Pioneer Days

Our stake had a pioneer trek for the youth last week from Thursday through Monday.  The stake had asked me to come as part of the medical team (!) and Dave and I joined the youth from Friday evening on.  By the time we had arrived the youth had completed the actual trek and were settled in at their base camp.  The camp was in a beautiful location.  All of the kids looked great and talked about what a wonderful and challenging experience the trek was.

Saturday was a fun-filled day with tons of stations for the kids to do:  survival skills, blacksmithing, pioneer games, pioneer music, bread making, quilt tying and others that I can't remember! In the evening they had a hoe-down dance with a caller, everyone had a blast!

Sunday was a spiritual high for everyone starting with a sacrament meeting.  The youth were then instructed to go out for solo time.  Each of the youth's parents had written their testimony down for their child and these were given to the kids to read during their time alone.  After 3 hours of solo time the youth returned with wonderful experiences of meditation, prayer, and testimony.  We then had a testimony meeting that was just awesome, the youth in our stake are so great.

Dave headed home Sunday night so he'd be ready for his first day teaching summer school on Monday.

On Monday we took the camp down, packed our handcarts, and trekked about a mile to the pick-up point where tons of parents and family members anxiously waited to be reunited with their children.  It was awesome seeing how unified the kids had become as they cohesively handled their handcarts.  It was an emotional moment for me as we pulled our handcarts up the hill the youth began singing hymns as their families cheered us on.  We're so grateful for the testimonies of our pioneer ancestors and our personal testimonies of the restored gospel.  My testimony means everything to me and I hope the youth of our ward and stake will remember the experiences they had during the trek.