Pioneer Day

For those of you who don't know, Jake and I teach primary in our ward. We teach the Valiant 9 class. Last week in sharing time they had everyone go outside on the lawn where they had some guest speakers. They had a couple in our ward dress up as pioneers to tell "their story" of how they crossed the plains.

They were brother and sister from Scotland. They came to America with their brother and parents. Their parents were sick so when they were crossing the plains mom and dad would take turns riding in the hand cart while the other was too weak to help pull/push so they would walk ahead until they couldn't go any further. So that left the 3 children to push the cart, hauling all their supplies plus one of their parents.

Anyway, so they made it to the Sweet Water River when it was freezing cold. They had burned all their extra clothes and blankets during the summer because they couldn't carry everything so they had a hard time staying warm. In order to cross the river their father walked through the river helping his wife and children get across. When he got out of the river his clothes were frozen in a matter of minutes. There were still other families that needed help so he went across to help other families. He ended up going across about 25-30 times helping others. He ended up dying that evening in a wagon trying to catch up to his family.

Apparently this couple in our ward related this story from one of their ancestors' journal. The rest of the family ended up making it to the Salt Lake Valley without losing anyone else.

I thought it was a really good story and made me think of all the pioneers that traveled over the plains with so many loved ones passing away along the journey. I'm in awe by the trials that they endured and the fact that they continued to have so much faith.

I'm glad that we celebrate the 24th in remembrance of them and settling this land.

So Jake and I celebrated the 24th by going boating with my brother Tye, Jake's brother Kelly and his family. We had a lot of fun.

Then later that night we went to the Spanish Fork rodeo with Jake's family. It was really fun. It was a very happy 24th and I was glad that both Jake and I could get work off and spend it together.