I was invited to participate in a Basic Training Course for new Boy Scout leaders this weekend at the Maple Dell Scout Camp about 30 miles from home. The course was in Spanish!
Rob, Brent, and Jay
My assignment was to help teach Dutch oven cooking (we had a translator) and cook meals for the trainees and the staff. There were 30 people to feed. We went shopping for the food and arrived at Maple Dell early in the evening to prepare for dinner. The evening was beautiful and cool, and the leaders were the most enthusiastic group of trainees I have ever worked with.
Fall color contrasts at Maple Dell Camp
I have not been active in scouting since I joined the choir 12 years ago except for occasional participation in events like this. Before I was very involved on almost a weekly basis in the District, and on a monthly basis as a roundtable commissioner. At that time I knew most of the scouting leaders in the Utah Lake District. (Now I know very few of the current leaders.) We had dinner and taught our Dutch oven cooking class, put together three fruit cobblers, and then I drove back to town for work. I worked all night and returned directly to the camp to help prepare breakfast. After the meal the only sister (participating with her huaband) went about helping to clean up. It was unexpected but appreciated.
Fall colors close-up in Maples
I took a nap before lunch. Brent and our assistant got started on lunch before I returned and they had the sandwiches all made. We didn’t cook for lunch but served a cold meal that was enthusicastically shared by the participants. After a nature hike for the trainees were were engaged to teach methods of cooking without utinsels (pots, pans, stoves, etc.) by suggesting ways of cooking food on a campfire without them. This was a subject they were a little less interested in (they were also getting tired), and after the first few minutes it was decided to shorten the class and have them move on to their next– and final class. We cleaned up, again with the help of one sister, and left for home late in the afternoon. It was a successful venture and good to see that the leaders of Spanish-speaking units are so enthusiastically embracing the program of teaching the boys about scouting. It was an inspiration to see this excitement.
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