Flashback Friday

In our first ward Ryan and I were called into the young men and young womens and i loved it and Ryan did also until he was made the Scout master and to make a long story short that is one of the driving factors for us to look for our house that we live in now:)

During that time we were able to go on the pioneer trek to Martins cove. As far as grasping the difficulty of the trek the pioneers experienced I don't think the kids or ourselves got the full gist of that. ( we had nice mexican dinners and cold drinks, cheesecake for dessert etc etc... so we weren't really living like Pioneers we were totally spoiled-I'm not complaining-) but the point of the trek was to gain an appreciation for what the pioneers went through. Anyway, the day that we were actually going to go into the cove where the pioneers found cover from the snow and cold (many died and it was a difficult time for them) that day there were many other stakes and wards going on the tour as well, so it was somewhat like herding cattle through. There was a part that we stopped and had a little fireside just before we entered the actual cove, we sang and our bishop spoke and it was a neat experience to bring the spirit, and just as we got up to go into the cove one of the boys in our "family" (the youngest of the young men, brand new) had to go to the bathroom but it was about a mile down from where we just came. Ryan said he would take him and that was the last we saw of them for about the next 3-4 hours. They missed everything the cove, the sweetwater river crossing, lunch the womens pull and the neat experiences. Coming from my side of the story I felt a tiny glimpse of what the women might have gone through losing a husband or a child, whether it was to the conditions or the mormon battalion, so I just had to carry on without my husband (so to speak).

Ryan's side on the other hand was a little different, he headed back to the bathrooms mind you we were outside and they could have just gone in the bushes but the boy didn't want to and unfortunatly he didn't make it and peed his pants. Ryan being a 3rd grade teacher was a little more sensitive to that than perhaps other leaders maybe so i'm glad that he was able to help him. They were gone so long because they walked 3 miles all the way back to our camp and changed clothes etc etc.. Then 3 miles back to the starting point and then tried to find us.

Later that evening back at our camp Some of the elderly missionaries at the site came to visit our camp and heard that Ryan and the boy didn't get to go into the cove so they took us on our own personal tour just us three. And they took us in their golf cart the sun was setting so it was so beautiful and peaceful and I'm totally not exaggerating the second we got out of the cart and started up the stairs into the cove it was like a wall was in front of us of the spirit it was so strong and not just for me Ryan described it the same way, and now talking to others they had a similar experience. The missionaries talked to us in the cove and explained that that was hallowed ground and defined that as when something is named hallowed it means that the Savior has been there, we definetely felt that that evening. So the trek itself was fun and memorable as far as a trip goes but the part the really impacted us was that evening experience in the cove when we got to go by ourselves and spend as much time as we wanted there.