Goals

I have decided to start setting specific goal for our leaders. By doing this I hope to install a sense of urgency in their callings as leaders.

The first goal was to have each leader become a merit badge counselor for at least 3 required Merit Badges. That way we could cover 21 merit badges if all 7 of us are counselors. There are only 15 required so this should make it much easier to pass off the merit badges for the scouts in our Troop. When I asked how many of them were signed up as Merit Badge Counselors only 2 of us raised our hands. WOW!!!!! I explained that it was an easy process and it would do a lot to help our YM advance in Scouting. Each said they would get this done. I set the goal to have this completed by the end of March.

The second goal was to make sure each boy would receive 1 merit badge by our next Court of Honor. That is at the end of March as well. So, two goals that are both challenging but both possible. We will see how they do in trying to meet those goals. I think we will weed out those that are willing to put forth some effort and those that are along for the ride.

I wanted to make the third goal of having each boy pass a DTG requirement by the end of March as well but we ran out of time in our meeting. I will bring it up in our next meeting that we will be having, which will probably be sooner rather than later.

Dropping like flies

The campout was last weekend to some caves nearby. As the days got closer I was having more and more leaders dropping out of the activity. Even my Venture Crew Advisor dropped out. I was a breath away from canceling the campout altogether but I knew I couldn't do it. The leader before me would cancel campouts all of the time and I didn't want to be like that. So, no matter what, we were going to have a campout even if we only had one Young Man.

As it turned out, our Varsity Team Leader stuck it out and came with me. We had 2 leaders and 5 young men on the Campout. It was bitter cold outside and a nice 55 degrees inside.

I really didn't get a chance to run the campout they way it should be done because of the lack of leaders but the YM had fun and got to know me a little better. I guess that counts for something.

I think it was also a test for me to see if I would break under pressure and I think the other leaders saw that I was going to have this campout with them or without them. They now see that these activities are important to me.

Campout

This coming weekend we will go on our first Campout. We want to make it some sort of "High Adventure". The Venture Crew has decided to make a trip to some Caves nearby. So, we are hiking into the caves and using out GPS units to find it.

I really hope that this campout pulls our Crew together a little more. Hopefully they will get to know me a little better and our other Crew Advisor.

I have found it frustrating how little time we have to organize. Each Wednesday we have an activity planned so it is hard to sit down and organize how we are going to accomplish our goals. If fact, I don't think we have even decided on goals. Maybe that is what we need to talk about on our campout. I know what I think their goals should be but that is probably different than what they want it to be. I guess I had better start now on that stuff so that we don't waste this great teaching moment while we are walking to the caves.

I have also decided that I need to meet with our Crew Advisor much more. We really need to sit down and talk about activities, merit badges and lessons that need to be taught so that our young men are able to get their Eagle and DTG. I sure have a lot of work to do.

Training

I just found out that there is more and more training that I can go to now that I am a venture leader. I thought that once I had been through "Basic", that I was trained but I guess there is a "Basic" Training for Venture leaders as well. So, I need to attend Basic Training for Ventures and I need to attend "Leader Specific Training for Venture Leaders". Wow, training never ends...... As it should be.

I was a little disappointed in my "RoundTable" meeting this last week. I am a new venture leader and was ready to learn about the Venturing program and two weeks in a row we ended up making weave bottle holders in our meeting. I think I will be calling the Venture Trainer for Round Table and ask him to give us some real training about what we should be doing in Venturing and how we can get our Crew to Advance.

I have noticed some subtle direction from my priesthood leaders not to get into Venturing unless all of the Crew has received their Eagle Scout Award. I'm not sure how I should handle and work with this idea.

Quorum Meetings

Last week the Bishop and I talked about Quorum meetings. I voiced the concern that we needed to have each presidency of each quorum start to have Quorum Presidency Meetings. I suggested that the Bishop call his first "Priest Quorum" meeting (since he is the president of the Priest's quorum). Anyway, he did and last Wednesday we had our first meeting. It was a little awkward but the first meeting usually is.

Anyway, we had a Stake Conference Priesthood meeting yesterday and what did the General Authority talk about? Yes, the need for Presidency Meetings for each quorum. We found out that each quorum should have a Presidency Meeting once a week. It was a great lesson and I think the Bishop and I both got the message that we need to be doing better. It was great to have the Young Men at this meeting so that we all heard the message.

It was great to receive such "specific" direction from a GA.

Discovered new challenge

I discovered today in one of our meetings that our Crew doesn't know the Bishop very will. I was really expecting to see a good communication with the Bishop and the young men but I saw a lot of awkward moments and silence. I need to find ways that the Crew can be with the Bishop in a roll outside of church. I am really hoping that the Bishop can come on our next campout. Maybe that will create a little more friendship. I am hoping that I get to know the crew better as well so that they see me as a leader as well as a friend.

We talked about Eagle Projects today. I think we were able to motivate our 4 guys to start on their Eagle Projects. I know that I walked away feeling like an Eagle Project was not as hard as I thought it would be. One problem I do see is that our Crew seems to have big ambitions for their projects. One wants to put in an electric sign for a auditorium which will cost 4 thousand dollars. Another wants to put in a Basketball court as a public park. I thought we could convince some of them to just put up a sign in a park or paint a bathroom in a park or something but they all seemed to want to do these gigantic projects. I think it is ok to be ambitious but if it is going to stop you from progressing you should look at fulfilling the requirements and look at an easier project.

Anyway, our Venture leader showed up in his Class B uniform but non of the Crew came wearing their shirts. :-(

They all can't be great days. I am ready for the new challenge of having the crew get to know the Bishop better.