It's been quite a while since I last posted here, so I'll do a quick reintroduction. I'm 15 years old, BIC, looked up the facts and lost all faith last year, am now an apostate who is still under TBM rule, still hang out with TBM friends (cause they're good people), and must eventually face the trial of telling my parents that I refuse to serve a mission. As I am a male, TSCC and my parents expect me to serve. Blah blah blah~

But I've always been (and still am) curious about the Especially For Youth program. A few of my TBM friends have gone and of course wouldn't stop gushing about how "IT WAS A BLAST!" and "SUCH A GREAT SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE/TESTIMONY BUILDER!". As much as I hate the overall LDS youth attitude/personality of being obnoxiously obedient (not developing your own personal beliefs/morals, but following what those above you say) while still trying to "be cool" and have "teenage fun", I want to see this... thing. The mecca, the apex, the centre of obnoxious LDS adolescence.

What do you guys think? Is it worth it? Also, anyone with previous experiences? How is it? Is it a genuinely fun experience or just a bunch of TBM hype?

I've gone to similar things, as a non-believer, and found them annoying and a waste of time. People get up, bear their testimonies, get TONS of positive feedback, which makes them feel good, and those good feelings are actually the spirit of the lard telling them that the church is twoo.

Just rent Jesus Camp. You'll see what I mean.

..like you he hates the LDS youth attitude. He had fun. I mean, he met some nice girls that he dated afterward, the dances were cool, he played sports etc, and in all he enjoyed it. I may have some value to you in terms of mere observation of the culture of Mormonism. Glad you out though dude (at least in mind anyway). You seem like a very intelligent and insightful young man. Kudos to you for seeing light, so to speak. I wish I would have seen TSCC for what it is when I was your age. Instead, I wasted my time serving a mission, etc. Don't get sucked into the attending YBU or a mission. Get your degree and set yourself free as soon as you can. Remember, its a cult, so let the cult fervor of EFY get to you. See for what it is. Just because a bunch of morgbots stand around cryin' their brains out as they say, "I know, I know, I know..." don't mean a thang. Idiots.

Even as a TBM I thought EFY was a horrible experience. I definitely think it would be even worse for someone who doesn't believe in the church. The last time I went was 4 years ago. Here are some of the things I absolutely hated:

-Waking up at the crack of dawn for devotionals. I actually had to teach a devotional to my group one time.
-Devotionals at night before going to bed
-Personal scripture study every morning
-Classes, classes, classes....so boring!
-Having to be escorted by the boys in my group whenever we went anywhere as a group
-Testimony meetings with annoying teenagers crying about how great the experience was
-Dances with the lights turned on so that you couldn't get "too close" when dancing with someone of the opposite sex

The only fun part for me was free time where I got to meet new people, but this time was extremely limited.

I wouldn't say it's as extreme as Jesus Camp. I went to the one they held in Rexburg, ID (when it was still Ricks College) around 1997 or so. They keep you pretty segregated from the opposite sex while you're not in lectures or activities. Anyone caught outside of the dorm after a certain time will have their parents called on them. They put you with a group of co-eds made up of a dozen or so people, and you hang out with them most of the time. You do get some free time every once in a while. But you still have to little projects like you would do in seminary...make up a skit based on the EFY theme, find a scripture story that has to do with so and so, etc.

You will attend a lot of lectures, maybe even a few by semi-famous Mormons speakers. They will make you feel guilty about things that you love to do with your life. They will also make you feel like the whole thing is helping your testimony grow. I got sick when I was at EFY and had to stay in bed for a whole day. They gave me a blessing, and the next day I was out and about like normal. They acted like it was a miracle, but what they didn't know is that I get these 24-hour head colds about twice a year, and I have my entire life. They used it as a faith promoting story. Ugh!

You will hear a lot of testimonies and people crying as usual, about how EFY has changed their life and when they go home they are going to change their evil ways, blah, blah, blah. I met some nice people and kept in touch with them for a few years afterward. At the time, I thought it was fun, but I was a staunch TBM. Also, it got me out of the house and away from my psycho mother.

If you plan on never going back to church after you get out of the house, what's the point of going? You will make friends that probably won't like you anymore when you leave. You will hear all kinds of testimonies and information that will make you roll your eyes. There's a lot of BS you have to put up with to have a little bit of fun. Save your money and your sanity and take a trip to Mexico with friends or something.

Your into listening to people bearing false witness, going to church all weakened (not just Sunday), hanging out with a bunch of brainwashed retards, and being left as empty as when you leave as when you get there.

When my older brothers went in the early 90's was a week long retreat at some camp site. They cut that out by the time I got old enough to go, because too many girls were coming home pregnant. So when I went it was a weekend spiritual circle jerk. And all sleeping over was at member's houses, boys and girls kept separate. If I could do it all over again I would have left the church sooner, so I wouldn't have to go to EFY. It probably depends on the area on what they do exactly for EFY, but my experience sucked.

Nothing like having religious classes all day then having a two hour testimony meeting. Yeah two hours of listening to other guys your own age crying like little girls and telling everyone how much they love them, etc, etc, etc. Why, you ask? Well let me tell you, because mormon girls got turned on by it. In the church it's not he who has the biggest schlong, but he who has the biggest testimony.

Too be completely honest, I would have got more action by staying home and jerking off.

Just one man's humble opinion.

I went like 6 years ago or so, and it was a decent time. But this could be because I went with my best friend at the time who wasn't all super-mormon and was actually a cool guy.

But yeah there are some major annoyances there. There ARE a lot of classes, and we were expected to take notes and then discuss them with our group afterwards. I have no idea what the actual classes were about now, but I'm pretty sure they're just basic Sunday School-esque classes with a bit of "youth" thrown in.

Yeah another thing that really annoyed me was the forced "escorting" of the females in your group whenever we went anywhere. I think they were trying to promote a "group-date" mentality, but I don't think the best way to do that is to force a guy and a girl to link arms whenever they went somewhere. In our group you also had to constantly change who you were escorting, so you could never eventually bond with just 1 girl. Near the end of the week we just gave up on it altogether.

But aside from all the annoying things, I had a decent time.

If you want to have a fun time with kids your age, there are way more fun things to do. My high school had an InterAct Club ( I think it was part of Rotary Club) that had really cool retreats. Other school clubs and youth organizations have retreats all the time, like Camp Fire, etc. And none of them will treat you to a lecture about the sin of masturbation.

Ours was on a college campus 1.5 hours away. I spent most of my time hiding out in the bookstore and exploring the campus. The most that I participated when we did a Special Olympics service project.

Hmm, never thought it could be this bad. I've always figured that there is some redeeming fun values in the whole thing. So is it really just a glorified high school Seminary, with some fun-ish stuff?

georgedubya Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hmm, never thought it could be this bad. I've
> always figured that there is some redeeming fun
> values in the whole thing. So is it really just a
> glorified high school Seminary, with some fun-ish
> stuff?

If you didn't like youth conference, you'll hate EFY. Although, if you can tolerate all of the BS that goes on, it might be an educational experience like Josh said. People watching is always a good idea, it sharpens your perception.

Do your friends know you are Apostate? If not, I get why its tempting to want not miss out on the experience when they are thinking you want to go as much as them. Its got to be hard to know that you won't be in the same 'club' with the people that surround you now. I hope they are mature enough to not let it effect your friendship.

I applaud you for standing up to your parents about the mission. Some people are so stressed inside that they go on the mission anyway- just to please their parents, but it can do more damage to you in the long run.

I went four times as a TBM, enjoyed/hated it but that was because of the girls. TBMs call them COW (Crush of the Week), some chick you find cute and you and all the other guys all pursue her. The other girls get jealous and hate themselves and you watch these retard bullshitter guys get the girl because they cried and said the church was true, just after they licked some poon. That's how the culture is at that age, chicks dig the badass who's all "I've changed and love Jesus now" and that'll be really annoying to witness. One time I went and my whole group was badass guys, we had a blast, but it's not worth it. With where you are in the heart, STAY THE HELL AWAY!

Hated it when I went for pretty much every reason already given. EFY is pretty much a week long version of youth conferences, which strangely I actually did enjoy, given that more of my friends were there.

After everyday of classes we couldn't even go back to our dorms and take a little break since they would want to do scripture reading till bedtime, as opposed to youth conferences when they at least gave us several hours to ourselves to go home on Saturday between classes and the dance that night.

I'd say go as long as your parents are paying. Isn't it a couple hundred bucks? If you can get them to spend the money on something else, then do that instead.

It seems that you are curious enough about social issues that you might be entertained by just people watching. You could take good notes and return and report to us. But the other thing is that you might have fun making new friends, playing sports, all that.

I don't think it matters a bit either way. Unless that money could be used somewhere else.

They used to have what I would now call motivational speakers. They were very animated and pretty loud and annoying. There were dances too, if you like that sort of thing. Food is a nice break from mom's cooking. If you have a good time with other Mormon youth's, then you might have a good time. If you find Mormon people and culture annoying, then you might find EFY unbearable. But it sounds like you enjoy being with your church friends, so it might not be a terrible experience. It is an extremely immersive Mormon experience though.

On the other hand, if you know you're not going to serve a mission, you might consider opting out of these things so that when the time comes to say no to the mission, your parents won't be quite as surprised.

If you want to go, then go. Maybe it will be fun.

EFY didn't exist when I was a kid, though I was in MI. We had youth conference, which, yeah, had the testiboring meeting, I never stood up....But we always went somewhere fun, and it was fun.

Gosh, we went to Albion college, that was the best one. We stayed in the dorms of a non-mo school, went to church in their chapel, it was tons of fun. Or we went to a campground.

But EFY, I don't know. My friends kids "have" to go, and they go to BYU for it. I don't think they know any better till they get to college, of course that is BYU too.

You could do something more fun for that money, but if you have to go, make the best of it. Make the cry-fest a game. I had to try not to laugh most of the time.