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No, not Star Trek 
I’m currently serving as YW secretary, so while I don’t have to participate in this year’s Trek, I’m handling a lot of correspondence related to it. Even back when my husband was serving in the Stake YM, I’ve been saying that if we’re ever asked to participate in a Trek experience, the answer will be No. Not even Let me think about it, but No. (DH still hasn’t gotten used to the Indiana humidity after 14 years so frankly he’s OK with that
😆 .) Our oldest daughter will be in YW at the end of this year so I’m going to have to decide what stance to take. I don’t know if I want to dissuade her from an experience that she’s really excited about, but I’m not going to play cheerleader for it either.Anyway, the stake sent out a couple of documents that will relate to the process of finding clothing for Trek, a process which will consume several Mutual nights and obviously cost the girls’ family money. (And, as an armchair fashion historian, I could point out that what they’re wearing isn’t 1840s/50s-accurate by a LONG stretch.
The wearing of traditional pioneer clothing when participating can add to the spirit and authenticity of the experience. However, the spending of excess money and time on obtaining such clothing is strongly discouraged.
That bizarre sentence structure (‘the wearing of,’ ‘the spending of’) is like nails on a chalkboard. But it’s an affectation that persists in the LDS Church because, I don’t know, we think it sounds ‘churchier’? Why does it bother me so much? Anyway, I feel like the phrase ‘the wearing of’ is used a lot when discussing temple garments and so it seems here to make a grammatical link between garments and long skirts/sunbonnets.
Quote:We can have some wonderful “time travel” moments, when it feels as though the veil is very thin, and our pioneer friends are standing right beside us, encouraging us in our personal journeys.
Again, this is from a document addressing
clothingduring the pioneer trek – not something at least slightly important like personal prayer or scripture study during the trek. The veil becomes thin because of what you look like on the outside.And this is assuming, of course, that the spirits of the pioneers on the other side of the veil are the least bit interested in what some teenagers are doing in rural Indiana. I think to the extent that they care, they’d be thinking 1) “Those clothes look totally bizarre” and 2) “That was a horrible experience; why on earth would anyone want to do it for fun?” So I have a couple of thoughts and I’m trying to work out why I find this whole idea so distasteful.
1. Manufacturing artificial experiences to “build” testimonies in youth is a terrible idea – or maybe I am just still bitter about the
Game of Life2. There’s a prevalent idea, especially in the YW, that the more time something takes to plan and prepare, the more worthwhile the activity must be. (I wish the 13th A of F was more specific.)
3. Pioneer Treks are always
HandcartTreks. There are several modes of transportation the pioneers used besides handcarts but we rarely focus on those. Personally, I’d be ALL OVER a Transcontinental Railroad Pioneer Trek. 😆 Obviously there are logistical issues that make handcarts the simplest solution (assuming a pretend trek is in any way necessary),BUT: 4. There’s a distinct hierarchy in our church. It’s not as bad as it used to be, but it’s still there, and I’ve experienced it personally. If you have pioneer ancestors, you’re a little more righteous than those who don’t. (Remind me to tell you what my husband told me on our second date.) If you have handcart pioneer ancestors, you’re even more righteous. And if you have handcart pioneer ancestors who were part of the Martin and Willie companies, why, you must have been a general in the war in heaven! (Tongue slightly in cheek here.) I think this is because…
5. Part of the reason we love the Handcart Pioneers so much is because
they suffered the most. We love a good tale of suffering in the LDS Church, although I’m sure that’s not exclusive to us. But the idea persists in the modern church that the more we are being persecuted and opposed, why, the more right we must be! This very idea was shared from the pulpit in GC. We tend to overlook the fact that a lot of the suffering of the early pioneers – cholera, infant mortality – was just a fact of life in the 1840s/1850s.6. And don’t even get me started on the idea that none of the pioneers complained, not even the children. That was also shared in the last GC and I’m calling a hefty dose of BS.
Anyway, can you guys help me get a handle on my emotions about this thing? It’s mild distaste right now, but I’m going to have to figure out how I’m going to address it when the idea becomes more than an abstraction in a few mmore years (when DD is older). And I know that this isn’t a doctrinal issue at all, but it’s one that’s become deeply entrenched in our culture (are the youth in Singapore or the Ukraine pulling handcarts around in silly clothing? Or is this just an American thing?) and I just don’t see it going away anytime soom.
I’m sure you will find a sympathetic ear here. There have been other posts on Trek experiences that others could probably point you to (or a quick search would find). But I’m with you 100%. My feeling is that our pioneer ancestors given a choice between an uncomfortable wagon ride that would last for months or an air conditioned car zipping along a smooth highway at 75 mph (or whatever) wouldn’t have even thought about it. I think they look at our feeble attempts to mimic their experience and say “WHY?” I have never participated in a trek experience and have no desire to do so. There are better ways to spend time and resources. That said, if someone gets something out of the experience, more power to them. Perhaps, the way to think about it is that different experiences mean different things to different people. There are activities that I engage in that I find meaningful and fulfilling that others would consider a waste of time. And it probably would be a waste of their time. To each his own, I guess. What I don’t like are these attempts to “guilt” people into participating in experiences they’ve no desire to participate in (I’ve been on the receiving end of those attempts!) Allow me the freedom to find my own spiritual experiences, thank you!
There is a long thread about this in our archives. I suggest reading it, since there is a really good mix of comments (40 total). “
Pioneer Trek is Stupid” ( http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4419&p=59751&hilit=trek#p59735 Old-Timer wrote:There is a long thread about this in our archives. I suggest reading it, since there is a really good mix of comments (40 total).
“
Pioneer Trek is Stupid” ( http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4419&p=59751&hilit=trek#p59735 You had me at ‘Pioneer Trek Is Stupid’
Honestly, I question whether any ‘testimony’ gained via handcart tourism is actually a testimony. I would tend to lump it in with statements like “I know this church is true!” Also, somebody needs to sit all the youth down (and their leaders!) and say, “Just because you’re crying doesn’t mean you’re feeling the Spirit.” Repeat as necessary.
Just to say it, not everyone in the comments believes the title. 
For one, I have no desire to participate, but each of my children who has participated has had a good experience. As is the case with most things, it varies radically at the local level.
Well, I think it can be stupid without being bad. Although the restrictions mentioned in the OP of that thread (leaders searching youth’s belongings for contraband; rationing water) sound pretty cult-like to me. Frankly, if I want to have an outdoors-based spiritual experience, I’ll take the family camping and we will have a bonfire and talk about the Gospel. Whereas the pioneer trek that RebeccaD described is definitely not one I’d feel comfortable sending my kid on whether I’m there or not.
At the very least, it sounds Pharasaical to say “your spiritual experience is dependent on the length of your skirt or the width of your hat brim.” (And surprise, the clothing requirements are way stricter for girls than they are for boys. Boys can get away with pretty much wearing their normal clothes and just adding a pair of suspenders or something.)
Joni, your post was incredibly entertaining! Also true, insightful, and funny 😆 I think you answered your thread question (“What…?”) with the observations. For me, you seemed to describe it well. My daughter did it several years ago and had a horrible experience–largely because she wasn’t prepared for the heat and she has a restricted diet, so it was a challenge. The photos taken of her and the others are evidence it wasn’t very fun.
Did she learn any valuable experiences and does she look back on it fondly? I don’t know, I have to ask her.
Positive thought: I think we have enough challenges in this day and age, but maybe the perspective of the
differentchallenges other LDS had during their time is a good experience. I don’t know. I think what I don’t like is the pressure to participate. Go if you want, but don’t go if you aren’t interested. It was sort of like that when I was 14…I had no interest in week-long Scouting camp outs and hikes. I despised it. But I felt incredible pressure to go and most often did (I never enjoyed it.) I like working long hours outside in the heat and sun so I’m no girly man, but there’s a pay off for me in what I accomplish and it holds interest for me. A pioneer trek along a highway watching the cars go by doesn’t.
joni, I have never participated in a ‘trek’. However, all my kids did and every one of them liked it a lot, and still speak of it.
Joni wrote:can you guys help me get a handle on my emotions about this thing?
I’m sure you won’t appreciate this advice, but IMO, you should start from a position of thinking what a cool and unique experience it will be, and then allow that there are crazies that spoil parts of it. You seem like you WANT it to be stupid and then go looking for reasons to back up your wishes.The ‘trek’ is based on the concept that doing hard things builds strength; emotional strength and spiritual strength. I agree with that concept 100%, and have observed it in my own life, in the life of my children, and in the life of YM in the Church programs.
I’m sure there are kids that have a good experience and seeing what it means to struggle physically to achieve a goal can be worthwhile. My problem with trek is that it’s based on a bad idea, handcarts, and a disaster, Martin & Willy companies that resulted from incompetence of the worst kind. Those people were spiritually coerced into believing that will enough faith they’d be fine and paid for it with their lives and if the leadership did something like that today they’d be in jail. For years it was never discussed or taught for this reason but then the whole business was dusted off, given a new spin and now here we are. There’s no changing it now but it’s still something that makes me angry. Enough said. Funny. My first thought when I saw the thread title and before reading your post was the same thought you ended on. Do they do this in other countries? At least with that same commitment (most stakes in the US vs. one or two fringe groups abroad). I don’t think it’s about suffering, I think the intention is to sacrifice, and I think there’s a difference between the two. The activity must bear some fruit, otherwise it would just be sweltering in the oppressive heat of summer.
I think it helps to give youth some perspective. They may gain a bit of insight into the sacrifices that others have had to make and that might help them frame their current challenges in a new light, one that they can face a bit easier.
I’ve never been on a trek, I joined the church when I was too old for the youth programs, but I have heard some stories from our stake treks about the youth coming away with a better understanding of gratitude, sacrifice, knowing what it feels like to be saved from a desperate situation, etc.
Also, I think a part of the reason we do treks is that it’s a missionary tool. Outside of the mormon corridor events like these get written up in papers.
Joni wrote:6. And don’t even get me started on the idea that none of the pioneers complained, not even the children. That was also shared in the last GC and I’m calling a hefty dose of BS.
I didn’t watch conference. Can you help me find the reference for this. Seems like a pretty silly claim to make.
I was also interested in your observations about the “game of life”
Quote:When the kids are all in the R.S. room, and their candy has been taken away (they’ll get it back later, which is why their names need to be on the bags), have someone give a talk about how life is like a carnival: all loud, full of fun and games, with people willing to grab them and try to get them to play – leading them away from the “church,” getting them to give away what they have for more and more of what they think they want. Tell the kids that they will collect a lot of things in life (money, cars, homes, “toys”) but in the end, they can’t take it with them.
I find it ironic that they say that “they can’t take it with them” but in the end everybody gets to keep the candy bags they collected.
🙄 I think I’ll pass on directing my ire a the pioneer trek. I only have so much ire to spread around and I’m saving it for lessons that diminish the atonement and self worth like the “licked cupcake” model.
Ok, I had to look up “liked cupcake model” and now I’m howling with laughter. I guess it’s not funny at all but being as far removed from it as I am I’m finding it funny that anyone everthought that was a good idea. I’m going to jump on the bandwagon with those that think the treks are a stupid idea. I have never been on one, all four of my children have. It was not an EFY like experience for any of them, it wasn’t a girls camp like experience for my daughter, it wasn’t even a Scout camp like experience for the boys. For the most part they thought it was fun to an extent but I can’t say any of them came home with any greater appreciation of the pioneers or sacrifice or anything like that. FWIW our stake doesn’t ration food and water like some apparently do (here was the first I heard of that). I think it is worth pointing out that of the estimated 70,000 saints who immigrated to Utah before the railroad, a very small percent, probably less than 5%, exact numbers aren’t known, came by handcart. It’s also worth pointing out that there were also wagons with the handcarts that carried things like food, tents, and other supplies. And, the idea that none complained or murmured or later spoke poorly of the experience is also false – I do like that the movie 17 Miracles does make a point that there was murmuring and complaining along the way.
I hadn’t ever heard the licked cupcake thing, either. Utterly ridiculous.
I misspoke, it wasn’t the Game of Life, it was the Carnival of LifePoint being, we tend to think that a lot of time spent preparing an activity = a great activity that will build testimony. Carnival of Life doesn’t seem to be so popular anymore but we are schlepping handcarts around the state park instead. Which at the very least, promotes a very American-centric, and specifically a very Utah-centric, view of the Church.
I also wonder what it is going to take for this trend to die out. Frankly, I’m surprised that there hasn’t been a disaster yet.
Quote:Which at the very least, promotes a very American-centric, and specifically a very Utah-centric, view of the Church.
Just curious about why you see it that way.
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