Six months ago, on a very cool, rainy Monday morning, May 12th to be exact, I packed my bags, a sleeping bag and a small cot into my car and headed up Payson Canyon to spend a week at Camp Maple Dell, a campsite of The Boy Scouts of America. Destination: Wood Badge Course W7-591-05-08. By the time I reached Payson the rain had turned to snow and I was beginning to wonder what kind of a week lay ahead of me. I knew that true boy scouts don't give up, so I was pretty sure that the Wood Badge course I was to attend was not going to be canceled. Everyone was a little damp on the outside, but spirits were not dampened. The snow stopped by mid morning and things were definitely looking up. The first night was quite cold but each day was an improvement over the previous day and we enjoyed balmy weather the rest of the week. Well, not balmy enough to take off our coats until the last day or two but it was much better than Monday's forecast.
We compressed the total scouting experience into one week and learned how a boy progresses from Cub Scout to Varsity Scout and what tools we as leaders can use to help boys become successful leaders of their families, communities and nation. We cooked up quite a feast of learning seasoned with laughter, fun, delicious food, showmanship, love, and a healthy portion of the Spirit that resulted in quite an unforgettable experience.
Well, it has been six months since those fun-filled days. Although participants actually have 18 months to complete their ticket (5 goals), the staff set a target date of six months to present Wood Badge beads to those who have completed their tickets. This bead ceremony was held Saturday night, November 15th.
I am happy to say that our entire Bobwhite patrol completed our goals and received our tickets this past weekend. One person, Kristy Lamb, could not be at the bead ceremony so she received hers at Roundtable on Thursday.
I venture to say that I think we had the best staff ever to lead our Wood Badge course. I learned to love each one of them as well as those who participated in the eight patrols. It was wonderful to see them all again on Saturday night.
Maybe I have mentioned this before, but one of the highlights of my experience at Wood Badge came on Day 2 when Bro. Hansen said he felt someone that should be on our course had not signed up, and then he determined that it was Verlin Hatch who should be there. He therefore made Verlin an honorary member of the Bobwhite patrol. Throughout the week, our patrol seemed to have a little extra help as we performed extremely well in the "ropes course" challenges and we were the winning patrol in the tent pitching challenge.
Last Saturday night, after all of the patrols had received their beads, they asked me and Ammon to come forward and they presented Verlin's Wood Badge beads, neckerchief, woggle and certificate to Ammon in Verlin's behalf. As Hyrum would say, "Good job, Grandpa!"
We compressed the total scouting experience into one week and learned how a boy progresses from Cub Scout to Varsity Scout and what tools we as leaders can use to help boys become successful leaders of their families, communities and nation. We cooked up quite a feast of learning seasoned with laughter, fun, delicious food, showmanship, love, and a healthy portion of the Spirit that resulted in quite an unforgettable experience.
Well, it has been six months since those fun-filled days. Although participants actually have 18 months to complete their ticket (5 goals), the staff set a target date of six months to present Wood Badge beads to those who have completed their tickets. This bead ceremony was held Saturday night, November 15th.
I am happy to say that our entire Bobwhite patrol completed our goals and received our tickets this past weekend. One person, Kristy Lamb, could not be at the bead ceremony so she received hers at Roundtable on Thursday.
I venture to say that I think we had the best staff ever to lead our Wood Badge course. I learned to love each one of them as well as those who participated in the eight patrols. It was wonderful to see them all again on Saturday night.
Maybe I have mentioned this before, but one of the highlights of my experience at Wood Badge came on Day 2 when Bro. Hansen said he felt someone that should be on our course had not signed up, and then he determined that it was Verlin Hatch who should be there. He therefore made Verlin an honorary member of the Bobwhite patrol. Throughout the week, our patrol seemed to have a little extra help as we performed extremely well in the "ropes course" challenges and we were the winning patrol in the tent pitching challenge.
Last Saturday night, after all of the patrols had received their beads, they asked me and Ammon to come forward and they presented Verlin's Wood Badge beads, neckerchief, woggle and certificate to Ammon in Verlin's behalf. As Hyrum would say, "Good job, Grandpa!"
If you double-click on the slideshow it will open up in Picasa and I believe you can view the captions associated with the slideshow so it may make more sense. You can also extend the length of the slides a couple seconds so that you have time to read the captions. I hope that works.
The hat wasn't his but the rest was all Californian!
