Family Day long weekend! winter Camp is one of the best camps there really is! just you and the truth north strong and free out there! I fondly remember my first winter camp!

I remember preparing everything to go to camp weeks before and getting my duffle bag all stuffed the night before we left! it was a long drive into the beaver mines area (yes once again we have entered into the depths of the Rocky Mountains for another Lesson!) we drove in and got everything off the truck! well most of us did that! 2 people were selected to start the fire! they would have to create a fire place, collect dead and dry pine limbs and light a decent fire! the rest of us were to set up camp! construct  a lean-to or a quincy (our sleeping quarters) set up the cooking area! you know, make camp to be our home for the next 4 days! by the time every one had set up camp the fire had also been set a blaze and we were ready for lunch and the beginning of camp! lunch was normally fire roasted hot dogs with chips and a pop! (yes another northern term) (how do you keep drinks cold? no need for coolers, it's winter camp, dig a fridge out of the snow!) some would construct a sauna (two of my brothers served their missions in Finland.... saunas have been adopted into the family tradition) out of a few trees, plastic wrap and pine bows! rocks were collected out of the stream bed and viola, you have a steam room at camp! how would that work you ask? well that is easy! the rocks collected out of the stream sat in the fire all day and collected heat (the black rocks with white specs wouldn't explode and held heat the best) then they were taken out of the fire at night and placed in the little plastic room were benches were lashed up! water was collected in buckets from the stream and ladled onto the stones to create the steam! this would create a sauna even the Fin's could be proud of! then we would get

tobogganing hill set up with it's various runs and jumps! after that the day light was fading and we would have to gather round the fire to dry off and eat dinner! during the night the lean-tos were optimal sleeping arrangements for their optimal use of the fires heat! last person to go to sleep would throw a good sized log on the fire and it would keep everyone warm for the rest of the night! in the morning first one up puts a few logs on the fire and it will catch real quick! that day would be a day of fun! play snow football, or play hockey on the frozen stream! take a few runs down tobogganing hill! and eat as desired! as you shed layers you hung them on the front of your lean-to so they were dried by the fire and didn't become solid Ice! then you go right back to what ever you wanted to do! winter camp was always fairly lax! just keep camp clean and have fun! snow ball fights were not uncommon and nor were was snow stroking after sitting in the steam room (snow stroking is "swimming" (more like rolling) in the snow while your body temperature is high (really really fun to do)) winter camp is crazy fun and one of my favorite things to do! when camp was over everything had to be taken down (common courtesy in Canada is to make the camp brand new for the next people to use it! even if you are in the middle of no where!) the sauna was destroyed, the lean-tos dismantled, everything packed up into the trucks! the last thing to be done was put out the fire!

now, you ask, what lesson has been gathered from this purely Canadian experience? again that is an easy one! (you seem to ask a lot of easy questions in this blog) It's the Fire! allow me to explain! conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ has many different parts that are important! many things that will be necessary however those things come second to one other thing! Testimony! the most important aspect of conversion to Christs church is the testimony received through the manifestation of the Holy Ghost! it must be first on our to do list! much like the fire is first on the to do list at winter camp! but more than that! it must be constant! if we only built the fire atthe first and forgot about it until it was needed again, clothes would be Icy, sauna stones would be cold, food would be raw and bed would be frozen! in other words camp would be 0% fun! and 100% unbearable! the fire must be constant, our testimony must be constant! the thing about fire is it takes a lot of work! often times starting out small, very small and slowly being built up! twigs first, sticks next, branches after and logs to follow until a roaring bonfire of testimony burns within our breast! and then we can enter into other important and fun aspects of the gospel! however not to be forgotten is that fire is a hungry beast and must be fed constantly! once a fire is fed logs it refuses to take anything else! it must either be fed more logs or be reduced to a smaller size! the same goes for our testimonies! once we have built it up we must be feeding it more quality and quantity or else it will fade! constant effort is needed to keep it burning within! everything at camp depended on the fire! our testimony must influence all aspects of our lives!

WMI? LIGHT A TESTIMONY, RIGHT NOW!!