Preparations for a Pioneer Trek
I got up at 4:30 this morning to take Steven and Hannah to the church. Right now, they are probably on a bus headed for Wyoming where Hannah will be assigned to a temporary family and will get to push and pull a handcart, walking in the footsteps of the Mormon pioneers for the next four days. Steven has gone along to help with the cooking and such.
In a way, it's kind of a relief to have them gone. The last week has been a frenzy, trying to prepare for the Trek - not so much getting their personal equipment together, but working on other things. Steven has been on the committee to plan Trek. His subcommittee was in charge of the "experience", and a few months ago Steven bought bandannas (each family group will wear a different colored bandanna) and journals and pens for each participant. Another committee member has been working on making sacks of flour, each holding 4 oz. of flour (which was what the rations of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies were reduced to) for each of the trek participants.
About a week ago, Steven realized or found out that there was another project his subcommittee was assigned to do, that wasn't progressing. Each person going on this Trek is supposed to have a person - an actual ancestor or another pioneer from the handcart companies, that they are representing. They are each supposed to have a card that has their picture, who they are representing, and a brief bio on the back, of the person they are representing. Steven turned to me as his "graphic design department" and asked me if I could help. He sent me a sample of what another stake had done, and I designed a template for the card, incorporating the logo and theme for the trek. Then came the work of typing up the stories of the pioneers from the Willie and Martin Handcart companies. For the most part, we had the stories, but not in a digital format that we could work with. Steven, Hannah, John and I all helped to type the more than 150 stories that we needed. We also had to make sure that we had pictures of all the youth and adults, and collect any ancestor stories that the youth might have wanted to submit, and then plug them into the template, making sure that we had the right names and right bios for all those who sent in their own. On Sunday, we were still scrambling to take pictures, collect stories, and fit everything into the templates. We were up until 11 pm that night (Steven and I are usually in bed by 9:30 or 10 pm at the latest) finalizing everything in a pdf file so we could send it to the printer, who would print, laminate and drill holes in the cards. At last it was done and sent, and we could relax.
Monday morning I got a phone call... Several of the last changes we had made Sunday night hadn't converted properly when we made the pdf file. I had to figure out how to fix them and resend them. A little later I received another phone call - something else needed fixing. (I don't think my proofreading skills at 11 pm are very good. Some of the pioneer names on the front of the cards didn't match the name and bio on the back of the card.) Anyway, the cards got fixed and were printed, and turned out beautifully!
Last night we went to the church where I had Relief Society (making sack lunches for the people from our ward going on Trek) and the rest of the family got to attach strings to the cards and flour sacks so the Trekkers can wear them around their necks. Then we laid them all out on a table (alphabetically!) so when the Trekkers arrived this morning, they could find their tag easily.
So, it is a relief to have the cards done, to have Steven and Hannah well on their way. I hope they have fun, that they stay safe, and that they have a memorable experience.
In a way, it's kind of a relief to have them gone. The last week has been a frenzy, trying to prepare for the Trek - not so much getting their personal equipment together, but working on other things. Steven has been on the committee to plan Trek. His subcommittee was in charge of the "experience", and a few months ago Steven bought bandannas (each family group will wear a different colored bandanna) and journals and pens for each participant. Another committee member has been working on making sacks of flour, each holding 4 oz. of flour (which was what the rations of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies were reduced to) for each of the trek participants.
About a week ago, Steven realized or found out that there was another project his subcommittee was assigned to do, that wasn't progressing. Each person going on this Trek is supposed to have a person - an actual ancestor or another pioneer from the handcart companies, that they are representing. They are each supposed to have a card that has their picture, who they are representing, and a brief bio on the back, of the person they are representing. Steven turned to me as his "graphic design department" and asked me if I could help. He sent me a sample of what another stake had done, and I designed a template for the card, incorporating the logo and theme for the trek. Then came the work of typing up the stories of the pioneers from the Willie and Martin Handcart companies. For the most part, we had the stories, but not in a digital format that we could work with. Steven, Hannah, John and I all helped to type the more than 150 stories that we needed. We also had to make sure that we had pictures of all the youth and adults, and collect any ancestor stories that the youth might have wanted to submit, and then plug them into the template, making sure that we had the right names and right bios for all those who sent in their own. On Sunday, we were still scrambling to take pictures, collect stories, and fit everything into the templates. We were up until 11 pm that night (Steven and I are usually in bed by 9:30 or 10 pm at the latest) finalizing everything in a pdf file so we could send it to the printer, who would print, laminate and drill holes in the cards. At last it was done and sent, and we could relax.
Monday morning I got a phone call... Several of the last changes we had made Sunday night hadn't converted properly when we made the pdf file. I had to figure out how to fix them and resend them. A little later I received another phone call - something else needed fixing. (I don't think my proofreading skills at 11 pm are very good. Some of the pioneer names on the front of the cards didn't match the name and bio on the back of the card.) Anyway, the cards got fixed and were printed, and turned out beautifully!
Last night we went to the church where I had Relief Society (making sack lunches for the people from our ward going on Trek) and the rest of the family got to attach strings to the cards and flour sacks so the Trekkers can wear them around their necks. Then we laid them all out on a table (alphabetically!) so when the Trekkers arrived this morning, they could find their tag easily.
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| Here is the front and back of Hannah's card. |
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