'Coping' with Scouts
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Brother Russell T. Osguthorpe, general Sunday School president, recently participated in a seven-stake Scout encampment in East Texas. He joined with a total of 240 leaders and young men at the encampment, with 197 young men whose ages range from 11-17 years old and 43 adult leaders.
Arriving on July 6, Brother Osguthorpe met with leaders and young men and gave a message at a devotional; the next day, he engaged the young men by asking for volunteers to stand and recite their favorite scriptures.
After the devotional he participated in the Cope Course that was designed to build the confidence of the young men and teach them to not shy away from attempting to do things that at first seem impossible. It helped them overcome fear as the young men walked along a metal cable suspended between two trees.
Brother Osguthorpe climbed 30 feet up a tree and once he arrived at the target level, he grasped a cable above his head and traversed on two cables step by step to the next tree. He took the "leap of faith" from the landing on one tree to a landing on an adjoining tree, then traversed another single cable to the next tree.
"The Cope Course was a little scary. I'm not exactly 15, like many of the young men who were completing the course. The day before they had completed the course with the cables just a few feet off the ground," he said, "I did not have the opportunity to practice with the cables down low. Now the cables were 30 feet high from tree to tree."
Later that evening during the fireside in the amphitheater one young man said doing the Cope Course was scary but he was more scared while he belayed Brother Osguthorpe because he was afraid he would drop him.
During his stay, Brother Osguthorpe met with adult leaders and discussed the new Duty to God program and identified ways to help more young men earn the award and strategies for helping more young men prepare to serve missions.
After dinner he asked young men to name the four sons of Mosiah and placed a placard around four young men representing Omner, Himni, Aaron and Ammon. They proceeded to re-enact scenes from the mission and read Alma 26:27 when the sons of Mosiah were considering turning back and going home to Zarahemla.
Brother Osguthorpe likened the flak they may have gotten from their friends for wanting to teach the Lamanites, to the flak or strong criticism today's young men sometimes get from friends for keeping the standards of the Church as outlined in "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet. He told the young men when they have to face a real challenge, they should remember to pray just as the sons of Mosiah prayed to know what they should do.
Later that evening Brother Osguthorpe played an MP3 recording of President Thomas S. Monson's recent invitation for all young men to serve missions and asked the young men how many planned to serve a mission and saw what appeared to be everyone raise a hand as he continued to ask who was leaving in two years, three years, four years and so forth.
As he shared his testimony, he told the young men that he believed they would fulfill the wish that Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve once said, that "we now need the most dedicated, devoted missionaries in the history of the Church" and expressed his confidence that they could be these missionaries.
Brother Osguthorpe said his favorite moments were following the evening fireside, when young men came forward to greet him. He said it was obvious they had listened to what had been said and taken it to heart. Young men would come up to him and shake his hand and tell him how many more years they had until they served a mission.
Brother Osguthorpe said one father came up to him and said, "I am not a member of your Church, but my son is. And after listening to you this evening, I'm committed to give him more support. If he wants to serve a mission for your Church, I'll do all I can to support him in that decision."
After his stay at the encampment, Brother Osguthorpe told his wife that it was one of the most enjoyable things he's done since being called as a general officer. He said what impressed him was the eagerness of the young men to learn, saying, "They seemed so eager, so hungry for whatever I could give them. Following the fireside, one young man said, 'I just kept feeding off your words!' I have never had that comment before. It shows just how hungry they were."
