All is well

Last weekend we celebrated Adam's grandma's birthday at a family reunion. It was great to see lots of family again, although I don't know how much they enjoyed seeing me since I was sneezing and blowing my nose the whole time. Apparently my nose was seriously offended by something in the air that day.

But while we were there we did a mini trek with handcarts. It was only about two miles long and about just right. The weather was perfect and the trail was just long enough to enjoy. We got a little taste of what so many pioneers did and recognized some of the sacrifices they made and difficulties they must have faced. For one thing, if any of the pioneers had hay fever, they would have just had to suffer the whole time with no medicine and no possibility of hiding inside like I did for half the day. And I'm sure they didn't have kleenexes either.
After only a few minutes of pulling our almost empty cart my arms and back were aching. In my case, I was able to trade off (I wasn't even the only one pulling). Many of the pioneers probably wouldn't have had that luxury and their carts were loaded with everything they owned which couldn't be more than just enough to survive. Our handcart started creaking and we talked about what would have happened if their handcarts had broken down mid-journey. Imagine having to leave everything behind knowing that not only would you have to go without on the trail, even when you got there you wouldn't be able to just go and buy replacements.

My favorite part came at the end when we came to a "river crossing" which had a riverbed of gravel and a water from a garden hose (it had been filling long enough to be at least 12 inches deep in the middle). We took off our shoes and socks and forded the "river." I thought it was fun (there were some who didn't even want to get their feet wet), but we weren't worried about frigid water or our wagons breaking or our food or blankets or clothes that we would be wearing for months getting wet. And we weren't worried about sleeping out under the stars on a cold night in damp clothes. Or not having medicine or time to rest if we were to get sick from the cold.

There are so many other challenges they faced. I am grateful for the spiritual foundation and the example of faith and faithfulness in spite of trials that they left for us.