Throughout the summer months, thousands of LDS youth experience camps and youth conferences. The purpose is to give youth a variety of activities to stimulate their physical senses as well as to provide a spiritual resource for them.

How successful the camps and conferences are depends largely on the youth and how well adult advisers and priesthood and auxiliary leaders plan and execute their purposes.

In most of the camps and youth conferences, the youth and their adult leaders interact and learn from each other. Some activities may test their physical abilities, such as treks or Scout camps and merit badge work. Others may test their social and interactive abilities as they pull together, share common experiences and accomplish pre-set goals. But all are meant to focus on the brotherhood and sisterhood that come from associating with other Latter-day Saints in settings outside the normal 'meetinghouse' environment. This allows youth to see their priesthood and auxiliary leaders in a new light. It also allows leaders to reflect upon how programs are working in individual lives and if they are fulfilling the needs of their young charges. The camps and conferences should also allow for testimony-bearing, so that young people — who may be struggling or dealing with many of the problems associated with growing into adulthood — may realize they are not alone in their journey and have many resources to draw upon in addition to their parents and other family members.

President Gordon B. Hinckley has remarked, 'I have a great and compelling sense of gratitude and optimism about the youth of the Church. In saying this I do not wish to imply that all is well with all of them. There are many who have troubles, and many who live far beneath the high expectations we have concerning them. But even considering these, I have great confidence in our young people as a whole. I regard you as the finest generation in the history of the Church. I compliment you, and I have in my heart a great feeling of love and respect and appreciation for you' (This Favored Season, New Era, Sept. 1993 p. 4.)

With such high praise, youth leaders realize what they must do to ensure that the youth of the Church are given opportunities to serve one another, to grow ever stronger in their testimonies of the divinity of this work, and find their place in it.

What great responsibilities await our youth and what awesome responsibility we, as parents and leaders, face in guiding them as they work to achieve their eternal destinies.

Throughout His ministry the Savior warned His disciples about "offending" His "little ones." He took many opportunities to be with children, to extol their virtues and to use them in His teachings. No greater example of His love for children and youth is recorded anywhere in the scriptures as in the Savior's visit to the Nephites after His Resurrection when He took them, one by one and blessed them and spoke individually to them. (See 3 Nephi 17:10-25).

As we pursue our daily lives, we need to remember this image and how precious children and youth are in the Savior's plan. With so many challenges facing young people today, the one thing that should be constant in their lives is the love leaders and adults have for them as they teach them to serve others and guide them toward their Heavenly Father and the blessings that await them. Soon these youth will grow into adulthood and accept new responsibilities such as service as missionaries and as leaders themselves, as parents and eventually as new leaders of youth.

Our goal, then, is to provide guidance, support, and our own testimonies of the divinity of the Savior and His mission to redeem all mankind and to lift up the next generation of Church leaders by providing challenging experiences and safe activities that build character as well as testimonies. We need only reflect on our own experiences as youth, whether within the Church structure or without, to recognize the need young people have to develop a sure knowledge of the Savior's mission and their own place in building up the kingdom of God.