Finally got our pictures downloaded from Exodus so hopefully, I can figure out how to include them in the newsletter.
July was a BUSY month with lots of visits and of course, Exodus. We started the month with a visit from Claire and Calvin. They stayed two nights and it was fun to visit. They spent most of their time loving up the grandkids! Isn't that awesome!!! The next visit came from Cottrell's who came down after their Yellowstone trip. They likewise stayed two nights. We're so glad to have room for family to come visit! Linda and I yakked nonstop and worked on a cute 'yellow ruler' table runner. That night we went to Spicy Thai: a favorite restaurant with Cottrell's and then they treated us to a wonderful play at the Hale Theatre: Crazy For You! It was hilarious and so fun to share with Cottrell's! Thanks again, Guys!! Another fun visit! They left Tues morning and then we finished getting ready for Exodus. We had to be packed up that night so we ran to the stake center with our buckets and bags and crossed our fingers!
We met the next morning at 8:30 with the Blue Team. They staggered the teams to prevent too much crowding on the mountain at one time. Our kids were excited when I gave them each their Moroni pins to wear. Moroni ended up being a bit of our hero all week since he was on our flag and when we got up to the top, 10,500 feet up Ephraim Canyon, we learned that Moroni had walked this area and dedicated the site for the Manti temple. Cool! This Exodus was not considered a Trek. This was not to remind us of the Pioneers. Instead, Exodus was more of a spiritual experience to encourage the kids (and adults) to leave behind things that would thwart our efforts in getting to Zion or our Promised Land. So that was the mindset as we set off. We gathered for lunch and some words of counsel and then we were off!
We had about 26 miles to walk and surprisingly, some was still uphill and we had overachieving kids in our family who wanted to run and get there quickly! Have mercy!!! We had just left the temps in the 90's but up on top, it was actually chilly. Along the trail, they encouraged us to have teaching moments. They had themes for each day: What do I believe, What do I desire, What will I do, and My Journey to Zion. They had different topics they suggested for us to teach so occasionally, we'd pull off the trail and have a few moments for teaching and then of course, some tossing of the football.
When we got to camp, we all set up our tents and had some much needed down time to rest and relax. This is a view of our campsite from up a hill where we later had a 'hoedown'.
Luckily, they had a 'food committee' so we didn't have to deal with cooking our own food. I think there was actually a guy who did catering who was in our stake and you could tell from the menu. Wed nite was bacon-wrapped turkey slices with blueberry pomegranate sauce, spinach salad with a warm bacon dressing and fresh green beans for 600+ people! And it was so organized. we never had to wait long in line! Amazing!
This shows the trail we hiked up after dinner for the hoedown. (Check out the people on the bottom to get an idea of how steep it was.)
Each day, while on the trail, they encouraged the kids to find a rock that could be placed as an Ebenezer stone. When the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, much like when they crossed the Red Sea, the tribes of Israel picked up a stone in remembrance of what the Lord had done for them. It became an altar. Later, Samuel placed a large stone which he named Ebenezer after the Children of Israel recommitted themselves to following God's commandments. Ebenezer means, stone of help, so when they looked on it, hopefully, they would remember how the Lord had helped them. (You've heard the song, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing? The 2nd verse says, Here I raise my Ebenezer, Hither by thy help I'm come. This made so much sense after learning about the Ebenezer and quickly became the theme song for Exodus.) So each day, we did something similar. The boys got a little carried away and found the biggest rocks they could find. I assume they wanted to show their bulging muscles to the young women as they carried it to the spot for our Ebenezer. Each rock was to represent whatever the theme was each day. So Day 1 was 'What do I believe?" and that rock was to represent that.
After the hoedown, each ward met with the stake presidency for a special gift. We were given time each night for "Time with the Lord' where we were to go off by ourselves, write in our journals, read scriptures, ponder, pray, etc., for about 30 minutes. During this time, we read our letters from the stake presidency and discovered the "gift." The first was a glow in the dark rock which we were to remember the story of the Brother of Jared and how the Lord provided for his needs and will likewise provide for ours. Afterward, we met briefly with the kids for our final teaching moment of the day and family prayer. I had some bracelets made up for our family which said, Doubt not, but be believing, which is a quote by Moroni. (See why he became our hero!!!) We were to wear them thru out Exodus.
I found out the next morning that none of the "Ma's" slept much. Why? The Women's Pull was first thing after breakfast and we were all nervous. We could see the hill and it was steep. Wish I had a good picture to show but trust me when I say, it was very steep, rocky and a bit gravely in some spots which would make it slick. Here is a picture before the Women's Pull. Not sure why I was smiling! The boys pulled it to the starting point.
I don't have good pictures of us pulling/pushing the handcart up the trail but trust me, it was hard. Apparently, the Women's Pull is traditional at all Treks and ours was no exception. It was originally to remind us of the women who had to pull handcarts alone when their husbands were called off to the Mormon Battalion. But again, this was not a Trek so instead of focusing on the pioneer women who pushed and pulled, the Bishops each read a letter to the girls in their wards about the mountains they might face in life and to help them learn that they were stronger than they thot. It made me cry! My family was first: Surprise! So up we went. The boys lined the trail and sang, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, but could not touch the handcart to offer help. I was on the back with one little gal and we started off. Jess walked beside us for safety reasons but couldn't touch unless needed. One of our girls slipped and fell at one point and the handcart bounced backward. I shoved it as hard as I could till we got settled: up over rocks, over slick gravel and a couple steep steep hills. At one point, I didn't think I could go another step. I couldn't breathe! But amazingly, having the guys sing really bolstered our efforts. It was wonderful to reach the top and then cheer on the girls behind us! This is a picture of another group so you can see the trail we climbed.
And this is a picture of us afterward. Whew! Glad that was over!!!
And we had just started the day! Today was the longest hike: 7+ miles apparently. So off we went: still more uphill. AUGH! Because we were way up on top, we could see the storm clouds gathering. Good thing because then it started to pour. Good thing for ponchos! (Except Cole on the left. He was our Mountain Man! He didn't bring a jacket or a sleeping bag, just 2 blankets. He slept outside each night and loved every minute of it. We was as strong as an ox and we affectionately nicknamed him, The Beast!
We finally started to go downhill and my lungs were ever so grateful! Of course, the kids still wanted to go fast so we passed a few groups and got into camp early. (I made arrangements the next day to make sure we were in the back and a new rule: no passing! Yay for me! The kids were bummed!)
Because we got in early, we still had a few hours till dinner. We had time to set up tents and then the neatest thing happened. Two of our kids in our family brought instruments: a banjo and a violin. (They'd packed them in trailers so they were protected from the weather.) Just the two of them started picking our the tune to, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, and before long, tons of people were gathering. Other instruments were brought over and it was a regular jam session. Awesome!
Day 3 was the shortest hike but the most difficult apparently. We started off after breakfast and the trail was much rockier. It was a slower pace which suited me just fine! We found a little spot to have lunch and then as soon as we were finishing, it started to sprinkle. We all put on our ponchos, except Cole, of course, and headed out for the spot we heard was treacherous. Then it really started to rain and the trail turned muddy because of those who were ahead of us. We actually, were the last team this day. I don't have pix of us specifically coming down the trails but I'll post some others. Suffice it to say, it was very treacherous. We had the rain, lightning and thunder! It was awesome! Ha! The only thing missing was some background music of the Mormon Tab singing, Come, Come Ye Saints, ala` the movie, Legacy, when they were sloshing thru the mud! We had tied ropes to the back of the handcart to use as brakes. Jess was on the back, heels dug into the mud, slipping and sliding down the hill trying to keep the handcart from plunging down the hill or into the streams we had to cross. At one point, they made us tie ropes to trees to control our descent. I wish I had a picture of our shoes! I think I grew 4 inches!!! Here are some pix of the trail:
These girls on the front ended up falling but I won't show that picture!
When we finally made it to our campsite, it was still raining. All the other tents were already up but we had to wait so we crowded under an awning.
We were able to rest a bit when the rain stopped. We quickly gathered our things and set up the tent with just enough time before it started to rain again. Dinner wasn't quite ready so Jess and I just tried to relax and dry off in our tent while listening to the rain. It was awesome! The rain stopped and we waited for the horn for dinner. We were Blue Company and #6 for the day so we knew dinner would be later but for some reason, the stake pres drove around on the ATV gathering people up for dinner. That seemed odd since we hadn't done meals like that before but we gathered along with 600+ others for dinner. Then they started to blow the horns again. What's up with that, I'm sure I thot until I turned around to the mountains we'd just climbed down and saw a beautiful double rainbow. We wouldn't have seen it if we hadn't all been gathered together like that. I thot it topped off the day perfectly and I whispered a quiet, "I noticed", to the Lord! You can't really see the double rainbow in this picture but it was beautiful!
Day 4 was the last day. Lots of us gathered for pix:
Here are our ward's Ma's and Pa's:
Today was our last day so we headed down the mountain trail. Today was quite easy in comparison. No rocky trails, no rutted Jeep tracks. But it was hot!!! Half way down, they passed out Otter Pops and nothing ever tasted so good to my parched mouth!
We finished up at a stake center in Manti. There we had lunch and then they gave each of us white shirts to change into which was glorious since we'd been wearing the same blue shirt since Wednesday! (Part of the experience!)
And that's Exodus!
But no, the visits didn't stop! We absolutely crashed on Saturday but felt better by Sunday. Sally and Sam arrived after Church and we had another fun family visit. We went with them to Brick Oven Monday nite and then they treated us to the Rodeo! Our favorite part was the Mutton Bustin'. They took 5-7 year olds and put them on the backs of Sheep and off they'd go. The top scorers held on longest because they went on backwards and wrapped their arms around the sheep's back quarters and their legs around their necks. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen! But I'd never let my kids do that!!! The next day was Pioneer Day and Sam grilled the most moist-fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs I've ever tasted! Wow! Delish! We even did a few fireworks for the kids and Luke and Sophie had a ball! Uncle Bryce is so much fun to play with! Sally and Sam ended up staying till Sat and Loran came up on Fri because Uncle Ernal passed away. It was his house that we stayed in for a year while our house was being built which we affectionately called, The Dungeon. It was awesome to see the military funeral after the service. Luke jumped during the 21-gun salute but loved it! Ernal was one of the last Pearl Harbor Survivors so it's sad to see an era pass. We love you, Ernal!
And that's July!
Jess and Annette
