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Show control, color the day black. Your goal will be to have no black days. The calendar becomes a strong visual reminder of self control and should be looked at when you are tempted to add another black day. Keep your calendar up until you have at least three clear months." At first I just hoped that my mom would be more focused on adult events and the dates of the trek would slide past her; she would realize a week later that the trek had passed and overreact by making both of us feel guilty, but it would be too late to do anything about it. That happened all the time, especially when she was working, but trek reminders stayed relentless in all of the adult church meetings. In sacrament meeting, the bishop themed his remarks around the pride he took in seeing today's youth, and the hope we brought to the future. In priesthood meeting, we were told narratives of priesthood members showing strength and courage carrying pioneer women and children across freezing rivers, many of them catching hypothermia in the process. In testimony meeting, 85 year-old Sister Hendrickson dragged her bones up to the pulpit to give a testimony about how her ancestors had come here. She brought the portion of the congregation prone to tears to tears as she thought about how much it meant to her that the young people were going to do the same thing. And in Relief Society they enlisted the sisters to haul lunch up to us at various points in the trek. My mom declined those responsibilities because she had to work, but the relentless spirit of the ward mbbed off on her and she made up her mind that I was going to be there no matter what. If I said I was sick, she would say: "I |