YSA activities are fun are multiple levels. I will explain here why Southeast Idaho's most recent Multi-Stake YSA Luau was particularly amusing. First: you get to have fun themed parties with your friends! One of you goes to DI and finds surprise outfits to dress up in. See below for our men's Hawaiian shirts. We did have to cut shoulder pads out of one of these shirts, and one shirt came with a floor length skirt (not pictured here). We giggled over that skirt for a good ten minutes. Photo Cred: iPhone Self Timer
(It also took us like 10 tries inside and outside the house to get a decent photo. I should have brought my selfie stick. Lesson learned). Thank you Lindsey and Cassidy for going to DI to get us all decked out for the occasion. It totally made a difference! Second: you get GOOD food. The first question that is asked after every announcement of an activity is if/what kind of food will be there. This party had a rumored roasted pig within a pig, although I did not see the big within the pig with my own eyes (the joke “pig-ception” was made several times, every time with a smug look that the person was the only one to think of the joke). I intend to believe that plausible rumor about the pig within the pig for the rest of my life. Third: people watching. People watching is one of my favorite activities and Mormons are "a peculiar people." I love going to restaurants in Rexburg and interpreting how dates are going. I have even read books about body language to get better at this. YSA activities are none the less exciting, and here’s why. This particular YSA activity was a dance. And there was in attendance a boy from the ward I was in who is particularly… interesting. He has a tendency to over share personal stories in Sunday School and post sad/funny posts on our ward’s Facebook page. I know he is in need of some attention, but he is going about it in the wrong ways (I’m not a mean person! I am just stating fact here). Let’s call him Charlie. Towards the end of the night, a slow song came on. I was hot and without a dance partner so I decided to get some water. The slow song had ended by the time I walked passed one of my roommates. She pointed to the other side of the field where Charlie was still slow dancing with a girl after the slow song had ended, now into the next pop/rap song. Some in our group thought that was a little romantic, but the others thought it odd. I felt it was somewhere in the middle of cute and creepy… The girl he was dancing with did not seem to mind this little romantic gesture. So we watched what was going to happen next. We were all intrigued. Well, this goes “slow dancing” on for three songs. (Yes, we are watching for all three songs). A part of me was worried for her safety; he gives all the girls the creeps, I mean ALL the girls. I am not sure she realized this yet… She looked a little young, and if she is anything like me as a 19-year-old, I would have fallen for that too. In the middle of the second song, Charlie switched his forward facing hat, so that the brim is facing backwards. Oh, man… He is totally going to go in for a kiss! A group of my friends have now gathered watching this interaction. Straight up staring. There was no subtly from our group. It takes another song and a half before he moves in. (Most of the group misses it, because we were laughing at a joke someone made. Two people saw the kiss, I was not one of them). Props to you dude. Bold, very bold. But we could tell the girl wasn’t that into it. She was more taken by surprise. I mean, I was surprised she was surprised. There were lots of signs! But just because she slow danced for four (not-all slow songs) with a guy, doesn’t mean she wanted him to make the move. After the kiss her body language changed, and as the fourth song ended she broke the hold and crossed her arms. We concluded that she liked the kiss because she kept hanging around. Although, it was clear she didn’t want it to happen again. The dance ended and they started walking to the parking lot. Our little group starts to panic. We know that Charlie didn’t drive himself there. We weren’t sure where his ride went, but he wasn’t talking to anyone about getting a ride. He was following her to her car! We knew that maybe it wasn’t a good idea for the girl to be alone with Charlie. Maybe someone a little older could have held her own, but she looked a little naïve. (Yes, I am making assumptions here; but her look and body language was helping us with those assumptions). Our group and this couple crossed paths on the way to the parking lot when we over hear her say, “Do you need a ride home?” Uh oh. We need to do something. Our group got in our car. We were all chatting about how to save the girl from him. The driver was like “let’s just go shine our lights on them for a minute, maybe that will break them up.” So we did. But it was obvious more action was required. Without a plan, I jumped out of the car. I needed to save her. I turn on the flashlight to my phone. Right as I am walking up the girl’s two friends also walk to up and makes their way to the car. A little bit of relief comes over me. But I’m still in motion. A thought came to me! I acted like I “lost” my keys. I asked Charlie and the three girls to help me find the keys. I was sure that I had lost them in the exact area where they were standing. Everyone started to look around. I had no plan from there. How was this going to help save the girl? One comforting moment was when I overheard the two friends talking to Charlie’s girl that they needed a ride home too. Good, she wouldn’t be completely alone with him the whole time. This search goes on for a couple of minutes and I had no out. I needed to make one. This was going nowhere. I look back at the car and yelled to my friends, “Can you guys check in the car again for my keys?” Hoping that my friends would pick up on the fact that I wanted out there. They did pick up on my hint! They waved my keys out the window and yelled, “They were in here the whole time!” “Oh, silly me! Thanks for the help everyone!” I said, and I got back in the car. That was pointless. I updated my friends on what I overheard and we concluded there was nothing left we could do. So we begin our journey home, still worried over her safety. A couple minutes into our drive, my one friend leans over to me and says, “You could have whispered to her friends not to leave her alone with him.” WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT? That would have been a great idea, but alas, I wasn’t that quick on my feet. The girl would suffer a consequence that I couldn’t get her out of. I guess you really can’t help everyone. And some Mormons are really a peculiar people Lesson learned. For the rest of the weekend I wondered what happened to the girl. We all hoped that she made it out unscathed. Although, the mystery will probably never be solved. To all you girls out there reading this, be careful about who you left slow dance with you for four songs. You never know where it could lead. All in all, it was a fun night. I got to dress up, eat pig within a pig, and got to people watch with a meager attempt to try to save a girl from a creepy guy. Although I was unsuccessful in two of the three things, the YSA activity did not disappoint in the entertainment factor. That’s manly what YSA activities are for.
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