On this day in 1846, under call from Brigham Young, courageous men and women led by our great ancestor Charles Shumway left their homes and began the long trek across the United States. They left behind land, farms, homes, and prized personal possessions in order to reach their goal of Zion. The following story is recounted by Mary Eliza, Charles Shumway's daughter. She said that her mother delayed coming to the wagon and said, "I was scrubbing the floors! I just couldn't leave my beautiful birch floors all spotted and blotched! Move over Mary. I'm to drive this wagon. Your father will come on horseback. Mary Eliza then said that before the wagon was away from the house, a young man with his wife who were both strangers to the Shumways stepped onto the front door step and in a loud and emphatic voice shouted to those standing about, "We're taking possession of this house!".
The Shumways left everything they owned to be able to make the trek. I thought throughout the day of everything that I care about that I would have to leave if I were asked to the same. Although I doubt I will ever have to leave my personal possessions behind to reach my goal of returning to my Father in Heaven I do have other things in my life that make my trek back to Him more difficult. To try and relate to what those brave men and women had to go through we decided on this day to "leave" something behind that is slowing us down in our lives. We decided to travel to the coldest iciest river we could find and throw our stumbling blocks in the river and start a new phase of life with our eye on the goal of living with Father in Heaven again.
Looking out over the cold and icy Vermillion River. In keeping with the idea of "pioneer like sacrifice" we did as many of the pioneers did and wrapped our feet in rags and trudged through the snow to the river.
Terrance and Ezra standing on the banks of the river. I have no idea how the pioneers were able to survive walking across the frozen plains. You have never experienced cold unless you have experienced -25 degrees in a freezing wind and snow storm in the Mid-West.
Since we didn't feel right about throwing our actual stumbling blocks into the river we decided to write them down on paper and put them in a snowball and throw it into the river. We figured it was a little more environmentally responsible.
Andrea throwing the snowball into the river. Ez was so impressed by her throw that he insisted on throwing one of his own.
Our snowball floating down the river. As we watched the representation of our stumbling blocks float down the river we made a deal as a family to do our best to continue our trek together as we all try to make our way back to Heavenly Father.
Terrance's feet wrapped in rags, actually they are socks but pretty much the same thing. We are indeed grateful for Charles Shumway and our brave and faithful pioneer ancestors who followed the words of the prophet and remained faithful to the end. Let us always remember them and do our best to not let any stumbling block stop us from reaching Zion when our lives are through.