Trek Orientation

Next summer our youth are going on Trek, and I have to admit that I've felt a little anxiety about going. I don't love to camp, and I don't love being hot.  Last weekend I went on a trek orientation with other planning committee members to Martin's Cove in the middle-of-nowhere Wyoming.

We camped, and it was hot, but I couldn't help but feel the spirit of that sacred place.  We heard stories of the Willie & Martin handcart companies, we pulled carts and got a good sense of what trek was going to be like, and by the end of our visit I felt it was a privilege to be there. 

It was so beautiful there with the grasses in shades of green and gold, the muted yellow wildflowers and the pinkish/white rocky hills, but I realized that the beauty that was overwhelming was the feeling of it all.  It is hard to take a picture of a feeling.

We heard the story of Jens and Elsie Nielsen from Denmark.  Everyone was freezing and near starvation.  They had just buried their six-year-old son.  Jens feet were frozen and he felt he couldn't go on.  He asked his wife to leave him at the side of the trail.  She refused and told him to climb in the handcart.  Likely he was weak from giving his meager portion of flour to his wife and child.  I'm sure it was difficult to add a burden to his already weary wife, but he climbed in the wagon and she pulled him.  

As I heard this story I felt an overwhelming feeling from the Spirit show me that I had done the same courageous act for my husband.  I had carried the burden alone.  I had shown the same strength and faith that Elsie Nielsen had.  It was humbling.  I felt God's love.  He showed me a glimpse of who I really am.

I walked the trail that day in the name of my mother-in-law, Mesha.  She often commented that she didn't have pioneer heritage.  (It turns out she did!)  I felt that she demonstrated the faith, strength, sacrifice, courage and love of a pioneer woman during her life.  I wanted to walk that trail in her name giving her a vicarious chance to show that she was a pioneer. She had the same inspiring characteristics.  And not coincidentally, she is buried among those early pioneers in the Salt Lake Cemetery.

I walked away with a new understanding that our trials require the same endurance that their trails did.  While the circumstances are different, we are often pushed to our own limits of faith, strength, sacrifice, courage and love, and if we endure well, we will have the gospel deeply rooted in our hearts just like they did.

I can't wait for next summer.