I have to first thank my sister Macy for coming from Houston to stay with the kids while we were gone on trek. It sure was fun having her here and having a few days before and after trek to spend time with her. Thanks Macy, we miss you!
Aaron and I were asked to be a "Pa and Ma" for our stake Trek. We accepted and were excited for the experience, and what an experience it was.
We left on Thursday, July 29th at 7a.m and arrived home Saturday, July 31 around 8p.m. There was a total of 400 kids and 100 adults. There were 8 companies and each company had a different color. Each company had 5 families and a company commander which was a bishop and his wife. Our company commander was Bishop Bingham and his wife and I asked Aaron if they might be related to Jake who is married to Wendy,my cousin. He said probably not and that there are so many Binghams in the church. Well he was wrong and they are related, Jake is his nephew, small world.
We were part of the purple company so we wore purple bandannas. Our family consisted of 5 boys and 4 girls. We were asked to let them do most of the pushing and pulling, which we gladly did. Our kids were great, no complainers and everyone got along really well. They all worked together and seemed to enjoy the experience as much as we did. It was really though and our feet got so tired. Some of the kids got some pretty bad blisters and had to go to the foot clinic every morning. Luckily mine and Aaron's feet did pretty well other than aching from just being tired. I've never sweat so much in my life as each day was sunny with a few clouds here and there, which were enjoyed very much when they covered the sun even for a brief moment. The trek was well organized and the reenactments were amazing and the spirit we felt was so strong. We all have a greater appreciation for our pioneer ancestors.
The hardest part physically for me was the women's pull. On the second day all the men and young men were taken away, reenacting somewhat of the mormon battalion. The women and young women had to pull the handcarts up a gravel hill, while the men and young men stood by watching. They weren't allowed to speak to us our help us, they could only sing. Our family had 4 girls and I was a little nervous about making it up the hill but the girls had no doubt that they could do it, and we did. Along the way were sisters wearing white scarves, they represented angels and would come help us push for a little while. It was very hard for many of the young men and men to watch and several had tears in their eyes. It was an amazing experience and every emotional. It helped reinforce that we can do hard things.
Other highlights included the reenacting of the Sweet Water Crossing, devotionals given throughout the day, frontier night with fun games and activities, hearing about the pioneers each of the kids had researched, and family testimony meeting. We experienced a mob forcing us to leave just as we were about to make camp so we had to walk another 2 hours in the dark to the new campsite arriving at 11:30p.m., apostates trying to convince us to turn around, a family burying a loved one, and more. All of our meals were provided by those of the food committee and it was all very good. What a wonderful experience we will always treasure and that has strengthened our testimonies.
The first day, just before leaving for trek.
These are our kids, they were so awesome!
This is our flag that our kids made on the first day.
Notice the tan line, guess what it's not a tan line, it's dirt. I was so happy to get home and take a long hot shower!
