Heritage Tours: Day 1,2, buckle my shoe.

"It is important the youth know who they are—sons and daughters of God. It is important that they know what they are trying to achieve in life—that is, to return back into the presence of their Heavenly Father with their families."  -Elder Robert D. Hales

I left on Heritage Tours on the 5th of July after an all-nighter, my body never even entering a bed.  Heritage Tours is an LDS Church History and American Heritage Tour based out of Utah County, and is definitely an incredible "experience in travel".  I started out on this trip not excited in the least bit.  I hate driving, especially for long periods of time, I get car sick, and I was not excited to drive for hours and hours on a bus, or van.  It just so happens that the driving became one of my favorite parts.  Even in the beginning I realized that the driving wasn't so bad.  We stopped every two hours for at least a 20 minute rest break, or an hour if it was lunch or dinner.  I heard that we were going to be singing really cheesy songs, some even with actions.  I've always been against that kind of thing, but now, I will be in my apartment blasting "Travelin' the Road" and "What Kinda Car" while dancing, belting, and doing the best actions of all time.  Cheesy?  I think not.  

As we started our first day's drive, only a few hours into the drive, we got a sense of Satan's power fighting against us.  Satan knew the kind of experience the 70 or so youth were going to have those 19 days to come and he wanted none of it.  Satan knows the power of the youth of our day and tried and will continue to try his best to frighten us along the way and make our paths harder and sometimes even unbearable.  But our Father in Heaven will protect us.  He loves us and all we have to do is trust in Him.  As we started our traveling journey, we were struck by a vehicle trying to cut in front of us.  Some poor hispanics flipped and rolled and flew their way into a ditch on the side of the road, car totaled.  First Responder youth found their way out of the bus and out to help, not even realizing that the bus barely had a scratch on its shiny, red surface.  One of the men from the car was taken to the hospital in an ambulance as we sat there on the side of the road praying that everything would be all right.  Prays were answered, Satan was defied, and after some time, we were able to continue our journey.  The first day ended in Cheyenne, Wyoming to be continued the next morning, bright and early, to travel to Omaha, Nebraska.  

Tuesday, July 6th, we were treated as missionaries as we awoke 2 hours before departure, and probably 7 hours before my average wake up time.  Our first spiritual stop on our tour was at Winter Quarters.  There is a beautiful temple at Winter Quarters, which I vow to return and go through some day, right next to the Winter Quarters, Pioneer Mormon Cemetery - where some graves are so old, names have rubbed off.  Many persevering pioneers died there.  A statue stands in the cemetery; a statue of a man and woman.  The man has his arm around the woman as he steps forward, stepping forward with faith.  Behind the couple, on the back of the statue, is a craggly, old tree branch coming up onto the pioneer's backs.  My interpretation of it is that the branch is pulling at the couple, pulling them back and making their trek harder.  The branch is a representation of Satan and how he is again continuously trying to hinder our way and stop us from making it back to our Father above.  But the couple are true examples of the pioneers and how we should strive to be like them, no matter how hard Satan tries, have Faith.  Faith that you will be okay, faith that the Lord will provide for you, faith that He has a plan for you and all you have to do is follow Him and obey His word and commandments and everything will be alright in the end.  It will be better than alright, it will be perfect.  I may not have gone into Winter Quarters entirely prepared for what it had in store, but I still had a wonderful, spiritual experience from it.  I gained a whole new love and respect for the pioneers and just wish and pray that I can be as strong and endearing as they were.