Pre-trek

The Pre-trek activity is BACK ON! Please reschedule it into your calendars.

When: Saturday, June 9th, from 1 - 6 p.m.
Where: A beautiful spot in Enterprise (directions will come later)
What to wear: Your trek clothes
Food: Provided by the wonderful Enterprise ward
Bring: A water bottle and your camera if you want to take pictures

This activity is really fun. We did it before the trek in 2007, and everyone was glad they came. Please support our stake presidency, young men and young women leaders, and any others who have spent hours planning a successful trek for you!

In retrospect, it is clear that many Saints in 1856 were determined to come to Zion at almost any cost. President Gordon B. Hinckley movingly recounted the experience of his wife’s grandmother, Mary Ann Goble Pay, who at age 13 left England with her family and ultimately joined up with the Martin Handcart Company. Before journey’s end, she lost two brothers, a sister, and finally her mother, who died just before they reached the valley. Years later, in her personal history Sister Pay reflected on the spirit that prompted her family to become handcart pioneers: “I have thought often of my mother’s words before we left England. ‘Polly, I want to go to Zion while my children are small, so they can be raised in the Gospel of Christ, for I know this is the true church.’”

Mary Ann Goble Pay, of course, made it to the valley. Others did not. Blessed be the names of all of them. Those who came to the West by handcart and those who sacrificed their all found the joy and peace promised to Saints who endure suffering for the Savior’s sake. The story of their tragedies and triumphs and their legacy of courage and conviction will never die.

(Paul H. Peterson, "They Came By Handcart," Ensign, Aug. 1997)