The very first Stake Aaronic Priesthood Camp of the reorganized Far West Missouri Stake was held from May 27th-30th, 2026. When the Stake Young Men’s Presidency initially set out to organize the camp, they started by asking young men what things they’d like to experience while at camp.
Many young men expressed that they wanted a challenge over the course of camp and that they also wanted downtime where activities were less structured. The theme for camp this year was “Camp Israel: Becoming Soldiers of God.” The desire of the Stake Young Men’s presidency was for the young men attending to step away from their daily routines to build lasting unity, strengthen their testimonies of the Savior, and—of course—have a lot of fun in the great outdoors.
The camp kicked off with an orientation meeting where all attending were given the lay of the land, camp rules, and an explanation of how our days would generally be structured. A journal and a pen were given to each young man to record thoughts and impressions over the course of camp. The general schedule for each day included breakfast, devotional, a main activity, lunch, free time, dinner, and fireside. Meals were headed by Brother Brandon Redford and the ward assigned to that meal. Activities were led by Brother Andrew Owens and supported by ward leaders. Main activities included: tower and teepee building, kayaking/swimming, and shotgun shooting. Devotional topics and material were given to youth leadership for each ward, and wards held devotionals on their own time after breakfast. During free time, young men had the opportunity to study, ponder, journal, socialize, play yard games, whittle on projects, swim, kayak, play card games, lie in hammocks, or traverse the tower.
On our first day at camp, the young men enjoyed building a 20-foot tower that tested their ability to work together in teams and master and apply the knots they were shown. Our second day consisted of a shooting activity that lasted more than five hours, where the young men took turns shooting clay pigeons with shotguns. Our final camp activity consisted of swimming and kayaking.
We were blessed by insightful and spirit-filled devotionals provided by President Mayne, President Hunt, and Brothers Bingham and Redford. The boys ate well, played hard, and grew closer to each other and the Savior. We love the youth of this stake and are grateful for the way that they treated each other over the course of camp. We could not have had a successful camp without the inspiration and hard work of our Stake Young Men’s Presidency and the devotion and sacrifice of the amazing ward leaders who gave of their time and talent to mentor and support their youth. We look forward to many more wonderful Aaronic Priesthood Camps yet to come.
