The Trek

Sean went on "The Trek" last summer before we moved to Texas.  This was a super activity by the Bozeman Stake.  They took the youth down to Wyoming to trace the steps of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies.  The kids prepared almost a year for it.  They had to wear pioneer clothing, they only could take 10 pounds of supplies in a bucket, they walked for a member of the handcart company and also for an ancestor.  Sean walked for his great great grandmother, Mary Larsen, who immigrated from Denmark and walked this trail to the Salt Lake Valley.  He also represented one of the "Valley Boys" that came and rescued the company in the winter and walked them across the cold icy river.  It was a once in a lifetime experience. 

When Sean was in Montana last week, he got a copy of a DVD movie, documenting the trip, and a CD of pictures.  Here are a few of the pictures from the CD:

Hard to see Sean, but he is in the river just on the other side.  He has on a dark hat, right in front of the girl in the pink dress.  Pulling his handcard across the river.

They reinacted the rescue where 4 boys from the Salt Lake Valley came as part of the rescue party and carried the handcarters across the frozen icy river.  The boys that did this act had health problems the rest of their life.  And Brigham Young said that act alone ensured them a place in the Celestial Kingdom.  Here is Sean walking a couple of kids across the Sweetwater River.  (This area is also where my great great great great grandmother died, being sick on the journey to the Salt Lake Valley. -  she is buried in an unmarked grave near the crossing of the Sweetwater.  This is sacred ground to me.  And over 150 years later, Abigail Shaffer Woolsey's great great great great great grandson is there crossing the Sweetwater, something she wasn't able to do).

Here are the 4 boys that reinacted the crossing resuce team.  Sean is second from left.  His buddy, Sant, is on the left and had to cover up since he had a bad reaction to some medication he was taking and burned in the 100 degree heat.

Here is a group of kids and leaders from the Livingston Ward.  Sean is right in the middle.  (Did pioneers have sunglasses?)  It was a hard three day trip, but Sean made it over Rocky Ridge.  He is a tough kid.  He will be able to get over a lot of "rocky ridges" in his life.