Saturday, June 21, 2008

Zion's...I Mean Scout Camp...

We all remember that Seminary lesson in D&C (if you had Sister Mitchell like me). All the men (or most of them at least) left from Kirtland (I think (what I meant by remembering it is that you remember what the outcome was more then the details)) to go to Missouri and fight the Missourians to get their land back. They get there, and then they just turn around and go home without even finishing what they left for. So they pretty much experienced cholera, weather, thirst, hunger, and all their other issues for something that in the end they probably thought was completely pointless. But something actually came out of it that no one expected, the leadership of the church was established and the Lord had found those in His church who would follow him.
Now what does that have to do with Scout Camp? Allow me to enlighten you. My Scout Patrol pretty much experience a load of crap the whole week, and lots of us thought it was pretty pointless, but looking back (sounds like me and trek) it was a good thing for me, I was inducted into to the Order of the Arrow, and I gained an increased sense of love for my new quorum (the sad thing is that I leave the quorum in about two to three weeks) and SOME of the Deacons.
Okay so pretty much this whole week started out with a grumpy Zelos (this was my fault since I didn't want to be there, and I had spent the whole night before staying up until midnight reading (Inkspell if you must know), knowing I'd have to get up at four the next morning). We got to Campsite three, and the first thing I know is that the other two teachers have decided they're sharing a tent, and the only Priest decided to share a tent with someone in a different ward, so I got stuck with one of the Deacons (one of the older ones). We get back from breakfast, and our Scoutmaster figures out that there aren't enough tents for everyone, so he decides that hey there's an empty campsite (campsite 8), why not send Madison 1st Ward. Way to brighten Zelos's day (I had unpacked, and I had already wasted some of my bug spray spraying down one of the tents). We get all the way out there, and you have an ANGRY Zelos, but around lunch time the bright side of it all began to sink in. We had only one adult leader at our campsite, and he could sleep through anything (we tested this theory), and I was the oldest, which meant I could boss the hobbits around the whole week (that was my thought at least). Anyways after my merit badge classes that day I went and spent $22 on a hammock (which was my bed for the whole week, and has the scars from holding my heavy self up for the whole week) and $5 on a surfer necklace (which is my second favorite necklace I've owned). Then there was dinner (which by the way every meal was some sort of terrible form of chicken). Then after assorted activities that made me and my quorum angrier and angrier because our scoutmaster relied so much on us I was able to go to bed, and sleep off the bad mood. That night my quorum and two of about eight Deacons followed me and slept under the stars.
It pretty much all meshes together after that, my quorum got more and more violently aggressive (which disappointed me, but which I understood)and the twelve year olds became more reliant on me (which annoyed me so bad, and which actually made ME snap at one of them on the last nights). The last night I gained that last nugget of needed growth from scout camp, that increased love for my quorum. Even after all the stupid stuff they had done I laid in my hammock and was overcome by the need to pray for them (maybe the stupid stuff was the reason). And I spent about half an hour praying for the two young men in my quorum. This was the closest thing to an Enos-like prayer I have ever experienced.
So this is Zelos, who might have actually gotten something out of Scout Camp,
Oh goodness.

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