The Colorado River Float

Have you ever heard of "the Daily"? It is a float trip on part of the Colorado River. It starts about half way to Moab from the turn off of I-70 at Cisco and ends near Moab, UT. It is called the daily because it takes around 5-8 hours to complete.

Last weekend we took our youth group on this float. It was awesome! (Besides the swarms of Tammy beetles, hehe) We had 6 YW and 5 YM, plus us leaders. Me, Bro. Barton, Bro. Buddeke (our guide), Sis's Roberts and Krebs. We camped out the night before on the shoreline. Friday night I gave a fireside on "Hero's". It went very well. Bro. Dillon arranged for all the kids to have letters written by their parents, for them, about how they love them and think they are the heroes. It was very nice. The YW leaders took care of all our meals and they did a great job.

Saturday morning bright and early we began our journey. The river was actually quite busy. We navigated away from the other rafts and groups and started right off with a nice cooling water fight. I had so much fun! We spent the day talking, laughing, splashing, rowing, floating and at one point picking each other out of the water. Yes, at one point we got flipped and it was quite intense for about 30 seconds. Bro. Barton was actually under water "churning" for most of that time. It was quite scary, but Heavenly Father was with us. Hehe, I lost my Oakleys and my beloved lake powell hat. So sad. But in the end, everyone was fine besides some bruised shins and egos. The river can be so calm and relaxing, but we can never underestimate the power of nature and it's water.

I think that life can be the same way. We are just drifting along, relaxing and then "splash" we are hit with some rough water. IE; hardtimes or trials. If we are not prepared we could get "flipped" or get caught in the "churning" water and that can be a horrible cycle. We hit that bad wave a little crooked with our little raft. We could have avoided flipping if our boat would have been straight. We had paddles in hand and our life jackets on tight, but the raft went in crooked. Our guide, (Bro. Buddeke) warned us about the rough water. Although somewhat prepared, we didn't heed all our guides warnings and we paid the consequences for it. This time, it just meant getting a little wet.

I pray that we can stay on the staight and narrow way, that we can listen to our prophets voice, and that we can be prepared if the rough water does come. Our faith will keep us aloat in rough water. The Church is true!

--Dan--