Saturday - In the afternoon I arrived at camp after a rainstorm had just ended. We spent the time preparing for the participants and setting up camp. This was the only night that we got plenty of sleep!
Sunday - On Sunday we had the rare opportunity to attend church in our Class A scout uniforms. We only stayed for sacrament meeting but we learned a lot about adversity. Little did we realize we would be facing quite a lot of adversity the very next day.
Monday - The day started off just fine and as the participants arrived we got them playing games and getting to know each other. We also had a few lessons, including mine. I was prepared for it, but after having seen the other scoutmasters present their lessons, I wish I would have done it a lot differently. The downside is that it starting pouring rain that afternoon during the lessons. It rained so hard that some of the tents were getting flooded so some of the staff had to go out and dig ditches. It was pretty miserable but we tried to keep the boys in good spirits. That night some of the staff had a very fervent prayer that we would be able to have good weather for the rest of the week. It was one of the most powerful prayers I have ever been a part of and let me just spoil the surprise right now. Our prayer was answered. It did rain the following two nights but only lightly and during times where we didn't need to be outside.
Tuesday - It was a long day, especially when it came to the lunch planning challenge when the boys got pretty frustrated but then we got to make water balloon catapults and the boys were able to launch hundreds of water balloons at the staff members. The boys had a great time and as soon as we were done with our activity it started raining. That night we also got to watch a great movie called October Sky. I love that movie and it seemed like a lot of the boys really learned a lot from it.
Wednesday - This day was jam-packed with fun! The kids did a round robin with 6 or 7 teamwork activities. It was hilarious to watch the boys fumble their way through the activities and it was also inspiring to see them work together to accomplish greatness. That night we did a mock disaster where the boys had to react as quickly as they could to what they thought was a real ax accident. Afterward we taught them how to create fake wounds. As you can imagine, they loved that!
Thursday - By far the best day. Wednesday was pretty fun but Thursday was fantastic. The boys learned how to use GPS coordinates to find geo caches that the other patrols had hidden. Later on they hiked to a location using their GPS and camped there for the night. Each patrol held a devotional that night. I was with the Purple Ninja patrol and it was an intensely spiritual experience. One of the boys shared a scripture about rising up from the dust from 1st Nephi and later on I bore my testimony about that scripture and what the boys were accomplishing at Timberline. Later that night the staff had a testimony meeting and that was also pretty powerful.
Friday - The last full day was a lot of clean-up but we also had a few lessons and by the end of the day we sent the boys on a commitment trail that was the culmination of what we had been trying to teach them all week long.
Saturday - The boys parents were able to come pick up their kids and got to see a lot of what the boys did at Timberline. They were very proud of their boys and they definitely had a right to be.
Having been to Timberline I can testify that there is no better camp within the scouting program to prepare young men to be leaders in their own lives and the lives of others. Timberline will help them be better men, better missionaries, and better fathers and husbands. I saw these boys grow so much from day 1 to day 6. They were completely changed. Apart from their own lives, they also changed my life and I will be forever grateful for that. Also, a huge thanks to the staff for making this week possible and a big thank you to Ryan Finch for asking me to be on staff this year.
Thank you!
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