Kim and I were asked to be a Ma and Pa on our Stake Youth Pioneer Handcart Trek this past weekend. Jennie serves in our Stake Young Women's and was involved in planning and preparing for the event. It was so neat to have Robert and Jennie there during the Trek too. Robert helped with the logistics and physical facilities men over the trek. What a hard and tremendous experience. Each handcart was assigned 3 girls and 3 boys ages 14-18 and then a Ma and Pa. There were four handcarts per company that traveled together from Friday thru Monday. Kim volunteered to be a captain for our company. Our youth leader was amazing and always stepped in to help when Kim was pulled away while helping himself as the captain. The Stake did an awesome job of preparing for this great experience. Along the main trek day which was Saturday they had pioneer vignettes along the way for the companies to participate in. One of the things that I thought made the whole thing work was that they required all participants to come dressed in pioneer costumes. Gayle even special ordered salt water taffy for the trek that we were able to share with everyone. A big hit! Several women from our ward made pioneer cookie recipes that I found in the Friend magazine. After a day of eating Buffalo Burger and Buffalo Stew some homemade ginger and almond cookies tasted pretty wonderful. On Sunday we stayed in our campsites and observed the Sabbath Day. The Stake held our meeting in the large meadow type area. No illusions of green grass - this is Hiko Nevada we are talking about. Still the small boulder type mountains all around really were picturesque. The companies endured the first two days with rain which changed the planning for activities somewhat, but in the end added to the whole experience. I am so glad that we had the opportunity to participate and am thankful for the wonderful Ma and Pa's that we served with as well as the terrific youth who attended. I was everything from cold, wet, windblown, and hot all in one weekend. When we woke up on the first morning Kim looked at my hair and just laughed. I was a train wreck! Thank heavens for a straw hat and bonnet. They asked each person on the trek to research either an ancestor who was a pioneer or just a person who participated as a pioneer heading to the Salt Lake Valley. I had always known that Kim's mother was a member of DUP (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers), but actually taking the time to read the books and stories that have been compiled and then choosing who we were going to go on trek for made the experience more personal.
3 comments:
Aren't you guys the cutest little pioneers ever!?! It sounds like you had an amazing trip.
I love your new background - you need to have Alli do your header :)
I like the pioneer outfits with the flip flops!!! We were a ma and pa on a trek and it was very exhausting. All the women and young women had to pull the handcarts up the hardest hill and the men couldn't help. Signifying when the men went to serve in the Mormon battalion. I started crying when we reached the top. It really made us appreciate our men and also what a hardship our ancestors endured. Sounds like it was a success and you enjoyed your trek as much as we enjoyed ours!
Even though I didn't go on the trek, I felt like after talking to you so much about it and reading your post here, that I lived it through you. What a memorable experience you had with Kim, Rob, and Jennie. Kudos to you for being able to push that cart up the hill when the men were called away in spite of an injury. You're turbo!
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