Addicted

While Caleb is probably having the time of his life on the other side of the world, Clint and I are addicted to finding out what’s happening via the webcam and YouTube videos posted online. Our boys were prohibited from bringing any type of electronics (our leaders want them actively involved in the activities rather than glued to Facebook, email, etc.), so we are getting very little as far as photos and videos from our group. So, we spend our time checking out every video looking for signs of our US  boys.

We have had some updates though and are excited to share what we know-

It took much longer to get to Sweden than planned due to the need to make an additional stop for fuel (heavy plane).

There are 156 countries represented by 40,000 scouts. Many of the people here look more like US Ventures than LDS Boy Scouts in that most units appear to be coed and most are relatively old.

The boys continue to be swarmed by girls - over half the camp is girls - and are doing a great job of telling them about the church.

Apparently the US is quite an anomaly in being boy centric - in other countries the girls have heavily taken over. This is, I surmise, heavily influenced by the church. Most other countries do not have chartering organizations the way we do.

It has been raining almost non-stop.

One big difference from each country is the uniform. It is cool to see everyone in uniform, almost like native dress, because it makes it clear where you are from and what you stand for. Ours has a very similar feeling as the white shirt and tie of a missionary here. Most countries have badges, but little notion of "advancement" the way we do. No Eagles, for example. It was also interesting to hear them cite the oath last night, significantly altered from our own with no mention of being physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

The Opening Ceremonies were amazing, Bear Grylls (Man vs. Wild) hosted and ABBA preformed.

The boys are healthy, happy and making you proud.