Why do Mormons do this?
Good Question ~ I wondered that myself until I had the opportunity to experience it.
A few months ago our oldest son called and invited us to go on a Trek with them. He said this one is unique because it's for families and not just the teenagers.
We had to think about it for a while cause it's not something we EVER thought we would consider doing. Just wasn't up our alley ~ we thought.
After some days past and we contemplated our children and grandchildren out on the trail having this "Pioneer experience" without us, we decided "what could it hurt?"
So we started preparing. Arlin looked up some pioneer stories he found of his ancestors. I sewed some clothes. We packed up buckets (you could only take what you could fit in a 5 gallon bucket) of course + your sleeping gear. ~thank goodness they provided all the meals!!! And we drove to Utah to meet up with our kids :)
The day after we got there we packed up the car and drove to Wyoming where this event would commence.
IT WAS HARD!!!
Walking in the heat, kids getting tired, pushing a cart, thirsty, hungry, tired!!!, sweaty, sunburned, some people got blisters (not me), my lips got sunburned, kids crying, dirty clothes, no running water OR flush toilets..........for 4 days and 27 miles.
Many times I asked myself "why am I doing this?"
The last night as we adults sat together in our tent thinking and talking about all we had done that week I realized why. We were remembering. Remembering the people of our history and what they had done to show the world they were willing to do something HARD for what they believed!
So now I look at my life, there are hard things here too. LOTS! And God has asked us to be different from what happens in the "world". Am I willing to do HARD things? Can I stay strong? By that small amount of torture, I believe I showed myself I can!!
And actually, when all is said and done, it turns out HARD things make your life interesting and help you be better than what you were before you experienced them.
But, most of all, We really did have fun being together! (no phones, no T.V., no outside world) It was good!
Me & my buddy Boston ..... We can see the end of the trail.
