Badger Creek

They said it would pop my socks off. It did. It really did.
To explain, I must start at the beginning of the story. I don't know why you'd start anywhere else. The beginning is a great place to start a story because without the context the meaning gets jumbled and distorted, the content is left up to the audience to decipher and guess about. It's quite a mess really. So, here's the beginning. You ready? I love Badger Creek. I was skeptical about the job because the pay didn't seem so great. I have those friends that are living the dream, making the big bucks with selling security or pest control. Turns out that nothing could have been a better experience for me this summer. It's amazing to be part of an organization where there is no shirking of responsibilty, where everyone digs in deep and they are all willing to help the mission of Badger Creek be accomplished.
Elder Gene R. Cook was up here to Badger Creek for his family reunion. I was able to help facilitate the family reunion with my good friend Kyle Roeser. Elder Cook is an emeritus seventy now, but long ago was my mission president's mission president. He was also very influential in the conversion of one of my favorite families on my mission, the Williamsons. It was so great to meet him and speak just a little bit with him about our mutual friends. He had a great impact on people that many years later had a great impact on me. Interesting how that all works out.
I just finished my 3rd week of OYA (Outdoor Youth Adventure). Groups in number of 12-14, with the ages of participants anywhere from 14-18 swarm the ranch. It was an older group this week, which made our discussions a little more deep and meaningful. We applied all the ropes courses (giant swing, Jungle Jim, incline log, power pole, etc...) and all the initiatives (teambuilding exercises) to life and to the gospel--the kids were sharp as electric pencils.
Just a snippet into my life having to do with my glasses. On Wednesdays we take our OYA groups to the Snake River to hit Big Kahuna etc. I was wearing my spectacles this Wednesday because my contacts had been fogging up randomly and were being a nuisance.As we waited for Lewis and Clark raft guides to show up, we were playing a friendly and joyful game of Ninja Destruction. My good friend Hannah (Hannah is bomb, down to earth, cool as snow--not cold as snow, but cool. Hannah is not a cold person) had her hands placed in a susceptible position. It would be a stretch but I decided to jump and go for it. I lunged and swung for her right hand at her right shoulder; she pulled it in front of her chest and my left hand went soaring past and was in the place that her right hand once was. My starboard hand was now close to my cheek from the jump (it just seemed like a natural place to put it). Without skipping a beat she begins her turn. She takes her right hand and starts to swing it like a hammer towards my right hand. Luckily I shot my right hand straight up in the air and absorbed her backhand with my face and my glasses. The only problem was my glasses ended up getting broken and after my best taping, they still fit loosely on my face. (Hannah, if you end up reading this, know that I'm not bitter. I love this experience and I want to thank you for letting me elaborate on it. I like to take stories and run with them sometimes by providing a very detailed scenario for a story that could have been very simply told like this: "Before river rafting, Hannah broke my glasses as we were playing Ninja Destruction.") We jumped on the river rafts shortly thereafter and had a pretty smooth trip. We got 3/4 of the way down and came to a place that our river guide said was good to jump in at. John, a young buckaroo from Omaha, decided to have a test in man strength with me. I didn't enjoy this test as he was on top of me and wouldn't let go of my life vest. Eventually, yes, with some resentment and defeat, I jumped in clinging onto his life jacket. He came right in with. The only problem was the impact jarred my glasses clean off my nose. Murky, deep, and shifting water makes for a hard place to find a pair of glasses before they sink to the bottom of the river. That's exactly what they did. So it ended up that I only had to wear broken glasses for about an hour. Now I haven't a pair of glasses in the world to wear. Looking online, I can get a good deal, but the problem is I don't know my perscription. Things'll work out just fine I'm sure. I get to sport a new pair of glasses come purty soon.
I love working with youth right now. They teach me a ton about the gospel and about life. They are strong and funny and smart and loveable and teachable and friendly and straight up amazing. I'm not for sure about this next part yet, but come this time next year if I'm not married, I reckon I'll work here again. Love it, love it.
The summer has been tremendous and is cooking by. I'll be back in Rexy before too long, living with Daniel, and the band buddies, and some other cool cats.
Oh yeah, that bit about the socks being popped off. There's a saying/legend/tradition at Badger Creek that all started with a horse named Arnold. This adventuresome horse one day found himself stuck in the water trough. It took all the staff members at the time to pull him out and they all got soaked. They enjoyed the experience so much that every time someone would yell "Arnold's in the trough!" the entire staff would make for the nearest submergable body of water and jump in. This afternoon, right before the kids left I made an announcement to the staff. I was holding my blue wool socks in one hand and said "I'm not wearing socks..." Some lunged forward pointing at me and scolding me to "Sit down! Sit down!" Some staff were confused. Others shook their heads. Some love random things and laughed. Then I yelled "Arnold's in the trough!" It's exhilirating to know that you have the power at the tip of your tongue to get 15-20 people to jump into a body of water. We all sprinted to the pond, some shedding shoes, others emptying pockets, and still other's forgetting important items and papers in their pockets. One by one we hit the water and began to frolic...except Jake. He b-lined it straight to me and dunked me in the water a couple of times. I think it was his way of saying "thank you, it's a warm day and I needed to cool off."
Over and out. KRD triple nine clear.