Yesterday was Scouts and I was kind of looking forward to it because we were teaching the kids how to tie knots. I know, fun stuff. I envisioned tying the children to the chairs, but I was in charge of the target practice and magic tricks. I was pretty much prepared with old socks filled with rocks tied to long ropes and I had practiced my magic trick which I didn't quite get, but was ready to give it a shot anyway.
When I walked into the Primary room, the other two leaders were there getting the boys settled with some opening games. One of the leaders, Jenny, brought her whole family including her husband and 4 kids. Since Jenny belongs to another ward, I hadn't met her kids before. I knew she had one boy that was handicapped but never had the pleasure to meet him. Today was the day.
I noticed her 3 girls right off the bat, they were toe-headed, cute as buttons, little girls. They were full of energy and playing and running around and having a blast amongst all these cubscouts. Then, my eye caught a child's stroller in the corner of the room, in the stroller was a little boy who was obviously severely handicapped. I put down my ropes, and gear and went over to meet him. He was by himself, listening to the bustling noises all around him. I crouched down and began rubbing his legs and told him how excited I was that he came to visit our scouts today.
He tried to look at me and my eyes met his and I was filled with happiness. Wow, what a strong spirit this special boy has. As the meeting began, I was still distracted with our little visitor and didn't want to leave my spot. I heard the other leader ask Jenny if she wouldn't mind introducing the boys to her son before we started our activities.
Jenny came over to him and picked him up out of his stroller and walked over to the boys who had formed a semi-circle. They were all interested and attentive when Jenny started to say.
"This is John, he is my oldest son and he is 9 years old."
Now, all of our boys in the Bear den are 9 as well. John looks a little different then they do. He is the size of a 3 year old boy and doesn't sit or stand. His arms are deformed and he only has 3 fingers between his two hands. As Jenny continued to talk about John, she asked if the boys had any questions. Some boys were a little shy, others were ready with questions. All of them were touched. I was watching their eyes as they tried to understand and get to know this special boy. Some of the questions went like this.
"What does he eat?"
"Can he talk?"
"How do you understand him?"
"Why is he so small?"
"Does he know his name?"
"Why does he wear a bib?
"Will he grow bigger?"
"Has he been baptized?"
These boys were learning so much more this day at scouts then how to tie knots. They were learning about the Lord's plan for each of us and how we all have the same mission, to return to our Heavenly Father and live with our Families Forever.
We talked about the Resurrection and how John will have a perfect body then. His Mom told them he had beautiful brown eyes, and she knows she will recognize him when she sees him when he is Resurrected. His Mom also told them that he will get his Patriarchal blessing to learn more about the Lord's plan for him. This lead to more questions and more answers.
We finally had to cut them off and start on our activities that we had planned. John went back to his existence. He laid down on a blanket while the other boys played tug of war and enjoyed building relationships with one another. I made sure before I left that day that I gave John a big hug and thanked him for his influence on our Bear scouts this day.
He was a special visitor that they will not soon forget.
