John Rowe Moyle: TREK

This year for our ward's youth trek, we did the "John Moyle" trek.
You can watch a condensed version of his story HERE.

This trek consists of walking from Alpine, Utah to the Salt Lake Temple, in one day.
Hard. Work.
Brad and I were both adult leaders on the trek, however we were never together :( So I will mostly be sharing my experience, which I'm sure is similar to many others.
Our experience consisted of about 29 miles, 11ish hours, about 7 of those hours being in the rain. We started at 2:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and arrive to temple square around 1:00.
This was honestly one of the hardest things I have ever done (mentally, physically, etc.) - as a leader it was especially humbling. I was so impressed with the drive and determination the youth had; they are what kept me going.
The journey had it's ups and downs. There were times it was harder to keep the youth motivated, there were times it was harder to keep myself motivated. There were sometimes we were skipping and singing, making fools of ourselves. Most of the time it was easier to just keep walking, rather than take advantage of the break stops or the occasional red light. Once we got to our last stop at 1300 East and South Temple, I joined a few other leaders and we ran the rest of the way - with some of the young women joining us. I guess I shouldn't say run, but it wasn't a walk - it was more of a wobble-jog, but it got us there faster and it was nice for my muscles to have a change in motion.

a few of us that came in together

I was honestly ready to cry when we got there. I was also a little bit panicked with claustrophobia since my fingers had LITERALLY swelled to the size of hot dogs and I couldn't get my wedding ring off (that thing didn't come off until about ten o'clock that night).
Even though this experience was hard and there were a million other things I could have been doing, it was ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT. We can talk about the fact that it was 29 miles (8 miles more than John Rowe Moyle actually walked), or that it took a few hours longer than we were told, or that it rained most of the way, or that our we couldn't keep our feet dry - OR we can talk about the fact that we got to walk on paved paths most of the way, we had the wonderful April Moriarty serenading us at one point in the journey, it DIDN'T rain while we were walking through the dirt/mud (serious tender mercy), the rain provided nice, cool weather, when we arrived we had a whole slew of people cheering us on and dishing up a fabulously delicious meal at the finish.
This experience was truly a life-changing one that I will never forget. Yes it was hard, but it was worth it.
I am so grateful for for John Rowe Moyle and his dedication to his service to the Lord and calling in the church. He truly did his very best in fulfilling his duties, being called as a temple worker. It would take most of us far less than a missing/wooden leg to try to get out of responsibilities in our callings, but that didn't stop him. I am overwhelmed by his wonderful example of a servant of the Lord and pray I will have the faith and determination to fulfill my duties in the church - more fully.
Thank you, Alpine 11th Ward, for this amazing experience.