YM/YW Setting Things on Fire

I was sitting in church last Sunday, which was Ward Conference, and Del was conducting, as requested by the Stake President.  He was giving the announcements and I was paying attention, but not really, until he mentioned that THIS weeks YM/YW activity 'would be at the Bishop's house'.  EVEN THAT didn't hit me as unusual until I remembered Del was the Bishop.  That meant MY house on Wednesday night.  I quickly looked up from my appt book in my lap to catch Dels eye and gave him MY eye.  I heard a few giggles from those who had seen my surprised reaction and just kind of shook my head like ,'this is going to happen a lot'.
When Wednesday came, I had the back yard cleaned up and the patio nice so that there would be plenty of room for everyone to hang out.  The youth arrived with their leaders and within 30 minutes, the boys had taught all the girls how to build campfires and we had two roaring fires going.  The girls were passing off requirements for girls camp and the boys were getting things ready to roast hot dogs and marshmallows while Del took some of the youth out into our forest to gather wood.  I was hanging back with some behind the scene details as I wasn't feeling well and really didn't want to get anyone sick.
The evening was a blast - the kids all did great with participation, hanging out and getting things done.  The leaders let the kids do most of the work and when it was finished, we did some clean up before the night ended with some of the boys starting to arm wrestle on one of the benches Del had made.  Several of the boys wrestled and then one of them asked to wrestle the Bishop.  Uh Oh.  Of course, Del kept it quiet that he was both the Idaho State wrestling champion and on his mission and at Ricks College too.  He just casually went up to the bench and started with the first boy who challenged him.  One after one, Del showed them some good competition but I could tell how easy it was for him to beat each one of them.  So the boys thought they would start to bring on some of the 'BIG GUNS' - the football players. The cheering from the crowd got louder and louder as Del took them each down and they each brought out their cellphones to start recording the action.  After Del had beat each of the boys, some of the YM leaders decided they might want to step up and show the boys some real competition.  Del beat the first two of them with little effort, but then one of the counselors, a former football player came up to take his turn.  It looked like the Bishop might have his first 'real' competitor...and even though it took just a little longer and with the kids a little louder with their cheers and encouragement, Del took him out.  The kids were making comments about their Bishop and how 'surprised they were and impressed with how awesome THEIR Bishop was'.  I was trying not to smile as I very casually made my way up to the bench and took my place in front of the current champion, extending my arm out in position to compete.  The kids and leaders all cheered and yelled to the Bishop to wrestle me, so he came over and extended his arm.  Right before the countdown happened, I leaned over and kissed Del and then took his arm down.  He let me.  Everyone laughed and cheered and clapped for me....I stood up and said, 'It's all in the kiss.'  They knew Del had let me easily beat him.  It was funny.  What a sweet gesture.
After everyone had left and Del and I were outside putting out the fire and cleaning up some of the last garbage, I told him thank you for letting me beat him and expressed how pleased I was that the youth and leaders seemed to have such a great love and respect for him, not because of his wrestling abilities, but because he was a Bishop willing to be right there in the middle of fun with each of them - helping to teach them - helping to encourage them - loving them and being close to them.  He had just finished 4 days of TREK with them the previous week, where he had developed relationships with them, encouraging them to work through the toughness of TREK and finding success in achieving their TREK goals.  And then he had made each of them a wood plaque/pencil holder to help them remember TREK and now, he had just been with them at HIS house, once again, sharing a memory with them.  And several of them had already made comments of how 'hands on' he was and how much they admired him.  I was proud.
He already has a great love for the youth and I can see how much he wants to help them in their pursuit of happiness.  They will love him the more they get to know him and realize how much HE loves them.
Another thing I realized...our home is perfect for our life now and for Del being Bishop.  We had about 50+ people here and we could have had at least 100 more.  It will be a great 'gathering' place for both our immediate family and our ward family.  I am seeing direct correlation to promises made in my patriarchal blessing about our home.  I am so happy we are where we are.  The Lord loves us.