Stake Trek

Charmayne and I were asked to be a Ma and Pa for Stake Trek, which took place this past week.  Each Ma and Pa was assigned a "family", ours consisted of 9 kids (4 boys and 5 girls).  We were responsible for these kids on our 30 mile handcart trek, cooking, cleaning, setting up and tearing down camp over 4 days.  Each of us was asked to walk for an ancestor, which required a little family history research.  Having never done this I learned much about my heritage, my independence appears to have been inherited, not acquired.  I have genealogical proof that I am not the only "wolf pack of one" in the Packer line (although I think my dad and grandfather posses this attribute as well).  Jonathan Taylor Packer was part of the Brigham Young Company (1848), which was the first wagon company to arrive in Salt Lake City.  Jonathan left the company and arrived one month ahead of them, which is why you will not find his name on the company archives.  He built the first house in the 1st Ward of the Church on 900 South and 700 East in Salt Lake City.  His grandfather Aaron and uncle Jesse fought in the American Revolution for the Upper Pantang Township of Pennsylvania. This was revelation to me, one of which makes me very proud to be a Packer!

Charmayne walked for Margaret Bowman Duncan, who has an amazing story herself.  However, more improbable was that a girl in our family was walking for Margaret as well!  Charmayne became acquainted with Carissa - her distant cousin!!!

The story of our trek was hot and long.  Every medical IV bag that was brought on the trek was utilized the first day.  37 kids were taken off the trail the second day and more the third.  Several kids were hospitalized, taken by ambulance to Evanston, WY.  Dehydration and heat stroke were the main ailments, however we lost two kids for a day, one was run over by the handcart and another was out for a day due to a bad knee.  Both completed the trek walking the remainder of the trail.  In conclusion, I am an ardent believer in survival of the fittest.  The Mormon Pioneers are the most fitting example of "the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life".  Only the strong survive.  I came to learn why it was necessary for the early Saints to trek across the plains to the Rocky Mountains.  The Lord needed to shelter his people, so that he could build them up and make them strong.  Most possessed the physical strength necessary to make the trek, but he needed them spiritually strong to send into the world as the great "dragnet" promised to reclaim scattered Israel.  He could only do this in the shelter of the Mountains I have come to love.  Charmayne and I are charged with building the next generation and this trek, however important to the kids we went with, was equally important to me.  It helped me see clearly the vision I need to have in strengthening Paige, Brock, Sidney and Braden. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." - Ephesians 6:12-13