The Game of Life

I got to help a little this year with Youth Conference. My friend Becky was asked to head up "The Game of Life" on Saturday for the kids. It was basically a real life game where the kids had to manuever their way through the church building making choices that would impact their future. They were given a certain amount of money, some blessing cards and some fate cards. The kids could buy a "car", get a "house", go to "school" and even play games, go to a spa, or bounce in a bounce house. Every 30 minutes or so they were to open a fate card, which told them their next step. Some would say, "You had a baby. Go to the hospital and pay $5,000". Or "your house got flooded. If you don't have insurance, you owe the bank $10,000." Or even, "you didn't pay your fines. Go to jail". Things like that. There was a bank where they could take out loans if they didn't have enough money and an insurance company where they could insurance their property. The kids weren't given a whole lot of instruction. They just kind of had to figure it out as they went. Kind of like the REAL "game of life". I was in charge of the concession stand and we were just there to allow the kids to get a snack while they were playing the game. It was so fun to watch them run around trying to figure everything out. I heard a couple of kids say "this is the hardest game I've ever played". The kids could go to "work" and could even choose to get married in "Vegas by Elvis" or go to the "Temple". The Temple required more effort and time. They had to get a "recommend" and wait a certain amount of time. After a couple of hours of playing the game, you started to see people slowly "disappear" from the game. And afterward they had a speaker talk to the kids about the choices they make and what is really most important in life (the Temple and their family). Everything they had won while playing the game (there was a carnival with prizes) was taken from them when they "died". Some kids were really truly upset to lose their prizes. Other kids caught on and were proud of the choices they had made. It was so cool to see the impact it had made on them. At the testimony meeting that night, so many of the kids talked about the game and how it changed their perspective. And what was most interesting to me was that they got different things out of the game. It was really cool and I was so glad I got to be a part of it, in some small way. It was also just amazing to me to see all the many many people who stepped in to help. Hours and hours of service given. It was truly incredible. 

 The Temple was amazing. They transformed the whole primary room into a "celestial room" and it really had a sacred feeling to it. I wanted to just sit inside of it the whole time. 

My concession stand. It turned out well, I think!

Two youth from our ward with their respective "children". The kids weren't actually "married" to anyone in particular. Just in general terms. Some of the kids chose to "marry" each other though. It was pretty funny!

The spa!

A couple of carnival booths.

The bank

And university. They had some really fun "teachers" come in and teach the kids on different subjects. So they actually got something out of their school experience. 

This murual was amazing! Hand painted by a guy in our stake. I was thoroughly impressed.

Becky and I didn't leave until about 9pm that night. By the time we loaded up the car, their wasn't much room for us, so I ended up with a jungle of flowers surrounding me. Maybe we were just exhausted, but it was hilarious to us. Yeah…we must have been exhausted!