Let your Heart be lifted up----Trek

My week started with our annual trip to Bluff to clean the graves of Lyle's ancestors. On this little rocky hill his Grandmother and Grandfather (Uriah and Beatrice), His Great Grandfather ( Jens Nielson) and four of his father's siblings are buried. Jens first wife, Elsie, and second wife Kirsten are buried next to Jens. Lyle's grandmother Katrine is buried in Cedar City. There is a memorial stone next to the wife's for Katrine. I love this tradition and I am grateful for the heritage my children have been blessed with.

This is what we spent a year planning for. Our trek to San Juan Hill. This is the stream of 200 kids hiking up San Juan Hill.

This was Thursday morning as the kids loaded the buses to go to Bluff. It was an awesome sight with all of them in their t-shirts.

We spent Thursday at Bluff fort doing service projects. They dug post holes for the fence, chinked the cabins, stained handcarts , door, and window frames on the cabins. They stripped bark off of the fence rails. Planted trees, flowers, plants. WEEDED. Cleaned the cabins, mudded a Hogan. WEEDED. Did I say how much they weeded. They worked amazingly hard and accomplished a lot of work. The people at the fort were very impressed with them and thrilled at all they accomplished.

After all the work was done we changed into our pioneer clothes and had a Square Dance. It was very fun and an amazing sight seeing 200 youth kicking up dust. Rye happened to disappear during the dance. He wanted nothing to do with it but he really missed out. That night we slept in tents inside the Bluff Fort. It was amazing the feeling there how safe we felt and the spirit that resides there.

Early Friday morning our amazing kitchen crew served us a wonderful breakfast. The size of those dutch ovens were huge.

We were bussed out to the beginning of our trek. It was a fun sight seeing the handcarts waiting for us.

This is a picture of Rye running to catch up with his trek family, Ma and Pa Lyman. They were the first group out. Yellow Company "Ho To The San Juan".

Rye with his family. They had a whole bunch of fourteen year old boys.

This is the group I went out with. Blue Company. 4.2 miles of dust , heat , gnats and sand.

This was the most amazing sight I saw on the trek. It took my breath away and almost had me in sobs. This was near the end of the 4.2 miles. At this point we were getting tired and very hot. As we came around the corner we saw a steep hill along the hill was a group of boys lined up waiting to help the next family up the hill. They would wait till the cart came by them then run and help push the cart up the hill. The spirit really touched me and taught me here. How did these kids know they were going to need help? Because they had experienced it. They were joyfully and cheerfully waiting to help the next family at a hard part of the trek stepping in just at the right time , helping to make the task easier. It brought to my mind that when we are struggling in difficult times how many people(seen and unseen) are waiting to step in at the right time to cheer us on and help us. I am sure more than we know.




The hike up San Juan Hill was amazing. It is unbelievable that they thought it even possible to bring a wagon up this hill. It was much steeper and longer than I thought it would be. It was a struggle just to walk it alone. It really made you appreciate the faith and commitment these people had. We are taught in Jens Nielson's history as he laying in the snow in Wyoming he promised the Lord if he lived to see the Salt Lake Valley he would spend all his days in the service of the Priesthood. He fulfilled this promise over and over again. Why would these people leave prosperous farms and homes to come to such a desolate place? Why are we members of the church. Being a member is not easy and it takes a lot of commitment. Why do we go to the temple or on missions. Why do we raise families in the gospel when the ways of the world pull so strongly around us?

I thought about this a lot. Our Fireside speaker on San Juan Hill told of a time when Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail. Probably the most trying time of his life. He cried out and wanted to know where God was during this difficult time. He was told his trials would be for a small moment and would be for his good. Also during this time Sydney Rigdon asked Joseph where God was during this time. He said if this is our God I want no part of it. Sydney was released from jail a few days later after this statement. Joseph was left alone to suffer. Sydney was called but did not fulfill his commitment when things got hard . He was given the privilege to be with Joseph when it was most needed but fell short. Just think of what would have happened in his life if he could have made it through the fire. We know he eventually left the church.

In Deuteronomy the children of Israel are told to teach the miracles of the Exodous to their children lest they forget and turn to graven Images. This trek was to teach our youth the miracles of the San Juan Mission and the commitment of those faithful pioneers. To teach them to remember . I think many of them experienced their own little miracles along the way. It truly brought us closer to our Saviour and made us better people. That is why we serve mission's and get married in the temple. Because we have witnessed the spirit in our lives and it has made us better and brought us closer to our Saviour.

The people have never been released from the San Juan Mission. Joseph F. Smith came to release them after many years of struggling with the river, heat, Indians and hostile cowboys. But when he came he decided to not release them and said we should hold Bluff. I feel he foresaw that we would need the example of these people to teach us. It is our responsibility to carry out this mission to this day. That mission is to take the gospel to others through our commitment to our Saviour.


I am grateful I was able to be a part of this experience. For the growth and inspiriation it has given me in my life. I thought I would come back with a great love and appreciation for these pioneers. Which I did but I also came back with a clear vision and a deep love for the youth of our stake. They are amazing strong kids. I appreciate there sacrifices and the cheerfulness they have as they fulfill there duties. 'HO TO THE SAN JUAN'