My name is Riley Brown and I was able to go on Trek this year. I had a great time and it will be an experience that I will remember and cherish. I was in the Cook family and we represented the Oakiey pioneer family that where in the Martin Handcart Company. The main focus for our family was family prayer because the Oakiey family always had family prayer before they walked, ate and slept.
We tried to have family prayer in our family while on trek too. We prayed before we walked, ate and slept too. I enjoyed getting to know the other youth in my family and learned to work together to push and pull. One of the days our Ma was tired of walking, so we were able to pull her in the handcart while she rode in the handcart to rest for a while. I was so happy to be able to do this for her.
Each family was given a baby doll and blanket to carry with their families before we started. Our family named the baby Thomas, after the Oakiey’s baby. We all took turns holding the baby. The baby had to be carried and held by one of the family members. He couldn’t ride in the handcart and he had to sleep with someone at night. I took this job very seriously and took care of the baby for the second half of the first day. Then the next day just before lunch they stopped all of us and told our family that our baby died and we had to bury him. I was very sad, because I held and carried him most of the time. We had a funeral for our baby and my ma and pa let me keep Thomas’s blanket. It made me think of the pioneers and the trials they went through on the trail, as they had to bury loved ones in shallow graves.
I am grateful that the gospel teaches us we will see our loved ones again. I feel it probably gave the Pioneer saints strength to know this as well.
On Friday evening, we did square dancing. We got in groups of 8 people and then a couple in our stake, told us the different patterns to do. We did 3 different kinds of square dancing. I noticed that all of the youth were having a great time laughing, clapping and dancing together. It was fun.
I enjoyed being on trek and I learned so much, I felt the Spirit. I’m grateful that I may have the opportunity to go again in four years and I can’t wait until then.
