Stake Pioneer Trek - June 13-15
This was our second trek together. The first one was four years ago when we were still newlyweds and newbies in our ward and stake. This time we knew a lot more people and this time Dave was asked to serve as the head medical personnel and he was in charge of coordinating things with his team of 4 other people. He didn't end up working nearly as hard as 4 years ago. I think he actually got to enjoy this trek more rather than just work his tail off dealing with medical issues.
It was a shorter trek this time, only 3 days, Thurs, Fri & Saturday. It was shorter distances to walk each day. The maximum miles were 7 on two of the days and one day, Friday was only 3 miles. It was in Wyoming but not as far away, just a bit past Evanston. Part of the trail was on the authentic Mormon trail and the first night we camped at an actual campsite used by the pioneers so there was still some good history involved. The amount of youth attending was smaller, not nearly as big of a group, but there were some tried and true experiences that all treks have in common.
There was plenty of wind & dirt/dust. That was probably one of the things that irritated me the most and I had to work on not letting that get in the way of enjoying my experience. The constant wind chapped my lips and blew dirt everywhere. I soon understood way they said not to bring or plan on wearing contacts. So many times my glasses were covered in a heavy coating of dust so bad that it didn't pay to even wear them since I couldn't see a thing through the dust. The wind was so strong that it tore through our straw hats and damaged them so much that by the end of trek we just tossed them in the garbage. It also made wearing an apron useless as the wind just whipped it up and out and it became such a nuisance that I quit wearing one. On the positive side, the wind help keep the temperatures cooler.
Speaking of temperatures...since we went early in the summer, June 13-15, it still got very cold at night. We knew it would, but I don't think we realized how cold. Luckily we only had two nights to sleep over. The last night was terribly cold. We were bundled up in multiple layers and still froze. There was frost on the ground when we first got up. I guess it makes the experience a bit more authentic. Luckily as soon as the sun came up, it wasn't long before things warmed up.
Needless to say we did not sleep well either night, but still had to trek during the day. This made the experience seem more exhausting than the last one even though we did much shorter distances. Not to mention that this time we were 4 years older. But that couldn't be the reason it was more physically challenging this time could it??
I don't have any photos to post since they have not distributed the CD with the official stake photos. We didn't bring a camera ourselves because they have a gentleman come along who all he does is take photos and he takes tons of them. Then he compiles a CD and they burn a copy for each participant to have. Once we get that I'll have to post some.
The spirit was stronger this time around I think. The women's pull was longer (1.5 miles) and challenging. Our handcart family only had two petite girls and myself to do the pull. I put the two girls up front to pull and I pushed from behind. Our other female adult leader had been chosen to "die" on the trail. She was waiting for us towards the top of the last big rise we had to go up. She joined the two girls up front and helped pull us up the rest of the way. It was a good thing because I was about spent by the time I had gotten to that point and was a bit worried if I could hold out to the end. The boys joined even further up the hill and I was more than happy to let them take over from there. The devotional they held afterwards was very poignant and the spirit was strong.
So was the two evening firesides. The first evening we had "visitors" from the past. One leader dressed up as Ephraim Hanks and told his story. A female leader dressed up as Ephraim Hanks' wife and she told her story. They both did a great job portraying these two individuals and it was very inspiring. The second night, President Allred invited all 7 bishops to come up and extend an invitation to the youth to come see them personally if they needed to work through the repentance process. It was a long presentation but very touching and powerful to hear the bishops plead with the youth to come set their lives in order How I wish Spencer had been there to hear it!
We were part of a great handcart family. Our group testimony meeting went very well. Each youth wasn't afraid to bear their testimony and we had two less active kids as part of our group, yet the spirit was there as they shared their feelings. I was very impressed at how well they all got along and worked together. Our stake has a goal to create Zion within the stake. I felt the youth in our little family did just that for the 3 days we were together. They served one another, they treated each other with respect and concern and they were obedient to the rules. It was a privilege to be with them.
Our family members were: Rachel as our "ma" and Joseph as our "pa". Grandparents were Rory & Nichole Schaefer. We were the aunt and uncle. Dave was called Uncle D and I was called Auntie Cindy. Our kids were Cameron Lee (he was such a crack up and fun kid. You can see him behind the flag in the photo posted below), Pablo Curtis (he is in our ward and he was quite the singer on the trail), Kinsen (he was one of the less active kids, yet I saw him reading his scriptures every day during the trek), and Adrianna (she comes from a less active family but had a sweet spirit with her). We picked the family name Walkers. I do have a photo of our family flag so I can post that.
I had the assignment to design it once the group decided they wanted to do a shield emblem and what we wanted our symbols to be. The theme of trek was "Walk with Me" so I guess Walkers for a family name made sense.
Strawberry Days - Berried Treasure - June 17-22
Pleasant Grove always holds their city festival in June and it is called Strawberry Days, with this year's theme being Berried Treasure, a play on the pirate theme. It started up the very next week after trek. We don't go to a lot of the activities but our ward is heavily involved in volunteering and helping get things done. My visiting teaching partner is on the planning committee and is the head of the volunteers. So to support her, every night but one, I went after work to the Lion's Club where topping strawberries was going on and spent a couple of hours each night cutting the green parts off the strawberries so they would be ready to slice and serve with cream. That is a staple food commodity during the festival - strawberries and cream (delicious by the way). Donna also got into the civic spirit and came multiple nights as well. It was amazing how many flats of strawberries were prepared each night. It is safe to say a lot of strawberries are consumed that week in Pleasant Grove.
They also hold a rodeo 3 nights, Thurs, Fri & Sat. that is a big draw. People come from all over to attend. Well they sell concessions to help raise funds. Another person in our ward is over that committee so a lot of ward members will sign up to help man the concession stands those nights. We took our turn on Saturday night, the final night of the rodeo. That was one intense experience. From the time they opened at 6:30 pm until our shift ended at 9:00 pm (which is actually 30 minutes past the scheduled shift end) we didn't have a moments rest and we worked at a high rate of speed doing whatever we were assigned to do. Dave was put on the grill and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs all night long. I worked on the assemble of the hot dogs/hamburgers. We made sure the buns were laid out and the meat put in them and then stuffed into a paper sleeve to hold them. We also had to add cheese to make cheeseburgers as well. It was non-stop work at a frantic pace the whole time we were there. So strawberries aren't the only thing consumed in large quantities that week either!
It's fun to be part of the community and help out. To feel the community spirit and see people come together for a good cause is great.
Girls Camp - June 24-27
This year camp was done on a ward level. It wasn't much of a "camping experience" since we went down to Ephraim and stayed in a house that is owned by the parents of one of the leaders. The girls had a good time and there were some good experiences planned. The theme was Heroes and each girl had made a cape and decorated it to represent a person they had picked to be their hero. Most picked family members they were familiar with. I was under the impression it had to be a scripture hero so I picked Ester. Here is a picture of my cape.
The motto is in the small square with a picture of Manti Temple below it and Girls Camp 2013 underneath the temple. Ester's crown has colored jewels representing the values I though Ester demonstrated - purple for integrity, white for faith, blue for divine nature, red for individual worth & yellow for good works. The column the crown is one represents standing firm and alone and I put gold lines on it for virtue.
The motto was Dare to Stand Alone and they based it off of a talk by Pres. Thomas S Monson where he uses a poem that went "Dare to be a Mormon. Dare to Stand Alone. Dare to have a purpose firm. Dare to make it known." and each day one of the phrases was presented and discussed. It was good.
The girls spent one day doing certification activities ( and some had been done prior to camp) and the rest of the time we did some great activities. One day was pretty strenuous physically. The hike was a challenge, quite steep and long. They were supposed to be able to explore a cave, but when we got there the rope that was supposed to be at the entrance that would allow you to enter was gone so we didn't get to do that. But the view from the top of the mountain was spectacular and well worth the climb. After getting back down off the mountain we went to a place and did rock climbing. That was quite challenging physically as well. Some of the girls were like mountain goats and just scurried up the rock. They made it look easy. I learned that rock climbing is not my forte. I struggled. It took me two tries and then I only got up about 1/3 of the way to the top. One of my little beehive girls, Jace Rasmussen, struggled as well, but she was tenacious and wouldn't quit trying. I was very impressed with her persistence.
The girls were able to attend the Manti Pageant one night and also do baptisms for the dead at the temple early the next morning. They had been encouraged to bring family names. I had my fourth great grandmother's name, Rebecca Gray, that dad had given to me some time ago that needed the baptism done so I brought her name along. I was the only leader that did baptisms. It had been a long time since doing baptisms for the dead so it was a special experience made even more special because I had a direct ancestor who I was able to serve by doing the ordinances.
One afternoon was spent at a lake at Palisade Park. It is within 30 minutes from Ephraim. It was quite fun and I got lots of sun helping establish a good suntan for the rest of the summer. We rented a paddle boat and a canoe and the girls had a great time doing that activity as well as swimming and/or lounging on the shore. I would really like to take Alyssa's family up there for an afternoon.
I may have more photos to post later as well. I hope they are planning on making a CD from the photos taken during camp.
The testimony meeting was held around a campfire up in the mountains and the girls did a faith walk leading up to that which was very powerful and impactful. It is the first time I saw a faith walk done and I was very impressed.
The fun thing about this year's girls camp is since it was in Ephraim I got to see my two cutie granddaughters...twice. They came by the first night and then the last night for a little bit. I also snuck away to take a look at the house they are leasing and hope to buy in about a year from now. It is quite roomy and on a lot of land. I was a bit jealous of all the land they have - .8 acres! They should be able to stay put in that home for many years. So now with Kelan having his dream job and Alyssa having her dream home, I'm afraid there is no way they will find there way up to Utah County any time soon to live. We will have to make as many visits as we can. Luckily it is only an hour and a half away, not a whole continent and an ocean away!
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