Happy national Ice Cream Sandwich day! Who knew, right? Guess what we had for our family night treat?
I feel that I should write down a few words about our experience from Trek last week. The truth is, when I think about it right now, I'm so overwhelmed that I'm just not sure where to start.
My friend and neighbor who does not go to our church, asked me why the heck I would want to spend three days, with teenagers, pulling a hand cart in the desert?
That's a valid question.
See, I belong to a church with this rich history of courage and sacrifice. Service and sacrifice are a huge part of who we are as Latter-day Saints. In 1847, members of our church were forced out of their homes, again, in the middle of winter, after their leader and prophet was murdered. The took only what they could carry in a wagon or handcart and walked about 1300 miles from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Salt Lake valley in Utah. Ultimately 70,000 pioneers followed that first group out to Salt Lake City.
We take so much for granted today.
"Trek" is a planned experience, usually with youth age 14-18 and their leaders, encompassing 3-5 days. Typically it's a recreation of the experience that the pioneers had. Obviously it's not exactly like it, but it gives one a taste of what it might have been like.
No cars, no air conditioning, and *gasp* no cell phones.
Lots of time together. Helping one another. Actually talking to people~one hot, sweaty, tired face to another.
Our leaders chose to have us dress in pioneer clothes.We spent weeks sewing bonnets, skirts and aprons.
So, why do we do it?
Well, we want to do hard things. We want to have experiences that bring us closer together and closer to the Lord. We especially want our youth to have an understanding of the sacrifices that have been made so they could worship so freely.
And guess what?
We also want to have fun.
Nobody really got that at first.
In fact, there were not a whole lot of people that really wanted to go
Even I started to have my doubts a couple of weeks before we left.
Nevertheless, things worked out for us to be able to go.
Thank you Kim and Raleigh! And Mary and Cambrea!
Jeremy and I were asked to go as a "ma and pa."
We had in our "family" myself and Jeremy, two girls, two boys, one woman (she helped with the food and didn't stay with us the whole time) and one man.
Here we are at the beginning. Mostly all smiles and fresh as daisies.
(photo by Diane Edman)We walked, pushing a handcart loaded with buckets, gear and water, 8 miles the first and second day and about 4 miles the third day.
I started to keep a detailed journal the evening before we left.
It got completely soaked after lunch on the first day by this torrential rain storm:
Yes, we had ponchos, but they were some where in the middle of the cart under a tarp that we did not want to move!
So we got wet.
It rained so hard that we had to stop for a while. Plus there was lighting really close. We practiced our "lightning positions."
I'll never forget just sitting in the rain with my "family."
Shortly after the storm passed every one went crazy and started eating grasshoppers. It's true!
Well, not every one. i didn't.
It just started as one person daring another. Totally unplanned, but will be one of the most memorable things about trek.
I've got some video of Jeremy eating one. Only it's very poor quality, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
That night we camped. We sang around a camp fire. We listened to the stories of some pioneers. We played a game. We ate a really delicious dinner of pulled, BBQ beef on rolls. Definitely not roughing it too much.
Although, that ground was pretty hard.
And the boys were loud.
One of the most significant things about the next day was the women's pull.
It sounds crazy.
You take all the men away from the carts, just when the going gets really tough and let the women pull by themselves.
I wasn't too happy about this. But I thought I could handle it just fine. I'm chubby, but I'm strong.
I was wrong. It was hard. Really hard.
The sand was wet and deep. The cart was so super heavy.
Why?
Why did they ask us to do this?
The men couldn't even talk to us. They were instructed not to touch the carts at all.
It sounds crazy. Like some barbaric ritual.
Yet, this really happened. Women had to pull carts across the plains by themselves if their husband died or was called to war.
Still, while I was straining under the weight of the heavy, heavy cart with just my two girls, I asked
why?
And it was hot. Hotter than Hades. Three-O'clock-in-afternoon-in-July-in-Utah hot.
My muscles started to freeze up and the trail never ended. I knew that we would not be able to do this with out help. So we moved our cart to the side and started helping another cart. With six women, the carts went much better. We pushed and pulled to the end and then all went back for the other cart. I tried to sing, "As Sisters in Zion" but could not get more than a few lines out.
(photos by Diane Edman)
When we finally got to the end the men were feebly singing "Come, Come Ye Saints" and as I was pulling I thought, "Is that the best you can do?" Then I looked up and saw the tears in their eyes and understood that it was probably the best they could do.
When we got to camp that night we all just sort of collapsed. Then we we played games, caught snakes, ate another wonderful meal, had an uplifting, spiritual testimony meeting and slept soundly. (At least the leaders did)
The sentiment that night overall was that while most of us were not too excited about Trek at the beginning, we were glad we came.
The leaders were truly inspired with everything from "solo time" to the journals they gave us, the crafts we did, the activities. It was all so well planned and I'm sure that's a huge reason for it's success. There was so much time and sacrifice involved.
We each got to walk for a particular pioneer. We learned about their life and trials on their own trek across the prairie. Mine was Euphemia Mitchell. She joined the church in England and traveled all the way to Salt Lake city with a friend in the Willie Handcart Company. She started out with five pairs of shoes, but they all wore out before the winter was out. Her toes became so frozen that it was necessary to later scrape the flesh from her bones so they could heal. Despite the cold an many hardships, she tried to stay focused on the good things.
"The campfires at night were very good times. We sang Church hymns and they inspired us. 'Come, Come Ye Saints' was my favorite, and we were happy in our labors. A bond of love and frienship was amongst us. We learned the value of resting and keeping the Sabbath Day. we did not choose to remember the pains of hunger and the cold, but wanted to remember the goodness of God unto us."
Joseph Smith said:
A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. Those who do not make the sacrifice cannot enjoy this faith, because men are dependent upon this sacrifice in order to obtain this faith."
I'm so thankful for the opportunity Jeremy and I had to sacrifice a little of our time.
The return was greater than we could have hoped for.
Which is often how the Lord works.
(photo by Diane Edman)
