Rocky Ridge with Jens and Elsie

We recently had the privilege of re-enacting the experience of Jens and Elsie Nielson on Rocky Ridge.  We studied to learn all we could of their lives and knew they were strong and stalwart members, sacrificing the money saved from the sale of their farm in Denmark to share with others who did not have the means to travel to Zion, but with their help could now go by handcart.  Their plans to purchase a wagon were abandoned as they would also travel by handcart.  After the first winter storms hit the Willie and Martin handcart companies crossing present day Wyoming in mid-October 1856, we knew Jens had done all in his power to push and pull his handcart for weeks through deep snow until finally his feet were so frozen he could go no further.  We knew they along with all their company were starving, but we also knew Elsie was willing to do whatever was necessary to save the life of her sweetheart.  Although less than five feet tall, she truly did save his life as she pulled him in their handcart for about a week until a wagon was available for him to ride in. 

We didn’t really have a concept of how difficult this was for Jens and Elsie.  We learned, in some small way, that day on Rocky Ridge.  As we pulled the handcart together, Jens eventually collapsed and I helped him into the handcart. I tried to imagine Elsie doing this, placing blankets or clothing under and around him to help protect him from the jarring and discomfort in this box of rescue.  We learned immediately how challenging this must have been to fit a grown man in such a small space without great discomfort for Jens.

As I began to pull the handcart alone, a steep incline was immediately in my face.  No matter which way I turned the cart I could not get the wheels over this incline.  What later, as we descended, looked like a tiny hill seemed now so out my ability to ascend.  I knew Elsie had obstacles like this to get through and I was determined I could and would do the same. 

 

 

I tried to find something on the trail I could grab hold of to help me get better leverage; some rock in the dirt or brush close by.  I put the bar of the handcart across my stomach and reached ahead on the trail into the dirt for anything I could grab that would help me pull a few inches up over the hill.  There was nothing but sand and dirt and loose rocks at that point.  I pictured Elsie pulling up this hill in the snow and wondered if she could have gotten a grip on snow that would help her.  I wondered how she could have pulled the wheels through deep snow and ice in a driving blizzard.  It very soon became apparent to me I could not do this alone.

I wondered if Jens had been able to help Elsie at such times and as Jens/Elder Brunner pushed with all his might on the spokes of the wheel from his cramped and awkward position in the bed of the cart, we were finally able to get over that first little hill.   By now I was panting for breath and exhausted, but determined to do this on my own as Elsie must have done.  "Angels" had been designated to come to our aid when we signaled them, and they were close at hand, asking repeatedly if they could help me.  I kept answering “no, not yet, I can do this”.  I don’t know how long I tried to do it alone, nor how far I made it without our angel helpers.  I prayed for help almost from the first moments I began to pull.  I kept pleading “Heavenly Father, please help me, please help me do this”.  Then as our angels would call out that they were there, I would answer over and over, “no, not yet, I can do this”.  Part of me wanted to do this for Elsie, as she would have done it; part as I wanted to do it.  I'd had an opportunity to be involved in two "women's pulls" at Martin's Cove and Willie Sixth Crossing where the men drop out and women pull the handcart alone, simulating what it would have been like when the husbands and fathers died or were disabled and the women had to pull their carts alone.  I had been somewhat disappointed at the conclusion of the woman’s pull.  It hadn’t been challenging enough.  I wanted to know what it really was like for the women to pull their handcarts alone and I felt it must have been much harder than the experience of an empty cart with 5 to 8 women pulling and pushing. 

 

Now I was getting a full dose of realization, and I simply could not do it alone up the steep Rocky Ridge ascent.  I knew at some point our angels (Sister Simper and Sister Haacke) had begun pushing the handcart.  I could feel, as we hear in the pioneer journals, that the handcart began pushing me.  I didn’t look back, but I knew they were there.  I had been told that when I had done all I could I was to give the angels a signal to begin helping.  I never gave them that signal, but the angels knew when enough was enough and they made the decision themselves that they would help us. 

Even with their help the ascent up Rocky Ridge was very difficult.  I’d asked our Elder angels (Elder Haacke and Elder Simper) to let the women try to do it alone as long as we could.  They honored this request and just as they knew more help was needed, Sister Sanders came running down the ridge to help pull the cart over.  I didn’t hear her, but was told that she asked the men to let the women do it alone for now.  Finally, there was no way to make it without the help of our men angels as well.  There were now six of us on the handcart, and still this was not enough.  Other men and women joined in and helped over the last rocks and steep incline of Rocky Ridge.

 

 

 

What did we learn from this experience….More than we can describe and share here.  It’s been more difficult than I could have known to put into words this spiritual experience, but I will try to elaborate a few things:

·       I know that Elsie and Jens could not have endured this challenge without heavenly help.  It is too hard, too physically taxing, too emotionally draining to know the life of a loved one is in your hands and you cannot do what needs to be done to save their life.  Elsie could not have done what she did without help.

·       None of the handcart pioneers could have done what they did without heavenly help.  When they had given all they had and there was no more to draw upon, I know angels were there to help them.

·       I believe that heavenly help was there sooner than later.  They had been starving for weeks.  They were freezing and pulling in below zero temperatures with gale force winds.  It is too physically impossible to have done what they did without that help.

·       When I was pleading for Heavenly Father to help me, He was.  He had sent angels to help.  I was telling them no, not yet.  I wonder how often I do this in my personal life now, turning aside heavenly help that is ready and willing, because of my own pride or determination to do it alone.  And I know heavenly help is often sent to our aide in the form of Heavenly Father's other children.  How many times does help come to us from earthly angels in answer to our prayers?

·       I am convinced we each have angels to help us.  They know us and love us and have part in the everyday accomplishments of life and are there assisting us, even at times when we have not asked for that help.

·       When I look at photos now and see all the hands that were there helping to pull that one handcart up Rocky Ridge, I know beyond a shadow of doubt that there was much help for all of our handcart pioneers to accomplish what they did, as well as with the amazing rescuers who accomplished the seemingly impossible to bring them to safety.

·       Sacrificing for those we love draws us closer to them.  And being on the receiving end of that sacrifice by others is perhaps even more powerful.

·       I am overwhelmed by the faith and determination of our handcart pioneers.  They had, as Wallace Stegner stated “none of the skills that make frontiersmen.  But they had some of the stuff that makes heroes”.  They are my heroes in a very real and personal way.

·       This was a life-changing experience for us.  We know we will never look at our handcart pioneers in the same way, and we will never doubt heavens help that was there for them and is there for us.

Thoughts from Jens:

From Jens’ perspective, I had a real struggle watching my wife working so hard with so little result.  I was concerned about how I could help.  I decided to push on the spoke at the top near the wheel, and help turn the wheel a little.  My wife felt this help, and asked me to time it with her pull.  She would count to three, and we would both give it all we had.  After a few tries, the handcart jumped over the small bump, and working together we were able to make some progress.  It was so hard for me to remain in the handcart and watch my sweet wife struggle so much.  I wanted so much to get out and help her instead of being a burden.