It was mid July of 2017 when I drove under the archway of Camp Shawnee with a van full of teenage girls. We were giddy with excitement and ready to take on the next three days of Girls’ Camp together.
I had been called to be a leader over them, and I was loving it. It was a lot of work, but that also meant a lot of blessings.
We pulled up to our campsite—a gorgeous spot in the middle of the mountains just north of Ogden, Utah—and after unloading, setting up tents, and getting organized, we sat down to go over the itinerary. It was jam-packed with hikes, meal prep for the masses, devotionals, group activities, singing, etc. It all sounded fun, but the thing the girls were most excited for was the rope course on the last day.
Days one and two flew by. There was a ton of laughing, chatting, hair braiding, pranking, and even spiritual moments. There were some super memorable moments, too, including a rattlesnake, a fun murder, and a pet racoon. We were having a blast, and before we knew it, day three was upon us.
“Are you going to go on with the girls?” I asked a fellow leader, Kallie, as we walked to the rope course. I myself had no intention of participating. It’s not that I’m afraid of heights, per se. I’m just afraid of falling from heights, and the thought of being held up by a little rope over the side of a mountain wasn’t very comforting.
She laughed, “Nope! You?”
“Not even a little. I’ll be the one taking pictures of everyone else while my feet are safely planted on the ground.”
One of the girls, clearly eavesdropping, stopped and swirled around. “Uh-uh. If we don’t get a choice, you don’t either! You’re both going. You’re our leaders, so you have to set the example!”
We laughed, and for the next fifteen minutes, went back and forth with the girls about the matter. These girls, even the shyest of the group, were all planning to do the course. They hyped themselves up for the past few days and were determined that everyone, including leaders, experience it.
By the time we arrived, our resolve had weakened. Kallie and I, guilty of being chickens and knowing the girls were right, agreed to do the course together. The one stipulation was that we go last so no one was rushing us.
The girls were elated and did their best to hype us up, too, but we were both incredibly nervous.
Now, I know what you must be thinking. What’s the big deal, Alisha? You’re strapped in, it’s totally safe. Plus it can’t be that bad if they’re letting kids do it.
To that I’d say, Yeah, well, those kids were young, spry, and didn’t have an extra eighty pounds they were carrying around. Kallie and I, however, weren’t built like those tiny teens with their athletic bodies. This was going to be hard for us physically and mentally.
But, being the amazing leaders that we were, we slipped on the safety harnesses (which gave us an instant Betty Boop butt lift), and paid very close attention to the instructions the guide was giving us.
With my heart racing, I watched as Kallie clipped what I called our “umbilical cord” to the guideline above her head. Nervousness plastered on her face, she took a few steps onto the taut rope and walked out over the huge drop off from the mountainside.
Don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down…
I repeated the phrase over and over. Hands shaking and already sweaty from the heat, I mimicked her actions, clipping my own umbilical cord to the guideline and slowly making my way after her.
Kallie was just a couple feet in front of me when all of a sudden, she lost her footing and slipped off the rope. My heart dropped with her as she dangled twenty feet above the ground. Logically, I knew she was clipped in, knew that she would be fine, but holy guacamole was it terrifying watching her fall!
She struggled to grab the rope she was tethered to and fought to get her feet back on the bottom line. It took a few minutes, but finally she righted herself. We made it to the first landing and were already on the verge of tears. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to just turn around and head back. The rules were, once you started, you had to finish, and we were only a quarter of the way in.
We stood on the platform and shook out our hands and arms. We knew it was going to be hard, knew we were out of shape, but neither of us had any idea how painful it would be.
Our shoulders burned from walking with our arms above us, our hands were numb and tingling from all the blood draining down, and our legs were wobbly.
I desperately wanted to sit down, to drink some water and be on steady ground, but the tiny platform only allowed enough room to stand close to the tree it was attached to. We waited a few minutes, building our courage back up before moving onto the next section.
This time, instead of a rope, there were swinging logs to walk across. Initially, that seemed like an improvement, but we quickly realized there was a new challenge now. While the logs were much wider, they weren’t as stable. They swung back and forth, side to side, with each small movement we made. The worst part though, was going from one log to the next. We had to stretch our stubby legs as far in front of us as we could before we were able to place our feet on the next log, and we had to do this four or five times!
By the time we made it to the next platform, our whole bodies shook with exhaustion and burned with pain. We hurt in places we didn’t even know we had! What really blew, was that this platform wasn’t one we could easily step onto.
Noooo…you see, the creators of the course were clearly sadists. Their idea of fun was to make the course not only scarier by moving it further away from the mountainside and higher into the trees, but to make it physically harder the closer you got to the end!
At this point, Kallie and I were ready to unclip and swan dive to our fateful ends just to be done. There was no more laughing, no more energy to encourage one another to keep going, no more smiles whatsoever from us. What we had hoped would’ve been fun, was awful, and the only way out was through.
The second landing was tricky, requiring us to half-climb in order to get on top. It took a little finagling, but we figured it out. We didn’t spend as much time on the second platform though. Like I said, we were done, and wanted nothing more than to hurry and finish.
Kallie stepped on to the next obstacle…thin slats, spaced wide apart, that looked like they would snap in half if a toddler bounced on them too hard. I was sure these tiny toothpicks weren’t going to be able to support our weight.
I held my breath, and waited my turn.
One shaking step after another, Kallie led the way to the third platform. Just one more to go! But because the course was getting harder, this platform was nowhere near our feet. It wasn’t even near our knees like the second one was. The third platform was friggin’ waist high.
I let a few choice words fly, then quickly apologized, feeling bad that I cussed in front of another church leader. But Kallie, bless her heart, didn’t care at all.
“That pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly!” She gruffed as she ungracefully flopped like a fish onto the platform.
Despite our tiredness and bad moods, this, of all things, made us laugh.
I followed suit, flopping myself and all my blubber onto the narrow landing.
“There’s three paths,” Kallie said.
“What?” I hoisted myself to a standing position and peered around the tree. Freakin’ A…she’s right.
Path number one looked to be the shortest path, and was pretty much a straight rope to the final platform where the zipline portion of the course awaited us. Path two might’ve been a little longer, with zigzag boards that also led to the platform. Path three was definitely the longest, and included trapeze looking bars.
Yeah, hard pass on that one!
“Hey, which one’s the easiest?” Kallie hollered to the rope monitor perched in a nearby tree. He pointed to the first path.
“You sure?” she asked.
“Yup! I’m sure.”
He sounded confident enough, but doubt clouded my mind as I calculated the huge drop from the platform down to the rope.
I watched as Kallie courageously scuttled down and placed her tiptoes on the line. I copied her moves once she was balanced, and dropped down myself.
Uh-oh.
While this rope looked like the one at the beginning of the course, it was definitely NOT the same. It was much thinner, and the guideline that hung above was higher. Kallie was a few inches taller than me, so it didn’t seem that dramatic of a distance watching her, but once I was on the rope, I had to stretch my arms high above my head in order to fully grasp the guideline.
My whole body was screaming at me. I was hot, I was tired, I was in pain. My shoulders and back muscles were on fire, my legs were weak and wobbly.
Just a little further, we’re almost there, I told myself.
Although it felt a lot longer, in just a few minutes Kallie and I made it to the fourth and final platform. It was much wider, with a rope attendant standing on the opposite side, and had a little caddy for zipline equipment at the ready.
But it was also chest high!
No matter what Kallie did, she couldn’t hoist herself onto the platform. Minute after minute, she tried and tried, but nothing worked. The rope attendant even tried helping, pulling her by the arms and doing what he could to get her up, but no dice. She was too tired, too weak to get herself that high.
I was exhausted from holding on to the guideline. I looked behind me, thinking maybe we could trek back. But the third platform was just as high.
We were stuck.
We desperately racked our brains trying to figure out how to get on the last landing. I offered my knee to her for leverage, but the rope we stood on was too thin, and my foot kept slipping anytime she’d put her foot on me.
The girls had all finished the course by now and were watching as we fought the losing battle. We couldn’t make out what they were saying, but we could hear them hooping and hollering encouragingly. It didn’t matter though. No amount of motivation could combat the facts—the platform was just too high for Kallie.
With tears streaming down our faces and pain shooting through our bodies, we tried over and over, helplessly failing each time. Two other rope attendants came over, one with a tiny rope ladder that he hooked to the side of the tree. But it was too little, too late. Kallie was beyond exhausted and over emotional. I stood close to Kallie and watched as the three attendants pushed and pulled her violently. She shouted in pain and sobbed uncontrollably.
My heart broke for her when a simple thought entered my mind…
I twisted my gaze to the girls and yelled to them, “Girls! We need a prayer!”
Closing my eyes, with my numb hands grasping the rope above, I prayed out loud, asking God to help us figure out a way to get safely to the ground. Before I could finish, another thought, small and quiet, whispered, “Back up…”
Legs shaking, I stepped back one step, two steps, three steps. And then I saw it.
One of the ropes connected to the other paths was securely tethered to the tree, about halfway between the platform and the rope Kallie and I stood on. I tilted my head to the side, thoughts racing.
That’s it. That’s her leverage. We had been standing too close to see it before, but if Kallie could step on that rope, it might give her enough of a boost to get on the platform.
“Kallie!” I yelled, “There’s a rope to your right, just under the landing! Use that to step on!”
She turned her tear-stained face to mine, then back to the tree, desperate to see what I saw. The attendant behind her bent down, looking for the same thing. Once he saw it, he guided her foot to it. Steadying her the best he could, he braced Kallie’s back, and ten seconds later, she was laying on the platform.
Gratitude poured through me as I thanked Heavenly Father for showing me a solution.
We made it back to the ground, and the girls circled around us. With smelly hugs and happy smiles, they celebrated our accomplishments.
“Sister Coakley, it was the craziest thing!” One of the girls said as we walked to the next activity on the list. “When we saw Kallie crying, we had the strongest feeling to say a prayer for her. So we huddled in a circle, and I swear, as soon as we said ‘Amen’, we turned around and watched as she got on the platform!”
I cocked my head to the side, “You girls didn’t say a prayer when I hollered at you?”
“You hollered? We didn’t hear that at all.”
That night, we shared our experiences during testimony meeting, and my heart was filled with the spirit as I realized a few things.
First, peer pressure can happen at any age! And that doesn’t mean just for bad things, but for good things, too. Believe it or not, doing that rope course was actually a good thing for Kallie, myself, and those who witnessed our struggles and successes while navigating it.
Second, Heavenly Father really can and will work ALL things to our good. Yes, the course was scary, and hard, and physically it beat us up (Kallie more than me, just check out her bruises!), but it also gave us and the girls an opportunity to witness answered prayers!
Finally, I realized that the solution to every problem is always there. It already exists. We just may not be able to see it because we’re either standing too close, or we’re letting exhaustion, pain, and dismay block our vision.
But it is always there.
We just need to include God in the process and allow ourselves to step back. As we do, He can show us more information, and inspire others to help give us a leg up.
I need to know what this “fun murder” was. 😅
LOL. Long story short, all the wards had to create a cadence to introduce themselves (the theme was Army Bootcamp) and when we created ours, we thought it was just supposed to be short and sweet.
Well, everyone else was super creative, but one ward (4th Ward) went above and beyond. Theirs was so funny and left us feeling like total ding dongs for not bringing our A game.
Not ones to ever been shown up, me, my girls, and the other leaders decided to recreate our cadence (we were supposed present them at the beginning of each day). So we spent time creating a whole new song that introduced all the girls and leaders, but it got “dark” real quick lol.
We had verses introducing each girl and leader, but about halfway through, the verses started hinting to our ability to hide bodies and keep secrets and what not. I’ll have to see if I still have the lyrics around (there is a video but it’s not the best quality, you can barely hear what’s being said but you can see our little skit).
We said things like how one leader was a CNA and how lucky we were that she could help switch out our DNA, then we talked about another leader named Bryce who was really nice and might’ve let us use his truck to put a body on ice, etc…
During the second half, we even convinced the leader of the 4th Ward to play along with us and staged a whole murder (if you fast forward on the video about halfway, you can hear her scream and then see the girls running after her and dragging her behind the truck). We even created a body bag that we used at the end of the skit and then finished our cadence by letting everyone know if anyone goes missing, not to blame us or they’ll be swimming in the lake with cement shoes (something to that effect).
It was super fun. Here’s the video link: https://youtu.be/hdxrGkFuf4M?si=xQNsrJc3oa4HxPJS
Thank you Alisha for sharing this. Your courage, strength, and endurance reminded me of a scripture that I love. This is it. And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.
Doctrine & Covenants 84:88. I testify that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.