To be a Pioneer

Hi, I'm Kinsey. My mom is the writer of this blog. She wanted me to write about my experiences on a Pioneer Trek I went on. Pioneer Trek is when a large group of the youth in a stake gets together and sees what it was like for the pioneers to go from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. We didn't go that far, only 25 miles, well actually that is a long way, but not as long as the pioneers. We walked for two and a half days pulling handcarts and dressed up as pioneers (I had to wear a long sleeve/ankle length dress with an apron, pantaloons, and a bonnet.) There were about 15 families on the trek. There was a Ma, Pa, Aunt, Uncle, five boys, and five girls. My family was the McBride family from either Scotland or Ireland. At night we slept under the stars, we usually went to bed at about one or two in the morning and woke up at six. I didn't like the food until the last day (but others said it was the best food they had ever tasted, maybe I am just really picky.)In each family there would be four awards to give to family members that had shown what that award symbolized. The awards were for Unity, Service, Spirituality, and Authenticity. I got spirituality for reading my Book of Mormon and writing in my journal every night. My big brother got service for carrying people that didn't want to get wet across the river. The unity award was for working hard to get the family to work together and to enjoy each others company. And the Authenticity award was for acting the most like a pioneer and trying hard to understand what it was like to be a pioneer. On the second night of the trek we had a hoe down. Earlier that day Bishop Roberts (he was in charge of planning and putting Trek together) announced some people whom had died that day on the Trek (I was one of them) he called out our names, we went up and "walked through the veil." I found out that they just needed a person from each family to help set up for the hoedown. When we were done we were resurrected and went back to our families. They were happy to see me....At the hoedown, the big brothers and sisters taught everyone else how to square dance. There was also some really, really good homemade root beer.