A day to remember...

I have thought about this post for a long time and still don't know what I want to say about it, but I did want to pay tribute to those who lived and died, and walked and crawled, and suffered and rejoiced as they made their way to freedom. Last year on this day - Pioneer Day - Ryan and I were lucky enough to be at Martin's Cove in Wyoming with our stake. The January before the Stake Presidency called Ryan and I in and asked us to attend "Trek" as a Ma & Pa and Ryan told them "No" (because of farming) and it broke my heart and I cried and then...he told them "Yes." What a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is one that I can't write or talk about without crying. When we were asked to go on trek we were asked to prepare by doing as much reading and indexing as possible to spiritually get ourselves ready. We were instructed to find a pioneer from the Willie and Martin Handcart Company to walk for. I only had one ancestor that I could find in either of those companies and it was a man...so I chose a lady whose story I loved.

We met at the stake center at 4:30 am where we were assigned our family. We were given 6 teenagers, each from different wards that we had never met before. We were instructed to sit together on the long bus ride, to march together, to cook and clean and work together. Talk about learning to love and depend on complete strangers instantly. It was easy because it was obvious that the Lord had his hand in our family arrangements.
Trek was amazing...but extremely hard. We pushed and pulled our handcart for miles over the 3 days. We ate a lot of dust and dirt. It rained every day multiple times. The dirt that we walked through was not dirt, it was thick sand that made your muscles burn just walking in it. We were all fried from the sun and dehydrated from the heat and ...not one of us could bring ourselves to complain because when the sweet people from the Willie and Martin Handcart Company came through they came in such harsh miserable conditions that so many didn't even make it to see the valley they worked and sacrificed so much for.

The lady I chose to walk for was a lady named Elsie Nelson. Elsie and her husband had a son and a neighbors daughter that they crossed the plains with. While crossing she lost her son and the neighbors daughter. When Elsie and her husband arrived at Rocky Ridge her husband sat down to die. Elsie (a little tiny woman) put her husband in her handcart and pulled him up over the ridge. The first time I read her story I decided I was walking for her because I was constantly feeling like I was pulling Ryan along in life...what wife doesn't feel this way. And then, just before trek I reread Elsie's story and she said that as she looked at her husband sitting there wanting to die she didn't know what she would do without him and THAT is why she put him in her handcart and pulled him up over Rocky Ridge. After reading it and looking at it that way it gave me a whole new perspective. I look at Ryan and can not imagine life without him. I would put him in my handcart and pull him behind anywhere I need to as long as I have him.

On trek we not only got to experience Dan Jones Cove, Martin's Cove, a womens pull and crossing the Sweet Water River, we also got to meet 6 wonderful youth that made us feel young and fun again and we got to become closer as a husband and wife team. Like I said before, my Martin's Cove experience was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that came just when I needed it. I heard once that in order to have a testimony of something you first have to have the test and I can truly say that I NOW have a testimony of the pioneers. I read before trek that in heaven we will stand shoulder to shoulder with our pioneer ancestors and look into their eyes and know that what they have done was NO LITTLE THING...and then, they will look into our eyes and know that what we have done was NO LITTLE THING EITHER. We do struggle in life and it makes it just a little easier knowing that we have those that have struggled before pulling for us. I am so grateful to have a day set aside to remember those that had such great faith that they were willing to give ALL to have freedom and make a better life for their posterity - us. "Thank You" doesn't seem fitting enough!!

About the pictures:

Picture #1 - Our family - (left to right)

Holly - the Bully, Sarah - only ate celery & yogurt (not real trek friendly foods), Ry & Me, Trisha - 17 years old and literally had to be tucked in, Collin - so quiet, Shae - had type 1 diabetes (nothing new to us), and Tanner - the flirt.

Picture #2 - Holly and I showing our strength. The boys were pushing...or so THEY say they were!!

Picture #3 - Those are my feet during the womens pull. We got stuck on a rock 1/2 way up the hill and I was sure we were going back down. I weigh 127 and I was the toughest (other than maybe Holly who weighed the same) of all 5 of us. We were a pretty sad team and us girls pulling the handcart straight up the sandy hill was one of the very hardest things I have ever done. My entire body was shaking when we got to the top.