Pioneer Trek

The first part of the week was spent in Trek preparations.  I also worked to get some recordings done for an Elance job. Nathan came up from Mississippi to join us when Tom went to pick up the handcarts. Then we started the Trek.

When I was first asked to go on the stake youth Pioneer Trek, I wasn’t all that excited about going.  I’m a wimp.  It was out of my comfort zone.  I knew the pioneers had a hard time crossing the plains with wagons and handcarts.  I didn’t want to push a handcart for a pioneer trek reenactment.

But as I thought about it, I thought, what would I do if the Lord asked me to?  Would I walk to Zion? I would.  I hope I would choose to do whatever the Lord asked—as did Nephi. (Nephi 3:7)

So I started preparing and as I was doing conditioning, I hurt my Achilles tendon.  It was so sore I could only hobble along, and my conditioning pretty much came to a halt.  At stake conference, I asked Pres. Roylance if it would just hurt, or if I’d damage my foot if I went on the trek with it hurting.  He said I could damage it.  Pres Jones had hurt his Achilles tendon early and kept repeating, “Ohh, they take a long time to heal.”

So I decided if I were to go, it would take a miracle. I would be faithful and do everything I could to heal it, and if the Lord wanted me to go, he’d make it better.

He did make it better.  Each day it improved. I was able to start walking again, and get almost up to speed before the trek. But that wasn’t the only miracle.

This is our pioneer "family."

The stake organized us into “families.”  We were Ma and Pa to 8 youth and one handcart.  We had to put all our belongings onto the cart—tents, sleeping bags, and one 5 gallon bucket of belongings for each person.  We also had cooking utensils and Dutch ovens.  We met Thursday morning about 8am.  Traveled for three days and finished Saturday about 1:30.

2. As the leaders checked out the trek site ahead of time, they said the copperheads, ticks, and chiggers were the worst they’d ever seen. I’m allergic to tick and chigger bites.  They swell and last for weeks.  I prayed and asked the Lord to bless me not to get any ticks and chigger bites.  I felt peaceful about them.  On the trek we traveled in all the places they love to stay. Amazingly, I got NO tick or chigger bites.  This was a miracle to me.  It was a sign that God knew me, loved me, answered my prayers, and blessed me with a tender mercy.  

3. The guys did find one large snake—a poisonous Copperhead.  The young men marched over it.  And no one was hurt! Another miracle.

4.  July is supposed to be beastly hot.  It’s always roasting.  But this year, right at the time we had the trek, the weather mitigated.  This polar vortex came south and cooled things down. I was so grateful.  The trek was grueling.  It was hard work, even in milder weather.  I’m so grateful the Lord was kind to us with gentle weather.  It was cool and overcast.  It was a miracle and an answer to prayers.

5.  But along with the cooler weather, they forecasted rain.  The morning we left, they said it should rain from 5pm Thursday to noon on Friday.  I wondered how we’d cook dinner, meet with our families and do all we needed to do in the rain.  But the rain held off all evening.  We cooked, had a devotional and heard pioneer stories, and were in our tents before the rain started falling.

It rained all night.  Some tents flooded.  Sleeping bags got soaked.  Bishop woke up in a puddle as did all the girls in our family.   But in the morning—just when it was time to get up—the rain stopped.  It truly was a gift from God.  It was a miracle.  My personal miracle was that I stayed dry!

6. We traveled on gravel roads up and down.  We took the carts across creeks and then actually down a creek.  We traveled small paths—rocky and steep.  And places that were almost no path at all.  Very little of it was level.  I think we did 7-8 miles the first day, 6-7 the second day and 5 the third day.  It felt like 100 each day.  But everyone worked hard and we did it!  I walked the whole way and my Achilles tendon never bothered me.  Other people had their own foot, muscle, toe or leg problems and they also were strengthened.  It was miraculous.

7. We had good stuff, like wild blackberries on the sides of the trail, but also briars, thorns, tree branches and poison ivy.   We had small trees growing in our path and rocks and boulders, too. One lunch, we stopped to eat in a clearing that was filled with poison ivy.  The miracle was I didn’t get a poison ivy rash none of our family did either.  I think only one girl got poison ivy.  Another miracle.

8.  Our family had 3 boys and 5 girls from 4 different wards.  They just came together and pitched in.  These were the most fantastic youth!  All of them on the trek were amazing.  I never heard any complaints.  Ever.  They were obedient in everything—except going slow.  In their enthusiasm, it was hard to slow them down.

One of the “sons” on our handcart, Nicholas, just pushed and pushed!  He was always working. They would go faster sometimes than I could walk.  I came across Nicholas, sitting beside the road after a long uphill climb.  “Are you okay?” I asked.  “I’m just a little light headed, but I’m fine.” Nicholas said.  Before I could do anything, he had a friend by his side, putting his arm around him to help him walk and giving him some water.

Madeline, one of our “daughters,” pulled up a tough hill.  At the break she lay flat in the grass.  “I think I sprained my shoulder,” she said.  A few minutes later, I asked how she was doing.  “I’m fine,” she said.

Hannah, another daughter, was scrappy. She’d go beside the cart and pull the handcart wheel over the rocks or help support the wheel as it went off a small cliff.  This meant she was often in the bushes, the brambles the uneven ground—and she twisted her ankle (which was weak from earlier injuries)—probably more than once.  But when I asked how she was, she said, “I’m fine.”

I think the Lord blessed us and healed us.  I think he took our faith and devotion and blessed us to be able to do these hard things.  We had miracles in healings as promised in Mosiah 2:41.

8. All the youth on the trek jumped in and worked.  They pulled and pushed the handcarts over really hard terrain.  They all pitched in. And they were kind to each other. Sure, we had good natured teasing, but I didn’t hear one criticism. No critical remarks, belittling, or unkindness.  None.  Zero.

I can’t imagine you could get a group of adults together for 3 days and not hear any unkind remarks or see evidence of selfishness.   This was a miracle.

9.  They asked us Ma’s and Pa’s not to push the carts. And we did very little.  The youth really made it happen.  There was a time on the second day where the men went off to the Mormon Battalion, and the women were left to push the carts.  We went down a very narrow, rocky, steep trail.  I’d look back and think, I’m sure glad we’re not going up this, it looks impossible!  The girls used great teamwork and communicated, and really worked together.

Then, as we turned the corner and joined another road, our trail boss said we had a half mile straight up.  It was incredibly steep.  I think our girls were game, but it would have been really, really, really hard.  Fortunately the boys returned and helped out.  But I think more than the boys were there on that eternally steep climb.

They youth said they felt their ancestor pioneers helping out.  They felt strength beyond their own allowing them to finish that climb. They said it was a miracle to get up that hill.

10. They were so exhausted some just lay down and fell asleep. They were not even enthusiastic about the dance that night.  My family just wanted to go to bed.  But after dinner, they were ready to go.  They arm wrestled and leg wrestled and danced and stayed up late talking in their tents.

I had wondered how the pioneers had the energy to dance after a hard day’s walk.  I’m convinced it’s the renewing energy and strength from Heavenly Father.  It’s what he bestows on the obedient.

Our trek was a reenactment of the early pioneers trek to Zion.  In Moses 7:18 it says: And the Lord called his people ZION, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

As I was thinking about this talk, I realized on our way to Zion, we became Zion.  We were of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness.  It was exciting to realize we can become a Zion people.  And if we can do it for 3 days…. We can do it for more days.

I know that when we trust in the Lord, submit our will to his. when we stretch and do hard things—things the Lord asks us to do--  We are blessed with miracles.

Today we had a talk on pioneers and the speaker said it’s not the genetic connection—how we are physically related to early Mormon pioneers that matters.  It’s the spiritual connection.  When we live as they lived—with sacrifice and obedience—we are spiritual descendants of the early Mormon Pioneers.  And that’s what’s most important.