Granger North Stake Pioneer Trek

To preface this post… read HERE.
I had the opportunity to join the youth in my stake on the Trek. I was called to be head of the medical committee. Randy could not join us so I was on my own. It was the most awful, hard, exhausting, greatest, spiritual, best experience in my life. We went to Martin’s Cove in Wyoming. We left on Monday morning. I would have never made it as a pioneer. It was HARD.

This was the first day. The youth were full of energy and excitement on the first pull. We had to hike into our camp.
At our first pit stop I had kids already with heat exhaustion. I had to pull 2 of them out at this point. It was 100 degrees and dry. The kids called me the water Nazi.
This was where we reenacted the women’s pull. When the men were called to serve in the Mormon Battalion, the women were left to pull alone. The men stood at the top of the hill with their hats off and totally silent. It was so surreal. I pulled my bonnet down and could not even look up at their faces. It was really humbling. The spirit was incredible. At the top the men gave the women little jewels that represented rubies.
They read Proverbs 31:10 “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.”

We stopped at the Sweetwater crossing. We also reenacted the crossing. Of course our crossing was completely different. We welcomed the cool refreshing water. When the saints crossed it, there was 2-3 feet of snow and the river was freezing.

While we crossed the river, a woman played the violin and we all paid tribute to many who lost their lives that day. Again…what a sweet and humbling experience. Before we crossed Sweetwater we had the chance to walk through Martin's Cove. It is a two mile silent walk. We parked our wagons and walked through one of the most sacred monuments. Not a single person made a sound as we grieved the losses in the Martin Company. I was so impressed that the Youth were so respectful. We shed a lot of tears that day.
Throughout the trek my medical team used up hundreds of yards of moleskin, treated sprains, strains, heat exhaustion, allergies, bug bites, even had to start an IV on a very dehydrated Saint. Even after I would crawl into bed my radio would go off that someone needed help. I didn't stop the whole time. Can you see the stress in my face???Thank goodness this was only a reenactment and not the real thing. I can see why so many people died.

The bus ride home was memorable as well. We left at 8:00AM and didn't pull into the stake center until 11:00PM that night. It was a long ride home. Some of the youth said that they would rather pull a handcart home. We broke down several times. Thank heavens a member of the Stake presidency is a mechanic and fixed the several problems.
This is our bus driver George. He kept telling us how tired he was....SCARY!!!
For how many times we pulled over the kids were really good. I hope they felt what I felt.
I will never forget this experience. I walked off the bus and saw Randy and just collapsed into his arms and cried. I was so homesick for my family.

I am forever grateful for the sacrifice of the Saints in the Willie and Martin company. Their sacrifice made it possible for me to raise my children in the Gospel. I am thankful for their spirits that touched me in ways that I will always remember.