Greetings Y'all

And Now for the grand update from the fascinating world of ME. Mom, me, Jake, Zac and Chelsey all headed to Martin's Cove on Thursday morning. The hike up into the cove was fun and it was very entertaining to see all the children playing together. Thursday night we drove to the Willie center, where we were nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes. Never have I ever seen so many mosquitoes in one place. With the wave of the hand you could hit 10-15, and that isn't counting the ones that flew away. When slapping someones back you could be garanteed to come away with at least five dead buggars. Every family went through at least one tall container of mosquito spray within the first 16 hours. Never have I had to apply squito spray every time I stopped. We hesitated to wash our faces because we knew that we would wash off the repellent and be bit at least 20 times from the bathroom to the tent. There were children who looked like they had a rash on their cheeks because they had so many bites. Friday morning we went for a ten mile trek with our handcarts. We had about two families per cart, and our family was teamed up with another family from our ward who also had left their dad at home. There were only three males in our group, Zac-9, Jake-11 and Jake-16. There were also four women and one girl to pull our handcart. We headed out trying to avoid the mud puddles at first, then we came to a puddle that there was no way to aviod. The boys headed through diligently pushing the cart, and getting wet up to the knees. We headed through several pastures, and crossed many high waters, several of the puddles were so deep they had a current. One such puddle hit me at about the crotch. We were all soaked before lunch, first because it was raining, and second because of the puddles we waded through with the handcarts. We got to the river crossing that afternoon and were told that they didn't want us to pull the handcarts across because it was still high water, about to the waist, and they didn't want us to be in water that covered the axle of the carts. The missionaries were a bit surprised when we told them that we had already traveled through several puddles that were to the axles on the carts, though their current wasn't enough to sweep the carts down stream like the river was. Though at the deepest point the river was only up to my waist. It still had a current that I was glad not to have to pull a handcart across. If I hadn't had a rope to hold onto I could have been swept off my feet. We had brought water shoes along, but by the time we reached the river, our feet had already been wet for about 8 hours, so a little clean water was refreshing. We also took the opportunity to take off our shoes and socks, and wring them out, to minimize the squishing of the water in our shoes.
We got back to camp, and to our joy found that they had fogged multiple times that day. The mosquitoes were few and far between, which was a great contrast to the entire hike, and the day before at camp. I think the rest of the night I only saw about 100 mosquitoes. It was fabulous. Loved watching and listening to the children play together. They had no electronics, and were entertained by playing red rover, tag, football, and frisbee. The parents could let their children wander, because everyone knew who the child was, and who they belonged to. It wasn't uncommon to see one of the older children leading a crying little one back to the child's parents.
The entire experience was a learning one for me. It really does take a village/community to raise a child. The ward supplies that community, and everyone looks out for everyone. This ward really was a family. In hearing the stories of those ancestors that left everything they had, thinned and thinned their belongings down to the point that everything they owned would fit into a handcart, and then pulled it across the plains all because they had a desire to join the saints in Zion, I was impressed to see that all these pioneers were willing to go through, and they wouldn't have changed the experience for anything. I remember a story about an 11 year old boy who carried his little brother who was 4. He carried his little brother all day, and even though they fell behind, he kept carrying him. He managed to get them into camp, where he collapsed. He had given everything he had to help his brother, even his life. That 11 year old boy died there in camp that night, but the rest of his family made it to the valley.
I kept thinking about that. He gave everything. That is what the lord asks of me. He asks me to give everything, even my life. Not my life in death, often what he asks of me is much harder than death. He asks for my life in living as he would were he here. In serving, in forgiving, in being charitable, in being willing to reach outside my comfort zone to help those around me. He asks me to choose the best option. To listen and obey when prompted to do something. He asks me to give my all. That 11 year old boy managed to do it. He served, and gave everything he had. He gave his life in service. And so should mine be.
We had a wonderful experience, and had a fun time to boot, in spite of the mosquitoes. TTFN