La Vue de Chez Nous: TREK

After attending the trek orientation in August 2015, and having deeply spiritual experiences, I was really looking forward to the actual trek. We joined with the Emigration Stake and had a great couple, the Carrols, in charge of planning it. I was involved in occasional advising, but mostly I was involved as both a parent of youth going, and as a participant myself. For six months we had Trail of Faith goals (learning hymns, reading stories, walking an increasing number of miles, reading stories, going to the temple, etc.) to help prepare us physically and spiritually. We had at least one activity a month to prepare buckets, learn square dancing, go snow shoeing or sew pioneer clothing, etc. Our stake learned a song called Fire of the Covenant that we performed in sacrament meetings, firesides and at trek itself. It was quite a feat to get all of the clothing and supplies needed. Basically, it is a lot of preparation.

Everyone going on trek chooses someone to walk for. Geoff's great, great, great, grandmother's family joined the church in Denmark and came to Zion by way of handcart; she chose to stay behind. We have reason to believe she has accepted the gospel, so Adele trekked for her, Karen Marie Mikkelsen, to give her the opportunity to make the trek her family made 150 years ago. Tennie trekked for Karen Marie Mikkelsen's mother-in-law, Maren Christensdatter, and I trekked for her mother, Maren Andersdatter. We learned about these women before, and we knew we would visit their towns in Denmark after trek. As I ironed the clothing in preparation, I felt like they were thankful. They would have ironed their clothing if they thought they were going to Zion, and they were grateful for the opportunity we were giving them.

We had a leader training a week before the trek. A stake we do a lot with had just returned from Martin's Cove, and we were hearing a little about their experience. It was so hot several youth got severely dehydrated and had to be put on an IV. Mosquitos were really thick, so make sure to take repellant. It was a bad year for ticks. Check nightly. (At this point I must admit I was starting to feel a touch of dread.) But worse than the ticks were the rattlesnakes. Make sure everyone knows rattlesnake safety. (Seriously?) Oh, and we're not setting up tents, just too much work, so we're sleeping under the stars. Oh boy.

We met at a church on July 5th at 5:00AM and loaded on three Greyhound buses with our assigned families. That drive into the middle of nowhere is LONG. Thankfully there were bathrooms on those buses! (ALL photos were taken by "trek photographers".)

We arrived in time to do a 6-mile hike, including Martin's Cove. I won't go into detail about the history, but I had read a book called Tell My Story Too and was deeply moved by all of these places and events. The ground feels sacred.

Tennie is in the yellow bonnet and apron:

The Sweetwater River is so peaceful, and the landscape is gorgeous in its simplicity.

As we walked quietly, without handcart, into Martin's Cove, I had an overwhelming feeling, almost vision, of hosts of angels walking along with us, those who the youth were walking for, ancestors who were rooting for a life-changing experience to happen, and others. I wondered often why it matters so much to them that we go on trek. My conclusion is that they care about our welfare, and they want us to know what they pioneers suffered and why, and how we too can have the same strength in our walk to "Zion". It has the potential to convert our soul, if we are open to it, and they are hoping we are open. Maybe there are other reasons, but that is what I felt.

It often threatened to rain, but never did. As a matter of fact, the temperatures stayed in the mid-80s with a breeze, which miraculously kept the mosquitoes away the entire trek.

We had a Beehive in our family who has had several surgeries on her feet. She wasn't able to walk much, so she often rode in our handcart. On the way back from Martin's Cove she rode in a little rickshaw.