The Trek Video!

Here it is!

The final trek video from the fireside Sunday night.

Feel free to download as desired.

Reach To Rescue: Trek 2014 from David Landeen on Vimeo.

Trek Reunion Fireside

Save the date and be excited!

Every member in the stake,

age 12 and up is invited.

Sunday, August 24th, 7:00 PM

At the Stake Center

in the Chapel.

Please feel free to share the video by email or social media

with anyone you want to invite!

Video can also be seen here or here

Photo Sharing!

Hi All!

First of all THANK YOU so much for all your hard work and dedication and everything  you did to help make our Trek a success.  J  It would not have been the same without you.  I am so overwhelmingly filled with joy over how well things went and over the amazing experience that was shared with all of you. 

I’ve created an online photo album where we can share and collaborate all the photos taken.  Brother Landeen (our trek historian) would love to see your photos as well, so he can begin putting together a video for our Trek Reunion fireside (more details to come on that, but look forward to sometime in August – likely the 24^th).

To view the album click this link or copy the following URL into your browser address bar: http://www.yogile.com/pioneertrek

IMPORTANT:  This photo album is password protected. To view it you need to enter the password.  Please email Sister McHood if you would like the password.

You may add your own photos to this album once you are logged on, or by sending an email to pioneertrek@yogile.com with the images attached to your email.  They will be automatically added to the album online. (The password needs to be put as the subject line of the email) 

Let me know if you have any questions or problems uploading. 

I can’t wait to see all of YOUR photos!

Sister McHood

Trek Thoughts

So, today’s thought, is not a pioneer story.  It is a speech given just last night by President Utchdorf in Ogden for their Pioneer Days Celebration.  It showed up in my news feed this morning, and I loved reading through it.

You can read the entire text of the talk here if you want, but here are some highlights that I particularly enjoyed:

In the life to come, I will be eager to meet with those legendary giants who gave so much to found these cities here in the valleys of the mountains. I think they will be pleased by our interest in them. I think they will be humbled by our admiration. But I also believe that they will be far more concerned not about what they did, but about what we did as a result of their sacrifice. 

I have a feeling they will be pleased far more by our performance than by applause, praise, or parades. They will want to know if we gained anything from the hard-won lessons they learned through tribulation and trial. They will want to know if their sacrifice and endurance made a difference to us and to our children…

As I think about our pioneer heritage, one of the most moving things that comes to mind is the song “Come, Come, Ye Saints.” Those who made that long journey often sang this hymn during their trek. They sang it at night as the campfire was fading, giving way to the darkness of night. When I think of the lyrics of that hymn and the context in which it was sung, it brings tears to my eyes. I am very much aware that all was not well with these Saints. All they had to do was to look around and see how it really was. They were plagued by sickness, heat, fatigue, cold, fear, hunger, pain, doubt, and even death. But in spite of having every reason to shout, “All is notwell,” they cultivated an attitude that we cannot help admiring today. They looked beyond their troubles to eternal blessings. They were grateful in their circumstances. I am in awe of those wonderful souls who, despite every evidence to the contrary, sang with all the conviction of their souls: “All is well.”

The pioneers looked out for one another. They cared for each other irrespective of their social, economic, or political background. Even when it slowed their progress, even when it caused inconvenience, even when it meant personal sacrifice and toil, they helped each other. In our goal-driven and partisan world, individual or party objectives can sometimes take precedence over taking care of fellowmen or strengthening the kingdom of God. In today’s society, reaching certain ideological goals can appear to be a measure of our worth. Setting and achieving goals can be a wonderful thing. But when success in reaching goals comes at the expense of disregarding, ignoring, or hurting others, the cost of that success may be too precious. The pioneers not only looked after those in their company, but they considered those who came after them—they planted crops for the wagon trains that followed to harvest, whoever those harvesters might be. They included people of all walks of life. They learned the practical benefits of helping others. It must have given them comfort to know that just as they reached out to others, when the time came that they needed help, others would reach out to them. In our day, it is easy to isolate ourselves, look only to our own desires, and discount the interests of others. The pioneers knew the strength of family and friends. And because they depended on each other they became strong.  Friends became family. They knew that becoming insulated and thinking primarily of themselves was a road that would lead to almost certain disaster. In our world, examples of self-interest and self-indulgence are so abundant. It is very easy to slip into that mindset. The pioneers serve as a good reminder of why we must break away from the temptation to isolate ourselves and, instead, reach out to help each other.  We must have compassion and love for one another.

When the pioneers sang “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” they voiced a third lesson: “But with joy wend your way.”…The pioneers, those wonderful souls who sacrificed so much, went without and hungered for even the most basic of necessities to survive. The pioneers understood something about happiness. They understood that happiness doesn’t come as a result of luck or accident. It most certainly doesn’t come from having all of our wishes come true. Happiness doesn’t come from external circumstance.  It comes from the inside—regardless of what is happening around us. If they were here with us today there is no doubt in my mind that they would tell us we can be gloriously happy even if our favorite TV show is cancelled, traffic comes to a crawl, the rain spoils our picnic, or the fast food worker forgot to include straws or packets of ketchup at the drive-through window. I do not need to tell you stories of pioneer tribulations or the deprivations they faced. I do not need to tell you of how they went without food, how they suffered in sickness, endured heat and cold, and how they tearfully buried their loved ones in shallow graves. And yet, listen! Can you hear them? Can you hear their voices singing? “We’ll make the air with music ring, shout praises to our God and King.” Oh, what inspiration we can take from this. When we complain about a Church meeting that has gone four minutes over its allotted time, perhaps we can hear the voices of those blessed pioneers: “Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard? 'Tis not so; all is right.” When we cover our face with our hands and complain that someone else got the promotion, someone else got the part, someone else got the biggest slice of pizza, it might be helpful to remind ourselves that there is a difference between the profound and trivial….

The pioneers had their trials. We have ours. Some might say theirs were much more difficult than ours, but I am not so certain. We sometimes look back on what the pioneers had to endure and with a sigh of relief say, “Thank goodness I didn’t live in that time. I couldn’t have survived.” But I wonder if those courageous pioneers, had they been able to see us today, might not have voiced the very same concern. Of course times and circumstances are different today. They had their challenges—we have ours. They had their successes—we have ours. But as the circumstances may have changed, the principles for respectfully and successfully living together as a caring and prospering community under God have not changed. They remain the same…  From the pioneers we can learn to have faith and trust in God; we can learn to be compassionate to others; we can learn that work and industry not only bless us temporally but spiritually and that happiness is available to us no matter our circumstances.

In the end, the best way we can honor the pioneers—the best way for us to repay our debt of gratitude to them—…is by incorporating into our own lives the faithfulness to God’s commandments, the compassion and love for our fellowmen, the industry, optimism, and joy the pioneers demonstrated so well in their own lives. As we do so, we can reach across the decades of time and take the hands of those noble pioneers in ours. We can add our own voices to theirs as we sing with them the great pioneer anthem and “make the air with music ring, shout praises to our God and King; above the rest these words we’ll tell—all is well!  All is well!”

 Can't wait to see you all bright and early Thursday morning dressed in your pioneer best!

Love, 

Sister McHood

Pioneer Stories - Ole Madsen

The Madsen family lived in Tornved, Sjælland, Denmark, where Ole was a farmer. They joined the Church in 1853. Church meetings were often held in their home, and in 1854 the Vig Branch was organized there.
Family members were persecuted after their baptism. Christena recalled: "The missionaries held meetings in our home while a mob raged outside throwing eggs at the windows, and we children were not allowed to go to school because we were Mormons, so we did not get the education we should."  For three years, Ole Madsen served the Church in his Aaronic Priesthood offices. He was ordained an elder in March 1856, just before the family left for Copenhagen, where they joined with other Saints who were journeying to Zion.
Ole Madsen paid in full the passage for his family. He also paid most of the passage for 60-year-old Kirsten Knudsen and a smaller amount for an unknown person.  On April 23 the Madsens boarded the steamship Rhoda with 156 other emigrating Saints from the Scandinavian Mission. 
After a long voyage to Liverpool, and then on board the Thornton to America the company arrived at the campground in Iowa City, where Ole helped build handcarts and Ane helped sew tents. The Danish Saints had five tents, with 19 or 20 people in each one. The Madsen family was assigned to share a tent with the Jens Nielson, Peter Larsen, and Rasmus P. Hansen families from Denmark and 60-year-old Lars Wandelin, a watchmaker from Sweden. Ten-year-old Ane Marie Madsen now had two girls her age to play with on the trip: Bodil Mortensen (with the Nielson family) and Sophie Larsen. Five-year-old Anders Madsen had Niels Nielson with whom to share adventures.
By October 23 the Madsen family had arrived in Wyoming. For more than two weeks, they had endured a shortage of food, and for five days they had endured winter storms. A handful of rescuers had arrived two days earlier. Ole Madsen’s wife and children needed his strength more than ever, and Ole did not let them down. Through the blizzard and across Rocky Ridge, Ole helped and protected his family. He carried them across the streams so they would not be wet. Hannah recalled seeing “their exhausted and sick father pushing a handcart with his young son Anders strapped on top.” The Willie company journal tersely recorded, “Crossed several creeks on the road. Several men were near frozen through the day.” By the time the Madsen family reached the camp at Rock Creek Hollow, Ole’s boots were frozen to his legs. Hannah described how her father lay down, wrapped himself in a blanket, and died during the night. The next morning, she said, “with the help of some of their friends, a shallow grave was scraped out in a wash to the side of the road.” Ole Madsen was buried in a common grave with 12 others who had died after crossing Rocky Ridge. Christena recalled the events of that tragic night: "Mother suffered a great deal, [and Father] pulled his handcart all day without having anything to eat. ... He pulled the cart all day, without food, cold and hungry. ... [He] went to bed and the next morning [he] was dead. ... That same night several others died, one [a] small girl 10 years old... They who died that night were [buried] with their boots or shoes on and covered. That night the wolves howled all night." Ten-year-old Ane Marie Madsen lost her father and her friend Bodil that day. She recalled that the women and men were crying, but the children did not cry “because they received a larger portion of food that morning, as parents could not eat all of it. ... It consisted of a small scone about the size of the palm of your hand.” Christena remembered her mother’s gnawing hunger: “[The rescuers] baked flap jacks, as they called them. Sometimes they would burn them [and] throw them away. Mother would pick them up, take them into the bushes, and eat them, she was so hungry.”
With the help of the rescuers, Ane Madsen and her daughters and young son continued their journey another nine days before they met enough rescue wagons at Fort Bridger that they could ride the final 113 miles to Salt Lake City. Christena Madsen’s daughter recorded: "They pulled and pushed the handcart, until their hands were so cold and fingers so crooked they never again came back into shape. ... They arrived in Salt Lake City ... homeless, penniless, [able] to speak only in Danish, but they acknowledged the hand of God in their deliverance. They had left all that was near and dear to them to come to Zion to live the gospel of Jesus Christ [and] be in fellowship with Christ the Lord."
I love Ole Madsen's example of sacrifice.  I love that he carried his wife and children across the river to spare them from the cold, but ended up dying himself.  It is the ultimate story of rescue in the sense that he gave his life for those he loved.
Have a great week!
Sister McHood

Pioneer Stories - Charlotte & Betsy Mee

Charlotte and Betsy Mee.  

Charlotte Mee, age 20, and Betsy Mee, age 14, traveled to Zion with the Martin Handcart Company. They were headed for Nephi, Utah, where their married sister, Sarah Mee Wright, had immigrated previously. The girls’ father had died in 1845 and their mother in 1848, so the girls had all worked very hard to accomplish their goals.

To complicate things, Charlotte had an accident in 1853 which left her crippled. Charlotte wrote: "When I was seventeen years old, I sprained or broke some of the ligaments in my ankle and the doctor said I must lose my leg, but I refused to have it amputated. I was forced to use crutches for nearly four years." The use of crutches, however, did not keep Charlotte from her commitment to travel over 1,300 miles to her promised land. Besides her crutches, she had to rely on the kindness of her sister, Betsy, as well as the others close to her in the company.

Charlotte wrote: "Part of the way I walked, and part of the way I was hauled in a wagon or handcart. One day I walked and crawled eight miles, and my knees finally bled. We had a very hard trip." Charlotte had surgery on her ankle shortly after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley. She used her crutches off and on throughout her life.

Charlotte and Betsy both lived long and honorable lives. Betsy had 10 children, six of whom preceded her in death. Her granddaughter wrote: "Grandmother told me stories and read to me . . . taught me nursery rhymes . . . My most unforgettable picture of my grandmother is seeing her sitting in her rocker at one end of the kitchen range, reading her Bible or Book of Mormon or knitting. She knit socks for all her grandchildren." (Leda Thompson Jensen) Betsy lived to be 80 years old.

Charlotte married twice and had only one child who died as a toddler. She wrote: "I have never regretted coming to Zion, even though my life has been one of hardship and trial." Charlotte lived to be 81 years old.

It's a short story about the two sisters, but I really think it is remarkable.  They were really just teenagers, no parents, making this incredible sacrifice to follow their faith and come to Zion.  It reminded me of something I read in "The Price We Paid", it said: "Although God sometimes intervenes and removes trials, whether caused by weather, natural disaster, illness, accident, bad decisions, or simply the natural course of mortality, such direct intervention seems to be the exception. Taking away all or even most of these problems would compromise the purposes of mortality, so people are often left to bear them. Nonetheless, that does not mean God is not hearing or helping. As he did with the handcart pioneers, if he does not deliver his children from adversity, he will strengthen their backs to bear it (see Mosiah 24:14–15; Alma 36:3, 27). He will also call and inspire other loving people to be instruments in his hands to minister to their relief (see Jacob 2:19; Mosiah 4:26; D&C 38:35).”

Have a great week!
Sister McHood

Pioneer Stories - Susannah Stone

Most people in the Willie company traveled with at least one other family member, and some traveled as large extended families. In contrast, Susannah Stone was the only member of her family to make the journey. Like Emily Hill, she studied the scriptures in her youth and yearned for more than her parents' church could provide. As she studied, she wished she could have lived in the days of apostles and prophets, not yet knowing that apostles and prophets were once again on the earth. When she was about 18, she learned of the Restoration and was baptized. "When I heard it preached, I hailed it with joy," she wrote.
After joining the Church in 1848, Susannah wanted to gather to Zion. "My parents, relatives, and friends did all in their power to keep me from coming to America," she wrote, "but I had the spirit of gathering and the Lord opened the way and I came to Utah in 1856 with a handcart company." Susannah was 25 when she left for Zion with the Willie Company.
During the trek she had felt miraculously sustained by the power of God. She later wrote:
"We traveled on, feeling that the Lord would protect his Saints, and so he did. Although we passed through many trying scenes, his protecting care was over us. . . ."I often think of the songs we sang to encourage us on our toilsome journey. It was hard to endure, but the Lord gave us strength and courage. . . ."We waded through the cold streams many times, but we murmured not, for our faith in God and our testimony of His work were supreme. And in the blizzards and falling snow we sat under our handcarts and sang, 'Come, come, ye Saints.'"
Throughout the journey, Susannah was also sustained by the fellowship of the Saints. She wrote:
"Only once did my courage fail. One cold, dreary afternoon, my feet having been frosted, I felt I could go no further, and withdrew from the company and sat down to await the end, being somewhat in a stupor. After a time I was aroused by a voice, which seemed as audible as anything could be, and which spoke to my very soul of the promises and blessings I had received, and which should surely be fulfilled and that I had a mission to perform in Zion. I received strength, and was filled with the Spirit of the Lord and arose and traveled on with a light heart. As I reached camp, I found a search party ready to go back to find me, dead or alive. I had no relatives, but many dear and devoted friends, and we did all we could to aid and encourage each other."
Susannah said that as the Willie company got close to the Salt Lake Valley, "we tried to make ourselves as presentable as we could to meet our friends. I had sold my little looking glass to the Indians for buffalo meat, so I borrowed one and I shall never forget how I looked." Susanna said that the journey had taken such a toll that some of her old friends did not recognize her.
Susannah met her future husband the day she arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Recalling this encounter, she wrote:
"Among others who came to meet their friends was a handsome young man, Thomas Lloyd, who had emigrated the previous year, 1855. . . . He had proved his integrity to his newly found faith by renouncing everything offered by a wealthy aunt who had raised him; his parents had died when he was but two years old, and he would have fallen heir to her fortune, but was cut off because he did not renounce Mormonism."
Thomas Lloyd and Susannah Stone were soon married. They settled in Farmington for several years and then moved to Wellsville. They had 10 sons and 4 daughters. "All of them [are] healthy and all members of the faith," Susannah wrote late in her life, "and this is a joy to me in my declining years."Reflecting on the handcart experience, Susannah Stone Lloyd felt that she had received more than adequate compensation for the difficulties she had to endure:
"I am thankful that I was counted worthy to be a pioneer and a handcart girl. It prepared me to endure hard times in my future life. I often think of the songs we sang to encourage us on our toilsome journey. It was hard to endure, but the Lord gave us strength and courage. . . ."My frosted feet gave me considerable trouble for many years, but this was forgotten in the contemplation of the great blessings the gospel had brought to me and mine."Susannah died in Logan in 1920 at 89 years of age.
Mary Ellen Smoot, a former Relief Society general president, said:
"Having sold her own mirror to an Indian for a piece of buffalo meat, [Susannah] had not spent much time looking at herself. [When she did,] she did not recognize her own image. She was a different person, both inside and out. Over the course of rocky ridges and extreme hardship came a deep conviction. Her faith had been tried, and her conversion was concrete. She had been refined in ways that the very best mirror could not reflect. Susannah had prayed for strength and found it—deep within her soul. This is the kind of inner strength I would like to talk about. How do you and I become so converted to the truth, so full of faith, so dependent on God that we are able to meet trials and even be strengthened by them? It does not take much living to find out that life almost never turns out the way you planned it. Adversity and affliction come to everyone. Do you know anyone who would not like to change something about themselves or their circumstances? And yet I am sure you know many who go forward with faith. You are drawn to those people, inspired by them, and even strengthened by their examples."

Have a great week!
Sister McHood