The leaders gave brown bandanas to each of our little family group. We knew 2 of the youth assigned to us, one was in my seminary Bible study class last year, the other, our bishop's daughter. Imagine walking, eating, sleeping, playing games, singing, sharing personal stories, encouraging, complementing, serving complete strangers for 52 hours and think of how close you can become in that short amount of time. No longer strangers, but family.
John and I after a particularly hard pull up a mountain, without each other...
John pulling next to our new-to-us-forever-in-our-hearts sons!
Me on far, far left, encouraging my family and trying to not gasp in fear as they negotiated boulders in the path. PA has ROCKS! Big rocks. And we went up and over them.
And through water & mud. Sam in center, maroon shirt. Cheerful Suzanna below, on right. Sam and Suzu were assigned different families. Their Ma's and Pa's reported to us that they were hard working, helpful, good children on the trek.
Photo credit Tara Long and last one Donya Harvey.
It was emotional, physically hard, spiritually powerful. If you ever get the chance to participate in Trek, I hope you jump at the chance. It was amazing. Wonderful. Faith-growing. Life changing!
Our motto was "Murmur Not" with a comma after it. Each of our 5 sons and 4 daughters added a phrase with us Ma & Pa to "Murmur not, be cheerful, have fun, ignore pain, don't quit, be strong, be confident, be thankful, enjoy it, carry on, be faithful, and remember."
