Good evening!
We are deep in the midst of summer doldrums at this point, with scouts who are not in summer school or on a family vacation or at various activity camps, wondering what there is left to do in the upcoming 114 degree heat. Well, keep in mind that there will be Scout Olympics put on by the elder young Mr. Harper during the Tuesday night meeting at 7PM this week, so please show up ready to do your best lashings or orienteering and get ready to compete! Also, please remember that the PLC meeting has been delayed a week, and will occur at 6PM on July 8th, due to Mr. McFetters being out of town. I believe I misspoke last week, and would like to correct the date for the July outing. It will still be to the Lava Tubes up north and west of Flagstaff, but will be during the weekend of the 18th-20th, per our outing scout leaders Mr. Demski and Mr. DeAngelis.
I was blessed to be able to attend a wonderful ceremony for my dad today as he retired a second time as a minister up in Prescott, this time at age 85. His previous call was to the Navajo Lutheran Mission in northern Arizona in the mid-60’s to start a Lutheran church on the reservation. As a former life scout, he also began an unofficial scouting-like program, even though most of what the young boys there were already doing was outdoors (mesa climbing, riding horses, herding sheep, etc.). None of the families had vehicles (some had covered wagons), so often one of the most difficult parts of getting the scouts together to go camping or fishing was simply rounding them up. Witness the following description of him trying to get people rounded up for a simple church service in late 1965: One Sunday, church started very late, as Pastor Cole had not yet arrived. He had gone out many miles over the dirt roads onto the eastern mesa to pick up a lady and her children to attend the service. When he arrived, he was then delayed as the mother and her children wouldn’t leave the hogan as a rattlesnake was menacing them in the yard. After snake hunter Wally killed the snake, they proceeded further up the mesa to pick up a couple and their eight children. Coming back down the rutted road, the Navajo man called out excitedly to stop, and then got out, and ran out over the rocks out of sight. A bit later, he came back with a lamb under each arm, and the mother sheep bleating along behind. They had strayed from their flock, and Mr. Nez had somehow spotted them on their way by. When the sheep were safely home, and with the snake taken care of, Pastor Wally finally arrived back at the church to tend to the rest of his flock, and belatedly began the worship service, which if it was a normal one, likely went on for 3-4 hours.
Hopefully it won’t be nearly as difficult for you to get to Blessed Sacrament on Tuesday night. If you are in town – be bored no longer, and I look forward to seeing you at the troop meeting!
Mr. Cole