Trek continued

(My camera broke halfway through the Trek, so I only have pictures from the first half of the trip.)

Trek was absolutely wonderful. I knew that it would be a very spiritual experience, but I didn't realize that it would also be a lot of fun. There were so many miracles and acts of service and the spirit there was overwhelming.

Michael and I were a ma and pa. Each family had a 'big brother' or a 'big sister', someone older than the youth, to help out the ma's and pa's. We had 8 kids including our big sis. At first Michael and I were scared to death of the kids, and they just gave us blank stares and dirty looks. The first day we pulled 6 miles and the wheel of our cart fell off a bridge and our cart was suspended sideways. Our family had to pull it out, the top of the tarp got wet, but nothing fell out, which is a miracle in itself. Since it was our first time loading the handcart, we didn't really have a system, we just threw everything on the cart, put the tarp on and tied it up. Our water coolers, pillows and sleeping bags were constantly falling out of the cart. I felt that it was a miracle that nothing fell out when our cart fell off the bridge. The great thing was, that after the mishap, our family really united, we changed our last name to the MOJO's and everyone warmed up to each other. By the end all of our kids didn't run off with their friends, all their friends were coming to hang out with our family.

We were able to visit Martin's Cove, where the Martin Company was rescued, it has been dedicated by Pres. Hinckley and it is regarded as sacred ground. We had a devotional just outside of Martins Cove, where we heard stories of those who suffered there, and our Stake Pres. blessed each of us as we knelt in prayer. I could barely hear the end of the prayer there were so many sobs and sniffles. In the prayer, he blessed us that each of us would feel the spirit of those that died there and that resided over the area. They spread us out as we walked the cove and it is just one long winding path. I assumed it was all Martins Cove, I remember feeling at one point a heavy weight overcome me, I felt as if I was going to cry, and the spirit was very strong. Just at that moment, Michael leaned over to me and said, "Did you see the sign, it says we just entered Martin's Cove"

One other great experience was when we did a Women's Pull. They had a man dressed in a battle uniform come up and called us all over. They told us that the US army needed 400 men and that all our men would be leaving us. The men left simulating the Mormon Battalion. They went and lined up on a large hill, took their hats off, and could not speak to us or help us. We had to pull our carts up a steep large hill that was deep with sand. One of the girls in our family didn't think she could walk that far, so we had to pull her up the hill. As we were waiting for our turn to go up the hill, none of us girls could look at the men without crying, the spirit was so strong. It was our turn to go up the hill and we started out OK, but about half way up, the sand was so deep and it was rocky, we were barely inching along. One of the medics ran down the hill to help us. It reminded me of stories we heard about people that didn't feel they could push any longer, then all of a sudden they felt as if someone was helping pushing the cart. They would look back and nobody would be there. We had to keep moving, and the men had to stay where they were. Michael said they couldn't help but inch forward they had such a desire to help us. After a while, they told the men they could leave. Those men old and young sprinted to catch up with us, we were a good half mile ahead of them, some of the handcarts were at least a mile ahead, and they sprinted the entire way. As I was talking to Michael afterwards, he said that almost every one of the men and boys were crying, even the big tough guys.

We had a testimony meeting the last night with our families, each of our kids bore their testimonies of what they felt, most expressed the desire to stay there, they didn't want to loose the feelings they felt. I was so surprised, I had no idea that they were really feeling something. They also understood that they were only getting a small fraction of what it was like for the pioneers.

I had a dagger in my hand from the handcart, luckily there was a medic nearby to take it out.

The Sweetwater River, you wouldn't believe how great this felt on our feet!

We opened up our very own Sweetwater spa, mud-masks were the only service we offered.