In all living, have much fun and laughter.: trek ~ first night

We set up camp the first night in what felt like the middle of nowhere. We had walked and walked, in circles I am sure... in fact they tried to slow the kids down because they were moving much faster than was scheduled. We had a great group of kids who were ready to 'trek' so there were times of waiting just because they were ahead of schedule. But it all worked out great anyway and the first night was fun. We had to come up with skits from different stories from the Book of Mormon. We had the story of the stripling warriors. I am so NOT creative when it comes to things like that but the kids muddled through and we had fun. Then there was dutch oven dinner. We had to sing for our dinner. We sang Popcorn Popping On The Apricot Tree, complete with hand actions. It was worth the delicious dinner we got for our song!

Later that night the kids had a dance. They had to fill out dance cards. The girls in our family loved that 'pa' (Thayne) and Star (one of the 'sons' in our family) were dragging all of the boys in to fill out their dance cards. Only the best for Pa's daughters I guess! (haha) It was fun to watch them all have such a good time.

I had an experience that has really had a lasting impression on my heart. We had a boy that we weren't sure would show up for the trek. We were told his family was having a hard time and going through a bad divorce. The first time I saw him, he had my heart. There was something about him. He looked a lot like Thayne looked when he was younger, and reminded me of Tanner. There was also something, a look in his eyes, like maybe he was a little leery of others, or maybe he had been hurt. He didn't want to be around others in the beginning. But we just kept drawing him back into the group. As we set up camp, he quickly set the tarp up under the handcart, another tarp over it to keep the sun out, and he climbed under. I was able to sit by the wheel and talk to him, and soon Thayne told the girls to crawl under and get out of the sun. What is a boy to do when 5 pretty girls were blocking you in and drawing you into their conversation??? Well... he opened up and became part of the group of course!!! And they made him dance, and treated him like he had worth, and value to them. I saw something come into his eyes that had been missing. I am not sure what it was... maybe hope, maybe he felt loved, and accepted, or maybe he felt like he was not judge for his circumstances, but accepted just the way he was.

Later that night, during the dance, a man who goes to this boys ward asked how he was doing. I told him that in the beginning he was pretty shy, afraid to open up. Before I could say more, he said that it was probably more this boys fault that he doesn't open up to him and the others in their ym's group. I could hardly speak. He was blaming this boy's lack of participation on the boy himself. Not that just maybe this boy feels judged, and is hurting. I simply looked at him and told him that it didn't take much love at all for this boy to open up to our 'family'. I walked away nearly in tears. I wanted to wrap my arms around him as a mom and tell him he is loved, and cherished and that we will always be there for him! Thayne had shared with me that while he was growing up, he can't really remember anyone asking him to go to church with them, and he kind of stood on the outside, looking in and wanting the things that the Church could offer him. He said he went to youth conference once and at a testimony meeting he felt the Spirit so strong and that he held onto that and that he felt it when I asked him to come to church with me, and knew that he could have all of the things he had wanted when he was younger.... and that it came from feeling the Spirit when he went to Church and seeing that we could have everything he wanted. I told Thayne that I wanted this boy to feel the Spirit and to know that even if things were hard with his parents, or whatever else was hard in his life, that for that moment he was loved and accepted and that there is hope. I watched this boy open up, I watched the kids in our group accept him, listen to him, cheer him on and love him. I watched his face light up, his eyes light up... I watched him become part of the group. I still want to cry every time I see the pictures of this boy with some of the kids, with a big smile on his face. I will forever be grateful for that experience, more than any other. I was so proud of the kids who just accepted each other, loved each other and got along no matter what! It was such a wonderful experience... a cherished experience. I loved the kids, and I loved being able to work together with them!