Our Philmont Scouting Adventure -- Day Five

Lots of pictures for this post!

If I had to use a word to describe this Philmont day, I would have to say that it was 'transformative.' Herman sort of made fun of me for saying it so much today, but it was true ... today was a transformative day for me. I felt so much inspiration and understanding for things that I needed to do in my life. It was spectacular. But before I get to that ...

Today the Cub Scouts got to perform the morning flag ceremony. It was super sweet to see all these young boys in their uniforms performing their duties so solemnly. It is the first time that many of them have ever done an actual raising of a flag. I know that in our Cub Scout pack they just have a flag on a pole that they present. So this was a learning experience for Hyrum. It was neat to see Hyrum get a high five from the young men's general president and a thank you from the primary general presidency. I could see on the faces of the boys that they felt honored to be able to take part in a ceremony like this for the whole camp.

Hyrum's group is presenting the Boy Scout flag.
There were four flags displayed with the American flag.

Hyrum showing his respect. Love this!

Hyrum getting his celebratory high five.

I really like this picture.

Daddy and Hyrum in uniform.

After the flag ceremony everyone headed off to their classes like yesterday. This time I signed up to do what is called a COPE class. COPE stands for Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience, and it sounded like it was going to be a set of easy to moderate challenges like a ropes course that is meant to build unity and teamwork in a group. I was pretty excited for this. This was the less vigorous of the two challenges offered, but the harder one was already full, so I figured this would be okay. We had to take a bus to get to our challenge area at the base of one of the mountain areas ... very pretty. We had two Philmont workers who were leading our group of about ten women. They gave us the choice of whether we wanted to do the ropes course or stay on the ground and do ground oriented games that we could use back at home. I wanted to do the ropes course, but I think I may have been the only one. Everyone else was interested in doing things that they could use at Girls Camp, so that is what we did. It was fine, and I actually had a ton of fun doing these games. But while we were there we saw a group of scouts doing the high ropes course and it looked so FUN. I wish I could do something like that before my body gets too much older. 

We did several fun games together that really helped us unify as a group. But I have to say, this activity put a spotlight for me on aspects of my personality that ... I don't know, maybe things about myself that disappoint me sometimes. I felt a lot like I did whenever I did summer camps growing up ... on the outside. I just did not feel comfortable in my own skin. I am able to mask this a bit when I am around people who I have known for awhile or when I feel comfortable in a situation, but in a situation like this where I am thrown into a group of ladies who I have never met before I want to just curl up and disappear. It's frustrating to me. I definitely am not a leader naturally. If you give me the podium I'll take it and do my best, but when the leader spot is up for grabs I'm out of there. But I don't really feel weak or anything like that. I just don't want to rock any boats, so I keep quiet, content to live with whatever the group decision might be. Thank goodness I generally have been surrounded by good people. I worry where I might have turned out if I was around bozos all my life, knowing that this is how I react in groups. I get in these groups and it looks like everyone else is immediately best friends, but I feel as if no one will remember me in an hour. I don't really think that this is the case, but it is more a result of my own insecurities. So anyway, doing these activities seemed to spotlight that for me, so I spent a lot of time in introspection. Actually, that is sort of the point of the activities we did. We are supposed to recognize our strengths and our weaknesses and then realize that we are able to accomplish extremely difficult tasks as a group despite those or because of them. So I guess the activity worked. The nice thing about this group was that everyone was super, duper nice and supportive. It makes it much easier to team build when you are working with a generally kind and considerate group.

One of our activities was having to lower this hula hoop.
It was a lot harder than it looks.

But we did it!

After lunch I headed to a women's meeting headed by the YM general president, David Beck and his wife, Robyn. I didn't quite know what to expect in it, but it isn't often that you get the chance to listen to a general president, so I made sure to be there. It was AWESOME! Absolutely awesome! And the strange thing was that it wasn't overtly spiritual. It wasn't the same sort of atmosphere you would feel at a fireside or a conference or an Time Out for Women event. It was casual in so many ways, but I was blown away by some of the insight I was receiving. I put this status on facebook, and it is true: I felt like I had woken up as one person that day and by the end of this meeting I felt like I was another. I felt as if the things I thought during this meeting were life changing, the sorts of ideas that, if I put them into practice, would be transformative for me and for my family and even for those who I work with in my callings at church. I felt as if I had received direct revelation from Heavenly Father during this meeting. It was fabulous! 

The topic of the meeting was "Strengthening the Aaronic Priesthood." It was all about helping our young men to be strong and ready for whatever came at them in the future. They spoke about their hopes for the young men of the Church and the need to be determined and focused in our work and planning. President Beck spoke about the great responsibilities that our young men have and how much responsibility they will have in the VERY near future. He spoke about how these young men need to be able to listen to the Spirit and receive their own personal revelation. The entire meeting was focused on those ideas, and I found myself getting tidbit after tidbit after tidbit of ideas that I needed to implement in my own life. Some of them were directly in response to comments that were made, but others came out of left field. Even with those ideas that were not exactly on topic with the discussion, they seemed to flow perfectly in my head, making me understand EXACTLY what the Lord needed me to understand. I felt like I was getting last minute instructions before heading on a difficult mission ... things that I could do to help me complete the mission I had been given. It was ... I've got to say it again ... It was transformative. I found myself in tears, which was a bit embarrassing since at the moment the tears started flowing, there was not much to explain them. I just felt like I had a duty to perform, and now I had all of the tools I needed. It was time to get to work. 

Side note ... My favorite David Beck quote from the meeting: "This is a NO GUILT zone." It was perfect since it is so easy to feel guilty when we are talking about things we should do as parents. But instead of guilt, what he wanted us to focus on was determination and hope. It does no good to focus on our failings. We instead need to focus on our possibilities and work for those. Loved that!

Tonight we had our Western night. I think these are big deals in the West based on the enthusiasm some of the participants had for this. Okay, I guess that would make sense, right? Western nights are popular in the West. But our family isn't very country western, so we didn't know what to think. The whole night began with a primary parade. All of the kids were supposed to come with costumes to wear. Just like the banner experience on Sunday/Monday, I was already starting to feel angst about this. You should have seen some of the costumes that were created for this event. Absolutely amazing! They were so creative. My kids can tell you that I am a horrible Halloween mom. I do a terrible job with costumes every single year. It always freaks me out. So this little parade was not giving me warm fuzzies. I was relieved when Katie said, "Why don't we just pretend that we didn't know about it and skip it?" Hallelujah! That was exactly what I wanted to do. But right before the parade was to begin Herman came back to camp and told us that we really should have the kids walk in the parade. He said that there were lots of kids that were not very dressed up, so ours wouldn't feel out of place. And he explained that they needed to be there for this experience.

So we went.

And it was so much fun! It was adorable to see the kids marching around our common area, and I think that Hyrum, JoJo, and Minsy really enjoyed it. Minsy is such a celebrity in this camp. She's the only Asian girl here, and she is just so tiny that everywhere she goes she has people fawning over her. And everyone knows her name. It might have something to do with the fact that all week she has felt comfortable enough with the group that she would just walk to tents and adopt new families for a few minutes every once in awhile. I'm glad that this was the camp it was. We'll have to let her know that this isn't a good policy in most campgrounds. But anyway, it was cute to see all the participants stopping to take her picture as she waved her flag and was flanked by her Western bandit brothers. 

The Primary Parade.

The counselors in the Primary general presidency.

David and Robyn Beck 

My little wrangler Hyrum!

Enjoying some birthday cake the western way ... no fork.

After the parade we had a big barbecue with a cake celebrating the Church's 100th year of participation in scouting. There was a movie and activities all over the area, but I decided to take the kids to the Western dance in the assembly hall. Oh man, was that fun! I love to dance. It wears me out a lot more than it used to, but I love to dance. Normally the dances we have are catered to the youth between the ages of 14 and 18, but this was a family dance. The Philmont staff taught us lots and lots of dances to do, and the kids had so much fun. It was neat to see them so intent as they learned the new steps. What a fun evening!

Katie learning to line dance.

A great partner!

Minsy dancing with her new bff, Eliza!

JoJo looks in heaven here.

Because sometimes he ended up with a partner a little taller than him!

Hyrum and me learning "The Chicken."
Goodness, I always look so serious when I dance.

And Minsy is out for the night!

While we were dancing, Herman was learning how to whittle from a man who carves these super cute bolo ties that look like faces. 

Like this one!

Isn't that adorable? Well, Herman got to learn how to make something like it, and it took a lot of the evening. His actually turned out sort of cute. Someday I'm going to have them make a replica of Herman so I can wear it during Western nights. Or is that too weird?

The beginnings of Herman's carved bolo masterpiece.

Some examples of Brother Doller's cute bolos.

Brother Doller showing Herman the basics.

Sister Doller helping Herman paint some detail on the finished product.

Herman finishing his creation while
JoJo looks on.

Overall it was an exhausting day, but so fun. Yet again, I have had an experience that let me know how important it is for me to be in the right place with the right spirit so that I am prepared to receive the revelation I am meant to have in this life. I know that Heavenly Father KNOWS me and LOVES me, and knowing that is worth everything to me.

Tomorrow ... we get all of our kids back. Yay!!