(Spencer's quick letter to Kohler)
Dear Elder Chamberlain,
Last Wednesday, Brother Hughes called and asked me to give a talk in sacrament meeting! The topic is about the Duty to God program and how earning an eagle scout award can help you prepare you for your mission. I instantly thought of you on your mission when he called me. So Kohler, how has getting your Eagle Scout Award helped you prepare for your mission? Make sure you Email mom before Sunday because I need your answer before Sunday. Well, how are you doing, Kohler? Is it still hard? Are the people treating you well? I hope you are doing great. My birthday was this Sunday and I got a lot of cool socks and some gum. I also got a new cellphone! It is really fun. I hope you can give me a good answer for my talk. I love you!
Spencer
Elder Chamberlain's response:
Dear Spencer,
As it is a journey from starting as a tenderfoot to an eagle, it's a journey on your mission. On your mission you are going to have many trials and challenges to overcome. The same can be related to the merit badges and accomplishments you'll have to do in your scouting journey. There will be hard campouts with hard long hikes, many meetings you will need to go to in order to learn about how to make yourself better as a person, and much more. I've learned from my own personal experience that earning your eagle award will teach you discipline, independence, obedience, and give you a hard work ethic. You won't be perfect nor perfectly ready for the mission but it will help you more than you think.
I can relate many things to one very particular campout that I had with my good friend Keaton that I have thought about several times on my mission believe it or not.
I was a deacon and we had all left one weekend to go mountain biking. It was said that there was a fairly good chance it was going to rain but we didn't think too much about it. We had also had a good friend that wasn't very active and his parents didn't go to church but Brother Mask, who was one of our leaders, had helped him to come to church many times. His name was Duke and he had wanted to come on the campout with us but wasn't sure about what his parents would say. We had gotten to the campsite that evening and had set everything our tents and everything up (not expecting it to rain).
We had had a fun night with good food as always that Brother Roberts and Brother Hatch had made, and we were ready to get to bed for the next day to go on a 8 mile biking course through the desert. In the middle of the night it had started to rain and I had been sleeping in a 2 man tent with my friend Keaton. We both got out, and despite being tired and confused, we tried to put up the tarp. Others had already done so when they initially put up their tents because they were just...smart... So we set it up and finally we went back to bed being fairly wet and more than uncomfortable. However a lot of coyotes very...very nearby had started howling and it had kept us up for a while. After about an hour I can remember falling asleep. Then I woke up again finding I was sleeping in water as it started to enter my sleeping bag. There were holes in the base of the tent and my entire pillow was wet. There was not one dry spot! That I do remember! Now I was cold and shivering inside my sleeping bag and I tried to use my pillow to block all the water that would come in my sleeping bag if I laid straight down. After about another hour or so of Keaton and I were trying to deal with the same things..
Then, around 3:00 in the morning, one of our leaders had brought up our less active friend Duke...I had a weird feeling right as they stopped the car. Brother Mask came up and had asked us if Duke could sleep in our already soaking 2 man tent( with our backpacks inside because we couldn't leave them outside) We took him in and I remember just thinking this is soo dumb.
Duke came in with all of his things and had put his sleeping bag in between Keaton and I. We told him about the water but most of the water was seeping towards the corners of the tent because the ground was slanted a little. Anyway, Duke then starts to snore after falling asleep. I remember thinking to myself...why am I here right now...? The coyotes were still howling, it was still raining, my sleeping bag and pillow were both drenched including us, and I was literally still sleeping in about an inch of water but was too tired to try and dish it all out, and now we were smushed with another kid who was snoring extremely loud...and we had to wake up in about 3-4 hours
I was ready to leave right there. I didn't really fall asleep that night and neither had Keaton but somehow Duke was able to snore away...
Now with this experience and knowledge from the mission I've been able to relate a lot of things. I would say that if you're going to try and get your eagle its very likely that over the years you will have at least 1 experience like this or worse. I have related this one night experience to missionary work by thinking this...Duke really wanted to come camping with us...I knew that he had had a very hard family life and wasn't living in the best conditions himself while I wished I could be in my nice cozy air conditioned house with a big warm bed.
I have learned in simple words that in order to grow and become what God wants...there will be challenges and trials where we will have to tell ourselves....Just deal with it! Don't whine, groan ,or be that guy who keeps complaining about how much better something would be if it was only like this, or if only this happened. Let this make you stronger and just DEAL WITH IT. Let this make you the man you need to be. Something that has helped me is to ALWAYS remember that we will never be given a trial that we cannot overcome and make the right choice. God knows how much we can take. SO you have to tell yourself this...God knew I could take this challenge...so there's no backing out of it...otherwise that would mean that I gave up on Him and the trial He gave me to become better.
This is one of many stories that I can remember from how scouting has strengthened me and prepared me to be in a country that is unfamiliar and speak a language I've obviously never spoken much nor heard every single day of almost every moment, and to live in conditions where I don't have the things of everyday life which we all take for granted.
The mission will pull, and stretch you everyday physically, mentally and many times even emotionally. But only if you let it. Getting your Eagle scout award is one of the best or even one of the least things you could do to get you ready for your mission. I wasn't fully ready to go out on my mission and I don't think anyone ever has been, but from what I would humbly offer is that the journey to the Eagle is one of the best things you can do. Stick with it and let it make you the person you need to be to serve with God's missionaries---to serve in God's Army, because He requires a lot, and in return, He blesses a lot.
I hope this helps Spence! I don't know if this is too much but use what you want bud! Love ya! Oh and ya the people on the streets treat us ok...we have a lot of people who will make fun of us and many times they will always stare just straight at us even if they're standing right in front of you. They don't care and I don't know why to be honest. It really annoys me but it's just another challenge to deal with. Hope you had a fun bday bud! Take care!
Elder Chamberlain
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