Here are a scattering of photos from the National Jamboree held in West Virginia. I was there Saturday through Monday, thanks to the generosity of the Willits family. They paid for my plane tickets and hotel rooms.
The new jamboree site is wonderful, and I was so grateful for the opportunity to see it, and also to visit Mark, Ben and Sam. They were all having a wonderful time! I can't say that high adventure, humidity and mud are my idea of fun, but it was obvious that the Scouts there were in heaven!
Amy Bridges Larsen met me at the airport. They had driven over from Pennsylvania to meet me. We hadn't visited in person for 15 years!
Amy brought missionary breakfast to eat at the park with her family.
It was great to finally meet all of her children, and Scott's parents.
Beautiful West Virginia!
Amy drove me one hour to the jamboree site. There are 10 ziplines across the main arena!
So much fun!
Fun to meet Mark in the Faith and Beliefs area.
Great volunteers in the Church tent.
Meeting Filipino Scouts.
With a good Rabbi friend.
A lot of networking and friendshipping between the faiths.
We finally met Ben and Sam! So good to see them!!!
Sitting with the boys' troop at the Saturday show. Pretty exciting!
The stage looks out over a beautiful lake and trees. Gorgeous setting.
Mud everywhere! So glad Emma told me to buy these keens!
That night I stayed at the Glade Springs resort. Beautiful manor houses, and fireflies!!!
Ben helped with the Sacrament on Sunday morning.
Elder and Sister Andersen spoke.
We met up with Ben, Sam and also Jacob Larsen after Sacrament meeting.
Presenting a Century of Honor book to Elder David Allen.
The beautiful forest trails were full of Scouts!
Ben became a great patch trader!
Sub-camp C.
Near the beautiful lake.
The future visitor center is under construction.
An incredible swinging bridge across a huge chasm. In the distance is sub-camp A.
A huge tree house displays information about environmental-friendly living.
The Scouts tried to break a world record: keeping beach balls in the air for ten seconds. Cool.
A beautiful jamboree facility that will only improve each year.
Reenactment of Brownsea Island.
The boys are filthy but happy!
Mark's top bunk (yes, top) in a staff tent. Fun!
Mark came back to the hotel with me Sunday night and enjoyed real accomodations.
We took a walk Monday morning.
Monday breakfast at the hotel. Singing celebrity Sarah Centeno in the background. She sang, "It's a party in the BSA (USA)" at the show.
I headed back to Charleston to discover my flight had been cancelled! Hooray! I turned around and drove back to the jamboree. The Monday night centennial family night
was scheduled for that evening!
Rehearsals at the arena ended with a huge rainstorm. BSA folks suggested cancelling the show, but we were praying for a miracle.
Making decisions under pressure...
It was decided to postpone the show and hope for a window of clear skies.
The genealogy merit badge staff from the Family Search area gave Mark a thank you gift.
Brother DeBry (YM secretary) kept blowing up beach balls in spite of the rain.
The skies cleared at 7:45, and the preshow started at 8pm. A soggy field!
Ben was waiting faithfully for the show to start...
LDS Chaplains jumped into action and swept buckets of water off of the stage. Yes, buckets!
People started to arrive.
Brother Beck chatting with Ben.
The show started! Baden-Powell interrupted Brother Gibson and took over as emcee.
Mark Deitlein, CEO of Hale Centre Theatre, was Baden-Powell.
Fun boys band, Beyond 5, performed great EFY songs.
The crowd was happy despite the mud.
Young Men presidency ended the show.
Wayne Perry, national president, put his arm around Mark and said, "Well done. Now you can rest!"
It was Mark's favorite moment of the jamboree.
The boys met Brenan Corbin from "Are you tougher than a Boy Scout?" television show.
We arrived at the hotel after midnight, and were up early the next morning, but it still felt good to sleep in a real bed out of the rain! I said goodbye to Mark and drove the Beck's to the airport. Then caught my flights and made it home without any problems. What a whirlwind!
Wednesday morning at 7am the boys loaded their bus to leave the jamboree and tour historical sites.
They all had such a great jamboree experience. It poured rain right before they loaded.
Can you tell?
Sam at Monticello. I think he has a similar character to Thomas Jefferson. Love this picture!
Mark arrived home Thursday afternoon. It has been a long month!!!
We stopped at Deseret Book and, yes, the books have arrived!
And of course, we had a homecoming party.
Ben and Sam return tomorrow night. What a whirlwind summer. We are grateful for the many, incredible experiences we have all had at many locations across the United States.
Happy Scouting!
