What Your Outpost Did This Week.

This week we started our annual Fencing "program". We run it every May for 5-7 weeks.  The kids love it.  They think they are learning how to sword fight,  but shhhh, don't tell them they are actually learning discipline.

I forgot the camera as I got out of work late & just got there 3 minutes to spare.  but here are some pics from previous years





I even get in on the fun sometimes-for demonstration purposes only of course  

Foam Swords are the best. Boys of all ages love them.

We had some great times with them. Boys are always ready for it.

Mark Jones

Chris,

Do you make the swords, or are they store-bought?

Man, Chris. Didn't the sun come out the last 6 months?

Claymore wrote:Chris,

Do you make the swords, or are they store-bought?

we made them out of PVC pipe with foam pipe insulation as padding & then duct taped.

joecool wrote:Man, Chris. Didn't the sun come out the last 6 months?    

Might have been a day or 2

I work often in the 7th cloudiest city in America

Hey Hey Hey! It's Pow Wow time. One week from today is the last day for preparations for District Pow Wow Olympic Theme.

Looking forward to it. We did some major upgrades to the Campground these past 2 months and now were at the Outpost Level getting as many as we can to go. Right now were at 33...but it will go up this week for sure. Generally we have 40 to 50 in camp at Pow Wow.

Spent a hour last night in the back yard cutting up some old cedar fence sections for the firecraft part of my Kayaking event. They get to do 3 things at our event. Kayaking across a 250' lake and around. A frame fire using a provided 8" length of cedar fence a cheapo Walmart grilling knife camping section attached by galv wire to a 16" long 2x2 baton and a few matches. I call it one match fire but few really get it done with one match. Wind blows it out most of the time on the first try. Then they will Orienteer a "white" DR-easy course with 9 points going almost a mile.

Lots of fun with a whole lot of neat stuff, 3D 10 point archery course with real 3d targets.

All kinds of cool stuff happening. Best part 3 nights of campfires, fellowship and fun outside in God's creation.

Hope you all can make the BIGGEST EVENT OF THE YEAR. District Pow Wow. Wooo Whoo!

Mark Jones

We had a great time at Pow Wow. 500 folk there. Lots of rain. Souls saved. Took me 3 days to get rested back up.

God is good all the time.

Mark Jones

So, on Sunday of two weeks ago, the Pastor spoke of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (that the physical body is temporal, but that the spirit and spiritual world are eternal).  Since the kids were in Children's Church at that time, I felt that it was too good of a message to waste on just adults.

I purchased some avocados.  After Church, this past Sunday, I cut a couple up and did my first attempt at making some simple mild guacamole.  I saved about 1/4 of an avocado, and I put it in the refrigerator/uncovered so that air could get at it for three days.

For our Bible Study, I pulled out an avocado in front of the boys, cut and mashed it, added some lemon and some lime juice, salt & pepper, and a little dash of (mild) hot sauce.  Then, out came a big bag of tortilla chips.

The boys all said that they'd never had guacamole.  Some were hesitant.  I said that they could just dip a taste, and if they didn't like it, they could spit it out in the waste basket.  

That sounded fair.  No tortilla chips nor guacamole was spit out.  In fact, they started scooping it out like bandits.

I had printed out copies of the Bible verses. When the boys were about 2/3 of the way through the guacamole, I handed out the Bible verses to them, and we read them.  I said that we primarily pay attention to our physical bodies, even though they will quickly deteriorate.  Our spirits will live for eternity and never deteriorate.  I said that our current physical health is like that great-tasting guacamole.

Then I pulled out the 1/4 avocado that had been open in the refrigerator since Sunday.  I said that, just a couple of days ago, it was as good as what they are eating.  But now it is old, shriveled up and turning black.  Who wants some nice rotten black avocado?

The reply was, "Yuck".

So I said to the boys, "What does the nice fresh green avocado represent?".  They said, "Life, with our Spirits".

"What does the shriveled black avocado represent?".  Answer, "Our bodies without life."

Enough said.............................enjoy your guacamole!

Great devotion. Good stuff!

Mark Jones

I like that.

Edible devotions. I like that!

Great work Commander!

We have continued to work on our fencing the last few weeks (we did miss one week as my kids were both sick & I wasn't feeling great either)

Of course I have for gotten to bring the camera each time.

This week we will be adding 2 new elements Sword & Dagger and English Quarterstaff.

Pics to follow (putting the camera in the Ranger bag as we speak)

We held our first Merit day where we did the Firearm Safety merit. Turn out was less then I expected, 4 out of 6 boys, 2 of them have been really hit or miss in attending. Hopefully now we will see them more often. We got in 5 lessons to complete the merit, 2 bible lessons, a review of some Firecraft material so we could roast hotdogs, and a couple of fun games.
End result was one boy finished his requirements for his Silver falcon, now he will just have to recite the points and everything else to get his Gold.

Now they are all waiting for a chance to go out shooting. Maybe in September we will do that as a father/son event.

Good job, Jeremy.

I know that it's a lot of work, running a course. We all, sometimes, focus on the number of participants & wish that there were more recipients for the quality instruction that you put out.

But who knows? There could be a future Olympic Shooter in those 4 boys.

time for a photo dump!

We finished up fencing last week & started tool craft. Here are some piccies of the last 3 weeks

2 weeks ago I introduced some new weapons to fencing. Normally we use single sword s single sword. But this year I added English Quarter staff & Sword & dagger.

this is also the first year I have allowed Rangers to operate the camera (AR only) so you will see more of me than in the past. (and some blurry shots)













My son & I fight a hard fought match


Attempting to score on each other


Me taking on all comers with only a dagger ( I won)





Tool Craft tonight
Learning to pass a knife

Found a little time to work on your tan, eh, Chris?

Passing a knife crossing the body? Supposed to be face to face. Left hand passing to the other persons right hand....or right hand passing to the other persons left hand.

Crossing the body has been deamed hazardous...(I don't know why but they think it is) GRIN!

Don't watch me while I am working. I only teach this stuff when I am teaching it. Otherwise I do it the most useful way. GRIN!

I have seen leaders screaming at boys carrying a knife. I just shake my head and think. "that boy won't be back"

One time a boy just bought a knife and he had it in a folded cardboard in his back pocket and a commander jumped all over him about it. I just asked the boy what he thought. He said he just bought it and the commander that sold it to him told him to bring it back to his camp like that and keep it put up until he had a proper sheath for it.

At Pow Wow I got pulled over by a Federal Marshall saying it was in violation of rules to have a 15 year old boy on the back of the golf cart the stuff we had just picked up was in his seat and he was standing between things as we drove to the drop off point.

Legalease wise I was in the wrong. However in practum I was doing it in a safe manner. Federal Marshall apologized to me a little later in the day. He said he checked with the rule maker and the rule maker said "Leave Mark Jones alone" he is always doing what he is supposed to be doing. GRIN!

I will buy a box that will make hauling on the golf cart and leave a seat for the 3rd person. So I won't be in the wrong next year..........(well maybe sometimes...grin) 5 big wheels may just have to be stacked and tied on again...GRIN! Yet I will drive at a walk pace......(Hopefully)

Keep up the good work and teach those boys and girls. It's good stuff.

Mark Jones

Mark Jones wrote:

At Pow Wow I got pulled over by a Federal Marshall saying it was in violation of rules ...................

Mark Jones

Yeah!

Give a guy a Badge, and he turns into a Dink!

joecool wrote:Found a little time to work on your tan, eh, Chris?

I am outdoors a lot at work

I stand amazed at how good our God is and how blessed we are.

Last year we ended the year with 5 DR boys. This year I have now 17, an only 3 of them were moved up from Ranger Kids. We have had new boys every week since we started back in Sept 20th.

I am going to need more leaders, this is a good thing and a bad thing.....

Good job Commander. It's exciting to see the ministry grow and the boys have a good time and learning stuff. What does your calendar look like for 2017 for RR ministry?

Mark Jones

Canadarangers wrote:I stand amazed at how good our God is and how blessed we are.

Last year we ended the year with 5 DR boys.  This year I have now 17, an only 3 of them were moved up from Ranger Kids.  We have had new boys every week since we started back in Sept 20th.

I am going to need more leaders, this is a good thing and a bad thing.....

Mark Jones wrote:Good job Commander. It's exciting to see the ministry grow and the boys have a good time and learning stuff.  What does your calendar look like for 2017 for RR ministry?

In Flux.....We are still coming up with easy things to do with the boys. We are looking at a spring camping weekend. I am also hoping to take them up into the mountains where there will be some snow and build some shelters etc... I have lots of ideas.

Now that makes me jealous! I'd love to be able to take the boys on a camp out in snow without driving 8 hrs...

Keep the updates coming. It's great to hear what's going on.