Earlier in the year, Grant and I were chosen as a Ma and Pa for Trek. The very first Trek they had in this Stake was following my Senior year and I had signed up to go, however my Grandmother died suddenly and I was unable to attend, as we were at her funeral. I did end up attending a Young Single Adult Trek, that same summer, in which we (about 15-20 YS adults) pulled 2 500 pound handcarts for 21 miles, in 1 day. It was extremely difficult, one of the most grueling physical challenges I have ever had. Many members of the group dropped out, during the journey. I believe only 6 finished, including only 2 girls. I was one of them and was called an “Ox” for the rest of my time in that ward… LOL! I was so happy I went, even though I was very, very sore and my toe nails were very bruised (I even lost a couple.) I considered it a sacred experience and knew I would always go again, if I was given another chance. So when they asked if we would be willing to go, we didn’t hesitate at all. We were both very excited!
They asked us to prepare in all the ways possible, for
months prior to the Trek. We gathered
all the supplies we would need (it was a huge list!! We borrowed a lot from our generous friends,
Daren and Sandy, but also ended up purchasing much more than we were
expecting.) We exercised and prepared
our bodies physically for the challenge.
We prepared mentally and emotionally, planning out how we would go about
things, and reading all the booklets given to us (and even a few articles
online) with helpful tips. We actually
missed both of the trainings for Mas and Pas, due to a niece’s baptism in
Oregon and my very 1st voice recital that I had been preparing for
for months (they had to switched the
weekends of the trainings, at the last minute, due to Stake conflicts.) So although we missed a lot of valuable
training with the group, and were almost unable to go because we hadn’t been
trained, we were able to get some one-on-one training from the Stake trainers
and were able to go. We also asked for
tips from friends who had attended before.
But I really feel that the most important preparation we did, was the
spiritual preparation. We read stories
about our ancestors and read an entire book about the Willie and Martin
Handcart Company. I cried through a lot
of this book and it really helped me connect with what they went through, and
get it fresh in my mind, to share with our youth. I took some valuables notes, which helped me
remember which stories to share. I also
learned a lot of neat stories about my own personal ancestors because of this
research. We all walked for an
ancestor. Grant chose his Dad, Gene, because
he was a pioneer in joining the church, in his family. Riana walked for my ancestor Susan
Allen. I also walked for one of my ancestors, Ruth Dille.
Riana was really excited to go, however had some added
challenges, which made her second guess her choice. I was so proud that she decided to go anyway!
We spent the last day gathering the gear and packing it up
in the car. We checked our list and made
sure we had everything. It was very warm
that day, as we packed, and I feared how we would do in our pioneer clothes, pulling
handcarts in the predicted 100+ temperatures.
That night, we traveled to Central Washington (so we wouldn’t have to
leave at like 4 am), with our friends, who were also a Ma and Pa, Jared and
Michelle. We shared a hotel room with
Brooke and Logan, and Jared and Michelle shared with Riana and their daughter,
Naomi. We had fun eating dinner together
and then hanging out in the room. We all
had a fun time, with Logan even wearing the shower cap around, however we had
to turn in pretty quickly, as we had an early morning.
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