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LDS CHURCH ANNOUNCES INDEPENDENT ACTIVITY PROGRAMS BEGINNING 2020


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28 minutes ago, gblotter said:

Possible, but unlikely. Under that scenario, our troop would need to find a new Scoutmaster. I will be ready to exit BSA on 12/31/19. I'm quite disillusioned over BSA's girl decision. This new Family Scouting is not for me.

Then help them find a new Scoutmaster before you step down.  I'm stepping down as Committee Chair, but I'm helping through the search.

As I see it, you've got a Troop with boys who want to be Scouts.  In my book that's the most important requirement for a troop.  The rest is all mechanics.  Volunteers can be recruited, a CO can be lined up, camping equipment can be found.

We had a troop in our district lose their CO a few years ago.  They went down the street and regrouped.  Did they lose some boys who were members of the original CO - you bet. But it all worked out.

In my book these National decisions are important, but still not nearly as important as the simple wish of boys to be Scouts.  

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I've been thinking a lot about this over the past few days. I do indeed see things differently, though not in the ways many seem to think.  I know this may not be the thread for this, but it is i

LDS units form a HUGE percentage of Scouting units in the Western region especially. States like Idaho, Arizona and Wyoming, and large portions of California and Oregon have exceptionally large number

@The Latin Scot It’s a strange time for us LDS Scouters, with such a range of emotions.

I’ve been involved in Scouting for most of my life as a boy and now an adult leader. Thomas S. Monson (recent LDS President and Silver Buffalo) famously said: “Decisions determine destiny”. BSA has shown us that decisions can also detour destiny.

I’ve never been divorced, but I wonder if there are steps of acceptance and withdrawal that may apply here as we transition and move on.

I’m glad we will have the next 18 months to work through this (both personally and organizationally). Especially for the most dedicated of LDS Scouters, there will be a lot to work through.

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@The Latin Scot do you foresee personal emotional struggles and conflicts over the course of the next 18 months as you deliver the program to your unit? I ask because as of right now your church has decided it will part ways with said program because of decisions the BSA has already made, as opposed to any decisions the BSA could make in the next 18 months. Personally, I would find it hard to be "all in" for a program that my church has already deemed unfit. What will keep you going?

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3 hours ago, Chadamus said:

What will keep you going?

I am not speaking for @The Latin Scot ...

I was ready to quit in February 2019, but my love for these boys will keep me going over the next 18 months. I have helped each of our Scouts craft an advancement plan, but it is their responsibility to execute on that plan. As Scoutmaster, I am in a support role to help them complete a journey started. Their motivation will be my motivation, but without question I will be done with BSA on 12/31/19.

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6 hours ago, Chadamus said:

@The Latin Scot do you foresee personal emotional struggles and conflicts over the course of the next 18 months as you deliver the program to your unit? I ask because as of right now your church has decided it will part ways with said program because of decisions the BSA has already made, as opposed to any decisions the BSA could make in the next 18 months. Personally, I would find it hard to be "all in" for a program that my church has already deemed unfit. What will keep you going?

First of all, I am always 100% behind every decision the Church makes, because I sincerely believe that whatever decision our leaders make, comes from the Lord. So, that said, I am excited to see what the future will bring after these next 18 months are over, because I know that Providence never takes anything away without given us something better in return.

So what keeps me all in? Simple.

The boys.

These kids have 18 months left in Scouting. At that age, it seems like a MUCH longer time than it seems to us. And it's my duty, my opportunity to see that the last 18 months of Scouting in the Church are the most memorable, the most exciting, the most affecting months they have ever had. I want them to think back with fondness and gratitude to the years of Scouting they had, to the adventures they shared, and the lessons they learned. I want them to accomplish great things, and when they are old and gray, I want Scouting to be one of the dearest memories of their youth. 

That means I have no right, no time, no reason to selfishly indulge in whatever I may be tempted to feel regarding the sadness or nostalgia of this loss. It isn't about me. These boys have so much to learn and gain from my time with them, and to taint it with my personal sentiments would be unfair to them and a diservice to myself - they are not the only ones who have a lot to gain from this last leg of the journey. I myself learn from them daily; they are a part of my own growth and learning, and if I let myself be distracted by what-ifs and if-onlys, I too would lose valuable opportunities and blessings. 

Our last prophet President Thomas S. Monson, himself one of Scouting's greatest champions, loved to recite the following quote:

"For all sad words of tongue and penThe saddest are these, 'It might have been.'" - John Greenleaf Whittier

My job is to deliver the fullest, the happiest, the most complete, the BEST program I can down to the last minute of our involvement. And all it takes to feel the motivation, to feel the desire, to feel the joy of the adventure, is to look into the faces of these fine young men and to love them. I can do anything if it's based on that love. It's not a personal stuggle. It's a personal opportunity, and I am thankful for every last minute of it.  :happy:

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Local LDS Scouters Tasked to Stay Fully Engaged

from Moapa Valley Progress, June 6

“We have been instructed, and we are asking all of you now, to remain a fully engaged partner in the Scouting programs for the coming nineteen months,” said President Chuck Burt, a member of the LDS Logandale Stake Presidency. “We are approaching a transition period where it will be up to each of you to set the tone in your units and in the community. We hope that it will be a unified tone.”

In a brief instruction session, Logandale Stake High Council member Elwin Brown, who is also the Commissioner of the BSA Anasazi District, laid out a three-point plan for the transition.

His first point was a challenge to actually ramp up the Scouting programs over the next 19 months. “Don’t slack off or drop the ball,” Brown told the leaders. “Let’s don’t stop until the commitment is over.”
Brown instructed Scout leaders to encourage boys to achieve their next rank advancements, attend BSA-operated camps and continue in full activity rather than allowing them to just relax from the program.

Brown’s second point was for the members of the Stake to continue financial support of the Scouting program. This was specifically in regards to the annual council-wide Friends of Scouting fundraiser.
“Our challenge now is to send a final message of thanks to the Boy Scouts, and to the Las Vegas Area Council, over the next 19 months,” Brown said. “Let’s make it the largest Friends of Scouting donation ever during the 2018 and 2019 years. So that, when we leave, it will be funded for as long as possible.”

Brown’s third point was to address concerns that, after the shift occurs, the Boy Scout program might die out in the Moapa Valley community.
“I feel like it is on my shoulders to see that it doesn’t,” Brown said. “There are too many young men who still will need to earn their Eagle or receive the other benefits from this program. I don’t want to pull the rug out from under them or deprive them of that experience.”

More details at source link

http://mvprogress.com/2018/06/06/local-lds-scouters-tasked-to-stay-fully-engaged/

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I find it interesting that he speaks about a desire to have his grandsons become Eagle Scouts, but seems to preclude the possibility of his granddaughters following that trail.

For the LDS members on the forum.  When scouting is no longer the Church's youth program for young men and recedes to the same position in an LDS family that say a sports team, 4H, or similar extracurricular activity would occupy, would there be a church prohibition against a young female member of the LDS  joining scouting?  If so what would be the reasoning?

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4 minutes ago, T2Eagle said:

I find it interesting that he speaks about a desire to have his grandsons become Eagle Scouts, but seems to preclude the possibility of his granddaughters following that trail.

 

He doesn't have any granddaughters 

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1 minute ago, T2Eagle said:

I find it interesting that he speaks about a desire to have his grandsons become Eagle Scouts, but seems to preclude the possibility of his granddaughters following that trail.

For the LDS members on the forum.  When scouting is no longer the Church's youth program for young men and recedes to the same position in an LDS family that say a sports team, 4H, or similar extracurricular activity would occupy, would there be a church prohibition against a young female member of the LDS  joining scouting?  If so what would be the reasoning?

There's no prohibition. I know a few LDS girls that are already in Cub Scouts (just not packs chartered by LDS congregations).

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