Over spring break, freshman Angie Mauthe will be going on a Pioneer Trek with other youth members of her church, in order to build and strengthen her testimony. This Trek only happens once every four years, and Mauthe will be experiencing it for the first time.

“We’re going to be reenacting kind of how the pioneers traveled across the plains a long time ago,” Mauthe said. “For the three days that we’re going to be out there, we’re gonna have to wear old clothes, like we have to wear skirts that go down to our ankles and long-sleeve shirts. We’ll just be walking and pulling handcarts. It’ll be crazy.”

In order to go on such a trip, there are a lot of preparations that must go into it. They will be staying two nights and three days with no showers, or even bags to carry their different belongings in while on Trek.

“You can bring little hygiene things, so like baby wipes and stuff, that way you can at least clean a little bit,” Mauthe said. “I’m most likely — most definitely — [bringing] dry shampoo. And you [can’t] carry little snacks in your bag. Actually, you don’t even get a bag, you get a bucket. We decorate those, and you can make a cushion for the top as well, that way whenever we’re like eating dinner or lunch or anything you can sit on it. It’s just a couple things that go in your bucket.”

Mauthe explains that her church has youth conferences every year, and each year is different. Sometimes they have small gatherings with activities for a day, and at the end of the day, their church leaders talk to them. Trek, however, is only offered once every four years because of all the planning that goes into it.

“We knew as of last year, at the last youth conference, that we were going to do Trek this year,” Mauthe said. “Because that’s how long it [takes] for the preparation. So each month we have different things we have to check off. [January], I believe, is when we get our buckets and we have to get that finished. We have a bucket check where we come in and [the Trek leaders] check everything [we packed] to make sure we have everything we need.”

Mauthe says she is most excited for the dance at the end of Trek. Her church has dances once a month, and for March it will take place during Trek.

“There’s going to be square dancing, and we’re going to be in our whole pioneer get-up and everything, so it’s going to be great,” Mauthe said.

Religiously, Mauthe expects quite a lot from Trek. She also said, however, that the experience will not be purely religious.

“I think it’ll be a great testimony builder, because you don’t have all the distractions of the world outside,” Mauthe said. “You just go and have fun with all these other people that have the same beliefs and standards as you. There’s so much you can learn from it. Not even just religious stuff, but life experiences can happen at these things too.”

Mauthe feels that although there are different reasons for experiencing Trek, the most important is to experience what others went through long ago.

“I think it has a lot to do with wanting us to experience what some of our ancestors probably went through,” Mauthe said. “[They also] advise us to do some family research, and as you walk on Trek, you can remember that person.”