Sons of Helaman Camp

   

   We had an awesome experience this weekend.  A "Sons of Helaman" group came up from the Highland Utah South Stake.  150 young men and their leaders were camped in Reeder.  These young men were Priest age with a few 15 year old boys thrown in.  According to one stake leader, 85 % of the young men in the stake participated.  They spent the majority of the week in white shirts, ties and blue jeans.
     On Friday it was our job to provide a service project for them.  They donned their camp shirts and reported to a hillside where our team had been diligently working to cut up trees for them to haul out.  

Before we can run a service project, the area has to be prepared.  Many hours are spent by the Elders, with chain saws, cutting up the downed trees and blocking them into manageable sections.

The boys arrived, walking down the trail 

As they came, they began picking up the wood and bringing  to the trucks

This is a pile of slash they are loading into the truck I am driving

Sometimes the most efficient way is to form a line and pass the wood from person to person

The boys literally "swept" the hillside.  They brought out old stuff and actually took down a few dead trees themselves

As the boys loaded the trucks it soon became evident that the safest place for us was in the cab.  They were pretty aggressive throwing the wood in!

Blocked wood truck

They brought wood out of the forest faster than we could dump the trucks and come back for more

They filled wheelbarrows and then just picked them up and dumped them on the back of the trucks

Breaking for lunch.  They fed us very well!

The burn pit before we dumped the wood

The burn pit after we dumped the wood

In about 2-2 1/2 hours, the boys filled more than 40 truck loads!!!

That night we were able to help some of the boys as they did the challenge course.  The next day they invited us to come to the end of their testimony meeting.  They all stood and sang a version of "Helaman's Army". They were amazing.  Afterward, the leaders lined up for a "hug-a-line".  They invited the missionaries to join in.  The boys walked down the line and hugged all of the leaders and the missionaries.  They all expressed their thanks to us for letting them come, and for our service.  We thanked THEM all for their service!  They were an amazing bunch of young men.  This was one of those days when we know why we are on this mountain, why the service we are doing is important.  This was a PAYDAY!!!