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Old-Timer wrote: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.
Not sure if this is what they meant, but have you ever tried to talk about the Utah pioneers in New Zealand? I’m pretty sure I’d get the same reception in other parts of the world.
I tend to think it is like many things, when we go in with specific expectations in one direction we are more likely to be disappointed. If we go in open to whatever the experience may bring we have a much better chance of getting something positive out of it. I liked Trek. Neither of my siblings chose to go but I’m glad I did. I’m a better person for it. It was a significant growing experience. For me personally, my first night was one of the most exhausting physical experiences of my life and helped me form appreciation for generations of people that came before me. Beyond that, I formed friendships with people in my stake I otherwise would’ve never talked to. Without saying much, some of these friendships have had a profound impact on my life. Each stake is different, I guess. Being in Utah, we did have that campfire conversation about our ancestors and were asked to share stories about them, but a good portion of the people in mine came from convert families or were descendants of “bad guys” aka cowboy criminals that made life hard for Mormons in Utah
Really though. I was blessed to have a “family” of people that were more about fun and less about rigidly following all the rules. It made all the difference in my spiritual experience.
I guess that’s how it goes with most social activities in the church. We’re social creatures by nature so having positive experiences with fellow church members can be really uplifting and rewarding, and then there are those negative ones…
I was ready to lay the smack down when I saw that title, but that’s because I’m a die hard Star Trek fan. I actually never even heard of the trek reenactments until I was in college. I always found all the pioneer worship kind of buggy. As a second gen Mormon (parents are converts) it always seemed to me that people were bragging about their “important” ancestors and wanting us all to worship them. I love the humour in this thread. It’s so helpful to have a good laugh about the painful experiences. No, in UK we don’t do trek. I think we once had a Saturday youth activity (or maybe youth convention) where we raced handcarts round a field. I’m not sure they planned a race but give a bunch of teenage boys a pair of (what look like) chariots and what else is going to happen?
I’m starting to imagine other countries equivalent. Will African youth recreate the three-day sweaty bus ride across two countries to get to the temple? Maybe UK youth will recreate living in 19thC city hovels and traveling to Liverpool dock?
Quote:I’m starting to imagine other countries equivalent. Will African youth recreate the three-day sweaty bus ride across two countries to get to the temple? Maybe UK youth will recreate living in 19thC city hovels and traveling to Liverpool dock?
Two good examples of why I don’t see treks as Utah-centric or America-centric – just as I don’t see pilgrimages to Mecca or Jerusalem/Bethlehem as Middle East-centric. I’m not fond of treks of any kind, personally, but I don’t think pilgrimages to Mecca are stupid, as long as they are meaningful for the people involved.
It’s whether or not they are meaningful that is the key – and that varies from person to person.
Old-Timer wrote:
It’s whether or not they are meaningful that is the key – and that varies from person to person.That is key. The only real problem I have with that is the forcing of it to be meaningful. It isn’t a LDS only phenomenon.
I regularly watch and interact with Orthodox Jews, Muslims and some evasively Christians among others.
It is openly and strongly as well as not infrequently taught it should be high on your agenda of importance.
What I regularly see is if it hasn’t become so by a person in a religious family or neighborhood, it becomes a project to convince them and make it so. That there is something not right with the person if it isn’t one of the highest of priorities.
With that said its hard to know what is legitimate meaningful and what became meaningful by peer pressure and coercion. Not talking just about LDS camps but all religious journeys in the respective religion. I see huge amounts of peer pressure on a single person lasting years by community, family and congregations. Letting them go or not and encouraging there individual selfs based on non pressure feelings toward the decisions to go or not and encouraging their decisions either way.
With daily talks about “keep working on him/her while I observe the conversation.
I hope we as a community can raise above this and exhort no pressure to those who do or don’t want to go. I feel it’s a dream but one can hope. I hope we can rise above the norm and set better examples in this regard. I hope we can do better in this small subset of a community right here. Finding out if they legitimately want to go or if they feel pressured and let them make there choice, while letting them know there choice should not be based on pressure.
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