Trek 2013

   I wanted to share the experiences I have had over the past four days because it was life changing. Clint and I were called to be a Ma and Pa of a family for the youth trek to Martin's Cove in Wyoming. We road the bus for what seemed like eternity. It was hot and cramped. We reached our camp site the next morning and we set up camp. We started the day with a short one mile hike and square dancing. I was having fun, but spiritually I was a bit disappointed and worried that maybe I wouldn't feel what I thought I was going to. The next day we woke up very early and started our 10 mile trek. We had 7 kids and a baby (a baby doll). During the beginning each kid took turns holding the baby and about 4 miles in our family was the first to lose our baby. We stopped and buried her, said a quick prayer and had to move on quickly just as the pioneers did. We soon reached the Willie site and we heard stories about pioneers. We stopped and ate lunch and then our family took the lead of all the handcarts. We reached the bottom of a steep hill and they had the men's call out. This was to represent the women who lost their husbands and had to do the trek alone. We watched as all the men walked up the hill and out of our sight. We said a prayer and we started up the hill. At this point the sun decided to finally come out and made it very hot. The girls did amazing and we kept pulling. Finally we were able to see the guys they had to watch us walk thru them as we struggled. Many had tears in their eyes knowing there was nothing they could do. We reached the top and we were exhausted, but instead of resting we ran back down the hill and helped the other sisters to the top.

  We continued on our journey and we got to another hill. We were told to go to the top and the missionary said we were going to see a reenactment of a story. The story is that a wife who was 5 foot and the husband who was about 6 foot were on the trek. He became weak and stopped to sit. He told his wife to go on without him and instead she put him in the cart and pulled him herself. We quickly realized at the bottom of the hill was one of the ma and pas in our group. She was a dear friend of mine and it was hard to watch. We watched as she tried to move the handcart and it didn't budge. At this point I had blisters all over my feet and could barely move, but I walked to the man and asked if I could go help. At first he said no and it broke our hearts. A few minutes later he said to go help her. I ran as fast as I ever had down the hill without even noticing the pain I was in. She was my sister and I needed to help her. Quickly other people joined us and helped push the cart up. This by far was one of the hardest things to watch. It made me realize though we are all children of God. We are all brothers and sisters so much that we look out for each other without even thinking of ourselves.

   We continued on and it started to rain and lightening. I was deathly afraid due to my fear of lightening. We put on our water shoes and went to cross the river. The missionary warned us we would face some mud and that was the biggest understatement of the trip. We came to a mud pit and started to put of handcart in. We could hardly move it. Others jumped in to help us and when I stepped in I got sucked in and the mud was above my knees. We slowly got out and watched others go. When one person was pulling the ricksha it started to tip so I jumped back in the mud to help it from tipping over. I fell and became even dirtier. It was so much fun to see all those helping and all those hands there to pull you out. Everyone got thru and we got to the river. We crossed the river quickly and when we got out it started to hail. It was decent sized and it stung. We were cold and dirty. I was a wreck due to the weather. A good friend of mine talked with me and helped keep me distracted from the lightening. The missionary said to me just remember you are on sacred ground and you are safe. After that comment I felt a calming feeling and the next time it started to lightening I didn't even notice. I have been dealing with that fear my entire left and there it just left me. We made it back to camp safely and exhausted. It was amazing that we faced so many different types of weather. Most agree that we would not change it because it was the closest we could get to how the pioneers felt.

  The next day we drove to Martin's Cove. This was a 6 mile trek and this day was hot. I could barely walk from the pain of the day before. Some offered for me to sit on the ricksha and as nice as that would have been I wanted to feel the pain a bit to get a glimpse of what the pioneers did. We walked to Martin's Cove and the it was beautiful. We stopped at the site that the pioneers camped and then where they buried all their dead. There were many groups besides ours so we were moved around quickly. It was spiritual, but nothing compared to what we faced the day before. We went back that evening and held a family testimony meeting. It was amazing and very special to us to listen to "our children."

  It was time to return home, but first we stopped at Rock Creek. When we started to walk there was a fenced off area and when I entered it my eyes started to water. I felt the Spirit so strongly I could hardly contain myself. We listened to the missionaries tell stories of the 13 who were buried there 4 of which were under the age of 11. We listened about the second rescue. I can't put in to words what I felt here.

  I just want to end and say if there was any doubt anywhere in my life about this gospel it has passed. I know with everything I am that this is the restored gospel. I have such a strong testimony of what these pioneers did. They gave everything to go where they needed to be. They lost family and friends and some gave their lives. However, they would probably do it all over again if asked. I am changed and I want to be better so that what they did was for good reason. We are all pioneers and we need to take the work forward.