Petersen 911: Forever on a Food Committee...

Almost exactly 4 years ago, Dave and I were on the food committee for a pioneer trek down in Mesquite. There were about 300 people to feed on that trip. It was one of the most daunting/exhausting/rewarding experiences of my life. But well worth it!

We watched as the youth, ages 14-18 pushed and pulled handcarts through sandy washes, on dirt roads, over rocks and through sagebrush for 4 days and 33 miles in 100* weather. They learned a lot about who they are, what they are capable of and what their ancestors went through to settle the west. The conditions were as rough as you might imagine. Each kid could only take what would fit into a 5 gallon bucket plus a sleeping bag. No phones, ipods, MP3 players, curling irons, etc. Only the bare necessities.   I don't think the sleeping bags were used much because by the end of each day the kids were so exhausted that they would collapse in the dirt and fall asleep for the night. They didn't care about the scorpions, mice or bugs that were their companions at night.

The large group was broken into smaller "families" and each one was assigned a "Ma and Pa" for the trip. Each family was provided a propane burner for cooking, one dutch oven and tons of water and Gatorade. There was a trailer with 6 porta-potties on it for everyone to use. We (the food committee) provided them with a meager amount of food each day, which they were sincerely grateful for. The first night was beef broth with a few potatoes in it and one small roll for each. Breakfast was oatmeal. Lunch was PB and J with a beef stick and an apple or an orange. And so it went...for 4 days. We did do a BIG dutch oven chicken dinner on their final night which they LOVED!! Many of the girls gave up portions of their food to give to the boys who where pushing and pulling their hearts out. The boys in turn would get their family handcart up a hill and then go down and help those who were at the bottom of the hill. No one was left behind. They became one big family.

One of the nights, the boys were taken away up another hill and the girls were left to pull the handcarts up that hill while the boys watched. The boys were instructed to NOT help, just watch. There wasn't a dry eye among those boys as they watched the girls push with all their might, stumbling and slipping. It gave the boys a perspective that many had not witnessed before. It gave them huge amounts of respect and admiration for those girls. It made them want to treat those girls with the utmost respect, for they knew that they were daughters of God, doing a very hard thing. This carried over after trek. Those kids learned a lot about each other and saw each other in a new light.

There was medical staff (Paramedics, Dr, EMT) who followed in ATV's and had to give several IV's to those kids who didn't drink enough, and bandage blistered feet with duct tape. There were men on horseback who went up and down the line offering words of encouragement and sometimes would hitch their horses to the handcarts and give the kids a little bit of help. It was a MAJOR effort by many, many people. I will never forget that trek and I will always love those AMAZING people.

So...today we start another food extravaganza! Only not nearly as large.
Our ward is doing a youth conference this weekend up in the mountains. Since I work with the youth, I volunteered myself and Dave to handle the food so that the other leaders could focus on the kids. I work with the youngest girls (age 12-13) and they have to be 14 to go, so I figured that since I wasn't suppose to go anyway, I had time to do the food. I love being on the support staff for these sorts of things and Dave does too. It seems as though we are always involved some how and we wouldn't want it any other way. We've gotten to watch our kids grow up, physically, emotionally and spiritually during our many times of serving the youth.
So...we are inundated with FOOD! Much of it was donated by the ward members and some we purchased for this activity. See for yourselves...