Hello again,
Since I wrote last I have had a half a week of being very busy at scout camp followed by a week in Stevens Point without regular internet access, plus I just didn't write for a few days after getting back here. It is amazing how long it seems since I have written, although it has been pretty low key, not a lot going on.
In my last post I promised that I would write about finishing up at camp, the last week of Boy Scouts and the half week of Weblos. The last week of Boy Scouts was both great and difficult at the same time. Attendance at the chapel services was pretty good, and I felt like I connected with quite a few of the scouts.
Although I had been offering to the leaders all summer to come in for an ethics talk with the scouts I had never had any troops take me up on it. The last week of scouts I had 4 troops ask for this. For these ethics talks another staff member and I go in and sit down with the scouts, ask the leaders to leave for about 45 minutes and talk about issues that are affecting young men of this age range. I asked the leaders if there were any specific issues going on in the troop. Each and every one of them said that they were having major bullying issues with the scouts in their troop, so this was a big part of the talk.
It is expected that boys of this age will have some issues with bullying, but this was an exceptionally bad case of it. It amazed me how during the summer each week seemed to have its own characteristic of what the troops were dealing with, despite the fact that they were from all over and not really and pattern to when they come in. But they have some of the same issues, and that week it was bullying. I am sure that these 45 minute talks weren't going to work miracles with this issue, but the leaders did comment to me that there seemed to be some improvement after the talk. It gave them some time to think about it, and I think that the way that we presented the issue to them caused them some pause when they were about to be bullying someone.
After that week was the half week of Weblo scouts. This is the oldest two years of Cub Scouts, before they transition to Boy Scouts. This half a week ran quite a bit like those with the Boy Scouts, just condensed into a shorter time. I was surprised with these scouts being a bit younger that I didn't have much for homesick to deal with, I guess that is partially because of how short the time was for them. I did something pretty cool with them that I hadn't done with the scouts. We only had one chapel service due to the time, but instead we did a chapel minute at the end of most meals. There were a couple that time just got too short, or the person coordinating the after meal activities forgot. It was pretty cool and I got a lot of compliments on it.
When I left scout camp I went out for a drink with a couple of friends from camp before heading to Winona for one night. I left the next morning and after completing a bit of running around in La Crosse I headed over to Stevens Point.
Nothing too special was going on in Stevens Point. I took care of some chores for the parish and I served both Masses on the weekend in addition to catching up with some friends in the area. It was a nice visit. I then came back to Winona and will be here for a week and a half before heading out again. I am keeping up with personal prayer and attending daily Mass often to revitalize myself before heading into the upcoming school year. I have been looking into the possible move to St. Paul seminary after this year. It is kind of fun doing this research and having some down time is nice.
Peace,
Adam
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