Preparing for Trek

The past few months have been spent preparing to lead our stake youth on a Youth Conference Trek experience at the Willie and Martin's Cove areas in Wyoming.  There have been many faith building experiences associated with the planning of the event and the firesides, etc. but today I read something that has put me to pondering my efforts.  Once in awhile when I've been gone from home on a long day of meetings or have my family room full of items to be sorted and sewn, I have whined a little bit.  Or my children have.  Today, however, I read about the efforts of missionaries who had been gone for years by 1856 and rather than just focus on their desires to be reunited with their families and get home as soon as possible, they accepted assignments to go ahead of the handcart companies to prepare the way for them.

This included such things as finding adequate property to camp 500 or more people at a time, order handcarts and tents to be made, buy cattle and oxen sufficient for the supply wagons, order tons of flour and other food for the handcart pioneers, charter ships for their transport from England, and many other unsung efforts.  It would be months of preparation without the convenience of regular communication or ease of travel.  One man traveled back and forth between Iowa City and Florence, Nebraska (over 200 miles) numerous times in his efforts to find sufficient cattle.  Crazy.  Then when the last of the handcart companies moved out, they then were often assigned to assist one of those companies on their journey to Salt Lake City.  Some missionaries made it home to the Valley only to turn around and head back out when Brigham Young issued the call for rescuers for the Willie and Martin companies.

The sacrifices made by these "preparers" inspires me to be more diligent.  The sacrifices made by their families inspires me to not feel so guilty if I'm gone more than my children would like. We all will learn something from the experience.