Our ward is going on a pioneer trek (of sorts) in July. They will trek along the Skyline drive above Manti. The elevation will be above 10,500 feet. They will be dropped off at the top but will still have to pull handcarts over 3,000 feet up and down throughout the three days. The last day they will drop down out of Manti Canyon and end up at the Manti Temple for lunch and a testimony meeting. We hope to take Ammon there to greet them on that last day. Jared is planning to go on this trek.
Last night the youth did a "practice" walk. They walked from the church in Elk Ridge to the Payson Temple which is about 7 miles. They did it in 2 hours. I wanted Ammon to participate as much as possible. He will not go on the trek in July but I figured he could go on this one. The "family" he is assigned to suggested that they take his manual wheelchair in case they had to lift him.We weren't sure his power chair would make it that far without being charged anyway. So Jared pushed Ammon about half the distance and then the father of his pioneer family took over. What we didn't think about is the gravel. When they got to the Highline Canal, they left the main road and followed the gravel road next to the canal to go around the mountain and get into Payson. They had a difficult time pushing Ammon over the rocks. The only way they could do it was to pop his wheelchair back a little to get the small wheels off the ground. He felt every rock and every bump on the way and he was exhausted. And he didn't even walk! He was actually quite mad at me that I made him do this horrible thing. But they made it and none of the kids complained at all. They were all in great spirits when we met them at the temple.
This is the start of the trek.
directly to the temple.
Lynn Weakly getting Ammon down the hill.
Jared made it with a smile on his face!
This temple is massive. I believe it will be one of the largest temples in the church. We are all getting excited to get it completed.
These thistles, on the grounds surrounding the temple will soon be gone as beautiful flowers, trees and grass will be planted.
David will recognize this field directly behind the temple. This is the turf farm where he worked one summer.
2 comments:
I think it's awesome that Ammon and Jared got to participate in this.
I wish they would've done trek when I was a youth, it sounds like such a cool experience. Way to go Ammon and Jared for completing your mini trek. That temple is awesome looking!
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