Ryan and I were able to be a Ma and Pa on the Pioneer Trek with the youth from our ward. We have some really incredible youth and they were so fun to be around.
I've never gone on a Trek before and I wasn't quite sure what to exspect. It was really neat and such a huge testimony builder of what was done in our behalf.
As we would Trek we stopped at different spots where they had a pioneer there to tell their story. The best one was the Sweetwater River crossing. First they asked for 6 boy volunteers then they told how six young men came to rescue the pioneers and help them cross the ice cold river. They said there were blocks of ice in the water that were razor blade sharp. These boys legs were frozen and huge chunks taken out from the ice but they kept going. It took them a day and a half to get all 500+ people across, after which they laid down and died. When they finished telling us that story the 6 volunteers then had to take our companys hand carts across this dried out ravine, they then had to carry each member of our group across including adults. We had some pretty big strong men that they boys picked up and carried. The boys did so good and were sweating up a storm. One of the boys was taking another boy across who was bigger than him and he fell and cut his leg. The boy he was carrying then picked him up and took him to the other side and then took his place in the rescue. It was very touching.
We enjoyed the typical pioneer games. It was a lot of fun watching the kids compete. We had some really great matches.
We had to stop and wait for the group in front of us and two of my cute teens made the best of the situation.
I love watching to boys and girls interact. So cute!
They actually started going really fast and went for quite a while.
I was sooo impressed with the hard work. We had some really strong boys that were very helpful. Everyone was so possitive and had such great attitudes. It was great.
We made it to imdependence rock! The half way point for the Pioneers.
We all signed our names on a big piece of wood. When they asked the forest service about using a rock they said absolutely no graffiti of any kind. I would have never thought to ask. Glad the Stake leaders did. :)
This really was a great experience and I am so grateful I was able to go. It really was amazing how much of an appreciation we all got out of just 3 days worth of Treking. Our Stake leaders did such a great job and it was so fun to get to know the youth of our new ward better. There was definately a lot of testimony growth this weekend.
*A special shout out to Amy who took the kids while we were gone. She sure had her hands full, but is so sweet about it. It was so nice to not have to worry about our kids the entire time. Thank you, THANK YOU!
