I was asked to be a Young Women’s Adult Leader for a couple of nights at Camp Phillips between Rochester and the Twin Cities. It is a beautiful camp with a lake and a large club house and open green to do many activities. It has raised wooden platforms with metal frames and canvas tents including 2 cots per tent. I was assigned a tent down by the lake and quickly put all my gear onto one of the cots in the tent. It would be nice to have a tent to myself. Four girls chose to take two tents very near my tent, and I was excited to be their leader.
In the evening, I sat by the campfire where leaders were talking about an incoming storm and how we were glad to have tents on platforms to sleep in. Breanna Bly (one of the leaders) decided to let some of her girls go to the clubhouse to sleep. We laughed most of the evening, and when the girls were safely tucked into their tents and some in the clubhouse, I went to my tent.
It had started to sprinkle when I got back to my tent. In the past I would have set up my cot with my sleeping bag, but this year I thought I would be different. I brought a flat sheet, a quilt, and pillow since I knew I would have a cot to sleep on. As I went to tie up my tent-flaps, I realized that the straps on the tent had been worn off and torn, and the foot of my cot, quilt, and sheets were getting wet with the flapping of the tent flaps in the wind. “No problem,” I thought. “I have thread and a needle.” So carefully I sewed myself into my tent to keep water off of my cot. In the morning I would cut myself out, and maybe find another tent to sleep in. Lightning and thunder were more frequent, making the girls in the tent next to me giggle with excitement.
When I knew the girls were asleep, I read my scriptures, said my prayers, and climbed into my cot. Since it was cold, I reached down and tucked my quilt tightly around my legs to ward off the wind and cold. I laid on my left side and began to doze off. Just as I was about to dream, I felt something move on the back of my neck. Something was in my cot. It slowly moved down by my mid back and began to curl into a ball. I laid in my cot with eyes wide open wondering if it was a snake. I couldn’t scream; I would scare the girls. If I moved, would I get bitten? I tried to think my way out of this situation. Was it really happening? Was it all a dream? In my heart, I knew it was a snake. Whatever it was, it was staying put on my mid back. I kept telling myself, “It is just trying to get warm and stay out of the storm.”
After about 5 minutes of having a serious prayer with my Heavenly Father, I began to relax. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost. He is the only one who could have calmed me in this situation. It was really pouring rain outside my tent, and thunder was common. I thought, “Maybe it really was a dream.” Nothing had moved since that original feeling. After praying again, I decided to see if I could loosen my feet from the straight jacket I had tucked myself into to keep warm. I got the bright idea to move my hand to my waist to untuck my covers and immediately regretted it. I felt movement on my mid back and as my hand reached my waist, I felt this snake move very gently, and softly lay it’s head on my waist by my hip. I slowly moved my hand away and stayed as still as my nerves would let me be.
Now my worst fears were confirmed. Again I lay as still as I could, wondering what to do next. Prayer was again on my mind. I remembered every story told about snakes, and I recalled the story of the Native American boy who climbs a mountain to pick up a snake with promises by the snake not to bite him. The boy takes the snake down the mountain and the snake bites him. When the boy asked the snake why he bit him, the snake replied, “You knew I was a snake when you picked me up.” Visions of timber rattlesnakes ran through my head, and I wondered how far away help would be if I were bitten.
With this story running around in my head, I laid as still as I could until again I was calm. I think it was about 20 minutes but felt like an hour. The storm was mostly over, and I was grateful that I had not been bitten yet. My prayers had never been more sincere. I made bargains with Heavenly Father, but knew in the back of my mind that He doesn’t make bargains. I wish that I could say that I could hear Him speak to me… but I didn’t. I wish that I could say that I felt Heavenly angels around me… but I didn’t. I do know that a plan came to my head and that I was not going to sleep with a snake beside me all night.
Mr. Snake was warm and happy, and hadn’t bothered to move since putting his or her head on my hip. I am sure he/she was just glad to be warm and out of the rain. In time, I was able to free my feet of my quilt. I slowly moved my hands again to untuck the quilt down my side. When I felt the quilt was loosened enough, in one swift move I rolled off of the cot and jumped to my feet. I could feel the coiled part of the snake flop onto the cot as I jumped, and I am sure I startled it by moving so quickly, but I came out of it unscathed.
I grabbed my flashlight and began to look for the snake. My quilt and sheets were empty. I looked everywhere, and he/she was gone. With great relief, and humility, I gave a prayer of thanks to my Heavenly Father for keeping me calm and safe.
The next morning I was walking down a pathway surrounded by high grass very near my tent. Surprisingly, an all gray/black snake was in my path. He was about 18 inches long and about as big around as a water hose. I froze in the path with one foot still in the air. I thanked the snake for not biting me last night and told him I was sorry to kick him out so rudely, but he scared me. Then I slowly backed up and let him be. I don’t think he was too pleased to see me.
I am grateful that I was protected that night and that I was able to see the snake the next day. Heavenly Father knew that I needed to have an ending to my saga and know that it wasn’t a timber rattler. He knew that I now had the answers so that I could continue sleeping on that cot again the next night.
FYI: Brianna Bly was inspired to let her girls sleep in the clubhouse that night. As the storm came through and the winds blew, the tents that those girls were to be sleeping in were overturned and the wooden platforms upended. Heavenly Father loves the youth, and occasionally an adult leader too.