no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive
Our use-less cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell~
All is well!
All is well!
Well the pioneer Trek 2008 began this morning June 5 at 8am! None of the kids were too thrilled about going, but we know that this experience will give them all a little bit more appreciation of what their ancestors had to endure, and they will appreciate what they have a whole lot more, and come home very humbled! Hopefully, as other trials come along in their life~they will feel as though they will be able to endure them as they reflect back on this experience.
To prepare for this excursion~
they packed all of their "necessities" in a 5 gallon bucket, and had a bed roll and that was it! They all had to dress the part and all of their belongings were searched for contraband (ie: cell phones and i-pods etc.)~they were taken by bus to a remote location where they will be assigned to a "family" with a Ma and a Pa. They will have about 15 or so brothers and sisters (depending on how many kids ended up going) and each family will have their own cart to push and/or pull over the rugged terrain. After they build it that is!
Then they will walk about 17 or so miles today with their cart~straight with NO FOOD until they reach the spot where they will camp at tonight underneath the stars.Probably around 11pm (at least this is how it went for Kacie). It'll be a VERY cold night tonight, I hope they can stay warm!
At one point during the first day some men will ride up on horses with "orders" to take the men away and they will tell the women to keep on moving and the men will catch up with them later. The women will have to pull and push their fully loaded carts up a very steep hill alone! Very emotional~ as the men look on (pretending to have been taken off to war) the men aren't allowed to help them, although in years past have been known to remove EVERY single rock that stands in their way! A VERY cool object lesson! Then the men are allowed to join in and help out again, once the women arrive at the top of the hill.
After they finally arrive at camp they will be served a spoonful of broth and a biscuit. They will be so exhausted, food won't seem more important then sleep~at least for tonight! Tomorrow will be another day of pioneer games and crafts such as stick ball, candle dipping and taffy pulling, gun shooting and butter churning.
For breakfast they will receive a scoop of cornmeal they can have some brown sugar added if they wish. Then they will walk to the spot where they will have activities (about 10 more miles).
At some point the boys and girls have the opportunity to wash each others hair (which I'm sure feels so good to have that cold water poured over your head!)
When they arrive at their new camp spot the activities begin. One activity is to to catch a chicken and kill it and de- feather it and then cook it! They are so hungry by this time that none of that matters! BUT~they only get to have a taste! They get to take part in all of the activities and then it is finally time for dinner!
They roll their own dough, fry it and add some honey. They may have some potatoes to go along with their fry bread. Then they will have a fireside program, and then bedtime.
Saturday they will walk approx. another 5 miles which seems like a drop in a bucket compared to the past 2 days!
They will have time on Saturday to just be alone and to ponder what all has taken place, the past few days. They will receive letters from home at this point and can read their scriptures or write in their journals about their experience.
When it is time to start for home they are served watermelon and then the buses that took them out to the first location will arrive to load them back on board for an easy ride back home, with a feeling of great accomplishment and humility, and being so thankful that they were born when they were and having complete admiration for the pioneers that came before them!
There may be a slight variation of these plans as this is what Kacie did on her Trek 4 years ago, but it is usually much the same. They will be filthy when we go to pick them up, but we will be so proud of them it won't even matter! I'll be sure to take pictures then too!
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,Grace shall be as your day.Tis better far for us to striveOur use-less cares from us to drive;Do this, and joy your hearts will swell~All is well!All is well!Well the pioneer Trek 2008 began this morning June 5 at 8am! None of the kids were too thrilled about going, but we know that this experience will give them all a little bit more appreciation of what their ancestors had to endure, and they will appreciate what they have a whole lot more, and come home very humbled! Hopefully, as other trials come along in their life~they will feel as though they will be able to endure them as they reflect back on this experience.To prepare for this excursion~
they packed all of their "necessities" in a 5 gallon bucket, and had a bed roll and that was it! They all had to dress the part and all of their belongings were searched for contraband (ie: cell phones and i-pods etc.)~they were taken by bus to a remote location where they will be assigned to a "family" with a Ma and a Pa. They will have about 15 or so brothers and sisters (depending on how many kids ended up going) and each family will have their own cart to push and/or pull over the rugged terrain. After they build it that is!
Then they will walk about 17 or so miles today with their cart~straight with NO FOOD until they reach the spot where they will camp at tonight underneath the stars.Probably around 11pm (at least this is how it went for Kacie). It'll be a VERY cold night tonight, I hope they can stay warm!
At one point during the first day some men will ride up on horses with "orders" to take the men away and they will tell the women to keep on moving and the men will catch up with them later. The women will have to pull and push their fully loaded carts up a very steep hill alone! Very emotional~ as the men look on (pretending to have been taken off to war) the men aren't allowed to help them, although in years past have been known to remove EVERY single rock that stands in their way! A VERY cool object lesson! Then the men are allowed to join in and help out again, once the women arrive at the top of the hill.
After they finally arrive at camp they will be served a spoonful of broth and a biscuit. They will be so exhausted, food won't seem more important then sleep~at least for tonight! Tomorrow will be another day of pioneer games and crafts such as stick ball, candle dipping and taffy pulling, gun shooting and butter churning.
For breakfast they will receive a scoop of cornmeal they can have some brown sugar added if they wish. Then they will walk to the spot where they will have activities (about 10 more miles).
At some point the boys and girls have the opportunity to wash each others hair (which I'm sure feels so good to have that cold water poured over your head!)
When they arrive at their new camp spot the activities begin. One activity is to to catch a chicken and kill it and de- feather it and then cook it! They are so hungry by this time that none of that matters! BUT~they only get to have a taste! They get to take part in all of the activities and then it is finally time for dinner!
They roll their own dough, fry it and add some honey. They may have some potatoes to go along with their fry bread. Then they will have a fireside program, and then bedtime.
Saturday they will walk approx. another 5 miles which seems like a drop in a bucket compared to the past 2 days!
They will have time on Saturday to just be alone and to ponder what all has taken place, the past few days. They will receive letters from home at this point and can read their scriptures or write in their journals about their experience.
When it is time to start for home they are served watermelon and then the buses that took them out to the first location will arrive to load them back on board for an easy ride back home, with a feeling of great accomplishment and humility, and being so thankful that they were born when they were and having complete admiration for the pioneers that came before them!
There may be a slight variation of these plans as this is what Kacie did on her Trek 4 years ago, but it is usually much the same. They will be filthy when we go to pick them up, but we will be so proud of them it won't even matter! I'll be sure to take pictures then too!
2 comments:
Oh Dear! I'm so proud of your kiddos! I got lucky hit the 18 year mark right before my stake went on the trek! :) Those treks are pretty intense! Hope you are all doing great!
I wondered what they'd be doing. Thanks for posting. It's good to know what my kids are experiencing right now.
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