Zion's Camp (June7-10, 2006):

Every two years or so, our stake puts on Zion's Camp at a private ranch at about 10,000 feet in the Peco's wilderness area. It is only for those boys 14 and up and is a blast. This year I helped with "Sherwood Forest." In Sherwood Forest, we learned how to bond as brothers and trained as Robinhood and his "merry men." We set up three stations. The first was sword fighting and pugel sticks. Here is a picture of me "schooling" Jacob in the art of pugel sticks. We are actually fighting on a log. Jacob had a difficult time knocking me off because of my massive body:

Here is Jacob about to eat forest ruffage:

Jacob is passing his fighting skills onto a younger scout, Landon Yarrington:

Here is one of my blood-thirsty knaves going for the foam sword kill:

After an hour of sword fighting, we did the blow gun coarse. We also did knife and hatchet throwing! Here is a shot of my best friend, Rob Sorensen, preparing to shoot a dart into my camera lens:
Sam has the gift of the blowgun:

Here is Sam and Sean Naegle in a heated blowgun battle:

One of the highlights of Zion's Camp was building King Benjamin's tower. Here is Sam getting ready to drive support stakes:
I heard that many of the men who held stakes for Sam had their hands crushed:

Here's a shot of one of our serious men at Zion's camp.

We needed everyone to lift the tower, even Sir Jacob:

Knight Sam was also needed:

Here's a shot of the first side being hoisted up:

Here's Justin Schoof securing the platform for the bishop's campfire address:

Our Jacob read us King Benjamin's address to make sure everything was safe for the bishop:

As you can see, the building of King Benjamin's tower was a highlight of the camp. We also had two other events: 1) orienteering with GPS, compasses, and signal mirrors, 2) recess 101. The recess class consisted of a variety of events to teach team work as well as gospel skills. One of the events entailed walking an A frame built of timbers with ropes. Two young men were required to be on the A frame as the other team members made the A-frame walk. Balance boards and rope swings were also part of the event.

I suppose the best part of Zion's Camp were the firesides. It rained the first two days, and we learned the hard way about the necessity of bringing winter coats--even in the New Mexico summer. When you camp at 10,000 feet, it gets down right cold!

On Thurday night, the New Mexico mission president brought two of his assistants to Zion's Camp to bear their testimonies. The mission president talked about gaining a powerful testimony. I was soooo glad to get into my tent, take off my wet shoes, and get cozy in my sleeping bag!

On Friday night, the tower was finished, and our bishop (a history buff), gave a talk on Zion's Camp. Afterwards, the rest of us were allowed to bear our testimonies. Both Sam and Jacob bore their's, and so did I. It was sooooo cold, but our souls were warmed by the Holy Ghost! All in all, Zions Camp '06 was unforgettable.