Pioneer Handcart Trek Day 5; The Temple...

Day 5

The Jordan River Temple

We were up very early and on the buses by 530am... hard to leave the comforts of the hotel room, but not really hard to get up... we were used to that by now, and we were all very excited to finally reach the much anticipated part of our entire trip, The Temple!

It was one of the sweetest experiences I have ever had in the Temple so far.

We had Jim's father Leon and his Granpa Capps names to do baptisms for, since they had not been baptized by the authority of the priesthood when they were alive.

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Jim did the baptizing and Jacob was the proxy for them.

We were all crying before it was over.

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What a great day for a baptism.

I don't know how many names actually got done that day from our Stake, but probably close to 2000. Our ward had nearly 500 names.

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It was amazing and awesome to be part of it.

(Jacob is pretty comfy sitting amongst the girls... hmmmm)

After our Temple Trip, we had time to take our families and see Temple Square one more time before we gathered in the old Assembly Hall.

Our family in the assembly hall.

Finally a family big enough to take up a whole bench!

Sweet!!

We had an amazing meeting in which we not only got to hear from General Authority C. Scott Grow but we had a very long question and answer with him.

The youth had been prepared for this ahead of time, and we talked about what questions were appropriate for a General Authority, that not just a Bishop or Stake President could answer.

They were wonderful, and he was so positive and energetic about his answers, you could tell he LOVED being with the youth.

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At one point early in the questions, a man's voice came from the back of the room... and he asked "Elder Grow, there are two reporters that have stopped in today and if you could tell the world anything about the church, what would it be?"... Elder Grow took 4-5 steps towards them and looked them very straight ahead with his deep eyes and in the most powerful, bold way I have ever heard in my life, bore his testimony of the church! I felt something deep in my heart, and my eyes welled up with tears! I looked over and Jim was in a full blown cry!!

It was AMAZING to feel the spirit teach us of the truth of what he had said deep in our hearts!!!

After he watched them leave, he said to us "you have to be very careful what you say sometimes, you never know who might record your words" and smiled and continued on with us.

Afterward, he invited all to come by and speak to him and shake his hand.

It was an experience of a lifetime, so special, I hope I never ever forget it.

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After the meeting, we were quickly off to our buses to head home.

We pulled into a nearby rest area and our stake had made arrangements to meet us there with pizza! They loaded a stack of pizza boxes on the bus and we were off, with dinner.

It was soooo hot and our bus still had issues pulling hills with the air on... so to block out the hot sun as it set... we had to put up our pizza boxes on the windows. It dropped the temperature inside the bus almost 10 degrees until the air could catch back up.

It was funny, but very effective.

We arrived back home close to midnight on Friday night.

Unloaded the buses, waited to make sure all of the kids had gotten rides home.

And when we arrived home, our puppies were already there waiting for us, and soooo happy we made it back home to them.

I love puppy kisses and they were giving them out.

It took Taylor a few days to stick to me like glue again... I think she was pretty made I had left her. But eventually she warmed up to me.

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It was a wonderful week full of adventure, testimony building experiences, bug spray, dirt, sunscreen... but I week that I have not been able to quit thinking about.

I find myself in quiet reflection about things I heard, saw and felt, all the time, every day.
I hope that never goes away.

I hope I will always have those memories to help me grow, the rest of my life.

I know that for the youth, it will be a memory they will never ever forget!