The Dreaded Cub Scout Calling (by Bethany)

A few years ago, we were living in a tiny town in New Mexico while Paul attended grad school. (Who knew that’s where they hide one of the top hydrology programs in the nation?) We loved our little town and our close-knit church congregation and our callings in the primary and Elder’s quorum presidencies, but it wasn’t long before the Lord decided to shake things up.

Out of the blue, Paul and I were called as leaders of the local LDS cub scout pack over the 8- and 9-year-old boys. I knew when I married a hard-core boy scout that he would probably have a lot of scout callings, but I never thought I’d have to do it too!  We were told that it was an important calling. We were supposed to be consistent, build up the pack, and use the scouting program for missionary work. I was pretty nervous about it, since I knew nothing about cub scouts or little boys, but Paul and I were excited for the chance to serve together!

We started with just one boy from the ward, then another turned eight and we had two, but neither of them came every single week. We were somewhat discouraged, as we put a lot of effort into planning lessons and activities every week, and we had to bring our young daughter in her pajamas to the Thursday night meetings. I was tired and pregnant, and barely fit into my new scout shirt. We felt like our time and energy were being wasted on just one or two boys. Two rounds of recruitment yielded no improvement.

But we did not give up. We prayed in nearly every prayer for the Lord to help us grow the pack. We never got lazy in planning the Thursday night meetings, and we invited anyone we could think of to join. We talked to new neighbors, boys that we’d see around town, and the bishop helped us by encouraging the less active members with sons of cub scout age.

One day, Paul went to get the car repaired. As the receptionist gave him a ride home, Paul found out that she had two sons old enough for cub scouts. They started coming faithfully, and were our first non-LDS recruits.

We continued to pray for more boys and to open our mouths. Another LDS  boy turned 8 and joined the pack. A new family moved into the ward with a 9-year-old boy. The bishop’s prodding of a less active family gained us two more unbaptized cubs. Things were getting exciting - we were finally able to plan group activities as they were intended!

As the year went on, word spread around the schools through the boys and their parents. A Muslim boy joined on the day of our cub scout cookout, and was happy to see we had all-beef hot dogs! The bishop’s son turned 8, and two more nonmembers joined the pack. Another boy with a less active father was convinced by the bishop to give cub scouts a try. His mother was soon baptized.

Things were growing so fast we could hardly keep up! Another two nonmembers joined the pack, one the brother of another of our cubs. During this time, Paul and I were having a family taught in our home by the missionaries. Their 9-year-old son started attending cub scouts. Soon he and his father were baptized.

The pack was huge, and the boys were actually achieving things. We had boys earning wolf badges, bear badges, arrow heads, and belt loops right and left. Best of all, one of the sons of the receptionist at the car place ended up receiving his Arrow of Light. He graduated up into Boy Scouts!

Another less active family showed up at cub scouts one night. The twin boys were actually too young to join, but we invited them to participate anyway. They came every week, and began coming to church. Even the Christian Scientist mother came to church once or twice, and the daughter sometimes attended Young Women activities.  

We tried to find ways to use our calling for missionary work. We knew it was good just to get nonmembers into the church building to feel the spirit of it every Thursday night, but we wanted to do more than that. We told the boys they could pray however they wanted, but if they didn’t have a preference, we taught them the LDS way. Even the Muslim and many of the Catholics prayed vocally this way. We made sure nonmembers knew when their LDS pack members were being baptized, and we often invited them to ward activities. A few showed up to the ward Halloween party.

We also tried to be a presence in the community. We went out on field trips in uniform so people could see our pack and want to join. We went to the city newspaper office, the university mineral museum, the campus police station, and even the locally-owned grocery store. We also marched with our float in the county fair parade, passing out flyers to invite more boys to join. After that, our pack was invited to participate in the town Sept. 11th commemoration, handing out pins to the first responders!

Four more boys joined after that. Not all of our boys came every week, but we usually had about ten or eleven on any given week. About three-quarters of our boys were not LDS. When Paul graduated and we moved away, we reluctantly handed our calling over to our FIVE replacements.

When we were given the dreaded cub scout calling, we had a pack of one boy. When we left two years later, we had eighteen. Yes, we worked hard every week to prepare for Thursday evenings. Yes, the bishop and others helped to spread the word about cub scouts. And yes, we prayed very hard for the Lord to help us grow our pack. In the end, we know that it was the Lord who blessed us with these boys, and with the opportunity to learn and grow from this experience. Maybe cub scouts isn’t so bad after all!

Grace with her Pinewood Derby car:)