Every 4 years, our stake takes all the youth ages 14-18 on a 3-day Pioneer Trek. Everyone involved, leaders and kids alike, dress like pioneers and sort of "re-enact" a few days in the life of the Mormon Handcart Pioneers, who walked thousands of miles, pushing handcarts across the plains to Salt Lake in the 1800's.
Over 500 kids took part in this trek. They were divided into "families" which included a "Ma and Pa" couple and 8 or so youth. Each family worked together to push a handcart that carried all their cooking, eating and sleeping gear, and they would camp together and cook and eat their meals together.
Most of the church members in this area have ancestors who walked the plains, some with horse-drawn wagons pulling their gear and others on foot, pushing and pulling handcarts. They left their comfortable homes and most of their belongings to move west with the Saints. Here in the Salt Lake valley, they would be free from persecution.
All the kids and "parents" were asked to research one of their pioneer ancestors, or if they didn't have pioneer ancestors, then someone else in their family who was a "pioneer" in their own way, and trek in their name. They shared stories of those for whom they trekked.
I was given the assignment to be our ward's representative for this enormous undertaking. You wouldn't believe the planning that goes into something like this! It took many people to pull it off! I was in charge of gathering paperwork and relaying information from the stake to our ward participants. Sounds pretty simple, but we have 41 kids in our ward who went! It was a huge job, but so rewarding because I knew that all the hard work would pay off as these kids would soon experience something very unique and powerful.
Here is our group, getting ready to pile into cars and head out to the Mosida Handcart Trek Site about an hour away. Landon and Sadie are 5th and 6th from the left in the back row.
We met in our church parking lot (If you look closely, you can see the temple in the background. We're so lucky!) They look the part, don't they?
When I dropped off the carload of kids, I was a little sad that I wasn't going along with them. I had been so involved in getting them all ready to go, I felt like I was going.
Even though these next 6 pictures have my blog watermark on them, they were taken by my friend, Jami Edman. She got to hang out with the Stake leaders on the trek and photograph the whole experience. She did a great job capturing the spirit of it all. We parents at home were hanging on her facebook posts, hoping we'd see our kids in a picture. I thought about my teens so much. This was different than sending them off to camp or a church conference. We knew they were going through something hard. It's hard as parents to know that your kids might be struggling, and not be there to help them!
From what I hear, the most challenging thing about this experience (besides the 95 degree heat) was keeping the dust out of their eyes and mouths. They used bandannas over their mouths when it was windy, but Landon said it hardly did any good when he was pushing the handcart from behind, where all the dust was kicked up. He said he had to keep his eyes closed much of the time.
Ahh, there's my boy. What a trooper...still smiling. He said this wasn't too hard, compared to the 50-mile hike he went on with the scouts last summer. See, it's all a matter of perspective. How I love this boy.
Over 500 kids took part in this trek. They were divided into "families" which included a "Ma and Pa" couple and 8 or so youth. Each family worked together to push a handcart that carried all their cooking, eating and sleeping gear, and they would camp together and cook and eat their meals together.
Most of the church members in this area have ancestors who walked the plains, some with horse-drawn wagons pulling their gear and others on foot, pushing and pulling handcarts. They left their comfortable homes and most of their belongings to move west with the Saints. Here in the Salt Lake valley, they would be free from persecution.
All the kids and "parents" were asked to research one of their pioneer ancestors, or if they didn't have pioneer ancestors, then someone else in their family who was a "pioneer" in their own way, and trek in their name. They shared stories of those for whom they trekked.
I was given the assignment to be our ward's representative for this enormous undertaking. You wouldn't believe the planning that goes into something like this! It took many people to pull it off! I was in charge of gathering paperwork and relaying information from the stake to our ward participants. Sounds pretty simple, but we have 41 kids in our ward who went! It was a huge job, but so rewarding because I knew that all the hard work would pay off as these kids would soon experience something very unique and powerful.
Here is our group, getting ready to pile into cars and head out to the Mosida Handcart Trek Site about an hour away. Landon and Sadie are 5th and 6th from the left in the back row.
We met in our church parking lot (If you look closely, you can see the temple in the background. We're so lucky!) They look the part, don't they?
I took a group of kids in my van. We drove all the way to the southwest end of Utah Lake, about an hour away.
When I dropped off the carload of kids, I was a little sad that I wasn't going along with them. I had been so involved in getting them all ready to go, I felt like I was going.
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| Sadie and one of her best friends, Abbie. |
Even though these next 6 pictures have my blog watermark on them, they were taken by my friend, Jami Edman. She got to hang out with the Stake leaders on the trek and photograph the whole experience. She did a great job capturing the spirit of it all. We parents at home were hanging on her facebook posts, hoping we'd see our kids in a picture. I thought about my teens so much. This was different than sending them off to camp or a church conference. We knew they were going through something hard. It's hard as parents to know that your kids might be struggling, and not be there to help them!
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| Sadie and her "family" waiting to take off. |
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| Landon and his "family" |
From what I hear, the most challenging thing about this experience (besides the 95 degree heat) was keeping the dust out of their eyes and mouths. They used bandannas over their mouths when it was windy, but Landon said it hardly did any good when he was pushing the handcart from behind, where all the dust was kicked up. He said he had to keep his eyes closed much of the time.
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| Sadie being carried over the river by cute Eric :) |
The parents were asked to drive out to the end point to pick up their kids when it was over. I brought Max, Bennett and Eli with me so they could get a feel for what their big brother and sister had just done.
I took a few pictures while we waited and waited for Landon's family to come in. They were the very last ones!
I was amazed at the smiles on these kids' faces. They were so dirty and tired. But they all shined! From the inside out. They had been through something hard, but all of them talked about how incredible the experience was.
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| Three cuties from our ward. The one on the right is Landon's good friend. |
Ahh, there's my boy. What a trooper...still smiling. He said this wasn't too hard, compared to the 50-mile hike he went on with the scouts last summer. See, it's all a matter of perspective. How I love this boy.
Eli saw his brother and ran to him for hugs. "Laaaandonnnn!"
I'd really like to have Sadie and Landon write about their trek experiences on the blog. Getting them to do things like this is like pulling teeth though. What can I expect, they're teenagers. :) My 2nd hand account will have to do.
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