Sunday, June 1, 2008

Ward Exodus...to the Promised Land!

Last Monday morning we woke up bright & early at 3:30 a.m. to get to the bus for the ride to the "Exodus". It took us 2 1/2 hrs. to get to Forest Lakes, where the handcarts awaited us. We unloaded our 5 gallon buckets, sleeping bags, & tents, and loaded them onto our handcarts...away we went. Kyle & I were the Ima and Abba (Ma & Pa) for our "family" of 9 kids. The picture at the top has Kyle pulling one of the carts with our three boys at the front and the girls pushing from behind. Our ward had 4 families, and there were a total of 350 kids that went on this trek from our stake. When the Bishop called us to do this, I thought, "how hard can it be, if teenagers can do it, so can I". But wow, it was soooooooo hard! We pulled & pushed a total of 15 miles (11 miles the first day, classes & activities the 2nd to give us a rest, & another 4 the last day). The carts were very heavy and we were on rocky terrain pretty much the entire time. The first night was freezing cold, at 30 degrees, but we survived:) Even though it was super tough, I loved getting to know all of the kids in our ward. I am amazed at how respectful, hard-working, fun, & inclusive these kids were. And all of the classes and lessons we had on Moses and the Bible were great, I learned so much. We had a lot of fun and this experience made us extremely grateful for running toilets, our bed, chairs, and best of all...a shower!! It was a wonderful three days & we were glad to be part of this experience with our kids.

4 comments:

Jill said...

I am glad you are alive! We did a minor treck of 5 miles and it almost killed me. It was a great experience though. Thanks for your post on my blog. I totally remember the trip to the pagent! I remember singing REALLY loud on the way home...sorry abou that. :-)

Seat Family said...

Wow! That is so neat. I love reading your updates. :-)

Olayan/DeGrey said...

You are such a trooper I can't even imagine! Looks like you had fun.

Anonymous said...

That sounds like so much fun! How many youth do you have in your ward? We only have 6 young women and about 12 young men, so I am waaay jealous. I love your stylin' exodus-wear, too!