"We will Rescue, We will Save"
Jordan and I were asked to be a "ma" and "pa" on our stakes youth pioneer trek. We were so excited. I work with the Mia Maids and so I knew a lot of the kids in our ward, but Jordan didn't really know any of them (or many of the grown-ups, for that matter). We went up about 2 hours of of Mesa, just past Payson, into the mountains of AZ. It was so beautiful and cool (temp.) Our ward was divided into families. Jordan and I were ma and pa to 9 amazing kids from our ward. We pulled and pushed handcarts up and down the trails for 3 days. we went a total of about 15 miles. There was one really brutal hill that was our "Rocky Point". In our family we had one girl with a broken foot and one girl who does nothing physical unless forced, but we didn't hear one complaint. They all worked so hard and worked together so well. I think it was just as hard for a couple of the boys to keep a slower pace so our family could all stay together as it was for our injured daughters to feel like they were slowing us down. I loved seeing the older boys in our family look out and take care of everyone. None of our kids are the in the same friends group at school, but they were all so good to each other and became better friends.
Once we arrived at the starting point and had all our gear packed up in our hand cart, it was about noon. We walked until about 5:00 when we arrived at out first camp site. We had dinner, a dance provided by the young single adults in the stake. I wish I had a video of our Young Women's president dancing. It was like NOTHING I have ever seen before. I can't even begin to describe the crazy that was Tera Mason dancing. It was a highlight for me. We made our beds on a tarp on the ground. I don't ever remember seeing so many stars or being so cold. I'm not sure if I ever fell asleep. Jordan sure slept. I know because I watched him... all night. The temperature during the day was in the low 70's, perfect for hiking in long sleeve shirts and long skirts. The temperature at night was in the low 40's, perfect for long sleepless nights.
Day two was more hiking. We had our "Rocky Point" climb this day. It was steep. we had to have to families pull one handcart in order to get it up. Even then it was tough. Since each cart needed two families, that meant we had to do it twice. It was so good for the kids (and me) to do something hard. I think this was most of the kids favorite part. Our stake had an odd number of carts so the boys in our stake volunteered to do the last cart, making it three times they had to climb Rocky Point. then they ran to catch us girls pulling the carts by our selves at the front of the line. Day two ended with a devotional from the Stake Presidency and ward testimony meeting by the fireside. I can't believe what amazing testimonies and faith the kids in our ward have. I left being very inspired to be better.
Day 3 we walked until about 11 o'clock where were greeted by family and stake members welcoming us into "Zion" . We were filthy and tired and ready to go home. The best part for me was getting to know our 9 kids better and the other Ma's and Pa's.
Our family had nick names: We were Ma pudding (Me, I don't know where they came up with that) Pa Slice (again, not sure where they came up with that- crazy kids) Frenchi (Sadie) Cookie (Dylan), Stallion (Josh), Iceman (Scott), Buttescotch (Danille), Twinkle (Amanda), Wildcat (Zachary), Tigger (Nicole), Peanut (Bethany).
The theme of the Trek was "We will Rescue, We will Save". As we started Trek we were given a leather band. we wrote down a person's name who has rescued us and trek for them. It was really neat to share our stories of rescue with each other along the way. As we finished Trek, we turned our band over and wrote down a name of a person who we are going to try to Rescue. Not in an "I'm so good, I'm going to save this person" but in a Christ like serving each other way. It was really great. We started Trek thinking of all the people who have influenced and inspired us and left not thinking about our selves but of helping others and forgetting our selves. I feel so blessed to have been able to go on this Trek with the amazing youth and leaders from our stake.
I will try to add more pictures to this post when I get them.
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