Trek Handouts From Ma and Pa

I searched the internet for ideas on things to make for my trek family, but really couldn't find anything.  I wanted to give them some handouts to go with our daily devotionals, and some other little items unique to our family.  I decided to share what I came up with, since there doesn't seem to be a lot of sources out there yet.

The first thing that I made was chapstick with a handcart company on it.  I figured that everyone was going to need chapstick, and that they would remember the pioneers every time they put it on.

 

 This is the finished product.  The kids really liked it.

 I bought chapstick at the Dollar Store, found a picture I wanted on the internet, and found a free chapstick cover template on the internet to download.  Here is one site  http://www.brambleberry.com/Lip-Balm-Label-Templates-Free-Downloadable-File-P5172.aspx, but there are many more.

 I used packing tape to attach the picture to the chapstick.  It was the right width, and gave a laminated look and feel to the chapstick.

This is one of the handouts that I made.

 I wanted to get them gum, but my husband nixed that idea.  He didn't think other groups after us would enjoy gum all over the trail.  :)  So I bought Mentos chewy candy at Walmart.  I used the packing tape again to attach the quote to the candy.  We used them to go along with a devotional that we gave.  It had a double meaning because we used it to talk about choosing to follow God, but it was also the theme of "Coming one step closer to Christ through Service" that day, so they needed to choose whom they were going to do service for.

The other handouts that we made were just quotes, and then we had treats like licorice or hard candy to go with them.

 I didn't have anybody throw them away on trek.  Although who know what they did once they got home.  We had 8 kids - 4 boys and 4 girls - and they all asked for them each day.  One of the boys called them spirit cards.

 I made sure that they went along with the theme of the day, and the pioneer stories that we were telling, as well as our devotionals each night.

This last one was our plug for working together as we pulled our handcart.  Last trek, some of our kids were impatient with the ones who couldn't (or wouldn't) go as fast as some of the others would have liked.  This time we started off by making sure that they understood that we would go as slow as the slowest and leave nobody behind.  We talked about some pioneer stories where people pulled and carried family members, and the kids really got it.  We had a girl who ended up having some painful foot problems, and our kids were really patient, caring and willing to go slow.  She ended up being an awesome example of enduring to the end, and was able to finish the whole trek with the help of her trek family.