Today the Orchard Hills Ward begins their trek as a ward. For those who are unaware of what a trek is, it is a church event where members re-enact the saint's crossing of the plains by way of handcart. It is a tough, but great experience. Sarah and I went with the young men and young women of the stake last year. We are bummed that we are not able to go this time. We have wanted to go all along, but figured it wouldn't work into vacation time. We have already taken two weeks off and we still have girls camp, scout camp, family reunion, etc. When we learned we would be adopting in October, vacation time no longer was an issue as Sarah would be quitting her job at that time. Unfortunately, we had already loaned out most of our equipment, clothing, etc to other ward members. I also have neglected taking my arthritis shots for the last three weeks in order to save money. I truly doubt I could make the trek. I typically hurt the day after mowing the lawn, let alone pulling a handcart 5 miles. We really wish we could be there. I am sure our friends are going to build some pretty neat memories. This trek is a family trek, so there will be newborns to geriatrics...well, probably not any geriatrics. We really don't have any in our ward. They are going to do a few baptisms in a pond while they are on trek. I think that would be a cool experience for those young people. I found out only yesterday that we would be in the same handcart and family as the Nicol's and the Harris'. That really made me bummed out to know we weren't going. There are a few families that will not be attending and we are going to get together for dinner tomorrow night.
9 comments:
Wow - I am really impressed that you took that on last year. How far did you go?
I was so happy to hear about your adoption plans! That is awesome!!
I wish we could go. We had such an amazing time on our trek last year. On Sunday everyone was getting excited talking about who they were trekking with. The young women practiced their song for the fireside and I came home asking, "Are we sure we can't go?". Marque is so sweet he immediately was trying to think of a way we could maybe possible go. Besides the closeness of our ward we will miss feeling the spirit of the pioneers. I think we went about 6 miles per day for two days. Marque thinks it was 12 per day. It was far enough and hard enough that we got a tiny glimpse of what they pioneers faced. Although I don't think the pioneers sang Bob Marley as they walked and walked and walked like we did. Oh well, we hope our ward is safe on their trek. We will have fun will the non-trekkers this weekend and we can all swap stories on Sunday.
Sarah
I thought the first day was 12 miles and then 9 miles and 6 miles. I could be wrong. It felt much longer at times and not so long at other times.
Marque
Don't ever remember hearing about dinner plans??? :0) Have fun!
We went to dinner with the Hiatts, Ashbys and Shelleys. You didn't go on trek?! Had we known, we would have let you know about dinner.
Figured we weren't invited because we don't live "on that side" of the ward? LOL No we had to bail between health issues and time off work and such. Bummed about the whole thing.
Later
We were pretty bummed too. We don't see the invisible line in the ward like some people think we do.
Everyone returned home today. It sounds like they are all unanimously pooped out. It appears everyone had an exhausting and spiritually fulfilling time. We are so jealous that we did not attend, but it was right that we did not go. We still wish we could have.
Q & Sarah,
It is actually a good thing you didn't join us on Trek. As it was, us and the Nicol's had to get the "extendo-Handcart" to fit 18 buckets and at least 3 kids riding at any given time. The handcart was really about 2 feet longer than the normal carts everyone else had. Randy Tubb's said he was wearing one of your shirts because he want to bring a little bit of you along. I suggested your Biceps would have been a better choice of a part of you to bring along. We also could have used you as a "spotter" on the last day since we had to cross an active mine field. Ok, it was a cow pasture and the folks pushing the handcart had to be pretty good listening to directions called out from the front or they got their shoes pretty messed up. Oh yea, speaking of messed up, ask Brian Blackhurst why it isn't a good idea to lean against the wheel of the handcart while passing through a cow pasture.
Know that you were missed!
Mark
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