Marissa - A Really Great Girl!

My main purpose of doing this blog is to keep a family history and to have a way to let our family know what is going on with us in Kansas. I just really felt a need to do this post so this could be a part of our family history even though Marissa may not like it a lot (because she is so humble and doesn't like attention drawn to herself!)It is hard to believe that in a little more than 3 weeks Marissa will be leaving for college and our whole family will no longer be living under one roof! It will be weird not to have her here. However, I LOVED BYU and I am so excited for her to go to BYU. She is really excited, too, and I just know it is going to be an incredible experience for her!

I feel so grateful to have Marissa as my oldest child. She is such a good kid and incredible example to her younger siblings. She is a great student and so conscientious. The only grade she ever got in high school was an A. She has never been a follower and has no problem walking away from a bad situation. She does the right thing just because it is right and because she has a really strong conscience. She is also very thoughtful of others.

For girls camp this year, Marissa presented the idea of tie dying t-shirts for the youth leaders by using spray paint. She also cut the letters for the girls name from freezer paper and ironed them onto the shirts in advance. She also came up with an idea to differentiate the youth leaders by different colored headbands. Even before girls camp started, the leaders in charge of camp were very grateful for her help.

Once she got to camp, the stake camp leader over her level got sick and went home. The adult leader was there the first night when the youth leaders were there, but left before the first night with all the girls there. Once she left, Marissa became the "adult leader" over her level. She went to the special daily meetings with the the other adult level leaders. She also continued to do all her jobs as a youth leader as well. It was a bit stressful, but she felt like it was a great learning experience. She said that she could tell that she really "grew up" this week at camp.

When she got home, she told me that it really started to get annoying how many people were coming up and telling her how she did such a great job. Every adult camp leader that I have talked to since camp has also come up to me and told me what an amazing job she did. I've also had people who weren't at camp that have come up and told me that they heard what an amazing job Marissa did at camp. She definitely made a very positive impression on lots of people! The bishop told me on Sunday that he had at least 10 people come up and tell him how great Marissa had been at camp including the stake president, camp director and stake young women's president. Marissa doesn't like attention drawn to her, but she isn't afraid to take charge and get things done. She definitely likes things to be done efficiently!

Marissa really wants to be an EFY counselor and she won't be old enough for 2 years. However, when she is ready to apply she should have a whole posse of people ready to give her a glowing recommendation!!