Trek Fever~

I don't think there are any amount of words that can explain the life changing experience we had on Trek. Mike and I were assigned one big brother (Vern Wolfly) and one big sister (Terry Hill). We were given five boys and six girls for our family. Each child had a different personality that our family needed to function. When the mobs first attacked our families..nine in all, were driven out of our camp ground very quickly, however, our cart hit a huge rock and popped the tail gate off the back of our cart dumping our stuff out on the ground. The mobs with their torches stood ten feet behind us yelling and mocking us. After about ten minutes of rearranging things and being ridiculed we got on the road. We were far behind the others. This is the journal entry from our big sister..."We arrived at 8am at our starting point, after a hearty oatmeal breakfast our journey began. Our handcart was unsteady, giving us much trouble. Our fear of being left behind was heavy in our hearts. After a few miles we worked together and our momentum was fierce!"... Terry Hill. Two of our five boys were wrestlers and very competitive to say the least, they of course took their places in the yoke of the cart. We tied several long pieces of rope to the yoke making it possible for four more people to pull from the front portion of the cart. The remaining pushed from the back and sides. The boys feeling defeated from the beginning being so far behind set a pace difficult for all of our family to keep. This included our big brother Vern who lagged behind for the first part of our journey. In a matter of two hours our cart was the second cart on the trail our family exhausted from the momentum. As a Ma and Pa we tried with our best efforts to slow the boys down and speed the girls up, but with no success. A short time after our second water break Mike began to hand out "SICK and DEATH" cards to all the boys in our family. They were no longer aloud to touch the cart. This was the case when the real pioneer men were called off to war or died along the trail (the exhausted pioneer women were left to care for their family). Our girls soon discovered what was going on and took charge of our cart. They were determined to face the uphill battle of rocks and a heavy handcart on their own. Our big sister was wonderful in the yoke and pulled her weight while encouraging our girls. This was difficult for our boys being so competitive to watch our family struggle up the hill. Our girls soon began tearing off their bonnets and aprons and tying their skirts up to their knees so they could complete the task the lie ahead of them. Our boys followed picking up everything that had been dropped. The solemnity of the women's pull was almost more than one heart could take. After about a half hour of this and complete silence one of our daughters fell to the ground at the back of the cart with the most heart wrenching sobs of exhaustion I have ever heard. We all stood for a moment in sadness for the want to help her, but we let her cry. She soon stood up, hit the cart and screamed "I'm such a baby I can do this!" Soon we were on our way again. Our girls were wearing out quickly as we trudged upward for about another half an hour. We soon lost another one of our girls. She was in the yoke of the cart and just collapsed underneath the crossbar. We quickly removed the cart from her and tried to comfort our sobbing daughter. Our family stood in heart ache and desperation not knowing quite what to do at this point. A man on a horse and a bunch of others appeared from out of the trees, took our handcart and pulled it the remainder of the hill. With grateful hearts our girls finished their duty. Our big sister along with many others ran down the hill to help the remaining women bring their families to the top of the hill. It was a sight that I will never forget, the women soaking wet with sweat, red faced and some including myself crying. After all were together again we continued on. Our boys a little more subdued at this point again stepped int the yoke. We traveled on quite sometime when the rain began. This is a journal entry from our big brother... " As we moved on again the heavens opened up and started to drop rain. We were all wet very quickly even with our rain gear. The lightning was close and spectacular to see. I was worried about it as we were now at the top of the ridge. As we pushed and pulled down the trail it became slick with mud and clay making it difficult to get traction. We were also slipping down hill and started to worry about the cart going to fast and losing control. We took several of the ropes from the front and ran them down the center of the cart to act as breaks. This worked very well. The rain stopped briefly allowing a large rainbow to appear, it was beautiful. Another sign that we would be OK. Our family stopped and said a prayer for our safety. We pushed and pulled through the elements for five hours. At one point the road was so muddy it was as if we were in a river watching the road run between our feet. The mud we stepped in made our feet sink up to our ankles, it was as if we had no feet at all. We were forced to turn our carts back and head down the long road which we had just traveled. I was exhausted and it was hard to stay positive. Heath and Skyler pulled all through the night, they were our oxen. I tried to spell Skyler for a time but quickly slipped in the mud and came down hard on the crossbar. It knocked my wind out...I climbed out of the yoke and Skyler jumped right back in. I had to sit in the mud for a few minutes to catch my breath again. The family did not wait, they let me catch when I could. One of the young women held the baby under her poncho all night, which must have been very difficult because none of us could keep our balance. I didn't hear any complaining as we walked in the darkness..We finally reached a meadow of standing water as we prepared to unpack our cart to crash for the night." Big brother, Vern Wolfly. That night was truly amazing! The last meal that was eaten was the oatmeal and an orange for breakfast. By this time it was ten at night, darkness, mud and rain everywhere with about ninety youth and we didn't hear any complaining. At one point we stood still for about a half an hour while it poured rain upon us. The road was so bad, the leaders had to figure out what to do with all of us. As we stood, we sang, talked and made the best of our situation. The meadow Vern referred to in his journal entry was completely under water, but the kids were so exhausted they quickly began unpacking the carts ready to camp in the wet mush. We were stopped by one of our leaders who told us to ditch our handcarts and start walking to the highway to keep warm (that was another two miles away) Trucks with trailers began loading up families as they walked. Two of my girls and I were the last ones on the truck. One girl that held our baby and the other just couldn't go very fast anymore...being the last ones meant we walked the whole way in the darkness to the road.. Several miles away was an old gutted farm house that we would end up staying for the night. Grateful to not be walking we arrived to three huge fires and a meal of warm chicken broth and a cold biscuit. The best meal ever! The next morning while loading up our handcarts it was discovered that our baby had died because of the storm. As the kids brought the shovel to the riverbank we sat in silence for a while One of my sweet boys had tears in his eyes and said..."I didn't think we were going to lose Reddick. Reddick our flour sack baby (5 lbs) was named after a real pioneer who was asked to help rescue the Martin and Willie handcart companies. After several weeks of searching for the companies many... 77 to be exact... turned back to Salt Lake Valley saying the missing companies must have already died. Reddick Allred was one of the men that had stayed his ground and promised he would die trying to save the saints. This is also noteworthy, Reddick had severe pleurisy and had journaled that his lungs were often on fire, but he could not turn his back on his people. Reddick was instrumental in saving the saints as he had a full supply wagon for them as they arrived. The saints cheered "Hurrah for the Bulldog" "Hurrah for staying your ground." So our baby was named after him. We called him the bulldog. I had no idea that it would have such an amazing impact on our kids. This is a journal entry from one of our girls.... "The women's pull was so hard, but we stayed going. We pulled and pushed our hardest, it was tiring. I pulled as much as I could until I fell. My family helped me, they didn't even know me. When I was fine enough I started to push again, I didn't give up. On the long rainy night I held the baby all through night. My arms were hurting and my legs were tired, but the baby reminded me of my brother so I couldn't let him go. I am so tired and hungry." Lyndsey Reynolds. As we buried Reddick we sang songs and talked about the plan of salvation, it was very emotional for all. It is a hard thing to imagine losing at least half of your family along the trail. Most of the men and boys due to the sacrifices they made with their food rations and physical labor. We finished packing our handcarts and pushed forward to the camp we were supposed to have reached the night before. It was an amazing thing that happened. Mike and I hung a ways behind our cart to see what our family would do. Each one of our children had a hand on that cart. No one tried to hurry, no one lagged behind. Those eleven kids learned a valuable lesson about life and family through that storm. Mike and I wept as we watch them. One of the girls turned around and saw us, she quickly slowed the cart down and waited for their Ma and Pa to catch up. We cooked a dutch oven breakfast....Eggs, potatoes, sausage and onions..truly yummy! We had fun games planned for the day, hatchet throwing, musket shooting, a log cutting competition...boy ma can saw!! Hair washing, taffy pulling. A well needed day of fun. That evening we had fun skits and awesome weather. On Friday day we had life skill games, seven in all that were absolutely amazing. The kids learned how to work together and that no one member of the family should be left behind. We did well with setting some records and for the not so well games the kids got down on themselves. They vowed to be better working together as a family. After each life skill game we sat in a circle and talked about parallels in life and the gospel. We are so grateful for the opportunity to be a "Ma" and "Pa" for our youth, Mike and I have grown together even more and have been humbled. We are a blessed people! Our modern day conveniences are heaven sent. The Lord knows each one of us individually! As we strengthen our families and work together for the cause of good many blessings will pour out upon us. I love the pioneers, I couldn't whole heartedly say that before...Now I can. What a magnificent people. What a life changing lesson. Our testimonies are strong,our out look on life a bit different! Thank-you...Thank-you pioneers.