We had a great trek with the Canyon Crest Ward from Alpine UT. We were the only missionary couple assigned to them because there was a trek group of 650 that came the same week, so they took our other couple to help with them. Elder and Sister Johnson, who attend the gate, saved us by doing some of our support. With only one couple, one of us would have had to take the support around the roads while the other one would be walking along the trails with the trekkers. We were a little nervous about only one of us being with the trekkers all day. We did trail 28, which is almost all cross country trails and there would have not been any with to communicate with each other if there would have been a problem. We had the medical people drive the 4-wheeler behind us so we could both walk the whole trek.
Our group was very small, with only three handcarts. It was a fun experience with them. Each of the families (one per handcart) made a flag for their cart. They were all pretty ingenious flags!
As we left the staging area, this "brave" photographer laid on the ground as the carts went over top of her and she took pictures. She did this several times during the trek.
It was a good thing that this handcart broke after she had finished taking the pictures. It was close enough to the staging area that we brought up a different one and reloaded all of their stuff. Some of our handcarts are getting pretty old and we usually have two or three break each week among all of the treks. Most of them can be repaired. It cost about $500 for us to build a new handcart, and we will have built about 20 by the end of this year.
We really like this trail because we trek on very little road--mostly all trails in the valleys and over the ridges. There is usually lots of antelope in this area, also. The babies are now teenagers!
At one point on this trail, we can see down into a really pretty valley (where we don't get to trek.)
This group had a lot of musical talent. One night, the girls sang and they just happened to sing the song "To Those Who Came Before Me," which is the song that our Missionary Choir has been singing almost every Sunday in Sacrament Meetings.
Then, the next night, all of the boys and men sang.
On the second day, we had the women's pull. Here, the boys and men wave goodby as they leave the girls and head up the hill first. The girls sang to them--"Called To Serve."
The girls had a little meeting where their leader talked to them about how strong the pioneer women were, and that they could also do hard things. The boys also got a talk at the top of the hill about respecting women.
The girls start up the trail. They have two big hills to climb, ending at the very furtherest hill at the top, pulling the handcarts without any help from the boys.
The girls are almost there, meeting the boys who are reverently standing along the sides of the road, with their hats in their hands, not being allowed to help with the pulling of the carts as they watch the girls struggle. The Women's Pull can be a very spiritual and life-changing experience for these youth--boys
and girls--and even the leaders.
After the Women's Pull, the kids put their tarps up to make shade at the campsite so they could eat lunch before they started putting their tents up. While they were still under their tarps, the wind started blowing and a big gust hit two of the handcarts, twisting them enough to cause them to fall down. One of the girls got hit in the back with the handle. She was pretty upset and wouldn't calm down, so after about an hour we ended up leading the doctor/Bishop (traveling about as fast as we could go in the 4-wheeler) down to the gate so they could take her to the hospital to get checked out. It really scared everyone, but it turned out that she was okay. This was our first trip to the hospital with any of our trekkers, and we hope we don't have any more!
This is always a fun site to see along the road--it reminds us that we are trekking on a cattle ranch.
I think that after following a herd of "live" cows all the way through a 2-mile valley (fresh cow pies the whole way) the kids didn't think that the site of a dead cow was quite so bad! At the end of the valley, the cows stayed at a watering hole as we turned to go up a hill. As we turned, there was another herd in front of us! At the top of the hill there was a gate. The cows know that when a gate is opened, it means fresh fields of grass for them. As Elder Howard opened the gate, he had to shoo the cows away before the trekkers could go through. It was kind of nice to not have to continue to step over fresh cow pies!
It was also kind of nice for these kids to find a nice "clean" place to find a place to rest when we had a water stop!
I think that all of the cows the day before must have prompted this "cow pie throwing contest." The leaders had gathered two big garbage bags full of dried cow pies and the families competed.
Some of them got quite a few cow pies in the circle! Part of the throwers had to use rubber gloves, but some of them didn't care and just threw them with their bare hands.
Our last night, we had a beautiful sunset. Each part of the sky looked different.
This was one of the most spectacular sunsets that we have seen so far this summer!
One of the leaders brought his computer and had a projector. At the end of each day he took all of the pictures taken that day and put them on a slide show, with music, and showed them that evening on the side of one of their supply trailers. It was so fun. He told me how easy it was to do it on a MAC computer (which I happen to have.) After the trek, I actually made up a musical slide show and used it the next week for a family home evening with the other missionaries! This group was so talented. They had a skit night and one of the leaders made up a parody to "Home On The Range" and it was about their trek. He e-mailed me the words. It is really good!
The last morning, before we headed for the staging area and home, these kids still hadn't had enough playing! They had tug-a-wars between all of the families, then the men and boys, then the girls and women, and finally against the leaders. It is kind of nice that they had such a good time that they are not so anxious to go home. I know that we sure had a good time with them!
One of the Ma's wondered what it would be like to ride in a handcart. Her family willingly pulled her for a ways so she could have that experience.
When you have a small group, and you are their only missionaries, it is easy to get to know the youth and their leaders. It is amazing to watch these youth come on the first day, some of them not really excited to be here, and then after the second or third day they don't think much about the video games and other things they left at home. We really get to take them out of the world for a few days, and hopefully they feel the spirit of the pioneers and gain a stronger testimony of their Savior. We had such a good time with the Canyon Crest Ward and will remember them always.
No comments:
Post a Comment