Crossing the Sweetwater River

On Thursday we went on our final trek (4 miles) and crossed the Sweetwater River three times. At first we just crossed a bunch of mud and thought that was the first crossing -- it wasn't. Poor Brother Boyd fell and was completely covered in mud!

At the last crossing everyone got to play in the water and have a big water fight. Many got thrown in but I stayed at a safe distance -- protecting my cameras!

We hiked a little further and stopped for lunch before finishing the hike.

Janika's Pioneer Family

Janika really isn't wearing a red mini-skirt on the trek. It is just that she tied her skirt up so that it wouldn't get wet. So now it looks like she is wearing a big red diaper over her brown leggings! Cute, Jani!

Rick and Wendy's Pioneer Pictures

Program and Campfire Fun

This is Granny Packer. Since we are new to this Stake we never knew her late husband who was the beloved Patriarch of the Stake. Sister Packer was amazing! Here she was, 81 years old, always smiling, and out there hiking with the rest of us! She gave a wonderful talk by the river and also put together the Thursday Night program (which was wonderful). Several of the youth mentioned her in their testimonies and said how much they loved her and that they loved her hugs!

Thursday night we listened to the site missionaries act out pioneer stories. This is a picture of one of the missionaries telling the story of Ephraim Hanks. Later he became a member of the Pony Express and passed out letters from home to all of the youth. After the kids had a chance to read their letters from home and write in their journals, we met again for a wonderful evening program. (Rick is the cute one in the blue shirt). The program consisted of members of our group reading and acting out pioneer stories (and they did a fabulous job!) and six singers who sang various musical numbers (they were great too)! The program ended with Brother Hart singing the theme song he wrote especially for this trek called "On Hallowed Ground." The words and music are beautiful and a fitting tribute to the pioneers we became acquainted with this week. We all joined in after the first verse. The program had a nice mix of humor and seriousness and I laughed and cried throughout.
















Tonight the members of the 8th Ward were shining their flashlights into the smoke making it look just like light-sabers. These two had a "light saber" fight and it looked really cool! Then they shined their flashlights through colored waterbottles to give the light sabers different colors. Pretty cool, huh?

Women's Pull

This was an awesome day. We hiked on the Sweetwater Trail for six miles. It was the exact trail that the Willie Company went on. We stopped for another lesson by the Historic Site Missionaries who told the "Willie Company Story."

Later on we stopped again. A man dressed in uniform announced that all of the men were being called away to join the Mormon Batallion. (The Mormon Batallion actually took place ten years before the time of the Willie Handcart Crossing, but they used this today in conjunction with the women's pull.) We all bid farewell to our men and the men went up a hill to be taught by President Barney while we stayed behind to be taught by Sister Barney. She gave a wonderful talk about the importance of the Priesthood and the powerful influence that these young women can have on those who hold the Priesthood. She also talked about how many of the Pioneer women had lost their husbands and sons due to the extreme conditions of their travels. Many of the men had given everything they had for their families until they couldn't give anymore. Then the women and children were left to push the handcarts by themselves.

We got just a tiny taste of what they must have been like when we were left to push the handcarts up the next big hill by ourselves. We couldn't see the men for awhile but then near the top of the hill, there they were, making two lines, one on each side of the trail. They had removed their hats and held them silently over their hearts. It was an inspiring sight. Many of the young women said that this was the most touching part of the trek for them.

After the women's pull, one of the girls in our company had a severe asthma attack. A hush fell over the entire company as she was given a blessing. She was carried the rest of the way back to camp on one of the handcarts and then Rick and I and some of the other leaders drove her into the nearest town to go to the hospital, which was about 45 minutes away. It was pretty scary because she was hyperventilating and she actually stopped breathing several times for about ten seconds and then she would gasp for air again.

It was good to see her happy and smiling again on the way back!




Oh...and I just had to take a picture of the bathrooms -- always a line! But I have to admit -- for outhouses they weren't too bad. I don't know what they put in there, but they actually did not stink. Wow!

Pioneer Dancing

We loaded up and traveled to Sweetwater campground to set up camp. There was NOTHING there. They did have outhouses and a water pump but that is about it.

We set up camp and so the barren land was soon bustling with kids and tents. Tonight Bishop and Sister Reid set up their guitar and microphones and we started the pioneer dances. It was a lot of fun! We did the "Hokey Pokey," "Virginia Reel," "Johnny Oh," and so forth. We were laughing and dancing and for some reason I even got a little emotional thinking about the pioneers and how they had fun times too along their journey!

We had a late dinner (in the dark) and then went to bed. I think everyone slept well tonight! I know that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and I didn't wake up until the bugle call rudely interrupted my reverie about 6:30 a.m. the next day!

Oscar: Trail Leader

As we were getting ready for our first trek we were greeted by the dog, Oscar. We had read about Oscar in the July Friend: Oscar: Trail Leader The kids were so excited to see him!