Gonzales, Texas

This last weekend, I had an amazing experience.  In fact, all of the young men in my congregation had an amazing experience.  Let me explain...

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the association between the LDS Church and the Boy Scouts of America, all three Stakes in the Austin, Texas area held an Aaronic Priesthood Encampment.  Over 400 young men gathered at a Boy Scout camp, just outside Gonzales, Texas.  There were about 100 adult leaders there, as well - including me ; ) The event was a really interesting blend of Scouting and Aaronic Priesthood activities, which is exactly the way it should be. The theme came from Moses 1:4, 6:  "And, behold, thou art my son...and I have a work for thee." We wanted the young men to truly understand their identity as sons of God, and that he has a work for each of them to do. One thing that made this encampment unusual was that we were going to stay Saturday night, and have Sacrament meeting on Sunday.  We received permission from the Area Presidency - really unique.

Friday evening, we drove about two hours south of Austin, to reach the camp.  The site was pretty remote, surrounded by farms, ranches and lone oil wells (welcome to Texas).  We unpacked all of the vehicles and set-up the tents and common area for our Ward.

My home away from home, for the weekend

Normally, it's nice and warm in March - compared to the rest of the U.S.  For some reason, a cold front moved in to this area, so it was quite chilly at night and into the morning.  Those kinds of nights are really good for increasing the appetite of Scouts - no matter whether they are Deacons, Teachers or Priests ; )  We assigned the Deacons to fix breakfast and we had a lovely pancake experience:

Since the Deacons were in charge, they made sure there was whipped cream.  This young man created quite the culinary experience.  I still can't get used to having whipped cream on a campout, but I suppose I'm old-fashioned ; )

The entire camp gathered together and we dived all those young men into four troops, to try and keep things a little organized.  This picture doesn't show the size of the group, because I didn't have a ladder to show how far back these groups went:

We had the young men go through 4 different activities, rotating through the day.  One was a service project to help clear brush from some of the overgrown campsites.  Our Stake was in charge of that project, as well as one other learning activity.  Our activity was centered around Moses (where the overall theme came from).  We wanted each Scout patrol to cross the Red Sea, which was a giant field.  To do that, they had to go through up to eight workshops, where they would learn valuable lessons to accomplish the task, or receive materials that would enable the journey.  The interesting thing was that they were given a list of workshops, but had to determine which were good, better or best for the task in a limited amount of time.  If they tried to do all, they wouldn't make it across the Red Sea.  It was truly interesting to watch them make choices.  For instance, one of the activities was Nap Time, where they could relax.  Unfortunately, some of them actually chose this, and learned a powerful lesson at the end of the activity.  Another was a Tug-o-War.  This activity didn't provide much, beyond having them work as a team, but the boys couldn't resist themselves, when they saw the set-up.  Again...a matter of good, better, best.

The Stake asked me to conduct one of these workshops.  My topic was The Lord's Way and I taught them about the structure of the Priesthood, brotherhood and working as companions.  I had them compete in a three-leg race to drive home some of the points about communication and working as a team.

Some faired better than others ; )

I was grateful that my workshop was one of the best category, as I would give them a piece of cardboard they could use to cross the Red Sea.

Another workshop had them navigate a minefield of cans.  One young man was blindfolded, and the rest of his team could only whisper instructions.  At the same time, there were people yelling and one person whispering false instructions.  The point here was to have the young man understand which voice to listen to - the correct still, small voice.

Afterwards, we gathered the young men together, to reflect on what they learned and observed.  Some solid Gospel principles were taught in that field.

These are some of my young men - I was proud of them, as they were one of the first teams to cross...

I taught this workshop for about 8 hours that day, with a break for lunch.  I was tired, but grateful for the opportunity to engage with hundreds of young priesthood holders that day.

Afterwards, we worked on dinner.  The Priests were responsible for the meal, and under the direction of another leader, they made a Dutch Oven dinner that was...delicious.

Needless to say, everyone was tired after a long day.  I hadn't slept the night before, due to noisy animals and Deacons.  This night was actually worse.  We had winds up to 70 mph.  This rattled every tent in the campsite...all through the night.  In addition, the temperatures really dropped.  I got up at 6am, as we needed to have our young men to Sacrament meeting by 7am.  I found tons of garbage all over the campsite, as the winds were still strong at that time.  I found one of the tents had collapsed during the night...with people still sleeping inside ; )

Each of our young men were asked to wear a white shirt and tie.  This picture doesn't quite convey the impressive display of Aaronic priesthood, as most of the young men were freezing (me included). It's the coldest that I've ever been at Church...ever.

Some young men didn't bring jackets...and paid a high price for that mistake

When the young men were preparing the Sacrament, they couldn't keep the water cups in the trays, as the wind would constantly flow them across the field when we tried to put them in.  It was difficult.  However, I will tell you one thing.  When I saw six Priests bless the Sacrament, and twenty Deacons pass the bread and water to the large gathering, I could feel the Spirit so strongly...despite the intense cold.  It was a truly amazing experience.  I won't soon forget it.

My Priest quorum - amazing young men

Our Bishop and his sons - great examples to all the YM

Once the meeting was over, we returned to our campsite and had pancakes.  Everyone was huddled around the fire, digesting pancakes as quickly as they came off the grill.

We held our own Priesthood meeting, there in the wilderness.  I had the chance to teach the lesson to all the young men together.  I gave them the opportunity to bear their testimony of the Gospel, and many responded.  I hope they remember the experience as positively as I do!

We then broke camp, to return home to our families.  We had to move quickly, but everyone was a little warmer.

Finishing off the last of the left-over pancakes

Before leaving, I asked the YM to gather for one last picture, so I could remember this awesome group - and the spectacular experience we enjoyed together.