Seriously have never appreciated the conveniences in my modern life as much as I did when I was without them.
MARCH 21ST
Woke up at 4:30 AM, put on my super cute matching bonnet and dress and went to the Stake Center. Drove with the Inglishs to middle-o'-no-where aka PAST Florence for about and hour and a half. Drank some apple juice. Talked to MAX. (since she creeps my blog and reads everything I write about her.) Got sorted into families. I was in the McCoy's family along with Tyson Alleman, Natalie Hansen, Spencer Evans, Austin Carpenter, Justin Beals, Christian ?, Jancy Lamb, and Makenzie Lemieux! They are AWESOME! I wouldn't want to be in any other family. Ma and Pa are fabulous. Pa looks just like Lincoln Burrows from Prison Break and I couldn't stop staring at him because it was slightly freakin me out! We built our cart/wagon thing and put all of our stuff in it. We played a get to know you game and then Ma and Pa asked me to be the Big Sister for the family, even though I wasn't the oldest, but whatever! All the other big siblings were the oldest, except for me and Justin! It was cool, I don't feel like I did much to fulfill my duties as one, but my family was so great that no one needed to be worried about.
Finally, around 8 we started walking. It was great! There were no complaints at all, everyone in the stake was in good spirits and you could feel the energy and enthusiasm everywhere! The 5 boys were in front the whole time pulling, and the 4 girls were in the back pushing the cart. After going up and down loose and rocky hills, pushed over two railroad tracks, pushing and pulling over endless hills and steep drops, walking through 2 FREEZING cold rivers (one to our ankles and the other to our waists), walking at least a mile through deep mud, and pushing several carts up an almost vertical incline of a mountain (all of our boys and several other awesome strong studs went up and down almost 10 times... AMAZING because those things were heavy and just walking up the hill was tough) we made it to base camp.
I made dinner of "Chicken Delight" and boy was it a delight... at the time. It was sooo good when we ate it. Same thing with the raisins in Trail Mix. I really despise raisins, but I ate them anyways because I was so hungry, and they were the best raisins I've ever had in my life. I kid you not. Anyways, with the dinner it probably would've been gross if you ate it anywhere else. So, now I'm a pro at cooking in Dutch Ovens. Heck yeah.
A little after we ate dinner and dessert, we had a little family devotional before THE MOB came through. They had built what looks like a mini church building in the middle of the clearing and they set it on fire, and it went up in f l a m e s. They had some of the leaders dress up and ride around on horses with torches and run us all out of camp. We had five minutes to pack up all of our belongings back in the cart after we had set up camp. It was a really cool experience. It was kinda ruined because some Ma' s and Pa's told their families what was going to happen, and so they all told everyone else, so it didn't have as full of a potential as it could have. Oh well. So after walking 17 miles to camp and being pretty tired, we walked off in the cold dark another 4 miles up a steady incline of mountains. At the hardest part of the hills, they made all the boys and men go ahead and walk by themselves up to the top of the hill, so all of the women were left by ourselves. Gosh, that lasted forever it seems like, I was in the front pulling with the others and it was so hard. It was supposed to reflect what the pioneer women had to go through when all the men were called to the batallion and they had to walk thousands of miles by themselves. A little further when it started to get really hard, there were the men, standing off to the sides just watching. Some were crying. It gave me a little hope and a spring in my step. But right before we reached them, our cart wouldn't move. We were stuck behind a small rock in the wheel's path and we couldn't get enough strength to push over it. (all the girls in my family are teeny tiny and short so that didn't help all that much, but our guys all do swim so they're pretty buff and have lots of endurance). We tried and tried and finally we made it. I was expecting the boys to just stay there, I didn't see our brothers and then Tyson came up behind me and took the rope from my shoulder and started pulling for me. All of our brothers were there and helped us climb that steep hill. It was so comforting and I was SO thankful for them and their great attitudes and whole-hearted strength. <3
The rest of the way was long, and we were all getting tired. We finally made it to our second camp and actually stayed put for the night. I crashed as soon as my head hit the hard, pebbly ground.
MARCH 22ND
We woke up at sunrise. Or we kind of did. I got the worst sleep of my life that night. It was cold, wet, and I couldn't get comfortable in my sleeping bag. I woke up at least 6 or 7 times. I made breakfast for the family and it wasn't all that great. Not my fault, but no one likes oatmeal. But we all ate it anyways. Still no complaints, that made everything so much better! Sister Moyers gave us some encouraging words before we left again, and said to picture President Monson telling us to go and trek across the desert. I know that I would immediately, and that strong and burning feeling pushed me all day long in the back of my mind. It also was way hotter than yesterday. Yesterday felt sooo good! The previous week it rained a ton, and so the desert was alive and cool and the sky was so clear, it was so beautiful. Every once in a while there were bright pink, orange, purple, white, and yellow little flowers blooming along the side of the trail that gave hope to me. Thankful for those little flowers. But today was hot. It reached 90 degrees with no breeze, no clouds, and we were walking through sand. They told us to expect a little hike about an hour or so long, and that it would definitely be easier than the first day. So we all got in that mindset and prepared ourselves for a relaxing walk through the desert.
They lied.
Big time.
It was not an hour long. It was not a "little hike". It was a 7 mile hike through a never-ending wash. For 6 of the 7 miles, the sand was so soft and so deep, so it was seemingly impossible to push a super heavy cart through the hot sand and gravel during the hottest part of the day on the hottest day of the month. I think I started seeing things. I was in the back, and that day we had to carry our sleeping bags and such with us, so our cart was heavier than what we were used to, so I couldn't see what was in front of me. So whenever I looked at my feet, I could've sworn that we were walking over a cliff. Whenever I looked at the wheels, it looked like they just popped off!! It was so weird. We must have stopped at least twenty times during the day. We'd walk a few minutes, then stop for longer than we walked. We were all losing strength and stamina. And those boys were getting so tired and worn out, it was hard to see and hear them. It was even worse when the cart would slow down to be slower than a walk, because you could tell they couldn't go on much longer. We were all constantly praying for something, someone to help us push, someone to get a burst of energy, a cool breeze to hit you, just anything to help relieve our burden. Some boys in other families passed out from heat exhaustion and had to go to the ER, some girls were throwing up, one Ma had to go to the ER and the Pa went with her so their kids were by themselves for most of Trek... it was bad. Eventually, my family were the last cart in the company in line. We just kept stopping and weren't getting anywhere. Our Pa was getting frustrated because he knew that we needed to get going, but we wouldn't.
After many prayers, Conner Miller was riding by us on a horse and Ma jokingly asked if he could attach the horse to our cart and pull us. Without a thought he started hooking his horse up to the yoke bar. I thought he was kidding and that he'd take us 10 feet and then take his ropes off and go along his way. But he didn't. Together we pulled and pushed past 7 families and probably two miles. He was definitely the answer to our prayers. But as we walked past those families spread out in the shade along the dusty, hot trails, my brothers started to feel bad as they saw the despaired look on the other families faces as they realized that it wasn't fair that we were getting extra help and they weren't. They were about to stop walking when more horses came and we being hooked up to carts, then they didn't feel as bad. We were telling them "Ask and ye shall receive!" And they did. We all did.
When Conner detached his horse from the cart, we still had 2/3 of a mile to go before we reached camp. By then it was 3 or 4 PM and it was starting to cool down slightly. We got a Snickers bar and that was the highlight of the day. We all got an energy boost, along with the smiling faces of our stake leaders telling us it was just a little bit further ahead. It still wasn't. Some kids got angry, but it gave me a little hope to see them. If I thought about it too much I'd start getting worked up over it, but I tried to keep my thoughts positive, despite the fact that they were all fresh and prettied up and sitting in lawn chairs tanning as we walked past covered in dirt about to pass out from the heat and burnt to a crisp. No big deal.
After at least 30 more turns, and a few more hills, we reached camp. And that was the most beautiful sigh ever, lemme tell you. I though we'd never make it. But we did. We set up camp, and I cooked some spicy stew for dinner. Later we walked to another clearing and had a devotional from Brother and Sister Mitchell (he plays Joseph Smith in all those movies and played Brother Willie in 17 Miracles). They sang a few songs. They sang Battle Hymn of the Republic, which I though was weird until I started listening to the lyrics... it was so exact and beautiful and I started getting teary. He talked about the pioneers and life with 3 R's: to Remember them and their legacy, to Rescue others and to rescue ourselves, and to Rejoice in their labors and our own triumphs. I added my own R: respect. I gained a lot of respect for people who I thought were completely different then how they acted at Trek, I hope I can still see them in the same light that they showed on Trek... They also had us sing and clap to Israel Israel, God Is Calling. Clapping to the hymn was a little odd, but it was really neat. After his awesome words and testimony, we had a hoe-down. I was totally expecting fiddles and square dancing, but it was the same old stuff they play at stake dances... eh. Not my cup of tea. But they were making doughnuts and they were DIVINE. I danced with a guy whose name I didn't catch because it was way loud. But he was nice, whoever he is! He said he's met me before, but I'm fairly certain I've never seen him in my life... haha!
MARCH 23RD
I went to bed in the dirt while everyone else back home was watching The Hunger Games.. sigh. But that night's sleep was TONS better than the previous night. We were sleeping on sandy ground and I put on tons of layers and slept like a baby under the stars. I had my head outside of the sleeping bag and I fell asleep pondering silly thoughts in my head about life. I dreamt of faces I've never seen before in pioneer outfits, they were mostly guys... I like to think that they are those who trekked before long ago to Zion, not sure but that would be so cool if that's who they are! I woke up and made pancakes... oh my goodness they tasted like candy. The only reason I volunteered to be designated cook was because I didn't have to clean up pans and the ovens after myself!! If only that would work at home.
We were able to play some pioneer games today and just have fun!! I found my skills were sharp at axe and knife throwing. No pun intended. But who knew?! I couldn't get the sharp ends to stick in the logs, however. It was the handle I had to pull out! Haha everyone was saying that they better watch out for me! I did that for a long time, my softball arm still has got some kick in it!! I did some archery, which I USED to be great at back in middle school, but I lost my touch for it, if only I could get a bow and some arrows and a target to practice with... I'd be like Katniss! I also tried to learn how to make a braided leather bracelet, but I couldn't get it quite right, so someone made it for me. It goes perfectly with my bracelet I got in Mexico! I did an egg toss with Garrett and I caught it... before it splattered all over my apron and shoes! I smelled like eggs for the rest of the day, it was so nasty. Joelle washed my hair and the water was SO cold, but felt sooo good! It was great to have clean hair. Ahhh. Luckily, my hair dried all curly and cute and I was getting tons of compliments on it. If I had more time in the mornings before school I would wear it naturally more often..
Anyways, we had some last "Boss" McCoy family time and shared our testimonies with each other and read our letters from home after we had another devotional from a seminary teacher in our stake which was awesome! I didn't see my family for the rest of the day which was odd. But we ate lunch and dinner and had some laughs. At this point after all was packed up and ready to go, sleepiness hit e v e r y o n e. No one made any sense and everything was hilarious. Man, I wish I remembered some of the stuff we all said, but it wasn't funny. At all. But it was so funny that laughing hurt at the time. There were kids rolling down the hills in tires, and they were bouncing off other tires that were in their pathways. All the kids in the stake were gathered around watching them do it, but the adults weren't around until the last part. It was looking really dangerous, and the adults weren't doing anything about it! They were even helping, I think! It was crazy. We had another spiritual thought when it got dark from President Solomon, which was fantastic, he brought up some really great points about accepting help and things like that. Finally, after we watched the slideshow of Trek, IT WAS TIME TO GO HOME!!!!!!!!! Ah, those final moments were great, everyone was so excited and ready to go. We carried our buckets one last time and hit the road. Bishop drove me and Maizey home and we were asleep in our beds by 11.
Some things I've learned:
I'm so more appreciative of the physical laborings of the pioneers, I've always had a connection to them, but this was one in a different way. I've gained a ton of respect for lots of people in my stake, I judge people kind of badly, and I don't really give them a ton of second chances, but this Trek made me see the raw side of people, how they can help and get down and dirty when it comes to pulling together. I now know that they all are decent kids with great potential, yet they just mask it when they're with certain people for some reason. I guess it's because they haven't figured it out all quite yet, but what do I know? Let's just say I'm more willing to give them more chances and give them more credit than I have in the past. I just hope I can keep this mindset up even at school when they are different.
This one point when I was walking, and starting to have negative thoughts, I walked past two people who were sitting off to the side and I hear 6 powerful words they were singing softly: All is well, all is well. Aaaand that made me cry and gave me power to keep walking. All the time, I'd be thinking about nothing, and I'd start getting spiritually emotional for no reason! And I don't know why, but I'm glad that I can get those feelings, even just randomly.
Also, I can say that I'm SOOOO eternally thankful for....
Smooth roads, deoderant, boys, horses, cold water, sleeping bags, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, chapstick, carpet, cars, port-a-potties, socks, nail rings, fire, cool breezes, deserts, blue skies, tiny flowers, singing, hymns, stake leaders, air conditioning, my Ma & Pa and brothers and sisters, showers, soap, conditioner, clean fingernails, flashlights, strength, sunscreen, food, rivers, sturdy shoes, photographs, devotionals, technology, et cetera.
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