"Starting August 2nd, I had the opportunity to fly
to Nepal to a Scout Camporee with seven other boys from my troop in Shanghai,
five of which were also LDS. When we
arrived we had to stay at the Airport hotel for one night, where I roomed with
two boys from my troop, one named Colton Shaner (who was LDS) and one named
Alex Koke (who was not). My dad had
challenged all the boys in our branch to finish the Book of Mormon over the
summer, so when me and Colton got out our Book of Mormon to read that night,
Colton asked Alex if he knew what a Mormon was. Alex responded: “It is a religion in Europe
that is almost extinct.” Colton and I
laughed and told him that we were Mormons.
The next day we had a long one and a half hour drive up the long and
winding roads to our campsite on top of the mountain. Then we set up camp and went to bed. The next day was Sunday. We found out that there were a couple other Mormons
at the Camporee who were offering an LDS church service. They offered a Sacrament meeting and
testimony meeting. I was the only scout
who bore my testimony along with some other adults. Over the next three days at camp, I went to
merit badge classes for Environmental Science, Weather, Home Repair,
Architecture, Safety, Surveying, and participated in many different activities
like a cobbler competition and a few different campfires. Breakfast was always slimy eggs but lunch and
dinner were delicious curries. Every day
it rained and mud covered just about everything. One of the days it stormed so hard that the
safety officer sounded the emergency alarm and everyone gathered in the dining
hall for the next four hours, waiting for the storm to stop. We were at such high elevation that while we
were eating at the dining hall, a cloud would just float inside. On Thursday we headed back down the mountain
to the Habitat for Humanity sight. We
stayed in a hotel there, too. For the
next two days, we went up to Habitat for Humanity to help build a house for a
poor family. We made hundreds of mud
bricks, painted their doors and windows, plastered a combination of mud and cow
manure on their walls to make their houses warmer, and did a few other
activities to help them live better. It
felt good to know that we were making a positive influence on their lives, especially
seeing their current living situations. The
last day we were supposed to do a short flight around Mount Everest, but it was
too cloudy. We did a bit of souvenir
shopping and I bought a really cool knife, and then we got on the flight back
to Shanghai. Overall, it was a great
experience that I’ll never forget." James
The Larsen Family
