Trek Kick-Off Activity

Saturday, May 11

10:00am - 12:00 noon

Stake Center

Pioneer Dress

Come with the name you want to walk for. We will be stamping this name on a bracelet to wear for Trek.

There will be a lot of fun activities and refreshments.

Activity #9

Read the words to Hymn #30

Read Doctrine and Covenants 59:1-4

What do the words "All is Well" mean? 

Write down your thoughts or share them with someone.

Come, Come, Ye Saints

            "A reporter from the Council Bluffs Bugle, located across the Missouri River from Florence, wrote with admiration about the Willie company as they started…toward Fort Laramie."  He writes:

            "Having seen several handcart trains pass through this city, and cross the ferries at Elk Horn and Loup Fork, we could not help but remark on the enthusiasm which animated all classes and ages…

            It may seem, to some, that these people endure great hardships in traveling hundreds of miles on foot, drawing arts behind them.  This is a mistake, for many informed me that after the first three days' travel, it requires little effort for two or three men or women to drag the light handcart….It is also a fact that they can travel farther in a day, and with less fatigue, than the ox trains…

            This is enthusiasm- this is heroism indeed.  Though we cannot coincide with them in their belief, it is impossible to restrain our admiration of their self-sacrificing devotion to the principles of their faith."

"John Chislett also recalled the good spirits as the Willie company left Florence. "We moved gaily forward full of hope and faith. At our camp each evening could be heard songs of joy and merry peals of laughter(concerning) our conditions and prospects." The Price We Paid, pgs. 86-87

"We did all we could do to aid and encourage each other. In the  blizzards and falling snow, we sat under our handcarts and sang, Come, Come Ye Saints...The Lord gave us strength and courage."

-Stone-Willie Company

Activity #8

"Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven"

From the very beginning of the church the members have sacrificed and done all they could do to help those in need. This practice continues today. Christlike service is shown in much of what we do as members of the church. The Humanitarian efforts are a large scale example of this. But it is also exhibited in the smaller day to day effort of the members. From taking a meal to someone in need by the sisters, to the young men taking the sacrament to those who are sick, raking leaves or snow, or babysitting without pay so that a couple may attend the temple. These are the simple acts of Service that show "the priesthood and the people of Mormonism...at their compassionate service best."

This week as you prepare for Trek, take some extra time to give Christlike service to someone in need.

Story #8

In issuing the call to rescue, Brigham Young must have wondered how much more he could ask the Saints to sacrifice. They had just endured two years of drought and famine. Although the harvest of 1856 was better, resources were still scarce. To help ensure survival for another year, every hand was needed to prepare for winter and plant wheat for the next season. LeRoy and Ann Hafen described this circumstance—and the Saints' response in spite of it:

 "Only nine years removed from the stark desert it had settled upon with empty wagons and bare hands, the Mormon community was not yet one of surpluses. But the religious and human tie that bound the Saints in the Valley to those who soon might be freezing and starving on the Plains transcended the instinct for personal safety. Families of moderate means and the poorest individuals contributed from their meager stores. One lent a horse, one a wagon, one a tent; another, two bales of hay and a sack of barley. Some gave iron camp kettles, dutch ovens, brass buckets, tin cups and plates. Women darned socks and shawls; patched underwear, trousers, and dresses; faced quilts, sewed together pieces of blankets; and took clothes from their own backs. Families brought out from their scant cellars sacks of flour, sides of home cured bacon, bags of beans, dried corn, packages of sugar and rice."

From Wallace Stegner's perspective, the rescue effort would show "the priesthood and the people of Mormonism . . . at their compassionate and efficient best."

Activity #7

When we sit down to dinner every night this week and look out over the feast that has been prepared for us, let us keep in our hearts the struggles of not only the handcart pioneers but also that of the rescuers and the willingness they had to obey the council of a prophet of God without thought of their own safety, and like Dan, be able to become better by praying for the things in our lives we need and more importantly be grateful for all we have each been blessed with....Amen.

Dan Jones

Daniel Webster Jones enlisted with the Missouri volunteers in the war with Mexico in 1847. In 1850, he joined a group of men driving sheep through the Salt Lake Valley to California. After a near fatal accident, he was left by his group with a Mormon settlement near Utah Lake. He decided he liked the people and the things they believed and he was baptized on January 27, 1851.
Dan was present at General Conference in 1856 and volunteered to go out on the rescue of the handcart companies. They encountered the Willie handcart company first and found them in a condition that would stir the hardest hearts. They were starving and that morning they buried 9 bodies that passed away during the night. After finding the other companies and finding it difficult to travel with their belongings, Dan was chosen to stay behind with two other men and guard and watch over the emigrants items until they could return in the spring and get them. They were left with little rations at Devil's Gate. At one time in their hardships, they had nothing to eat but cattle hides. Dan prayed to know how to prepare the raw hides to make them edible. Finally, he was impressed how to fix the hides and he and his company prayed and gave thanks for the meal. They lived on the raw hide for about 6 weeks.
Dan was a man of faith that loved his God and was willing to go out on the Lord's errand and aid in the rescue.  When called upon to stay behind, he did not murmur and fulfilled his duty. He stayed faithful the entire time and his testimony grew with many chances to pray for answers to their prayers.