This year for Youth Conference we went to Martin's Cove. I would have to say that our experience we had at Martin's Cove with our youth was defiantly the highlight of our summer. It was a very spiritual experience. All of us who went enjoyed every minute of it. Martin's Cove is a hallowed place and I think EVERYONE should experience it. I have heard many people say that it doesn't sound fun or appealing. I say, what a shame. It's place of learning, of peace, and a place where you can FEEL of God's love. I have never grown more love and respect for the pioneers and for the sacrifices they made. God loved them so much and granted unto them many miracles. I am so very thankful we as a ward were able to experience Martin's Cove. I think Sam and I came home physically exhausted. Not physically exhausted by pulling hand carts but from feeling the spirit so much. It was draining but WELL WORTH IT!
If you have contemplated on going or not, please go, you'll never have an experience so special as Martin's Cove. President Hinckley said: "Martin's Cove is hallowed ground, it's Wyoming's Temple." It truly is.
Sam and I when we arrived at the visitor center.
We were Ma and Pa's. This was our family we were in charge of. This picture is Sam and Cache pulling our belongings. All of our belongings were packed into 5 gallon buckets and we pulled them along with water everywhere we went.
Camille, Me, Rachel, and Wendy. The girls in our family. Aren't we strong and cute?
My friend Carrie and I, taking a Coke break. (I know you're thinking: the pioneers didn't have Coke Jen!) All the leaders brought their "sinners cooler", as Brother Kap would call it, full of Coke and Pepsi. So here's to our "sinners break"! CHEERS! :)
We were ALL exhausted the first day we got there. They had us scheduled for square dancing. Everyone complained but once we got there and got moving. EVERYONE HAD A BALL! In fact, we're planning on doing again as a ward it was so fun. Nothing like a good ho down. This is Sam getting ready to "take Jenna by the arm and give her a twirl"!
This is Michael, me, and the bishop circling. It was SO FUN!
Our big trek day to Martin's Cove. This is our ward heading out for Martin's Cove. Don't we look great?
Dan Jone's Cove. I think this is one of the most spiritual spots at Martin's Cove. As we entered the cove you could feel of it's holiness. All of the kids and leaders immediately took off their hats in reverence of it's sacredness. Many of our group, including myself, had our own spiritual experiences here. It's amazing to me all the things the Martin and Willie handcart companies suffered and how the Lord rescued many of them. I still can't believe how many of them survived in the conditions they were in.
Dillan and Sam, pulling Kory as we left Martin's Cove.
This is the River Crossing. The handcart companies crossed Sweetwater River many times. Many people lost their lives in doing so. When the Martin and Willie handcart companies crossed this river it was below freezing and chunks of ice were floating in it. This picture shows the Kap's crossing.
Many men carried their wives across. Also many boys carried everyone across. This is a reenactment of that. Sam and I are on the right side.
Women's pull. Many of the women had to pull the handcarts themselves because their husbands were called to serve in the war or they had past away. So we reenacted this too. All the men when to the top of the hill. There, Sam spoke to them on respecting women and they sung the Armies of Helemen. Us women stayed at the bottom and I spoke to the women about respecting the priesthood and we sang Sisters in Zion. Then we women got in our respected "families" and pulled our carts up this hill. The men lined the hill and had to watch us. They were not allowed to help. It was a very neat experience. It was VERY hard but we "pulled" together and did it. This is the women in our family; Wendy, Rachel, Jen, in front. Camille in the back pushing. We actually got stuck in a washout half way up. We stopped for a second counted, 123, and pushed our way out.
This is at Sweetwater River at the Veil Crossing right before we left: Abbey, Jen, Wendy, and Jolene.
We stopped at Independence Rock before we left Martin's Cove on our way home. This is where the Pioneers wanted to get to by July 4th when the crossed the plains. If they made it to this rock by July 4th, they could beat the bad weather before entering into the Salt Lake valley. I was actually shocked at how big Independence Rock is. All of the pioneers carved their names on this rock when they passed through. We climbed on top of this rock. It was really fun to see all the names. This is me and Sam.
We all ate lunch at Independence Rock after we saw the rock. This is Abbey, Carrie, and I eating.
This is Abbey, Carrie, and I having a good time drinking, the "sinners" drinks. :)
We had taco salad for lunch, this is Rachel and Camille smashing the chips and tossing the salad. The salad was in the garbage bag...YUMMY!
Conner, Kaitly, and Vanessa making breakfast...
LEADER'S RULE! We totally sabotaged the girls in the river. They were waiting for us to come down the river so they could soak us. Little did they know, we were all over that. We left our tubes at the top of the river and walked down to get them. We almost killed ourselves in the current on one occasion, but it made it more fun that way. We laughed our heads off about it. When we got to our spot to get the girls, we got them good; Wendy threw snaps all over them, Abbey, Cindy, and I sprayed silly string all over them. It was SO MUCH FUN! They tried to get us back but we got them again. It was so fun to play with them!
All of us after the "river ran wild" ... good times!
Friday night our bishop brick came up and had dinner with us. We also performed skits and had a really nice testimony meeting. This is Brother Kap, his wife Jolene, and Sister Anderson performing their skit...
The leaders performed two skits. Since our theme was the six Be's. We dressed up like bee's for one of our skits and performed to the song: "Honey, honey"...it was really cute! We had fun!
I love the girls in our ward. They are all so much fun to be with and so kind TO EVERYONE! Everyone in our ward gets along so well. Camp was a success!
