The Return Journey

We left the Jamboree site early in the morning.  We took buses to the station, and the bullet train back up to Tokyo, where we crashed for the night.  The comforts of a hotel have never felt so good.  We weren't sitting in dirt, sleeping in sweat, fetching water in buckets, or eating mountains of white bread. 

The last thing we did in Japan was hold a sacrament meeting in our hotel.  We reflected on the experiences we had, and bore powerful testimonies of God and his Church.  The spirit present there will be remembered for a long time.

 

 

We've had the time of our lives at the Jamboree.  We explored cultures and artistic masterpieces, united with youth from all around the globe, and shared the Gospel with all who would listen.  But just like any great story, this one must come to an end.  Our adventures are over, and while we will miss them, we are ready for the comforts of home. 


Flying through time zones gave us an extra long day and some pretty bad jet lag.  When we descended the boarding ramp in the Salt Lake City airport we were happily greeted by our cheering families. 

It's good to be back.


[If anyone has pictures of us arriving in Salt Lake, let me know]

 

The End of the Jamboree

The closing ceremonies have officially come and gone!  The 23rd World Scout Jamboree is now over.

In the last two days of the Jamboree we finished swapping our gear from home, playing Ultimate Frisbee, spending time with our new friends, and of course, packing.  We even ran into the grandson of Lord Baden Powell.

 

 

We also got a taste of celebrity status as local girls visiting the jamboree site literally stood in lines to take pictures with us.  Burke has won our competition by a landslide, with over 75 pictures in a row!

The closing ceremony itself began with a bang.  The General Secretary of the UN spoke, the jamboree flag was lowered and transferred to representatives from North America, and some spectacular videos built during the jamboree were shown.

Near the end, two bands took the stage.  The first--some Japanese singers--was upbeat and enjoyable.  The second band was a complete disgrace to the jamboree: the hard rock music (if one can call it music at all) was made worse by terrible singing and an overall dark atmosphere.  To cap it all off, the lead singer shocked everyone by swearing while yelling for the crowd to make more noise.

Before the first song was over, almost all of our crew had fled the arena.  Looking back as we walked to our campsite, we saw that we were in the first wave of a mass exodus.  A reasonable estimate would say that around half of the 34,000 people stood up and left during the concert.

In spite of this unfortunate event, we ended the evening on a high note.  Our best friends from the other camps joined us and we played games and talked long into the evening.  As part of our devotional we sang God Be With You Till We Meet again to these friends, and shared some brief testimonies about the existence of God and our purpose as His children.

The spirit was present that night; it was the perfect way to part ways with the people we have met and to end the Jamboree focused on "WA: a spirit of unity."

 

As we prepare to leave, we have one final adventure: traveling home.

Life Continues

Today we had the opportunity to get on a live feed for our families back home to see us.  Audio wasn't really an option, but we hope our message was clear.

The days are passing quickly here at the Jamboree.  In fact, many of us feel as though our normal lives have been paused--stress, plans, and concerns are a long ways away for us.  We have adjusted well to the temperature, food, culture, and day-to-day chores and activities.  Most importantly however, we are still having the time of our lives!

Here is a glimpse of what we've been doing for the last two days:

We've been spreading the American Dream by creating our own version of Wall Street.  Our international trading buzzes with people during almost every moment of free time.

We've held many games of Ultimate Frisbee, often involving scouts from other groups.

Seven of us sang On My Honor (a traditional BSA song) to approximately 100 of the world's greatest scouters, such as organizers of this Jamboree, the director of the world scouring program, and heads of scouting from many nations around the globe.

We explored different cultures through their food, presentations and dances held in the evenings, and some games and crafts provided in the Culture section of the Jamboree.  Additionally, we spent a day in the city of Yamaguchi were able to see a cultural presentation by them.

Our missionary work continues.  People love hanging out at our camp, and the gospel get brought up in some every night.  We also have amazing devotionals every night as we share daily reflections and spiritual thoughts.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to provide dinner for the 8,000+ people in our sub camp?  It takes a full caravan for every meal.

We took a hike in the area surrounding the jamboree site.  We also earned that this Jamboree is creating a major drought for the city of Yamaguchi.

 

Food and Beach Day

Some of you have been curious what our diets have been like here in Japan.  While touring Tokyo and neighboring cities, we ate like kings: lots of foreign food, variety of taste, and plenty of nutritional value.

It is a little bit different here at the Jamboree site.  We asked some of the boys to describe the food we've been eating; their responses should paint the picture for you.

"Bread"

"Bread"

"Bread"

"High in carbohydrates"

"Rice"

"Bread"

"Chicken soup for the soul"

"Japanese"

"Weird"

"Non Mormon-mom cooking"

"Ehh"

"Bread"

We do indeed eat a lot of bread.  Definitely more that any of us have eaten in our lives.  We also eat pasta, rice, vegetables, some fruit, and meat when we can get it.

We have all become very fond of a certain Gatorade-type drink called Pocari Sweat.  We recently discovered that we can buy it at the Jamboree in quantities of 1.5 liters.

The food here is nothing to celebrate about, but it does not dampen our fun.  In fact, it gives us an opportunity to impress our dinner guests with creative dishes.

Yesterday we spent the day at the beach playing games and enjoying the water.  The boating we did to conclude the day was a highlight for everyone.

At a rest stop during the bus ride out to the beach we played Frisbee with a bunch of Swiss girls from the neighboring bus.