The Pioneer Trek ( warning very long post)

wow what a week.... I just got back from a pioneer trek. I am so amazed and inspired by what the pioneers accomplished and what they went through in order to get to zion. So for the trek we went up to Martins Cove in Wyoming. We went with my cousins home school group called liberty Girls. there were about 200 of us in total and we were divided into companies. my families company was the yellow group my uncle troy was our group leader and I was the medical volunteer as I had just passed my CNA test and apparently that qualified me to be in charge in case of emergency lol. my aunt and my cousins and i had been sewing for months to get all of our pioneer clothes done. I am also proud to say that I made my first quilt by myself I did all of the sewing and its not a masterpiece but I am still really proud of it. Its a patch work quilt and cutting all of those squares out was awful but I am so grateful that my aunt has been willing to teach me how to sew. So we finally had everything ready and packed and then found out that it didnt all fit into one car... so we decided to take both the mazda cx9 and the mazda 3. we were a little bit late getting going and were pressing the speed limit getting there as we were driving on the free way a driver in a van next to us fell asleep and drifted into our lane and then into the median hitting the fence that was there and that woke him up luckily neither the driver nor anyone else was hurt but we definitely had guardian angels with us. so we got to orientation right as it was beginning and they showed us a video about what the pioneers who came through martins cove had to go through and of course my aunt and I are bawling at just how sad and amazing the pioneers were. so we went to get put all of our stuff in the handcarts. their were ten people to a hand cart which meant that a family of three was going to be sharing it with us. We met the Reeds who were a very nice couple and had their six year old son with them. The wind was blowing like crazy and getting everything on the handcart was a job but we finally did it and started our three mile trek to the campsite. I ended up pushing the covered wagon that was holding all of the children under eight which included my 2 year old and my 6 year old cousin. we also did a womens pull up the steepest hill of the trail. we all got together and were asked to imagine if our dads our husbands or our brothers had died and we had to make it on our own on the trail how we could have done it. we sang god be with you until we meet again as we said goodbye to the men and watched them walk up the hill we then went back to our handcarts to pull them up my oldest cousins went to help another hand cart who only had one woman pulling it. and my aunt and i pulled the handcart with the 2 year old and the six year old in it. the men all lined up the hill and stood silently watching us as we struggled and fought to keep control of it. I looked up to see most of the men crying including my uncle. We did finally make it up the hill but went right back down to help the other handcarts when every one had gotten up the hill my aunt and my cousins and i joined held hands as we walked back up to my uncle and the symbolism and that amazing spirt that was there I cant even begin to describe. We walked three miles and finally got to the campsite it was cold and windy and just awful weather. Andria my two year old cousin was freezing and my aunt was worried about her getting hypothermia so i took her along with me as I went to do what I had been told to do and check on everyone else to make sure there were no cases of hypothermia or anything else that needed medical attention. we finally got the tent up and ate some dinner and then went to bed since we were all so exhausted from the drive and the walk and the stress of getting there. The next day we woke up and ate breakfast then packed up our handcart with lunch water and my medical bag and started the five mile hike to martins cove. the group ahead of use was an hour and half late getting started so it pushed us back a bit but we were all fine with that it meant we could walk a little slower =) When we did finally get to martins cove they asked us to walk it without handcarts and to walk it silently out of respect for what the pioneers had suffered there and for those that had died there. we were walking on sacred ground. I loved how very peaceful it was there wasnt any thought of being tired or hot or wanting to stop. there was such a strong spirt there. we were truly walking on holy and sacred ground. Once we had walked all the way through martins cove we had lunch and then started our five mile journey back to camp. We would pass by bathrooms and those who needed to stop would stop while the rest continued on well alexa needed to go but no one else on our handcart needed to so I was asked to stay behind and look after her and try and catch up to the cart when we could. So as Alexa and I were walking back to our handcart we were about to walk up the hill when we saw a handcart being pulled by a grown man a little boy and a little girl was pushing. they were having a hard time making it up the hill. Alexa looked at me and said we should help we went and started to push the man being suprised at the fact that it was getting easier looked back to see us and we got up to hill. when we got to the top he told alexa that god had sent angels to help him get up the hill and thanked us for helping him. I have never seen alexa so happy and I have never been more proud of her for being willing to help. we did eventually get back to our cart and join the rest of the family. that night we had a special delivery from the "pony express" and we all recieved letters I even recieved a letter from my aunts mom telling me how glad she was to have me be a part of their family. we all sang pioneer songs around the campfire that night and told stories about where we were from. we had gotten so many questions about who I was and having to explain that I was their niece was becoming complicated so we ended up just telling everyone that I was troys niece who was like a daughter to them. the next day we broke camp and took down the tents and got everything packed up for the three mile trek back to the vistors center we were all wind blown and sun burned and exhausted but we made it back to the vistors center and as we pulled into the hand cart area the lyrics to the song the spirt of god were going through my mind and thought of how profound it must have been after walking and pulling a handcart a thousand miles to finally stop in salt lake and sing praises to the lord. we got everything into the car and started on home as soon as we got home we showered and went to bed exhausted but happy. our trek was amazing and spirtual and I learned so much about myself. I would never have been able to walk that far seven months ago when i first moved in with my aunt and uncle but now I am proud to say that I walked the entire trek.