Wood Badge May 2011--Mutual Dell

I have not been a very consistent historian this last year. I have written letters to my family almost weekly, but have not shared anything on my Blog so that it can be included when I ever get around to publishing it. I went back to my family letters and extracted this information about my third Wood Badge experience the last week of May, 2011. It was a wonderful experience to work so closely with the great Scout leaders in American Fork East Stake. A lot of the participants were also from the East Stake, but I had a few in my Owl Patrol who were not--Jim White from Highland, Kasey Walker from West American Fork, and Nancy Davies from Eagle Mountain (I think). Here is the letter that I wrote on May 30, 2011, with a few pictures added.

 I just finished my third experience with Wood Badge last week, this time as a Troop Guide for an amazing Owl Patrol.

   

 Owl Patrol: (Left to right) Me, Jim White, Tony Anderson, Nancy Davies, Greg Squires, and Kasey Walker in front; Ryan Gunther and Lerin Porter in back.

Senior Patrol Leader Sam Liddiard and Scoutmaster John Miller

Staff and Participants

 It was fun to have Ammon and Brian on this Wood Badge course also. I sure enjoyed myself and learned so much. The first time there was just so much to digest that it didn't all sink in. Then I was on staff for a course last August and learned some of the things that I had missed the first time. This time I was a Troop Guide again and it was an absolutely amazing experience because I was not as worried as the first time that I was on staff. I was able to concentrate more on the principles that we taught instead of always worrying about what came next. Over the coming weeks I hope to be able to put into words some of the lessons I learned so you can share in my experience. We were in American Fork Canyon at Mutual Dell and there was no internet or cellphone service so we felt quite isolated but we prayed that the Lord would take care of our families at home while we were away from them. See Teresa's Blog for her experience getting locked in a downstairs bedroom with her boys and how she was blessed to get out of that predicament. I have a conviction of the value of Wood Badge in helping leaders of boys in Scouting and also in their personal and work lives. I witnessed a lot of opposition thrown at those who were on staff and I am convinced that it is because of the importance of the lessons to be learned at Wood Badge that Satan doesn't want to see happen because of the great strength it can be in doing the Lord's work. Sam Liddiard, who was the Senior Patrol Leader for the course, had his father die a week before Wood Badge and his funeral was the day before we began. He could have asked to be excused from serving on course but he did not. The morning that we were to begin, Bishop Back's son came up a bit early to let him know that his mother-in-law had died that morning. He could have gone home also to help his wife with funeral arrangements, but he did not. I had some personal obstacles to overcome. Each time I have gone there has been a fear I have had to face. The first time it was just a fear of being put in a patrol with a bunch of strangers and having to stretch the limits of my interpersonal relations and doing silly things like songs and skits in front of a crowd of strangers. I conquered that one. On staff last summer I had to go to bed each night knowing that there were mice running around in the cabin where I was staying. That kind of freaked me out but I made it through that one. I know, it is a silly thing but nevertheless it made me very uncomfortable.

This time I was more aware of the fact that we were camping in bear country (IN TENTS). My flashlight was not used so much to see the ground in front of my feet but to search to the end of the flashlight's beam to make sure there were no bears "out there." Of course, no one encountered a bear and I was mighty thankful for that. 

 My worst opposition came when I went to take a shower the third day. The women's showers were reserved for the eight women on course from 9:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. and after that they let the men use them. One day I decided to shower in the evening. I took a very quick shower and washed my hair and reached out to get my towel and realized that I had forgotten to bring it with me. Now what? I had my dirty clothes, the ones that I was going to put on and I had a headband that I use to keep my hair out of the way when I wash my face. I ended up using the headband to dry off. Not very efficient I decided. Next I went to the sink area with my dripping wet hair and plugged in my hair dryer to blow dry my hair. The hair dryer worked on Monday morning but now it did not. No amount of fiddling with the reset buttons would get it to work again. I tried to dry my hair to some degree with my curling iron but that is hard on hair and was very ineffective because of how wet my hair was, so I finally gave up and decided to see if one of the other ladies was still up so that I could borrow her hair dryer. Fortunately I was able to borrow one and got my hair dried so I could go to bed, albeit a bit later than I had hoped. The strange thing is, when I came home and unpacked I decided that I would just throw away the useless hair dryer. I plugged it in to make sure I hadn't been imagining things that night, and sure enough, it worked for me. I had a chance to laugh at myself that night but it did not discourage me or keep me from having an amazing experience. Well, it is late so I will write more next week. I hope you all had a good week and will do great things this week. Love, Mom/Grandma/Colleen

A glimpse at a week of Wood Badge

Serious times...

Competition...

Skits and Silliness...

Devotionals...

Taps...

and Farewells.

Back to Gilwell, Happy Land...

Wood Badge 2010

Last fall I indicated that there would soon be an update to my Blog about my Wood Badge 2010 experience. I keep checking back to see if it has been documented yet…still nothing.
I guess I will just have to do it myself.

Kendall Warburton asked me in 2009 if I would be on a Wood Badge course he was directing in August 2010 at Scofield Aquatics Camp and serve as a Troop Guide. I was secretly hoping to have this opportunity ever since I attended a Wood Badge course in 2008, so I agreed. The first thing I learned is that being on staff for Wood Badge is a lot of work!! It is also a very rewarding experience because it is such a worthwhile program and the people in our Stake who dedicate themselves to being on staff and providing a great experience for other scouters are absolutely amazing! I wanted to be a part of that. It was a bit tricky to juggle my schedule to attend the course development meetings but I managed to get to all but one of them.

Scofield, Utah in August is very hot and there aren't many shade trees there…okay there are no shade trees there. It was a long drive to get there. A discussion was held about whether to move the location to Mutual Dell up American Fork Canyon or leave it at Scofield. It was decided that we were supposed to go to Scofield so go we did.

There were five women who signed up to attend and I was assigned to be their Troop Guide. We were the Bob White Patrol, which is what I was as a participant also. I knew most of them because a large number of the people in attendance were from American Fork 9th Ward, the Ward for which Kendall Warburton is Bishop. He was actually called to be Bishop after he had committed to be Scoutmaster for the course, but he went ahead and fit it into his busy schedule. I was excited to have this opportunity. I admit now that I was not nearly as prepared as I could have been but I felt comfortable with my preparation and felt that I would be able to relate to the ladies and have a good experience. And I did.

Tents were pitched for the rest of the staff in the stockade area of the camp

The tents for the male participants were pitched in an open area between the First Aid Station and the Lodge.

The women slept in the First Aid Station which had a main room, a kitchen and two bedrooms. It was a little awkward to be staying in the same area as the participants but it worked out fine. We discovered that we would also be sharing the building with some mice but they (meaning the mice) didn't seem to mind. The last two nights the participants were all in tents for their "overnight experience" so it was just me and the mice. It tried my courage a little bit as I don't have a fondness for the little creatures, but in the end, everything worked out okay.

The week was filled with training sessions presented by the Senior Patrol Leader and the Assistants to the Scoutmaster. Other sessions were conducted in a patrol setting, taught by Troop Guides. There were a lot of activities that reinforced the principles taught in the discussions…to be brief: a feature movie, followed up by rocket making and launching of said rockets, game shows, campfire programs, skits, competitive games, service projects and worship services as well as the overnighter where the patrols moved to their own campsites and performed as patrols. It was a great week. One of the hardest parts for me was after the first few days of being the leader and example, the Troop Guides had to step back and let their patrol members take charge and we stayed in the background as a "shadow leader." It is a lot like loosening the reins on our own children as we step back and watch them turn into amazing leaders and parents.

I am very glad that I had the opportunity to be a Troop Guide. This past February I had the opportunity to present the Wood Badge beads to all five members of my Bobwhite Patrol.

I can't wait to do it again!! (Actually before I was even through preparing for this course, John Miller asked me to be a Troop Guide for his course which was to be held in May 2011, and I accepted so there is even more to come about Wood Badge.)

Wood Badge--Six Months Later

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!"

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.

I traded an Israel tour for Wood Badge!?!

When I was invited to go to Israel for two weeks in May of 2008, it sounded like a once in a lifetime opportunity. But I had "kind of made a goal" to attend Wood Badge, which overlapped the same timeframe. Maple Dell was nearly in my backyard, but Israel was half a world away. It wouldn't be hard to get to Maple Dell another year, but I really may never get another chance to go to Israel. I made the decision and said I wouldn't be going to Israel, but a couple weeks before Wood Badge I had second thoughts and almost asked if there was still room on the tour and any way to get a last chance ticket. In looking back, though, I think I made the right decision for me. I don't think I could have felt any closer to the Savior if I had walked the roads that Jesus walked in mortality. I felt that close to the Savior during my time at Wood Badge. It was an amazing opportunity and I will never regret my decision. I believe it has changed me forever. I hope I can share some of my feelings and some pictures with you in the near future.