Dear Readers:
This is the second post on my amazing week at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. If you want to read the previous post, just click here.
As I noted in the original post, I was here to attend the Priesthood Leadership Conference on Scouting. The week included classes that were taught by the Young Men General Presidency of the Church, along with the Primary General Presidency.
When we left the last post, I had talked about the amazing classes that I attended throughout the week, and the inspiration that I received on a constant basis. While this was taking place, our wives were also involved in training - so they could understand and appreciate the Scouting program from an entirely different perspective:
Before we went to Philmont, my wife teased me about my affection for Scouting and for Philmont, in particular. She told everyone that we were going to "Scout Nerd Camp" for a week ; ) We knew that we would learn of ways to strengthen the young men in our Stake - but we had no ideas what a profound impact this time at Philmont would have on us as a family. We are closer together and more loving, by any measure. In addition, my wife has been exposed to Scouting by her father, but always distanced herself from it - while respecting what it meant to me. I won't embarrass her by saying that she came away from the week at Philmont with a testimony of Scouting - something she didn't seek out. How lucky am I to have a partner in life that will work with me to better the lives of the young men in our Stake - and our own son? Very lucky.
On Monday night, we had a huge Family Home Evening. They asked each family to create a family banner that represented you (remember that awesome project my wife stayed up all night to complete?). Every family came to the stage and showed their banner to the entire audience:
Then, the real fun began. Several families had been asked to perform that evening. With my wife's considerable talent, they targeted our family ; ) We tried to figure out an activity that would involve all of us. We decided to lip sync to the song Best Day of My Life by American Authors. It's a positive, upbeat song. G-Man played the drums for the entire song:
The rest of us had to entertain the audience ; ) Little L actually knows all the lyrics, but is a little shy about performing in front of crowds. We proceeded to make complete fools of ourselves:
I resolved to let go of any shred of pride and move crazily across the stage. If my older children had been there, they would have been taken out on stretchers, as they would have died of embarrassment:
Needless to say, we were a hit with the crowd. I can tell you that people congratulated us on the performance during the entire week ; ) Afterwards, President Beck addressed the audience and said that they may have to question the curriculum that they're teaching in Church if it produces performances like that ; ) It was a lot of fun...
During the week, there were many other notable experiences. I want to share a couple of them. First, was a unique priesthood meeting. They boarded all of us on buses and we traveled close the foot of the mountains. We met in an outdoor venue and heard directly from President Beck and President Gibson (Young Men General Presidency).
I don't think I can even write about the talks that we heard..at least without feeling that I wasn't capturing the feelings that were expressed. I can tell you that the remarks were centered on becoming great husbands and fathers. We heard tender stories from the leaders about their own experiences with parenting - and their relationship with their own fathers. Tears were abundant, as the Spirit was incredible strong at that meeting. When we finished, all of the men walked single-file in complete silence. We rode the buses back in complete silence. The emotions and feelings were so strong that nobody could speak.
As I talked about in the last post, the kids had a wonderful time. I was jealous of all the fun they were having, but wouldn't have traded places for a second. I came to pick-up G-Man for a meal and found them all playing on the lawn:
G-Man and L took me on a tour of the Rainbow Garden...here is a quick video where you can see them running around with their backpacks. Simply adorable:
This is Sister Wixom, the Primary General President of the Church. She is adorable. If you were to try and write down all the qualities that you would want a Primary President to have - she would embody all of them. She has a deep love of our Heavenly Father's children and loved talking with them every chance she got:
Meal times were fun. The quality of the cafeteria food at Philmont leaves much to be desired...but you have to remember the time and cost constraints that they have. This because one of the kids favorite places in the cafeteria:
That's right - unlimited cereal - at every meal, it seemed ; ) We did get them to eat other things, but this was breakfast every morning. L still struggles with what she is willing to eat. Here's a really nutritious lunch that I managed to provide for her - cupcake, chocolate milk and french fries. Championship parenting, for sure:
She's showing you the frosting on her finger...
L loved just running around the camp. There were rocks to jump through and tables to climb everywhere. She was a blur of activity:
Every once-in-a-while, I joined in on the fun. The kids asked me if I wanted to play "Ga Ga Ball". I still don't know what that is...but I jumped in and encouraged another adult to come have fun ; )
At one point during the week, I toured the main house at the Philmont Training Center. It's a historic home that was built back in the 1930s. In 1938, philanthropists Waite and Genevieve Phillips (brother to the Phillips 66 founders) donated to the BSA a gift of land that later became Philmont Scout Ranch. This was there main home and the Scouts have tried to preserve it:
The best part - to me - was the garage. There, they had several classic cars that had been restored. They were drop-dead gorgeous:
That's it for this post. Please return for the third - and final - post that documents the big Western Night and our 4am hike ; )
Thanks for reading!
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