11 Yr. Old Overnighter

This past weekend was this summer's 11 yr. old Boy Scout overnighter. We had a small group this time: myself, Doug Muhlestein (Fri. night only), Nathan Billeter, Spencer Barisof, and David Billeter (Nathan's 19 yr. old brother). Besides Nathan and Spencer, Isaac Taylor is the only other member of the patrol, but he was unable to come. Even though our numbers were small, we had a really fun time (and despite having to miss Pixarpalooza, which was Friday night as well).

Nathan had been looking forward to this campout for quite some time. He has a short attention span for most of the things we do as a patrol, but camping is actually something he loves to do. Due to a setback Doug had at work, we left a litte later than planned and arrived at Camp Herms at around 6:30 pm Friday night. We put our tin foil dinners on the campfire and set up camp. One thing that was unique for me this time around was that I brought my Dutch oven and made some peach cobler for our group before the night campfire program started. I'm getting more used to the Dutch oven and am enjoying using it. Nathan had brought biscuits for us to cook in it Saturday morning, but I almost didn't try making them, fearing that I would burn them too easily. However, David found a recipe for it in the Scout manual, and that with the fact I saw one other group making Dutch oven biscuits gave me the courage to try it. I was glad, because apart from the bottoms burning a bit, they turned out very well.

Friday night after the campfire I had an interesting experience. As everyone was turning in for the night, I was organizing some stuff and looked for our propane tank that we need for cooking our meals the following day. I couldn't find it anywhere and feared that it was left in Doug's truck when he left the camp about 30 minutes prior. After going up to the parking lot and searching unsuccessfully in the car for it, I called Doug to see if it had indeed been left in his truck. He said he couldn't find it, and even if he had, it was a 40 minute trip to come back to the camp. As I was fretting about how we were going to eat the next day without the fuel, there was a man near me going through some equipment in his truck. I walked over to him and asked him if he by chance had an extra tank of propane. He did have one and immediately handed it over to me. He said he had lots of extras at home since a member of his ward had moved and left them, not being able to carry them in the moving van. I was very relieved and slept very well that night, knowing that the Lord had blessed us to able to continue with our food plans for the campout.

Saturday went relatively smoothly as Nathan and Spencer led us in making some great meals (egg & biscuits and pitta pizzas) and participated relatively consistently at each of their skill stations. The other patrol that accompanied them for the day at each of the stations had a big group of some Tongan kids that were rather rude and unruly for most of the day. Their leaders made some attempts at controlling them, but for the most part were pretty lukewarm in their discipline attempts. They tested my patience at times, but I felt really bad for them, knowing that a lack of discipline at home most likely contributed to their behavior issues. It helped me appreciate the importance of my being a father and a scout leader and the difference I can have in boy's lives.