Be thou an example of the believers...

Bryce and I were asked to be a Ma and Pa for our stake pioneer trek in June. It was a wonderful experience and we had a great time. Below is the group of kids who became our family for three days. What a great family! Each person in the family received a name of someone who actually crossed the plains and a story that told of their struggles and journey.

Don't we look awesome in our pioneer outfits?

Our son Brigham was in another family but we were able to still get lots of great pictures of him.

Preparing the handcart we would be pulling and pushing for the next three days. I should rephrase that, the handcart that the youth would be pulling and pushing. We weren't aloud to help as ma and pas.

We hiked four to five miles and then stopped for lunch. The weather was great. Usually in the St. George area we are experiencing 100 degree temperatures, but we were blessed to only have it in the 70's.

Out lunch was supposed to be meager I think, but we had tons to eat. Johnny cake (no one cared for this), homemade cookies, fruit, beef jerky, trail mix. In fact all three days of the trek we ate very well. I was hoping to lose five pounds but think I gained five instead. Thanks Martin and MaryNell. You guys did awesome.

Every family had a baby to take care of and a story to read about that babies experience on the trek. Our baby was Josephine Ephermine Wickland. We would find out the night before the trek was over if our baby survived.

After lunch we continued another mile or so where we were greeted by a member of the Mormon Battalion. We rested here for a little while then all the men of the group were gathered and taken away.

One of the girls were sitting on this scorpion during the battalion speech.

We hiked 8 miles the first day and set up camp in a beautiful meadow.

We met each morning as a group for a fireside. What a remarkable site, over 250 teenagers coming together sharing song and testimony. Day two - we had a morning devotional and then divided into groups of four. We played kickball, threw horseshoes, pounded nails into rings, stick pull, and played tug o war.

We were given three challenges. First, we had to walk barefoot for 1 mile. That was extremely hard. My feet are like a babies. The youth then had to carry someone on there back, and lastly the guys were given a peice of fruit and had to give that to someone else in the group to eat and they had to go without.

At the end of the second day the youth participated in some square dancing. They really kicked some dust up.

Saturday morning we gathered for a testimony meeting. It was inspiring to hear and feel of their strong spirits.

As we came into the Pinto valley I was overcome with much emotion to see 2-3 hundred people lining the road to welcome their youth back. It is an experience I will never forget.