Pioneer Trek

O.K. so as most of you that actually take time to look at this pretty boring blog know, our stake (the K.E.S.) went on the Pioneer Trek. It was AMAZING! I was really sad that they didn't let us take camera's, but I understand now that that would have taken away from the wonderful spirit that was felt there. It was amazing! I feel SO bad for all the people who couldn't make it. I thought at the beginning, before we left, that it would be kind of a waste of time, and that I could be doing more with my time, especially because my family was all in town for the first time in a long time. It was not a waste of time, and I would not have changed going for anything! Seriously! It was so cool! My family was Me, Cassie, Bethany Barr, Angela Linford, Aaron Butler, Dominic Gumbel (Compton), Logan Helquist, Tanner Kay, Bradley Able, Juan something-or-other and Emily Shurtz. My Ma' and Pa' were Brother and Sister Barr. It was a really cool experience. Our ward actually had 2 "uncles" which were Blake Able and J.D. my brother. Blake helped more with the other cart, and J.D. with ours. It was really interesting to see how much work it took to haul the carts up big hills, and around rocks. When we would start complaining, someone would remind us of how small a percentage that we were suffering compared to the actual Pioneers. I think that some of the most humbling moments, were when we got our "child". Her name was Jane Walters. Dominic (who is not a member of the church) took over a fatherly roll, and would not let anyone touch her! He was very protective, and loved her like his own child. (he even renamed her to Jane Compton) :) haha. We had to take care of her as our own child, and we did a pretty good job I think. I got to sleep with the baby, and it sort of kept me warm! Then in the morning we got the news that "our baby had died in the night". It was really sad. We had to have a memorial service for it, and bury it. It was sad for me to think of the actuall parents looking down from heaven, thinking of the time they ACTUALLY had to bury the REAL child. I was thinking of how it could have felt for them to see their child being "re-burried". It was really sad, but yet happy at the same time, thinking that she is with her parents right now, and she is probably being one of the greatest missionaries in heaven. Another good moment for me was getting to camp the second day and opening my mom's letter. I made the sorry mistake of not going off alone to read it, and I read it by everyone. I wanted to read it again after that, because I had to skim through it to avoid crying in front of everyone. (Yes I get embarassed VERY easily). That night at the fireside/devotional I looked up at the sky, and in my head started singing to myself the song from "Fifle Goes West" an old movie I used to watch when I was little. The part I was singing goes like this....

"And Even Though I Know how very far apart we are

It helps to think we might be wishing on that same bright star

And when the night wind starts to sing its lonesome lullaby

It helps to think we're sleeping underneath that same bright sky!

Somewhere out ther if love can see us through

Then we'll be together

Somewhere out there, out where dreams come true."

As i was singing it, of course I see a shooting star, and the wind starts blowing. It was really coincidental to me, and it made me start crying, thinking of my mom at home, maybe looking at the stars at the same time. Then as I started to cry, Sister Pew and Annie Belnap got up and sang a beautiful song about Pioneer's and what they had to go through. I just got to thinking, and it made me feel so bad for how much they had to suffer, to get to the Salt Lake Valley, and do what the Lord wanted them to do. It made me think of a song I heard a long time ago, that I totally forgot about. It goes something like...

"When you lost your husband

when you burried your children

im sure the angel's stood in reverence as you prayed

how much can one heart take?

how much can one hear take?"

I think that it was a great reminder that they lost more than we could think of, and they still carried on. It was a really spiritual moment for me, and I started BALLING like a baby. I ABSOLUTELY love my ward family! Once they saw that I was crying, Afton reached over and started just comforting me, then Dominic and Candice started scratching my back, and making me feel loved. Then Hanna reached over and gave me a hug. It was like I realized that everyone cared about me, and it wasn't just because I was emotional. The last REALLY amazing moment was testimony meeting. Everyone in our ward bore their testimonies with pride, including the two nonmembers. It was really amazing. I don't know why, but I got emotional talking about my family members (my real ones) even though they were sitting right there. It was cool to have them there to share the experience with. I had my brohers Carter, J.D. and Elliot there, and my dad also came for a day. It was really cool to have that much of my real family there to support each other.

On another lighter side of things one of my favorite things was playing games. Oh my word we had so much fun! :) It was fun to teach new people the games, and see how much trouble they have. It was really funny. Well, I think that this is long enough, if anyone actually read all of it, I would be extremely supprised! :) but I love you all! :)

~~~Emma~~~