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| Leaving for trek! |
I'm going to be honest; I wasn't excited about going on trek. I had heard it's a good spiritual experience and all that, but camping isn't my thing. Especially when you
We drove up to the border of Utah and Wyoming with our duffel bags and buckets in 5 buses. It was hot and I was nervous. The first day ended up being easy: we only walked about 4 miles. I slept pretty well, stayed warm, and the stars were gorgeous. The next day was supposedly the hardest and I believed that until the next day which was much more difficult. Day 2 were walked 10ish miles and the wind kept us fairly cool. We also got a lot of dust though and our teeth turned brown. I thought I was tan, but it was dirt. Disappointment! :) We also had a Ward devotional where I played my flute with Eia and Alyssa. We played Come, Come Ye Saints, and I think it turned out great. People from my ward told stories about their pioneer ancestors. They had some amazing stories and the spirit was so strong.
Day 3 was the Women's Pull, thus the hardest day. The guys got 'Mission Calls' with assignments to places like Sandwich Islands, California, etc. Places that were popular for pioneers to go. The girls sang As Sisters in Zion and the guys came sang The Armies of Helaman before they left. Then they all went ahead while the girls stayed and had a great devotional. The stake Relief Society Presidency all spoke and my favorite part was when they showed a painting of pioneers in dead winter with angels behind their carts, helping them along. They told a story of a man feeling someone behind his cart when he thought he could go no further, and when he looked back he saw no one.
After the devotional, we started up the 2.2 mile Women's Pull. Most of it was up hill and I'll admit it was harder without the guys. I didn't have a super hard time, but it was hot and pretty difficult. When we got close to the top, all the boys were standing on either side of the trail with their hats off in respect. They weren't allowed to help us or even talk. After my family was through we ran down to help other groups. Some of the girls were exhausted and had fallen behind. We helped them as we recited the young Women's Theme and sang As Sisters in Zion to keep us going. One of my sisters had a heat stroke after helping multiple carts. She was okay after lunch and cooling her down, but it was scary. The boys told us later that it was really hard for them to see us struggle and not help. The rest of the day was hard for me because the arches of my feet really hurt and I was pretty tired. We finally made it to the last camp site which was more prairie-like and vast than the other two. It was really pretty. There was even a cool, old barn that was supposed to be haunted. Because of the ticks and sagebrush surrounding it, I decided to skip out on exploring it. When we arrived there were some dark storm clouds and lots of lightning in the distance. As soon as we began making dinner, it started pouring rain. Lucky for me my trek family was smart and had an awesome tent thing we'd made with 2 big tarps and a plastic table. We sat in it together and ate our food and stayed warm and dry.
We played the funniest game under our tent while it was still raining. Someone starts and says, "I'm going on a trip and I can bring blank and blank. The things they bring have to start with certain letters and the other people have to figure out the trick. Our rule was the things had to start with your first and last initial of your name. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time, but finally I did. Caden was so confused and was the very last one to get it. It was so funny, we were all laughing hysterically.
It finally cleared up and we had a Hoedown. We danced to pioneer music and pioneer line dances. It was fun.
We had another devotional that night where they told a story about a woman who came here with her family from England. She had just given birth to twins that died 2 days later. While they were crossing the plains she was weak and didn't know if she could go on. She sat down and told the family she'd catch up later and she needed to rest. Her oldest daughter prayed that her mother would have enough strength and faith to keep going. When she stood up there was a meat pie in the middle of the trail. The pie gave her and her mother enough strength to keep going and whenever the mom felt like giving up she thought of that blessing from Heavenly Father and made it to Zion.
In honor of that story we all got ice cream and Marie Callender's pie that night. Y-um!
Our family played more silly mind games that stumped me and had us all rolling in laughter.
That night was the best night sleep I had on trek. Even though I had 12 bites on my legs when I got home, sleeping under the stars was fun! I had a warm mummy-style sleeping bag so I was warm even though it rained a little every night.
The next morning (the last day) we had flour and water biscuits. I made mine a pancake and put leftover apple slices in it. It was still disgusting. Then we wrote notes to our parents about our experience.I wrote in my journal a lot too.
Then we had our family testimony meeting. Oh boy...it was amazing. I cried so much. Our whole family cried, even Aimee and Andy! I can't even explain how close our trek family was. They're all amazing and I can't believe I was worried about having a bad family! We are all so different, but we worked together perfectly and love each other so much. That was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had. The spirit was so strong. My sister Rachel told us that the priesthood blessing she got when she'd had that heatstroke was an answer so her prayers. She'd been praying for months and she was so grateful for that trial that ended up being a huge blessing.
We sang lots of songs along the trail while we pushed and pulled. Harry and McKade were our funny 14-year-olds that were super talkative and funny. We made up rhymes to go to the 'Maddy Mo' song:) We were all so sad to leave, but we couldn't wait to take showers!
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| Coming home! |
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| Tori |
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| Kyle, thinking about coming back to reality |
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| Brenna |
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| Me and my Aunt Sherri |
When I got off the bus my whole family was there. Tolly came up and hugged my legs then ran away. Ari and Xanthe had new haircuts and I don't think Tizzy remembered me. It seemed like I was gone for awhile! My dad even got me a nice big Air Conditioner for my hot attic room. Heaven!
Our family even had a pool party at the Dusenberry's that night! Their pool is so cool! It has fountains, colored lights, a diving board and a high dive. You jump off their roof they built around their pool. It's pretty high and I was so scared to go on it. I can't believe they got me to go twice! It was fun though:) We had kale smoothies too, which were delicious! Kale is a super healthy green leaf thing.
Today I went to Maddy's church to hear her speak about trek along with Andy and Rachel and the Dusenberry's. I think our family has parting issues:) I miss them all already and I'm even texting them right now!
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| Rachel |
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| Riley, our adopted cousin |
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| McKade and Harry |
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| Aimee |
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| Me and Maddy! |
“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”
SO glad you had a great experience! I know your mom was worried, she so wante you to have the great experience it sounds like you had. Nothing like a shower and your own bed though!
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