Category: Uncategorized

Elder Mason Arnold
Currently serving a mission in Denmark.
Part of his email home sent July 4, 2017:

I think from now on, I will answer a question for the bulk of my weekly email. Because this week I got a letter from my Ma from trek, she asked me to share my trek experience. I am going to do that. I also feel like I want to talk about testimonies and personal conversion.

Many of you know this story, but many of you don’t.

It begins back in February/March of 2016. That is when I told my mom that I wasn’t going on a mission. I would have told my dad, but I was too afraid. I told them that I had other plans and that I didn’t think that it was for me.

Then May rolls around. I was sitting in my priest class, one of the members of the stake presidency was in there with us, President Edgington. He told us that we had trek the last week of June that year. He asked how many of us were going. A couple of the boys raised their hands and said they were going, I was not one of them. I still remember him grabbing my shoulder and saying, “Mason is going, I know his dad!” I tried to play it off.

A couple weeks before trek roll around. My parents ask me if I am going. I tell them that I have a full time job and that I can’t miss work and I make as many excuses as I can to not go. Then it turns out that the week before trek some stuff goes wrong at work, and I end up quitting. I didn’t even remember that trek was that next week.

So I had no excuses to not go. I ended up going and having such an awesome time!!! It was one of the funnest weeks I have ever had.

On the last day of the trek we got letters from our parents and some personal time to go and read them and read the scriptures. To be honest I don’t really remember what my parents said other than they loved me. I was then sitting there with my journal open trying to think of what to write. What happened next is what I call my “Freight Train Moment”

That is the best way I can describe that feeling. I have never been hit that strong by the spirit. I was told so plainly and so powerfully that I needed to go on a mission and that I needed to prepare now.  I could almost hear the words out loud. It was the only thing I could think about for the rest of that day.

It is amazing to me that the one year anniversary of that event was a couple of days ago. Looking back on that event I ask myself, “How did I let myself fall away from the church and my Savior?”

There wasn’t a big event that caused me to fall away. It was me neglecting to do the small things. I stopped reading the scriptures every day, and eventually not at all. Same thing with prayer, I had stopped praying. IF YOU ARE NOT STRENGTHENING YOUR TESTIMONY EVERY SINGLE DAY, IT IS BECOMING WEAKER! That is how it is.

There is an amazing talk by President Uchtdorf titled Come, Join with us. It is really good! It says,

To those who have separated themselves from the Church, I say, my dear friends, there is yet a place for you here.

Come and add your talents, gifts, and energies to ours. We will all become better as a result.

Some might ask, “But what about my doubts?”

It’s natural to have questions—the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true.7

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.8 We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is dangerous for us to let our doubts creep in. And never let a brand new idea tear down years of foundation you have built in the gospel!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Shanel Murdock – Ma

During the women’s pull our cart was third in line from the front.  We started the pull with a huddle and cheer. We powered through and reached the top exhausted but full of adrenaline.  My “daughters” really carried me up those hills with their positivity, song and strength. They were amazing.  After we reached the top they turned right around and went back to help other carts.  I didn’t want to just stay up their by myself so I followed them back down the hill.  I helped another cart up the hill and then the thought came that I needed to find my real daughter, Wren.  She had been struggling with her knee and had been in a lot of pain and was nervous about the women’s pull.  I found her about half way down and their cart was stopped getting ready for another big hill.  Their family was refusing help from others but when I saw Wren she burst into tears and said she couldn’t do it anymore.  I told her I was here to help her, would stay by her side and I would help her push that cart up the hill.  We pushed together up those hills and when we reached the top we fell into each other’s arms hugging and sobbing. She had made it to the top and I was so proud of her for pushing through her pain and exhaustion and sticking with it.  Later that night at our family testimony meeting I shared that experience and likened it to our lives.  All of us will climb many mountains in our life and right there by our sides will be loved ones but more importantly our Savior, helping us along, cheering us on, waiting at the top to embrace us and tell us we made it.

Nate Murdock – Pa

It really was a positive and memorable experience for me. I felt like Shanel and I connected to our trek family and I think they had a favorable experience as well. On Wednesday, I was sick…my stomach was in knots and was hurting all day. This experience helped reinforce how hard it was for the actual pioneers. Physical ailments were part of the struggle…on top of everything else they had to overcome. This experience helped me to relate to my pioneer ancestor, Wee Granny Murdoch. She was 73 years old when she came across the planes. She died and was buried in Council Bluffs, Nebraska. Historically, that has been my “go to” pioneer story every July. Having been on trek and being “sick” (nothing more than an upset stomach), I gained a much greater appreciation of what they went through and what they were truly willing to sacrifice.

“Tell John I died with my face toward Zion.” -Mary Murray Murdoch (Wee Granny Murdoch)

Tara Lund – Ma

The night before the woman’s pull one of the girls came to me very concerned.  We prayed together. And the next day as we were preparing I felt a great love for her and love and gratitude for all the pioneers and their sacrifices. The other thing that I found amazing (and one of the boys in our family commented on it too) was our group started out as strangers and by the last night we felt like family. I am very thankful for how well they all worked together and helped out even when they were tired.

Laura Hubrich – Ma

I think that the testimony meeting we held was wonderful.  It really let the kids share their love and support for each other.  It was a little slow to start.  One of our kids mentioned that he gained a testimony of prayer as he overcame some concerns during the trek.  His testimony was simple and pure.  You could feel it as he spoke.  By the end of our meeting, some of the kids actually did a couple testimonies as they shared their thoughts and advise to the rest of our family.  It was great!

I think the women’s pull was wonderful.  It was an emotional day from the beginning.  I saw some of the other ma’s huddle with their daughters before they left and I did the same. We talked about accomplishing hard things and relying on the Lord, Heavenly Father and angels to help us.  I suggested thinking of people in their family that had passed on as they would be support to us as we pulled/pushed up the hill. One of my girls mentioned to me that helped her as she thought about a cousin that had previously died and could feel her there.

For me, I had a clear impression as we finished the last pull on the last part of the hill that it was similar to our climb into heaven.  As we went by the men, with their hats off in a humble and dedicated mode, we had to push and work to get to the top.  It was as if we were climbing to heaven, passing those that loved us, supported us and were waiting for us.  It was very powerful to me.  (These words do not really do justice to the feelings that were experienced on this climb)

It was difficult for the men to watch as we worked but they realized that they had to let us do it.  I know that was extremely testing for Ron to watch us suffer without jumping in.

Brett and Kimber Jones – Ma and Pa

We had Karoline Busche and Wren Murdock in our group.  Our handcart ran over Karoline’s foot coming out of the parking lot the first day.  She didn’t say anything about it until the first night.  She ended up in the medical tent and walked most of the rest of the trek with a boot and few complaints.  She did the entire Women’s pull with the boot.  Wren Murdock had a knee injury and also did the Women’s pull.  The girls in our family chose to sleep under the stars on the last night.  In the middle of the night, Brett instantly woke up from a deep sleep and heard Karoline, Wren, and Indai Edgar up talking about the pain and difficulties they had each experienced.  They were homesick and needed some comfort.  Brett was able to give them blessings which helped bring them peace in the morning and stamina to carry on until the end.  Their sacrifices were admired by the family and helped draw us together.  The boys in our family really rallied around the girls and it was a great experience to see the strength of the youth in our stake.

Jon and Allison Stromberg- Pa and Ma

Before we even started out on trek we had two of the kids in our family flat out tell us that the only reason they were there was because their parents had made them come.  We talked to them about how we couldn’t make them have a good experience, but that they would get out of trek what they were willing to put into it.  To their credit, those two kids went to work and were on that handcart the entire trip; most of the time in the hardest places.  We never heard any whining or complaining out of them, and in the end they told us that they had had a good experience and were glad they had come.  They also expressed how this experience helped them to gain a better perspective on what those early pioneer ancestors of theirs had gone through.  That’s one of the greatest things about trek, it helps youth to start thinking more about others than about themselves.  It also helps strengthen their testimonies, builds unity, and helps them to see that they are capable of doing hard things.  We feel that it is a valuable experience for them to have, and feel blessed that we have been able to be a part of so many; as youths ourselves, and as adult leaders.

Rebecca Findlay – Ma

I felt like everyone bonded well in our family. The women’s pull was amazing but really hard. I told the girls to have a relative or someone who has gone before in their mind as they worked hard to pull, then half way up the mountain we all felt as if spirits from beyond the veil that knew us personally helped us have enough strength to pull that heavy cart to the top! One of our Daughters, Meg Barlow, said “Did you feel the cart getting lighter just then?” We all agreed and felt extra strength and help. Later at testimony meeting most everyone shared their testimony about this and what they knew in their heart about the gospel and I think it was an awesome day and night.

Robyn Austin – Stake Young Women President

Many of the families gathered for prayer as they left their handcarts on the side of the trail just prior to the women’s pull.  I had the opportunity to help several handcarts up a steep part of the women’s pull.  As one family was struggling, a YW popped her head out from around the back of the cart and asked her Ma if they should stop for a prayer.  I was impressed with her faith to know Heavenly Father would strengthen them.   Another time as I was helping push a cart up a steep incline, just the Ma and I were pushing as all the YW had gone to the front to pull.  Something happened in the front of the cart and the Ma immediately went to see what had happened.  That left just me in the back to hold the cart as it came to a stop (on the hill). Even though I was trying with all my might to keep the cart from rolling backwards, I knew I was not strong enough to hold the cart by myself.  As I said a silent prayer, the cart stopped rolling and the pressure I had been feeling lessened.  I am sure there were unseen angels helping me.

Even though I spoke in church just a few months ago, I am thankful that I was asked to talk on a day when we remember the pioneers and the tremendous sacrifice that they have made for each one of us.

Years ago, Elder Ballard shared some thoughts about my great, great, great grandmother and pioneer Margaret McNeil Ballard.

In 1854 Margaret was baptized at the age of eight in a small town of Scotland.  Just two years later, Margaret and her family left Scotland and started for Utah. At just 10 years of age, from Liverpool to New York, she cooked for and took care of her seasick family.

During the journey across the plains their wagon was delayed by runaway oxen, Margaret was sent ahead to join the main part of the company with her four-year-old brother James who was strapped to her back.  For over a week Margaret carried and took care of her brother as they crossed the plains.

After the family was together again, Margaret was in charge of caring for the family cow. Each day, she would hurry the cow ahead of the company so it could eat in the grassy places along the way. Being alone much of the time, she wrote, “I had to get across the rivers the best I could. Our cow was a Jersey and had a long tail. When it was necessary to cross the rivers I would wind the end of the cow’s tail around my hand and swim across … with the cow.”

One night when she was looking for the cow, she felt something soft under her bare feet. She looked down and found that she was standing in a bed of snakes. “At the sight of them I became so weak I could scarcely move,” she wrote. “All I could think of was to pray, and in some way I jumped out of them.” Whether it was escaping from Indians or finding a lost animal, Margaret continually sought and acknowledged the Lord’s protecting care.

I am grateful for the sacrifice of all my ancestors that crossed the plains.  I would not be here today if it was not for them.

As you know, just a few weeks ago our stake went to trek. Trek is when your stake or ward go and pull handcarts across the plains for a certain amount of time. When you go to trek you are put into families who you work with to pull handcarts.  Trek was an amazing experience that I’ll never forget.

During the 4 days at Trek we walked around 30-35 miles in the planes of Wyoming. Even though this was a very short distance compared to the pioneers it was hard at times. We took a path that was often difficult and steep.

During our time as we trekked across the plains, we were blessed with amazing weather, mostly cloudy with a cooling breeze.

In our family we had 4 boys and 4 girls, a ma and a pa. Most of us hardly knew each other, but in the end we had all grown to be good friends as we served one another.

The ma and pa in our family knew a lot about the fundamentals of scouting and trek, without them we would have had no idea what we were doing. For sleeping we had sleeping bags, tarps, and the comfort or lack thereof as we had no mattresses and slept directly on the ground.

For eating well, that was a different story. For breakfasts we had breakfast surprise and breakfast burritos, for lunches we ate sandwiches, PB&Js, and an assortment of fruits and vegetables, and for dinner, pulled pork, Hawaiian haystacks, mystery meats, and the infamous trek stew.

I am pretty certain we ate better than the pioneers.

For activities we played many different games like limbo, capture the flag, and Frisbee with cow cakes. We also had a lot of dances and even played tulips on the prairie. Some of my friends from the ward and stake really, really enjoyed that game.

During our time on trek we were better able to relate to of what the pioneers did, we learned of the many sacrifices they had to make to get to Salt Lake. Many of us were in awe of what the pioneers did.

I know that this church is true. I believe that the pioneers were directed and blessed by God in so many ways as they crossed the plains. I know that Brigham Young was directed to trek across the plains to get to Utah where the church could grow and saints could find peace. I know the scriptures are true. I love this church and everything that we do and stand for. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Pioneer Trek Talk by Bridger Hall, 5^th Ward

The first thing I want to say about the pioneers’ journey is…. WOW! Just for the four days that we were on trek I got tired and I wanted to go home. The pioneers did it for months, and didn’t go back. One thing that amazed me about the journey is that when we were on the trail and it was hard to get up the hill I would look over ten feet and see all the sagebrush and bushes. I thought to myself. The pioneers didn’t have trails to walk on. They had to walk thru all of those bushes. That was amazing to think about because most pioneer families didn’t have all of their kids and parents on the trail for the whole journey. I’m sure that was hard for the families to not have as much help.

This brings up the topic of the women’s pull. When people ask what the hardest part of trek was I tell them. “The women’s pull” When they say, Why? I tell them that your emotions run wild and it was hard not to help. I wanted to help not only the woman in my family, but all of the women that had to get up that hill. To them it was two long miles of steep terrain they had to conquer by themselves. To me I just wanted to help them. It was like torture when they walked past. We were told that we had to stand on the sides of the path and not say a word. We also couldn’t help them. It was hard to think of the pioneer families that were coming across the plains that didn’t have men in the family.

Another not necessarily hard part of trek was on the trail and what we would say to each other. I remember talking about what we were doing when we got home or our plans for the rest of summer. But we also wondered what the pioneers talked about on trek. We figured out that they did not do 100 bottles of milk on the wall. After we finished that song we did not want to hear it again. So the pioneers definitely did not sing that everyday.

The best part of trek was probably the family time. I had a great family. My ma and pa were Gary and BreAnne Anderson from the 3^rd ward. They were way fun to be around. I couldn’t ask for better parents. My family was great I had three other brothers and four sisters. All of them were fun to be around in camp and on the trail. The family games we played were fun and involved everyone equally. It was a good bonding experience for me to meet other kids in our stake. Some games we played, as a family was, Frisbee golf with our bucket lids. That was way fun to play until we figured that there had to be lots of ticks in the bushes we were running thru. We thought about that. And just kept playing. As far as I know we only saw ticks and nobody in our family had one burrow. We also played a version of tag with another family. It was fun to play.

We also had many activities that we did in companies. We did the limbo, a Hawaiian relay race, a stick passing and throwing game, and then two lips on the prairie. And then there were the dances. They were actually better then when we went to the mutual activity to learn them. I think that during trek everyone had the mindset of trek and we could enjoy dancing more.

The things that I liked the most were, making up songs on the trail with one of my brothers and our pa.

Now before you freak out I want to say what I ate was not a full size grasshopper. It was a little smaller but it was still hard to catch. I also ran up a hill above our camp twice. I did it and came down. I was then asked if I wanted to go back up with a camera and take pictures of the camp that was below. I did it but I was tired after the second time. Running in pioneer clothes is a little bit more difficult than you might think.

The most spiritual thing on trek was the devotional and when we had our solo time. We had a couple of devotionals while on trek. They were very good talks and the Spirit was strong. On the solo time I felt the Spirit so strong. When I came home and my parents asked how it was, the first thing I said was “I have never felt the Spirit so strong.” in church and at the temple I have felt the Spirit witness to me. But when I was out in the wilderness reading the Book of Mormon and pondering what I read I felt the Spirit testify to me that it was true. I can’t even put how I felt into words. It was just an amazing feeling and my testimony on the Book of Mormon and on the pioneers was strengthened. Being able to go on trek was a great learning experience.

Pioneer Trek 2016

Earlier this month, I shared some photos from our Pioneer trek which my wife and I participated in with members of our community in celebration and recognition of the debt we owe to our pioneer ancestors.  Some of you wanted to know how such an event is organized and accomplished.  This post is in answer to that question.

The event Marguerite and I participated in included nearly 400 people trekking about 30 miles in 3 days by hand cart in the wide open wilderness on the border of Utah and Wyoming.  Hundreds of other similar treks are conducted every year all over the United States and other countries with virtually no media coverage of these very interesting and uplifting events. This account I am giving is taken from our personal experience, but is not unlike the accounts of others who have participated in these treks in their own communities.  Here is how it was done in our community:

You need to have a small community of around 500 families or so, all of whom want the best for their teen age children.  Then you need to find about 300 youth between the ages of 14 to 18 to be willing to go pull heavily loaded hand carts in whatever weather conditions nature provides on dusty roads, up and down hills, while wearing pioneer era clothing consisting of long clothing, big hats or sun bonnets and using NO personal electronics for the duration of the event.

You need to find some busy married couple (preferably young grandparents) who have other work, family and church responsibilities, to devote a year of their “spare time” to organize the whole project.  They put together a master plan based on a pattern from earlier similar events.  They set up a web site, put together an all-volunteer unpaid organization drawn from members of this small community to publicize and promote the event, provide for logistics, equipment, sanitation, medical and emergency services, food, cooking, fun, games, programs, fireside devotionals, mass transportation to and from the event site and a plan for keeping track of the massive volume of personal belongings as all these people pick up and move from place to place.

Next, you must find over 30 sufficiently healthy and fit married couples who are willing to leave their own families at home in the care of others while they miss several days of work so they can fill the roles of a “Ma and Pa”  to 8-10 teen agers whom they probably don’t even know. They must also be willing to devote considerable time, money and effort to attend pre-event training seminars and to buy or borrow a significant amount of equipment and supplies.

You must put these “families” together in such a way that they are a good balance of younger and older, male and female, large and small and then hope that they will endure living together in very close quarters for 3-4 days.  More than likely, these “brothers and sisters” have never met each other before or have only seen these new siblings at school or church occasionally.

You ask a well-seasoned and respected medical doctor and his wife to service all the “port-a-potties” and keep them stocked and clean with 400 people using them day and night; and they gladly accept the invitation! You find a successful business man and his wife who have their eldest daughter getting married that summer and have a humanitarian trip to Kenya already in their plans just a few weeks after this event to organize the food and cooking committee; and they accept the request! You ask trained and certified EMT’s and medical professionals to walk with the hand carts while carrying heavy back packs filled with first aid supplies to be on hand to provide first aid and to make crucial medical decisions with life and death consequences; and they accept the responsibility gladly without pay! You ask people in your small community to donate the use of their trucks, trailers and equipment and to load and unload them multiple times, day after day, in the heat of the summer sun; and they cheerfully accept the request! You ask for donated photography and videography services, expecting the volunteers to do it for free, but also to walk along with the trekkers while carrying their equipment under the hot sun and still not miss recording the events before and after each day’s trek. They not only enthusiastically accept this “once in a lifetime” offer, but kindly let a youthful trek participant who happens to be intrigued with all this special equipment join in the fun and help out!

All in all, you need 60 or so unpaid Ma’s and Pa’s and 40-50 additional unpaid support staff, most of whom have very busy lives and demanding occupations and family responsibilities to accept these “invitations”. They all gladly accept the challenges and responsibilities at their own expense. You expect and invite the ecclesiastical leaders of the community to come walk with the trekkers to show support and to provide their wisdom and experience to the effort; and you know before even asking that they will be there.

The community itself must be willing to offer sufficient donations and charitable offerings to cover the expense of food, transportation, sanitation, hand cart rental etc. so that there is no cost to the youth who wish to participate. They do this willingly even though most of them don’t have youth of this age in their own families.

You also rely on the good will and services of volunteer retired senior “missionary” couples who pay their own way to live “on site” at these trek venues.  The “calling” of these missionary couples is to build hand carts and to keep them in good repair and ready to go for many trekking groups all through the summer.  These “old people” plot out and mark multiple trek routes and trails though the wide open wilderness and choose favorable sites to set up camp.  They walk with the trekkers at the front to set a good pace and to offer wise and experienced advice. I walked with them and found them to be both remarkable and inspirational as we discussed their “mission.”

Now if all of this seems to be a little too overwhelming and miraculous or just plain impossible to accomplish on your own, there is a much easier way for you to let your children or youth participate in such an event.  Perhaps you think your community is not of the type I have just described.  Yet nearly everyone who lives in a community which includes a congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as Mormons) already lives in such a community and just doesn’t realize the advantages available to them because of it.  All you have to do is ask your local “Mormon” friends if you can just join them the next time they do an event like this. They won’t ask you to join their church first and they likely won’t ask for a financial contribution to cover related expenses, but they may ask you to be a part of the support staff and offer your skills and talents to the effort.  You will likely never get a better bargain!

The personal “high points” which I experienced by participating in this event are as follows:

#1  Participating in a modern day miracle and seeing it all come together with every person doing his or her part and unselfishly filling in any gaps in planning.

#2  Witnessing the joy and exuberance of over 300 youth playing “two lips on the prairie” (A long standing traditional “contact sport” on our community’s treks) and kicking up a dust storm while doing the “boot skootin’ boogie” all together at the same time. (The senior missionary standing next to me asked me how they knew how to do that as he and his wife watched in amazement.  I replied “they don’t, but they’re sure having a lot of fun anyway!”)

#3  Watching in admiration and respect as the girls and women (including my own wife) pulled those heavily ladened hand carts all by themselves up a very long hill as the men and boys lining the way prayed for and even wept for their “sisters” and “mothers.” (This traditional trek component is meant to show that women, both past and present, have done and are doing many very hard things on their own out of necessity; and they deserve our admiration, respect and prayers.  Yes, we can and should help; but this event shows that they CAN DO IT ALONE if they must.)

#4  Getting to know and appreciate the talents and personalities of the wonderful members of our community whom we would not have otherwise had the pleasure of meeting and coming to love and know more intimately.

CONCLUSION:

The Fruit Heights Stake community 2016 trek was an example of modern day miracles which we as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have come to “take for granted” in our ward and stake congregations. To my knowledge, there is nothing like this anywhere in the world. It is a pure example of both the spirit and embodiment of the concept of “Zion,” which in our society means “The pure in heart” and that all are equal before God. It means “a community united in faith and love for each other.” My wife, Marguerite, and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to take an active part in this and to witness the miracle as it unfolded to our view!

Terry and Marguerite Stephens