What's A Pioneer Trek?

Here is a dizzying 3.5 minutes of pictures that represents:

Thousands of hours of preparation
9 buildings painted
1 temple built
185 youth attending
55 adult leaders
18 re-enactment scenes from Church History
26 rehearsal days
3 work-Saturdays that involved hundreds of men
5 days of living in a history lesson

And hopefully hundreds of changed lives. Hopefully, youth who now appreciate in a real way what men and women will sacrifice for what they know to be true. Minds that recognize that meeting hardship with courage and persecution with patience is the Lord's way. Hearts that will see their own trials as an opportunity to shine the way pioneers of the 1800s did.

I hope that hundreds were strengthened and taught. But, I know for sure that one was.

President Christensen asked if it was all worth it. I've asked myself that for months now. His answer was, "Absolutely!"

My answer is not so simple. Mine sounds like, Please let it have worked. Please let the youth understand what we tried to communicate in all of these hours of labour. The Newel K Whitney store full of treats and wooden toys, and the blacksmith who fashioned "prarie diamond" rings out of nails, and the stilt races, and the quilting, and the daily newspaper, and the square dancing, and the stool crafts, and the stained glass, and the rifle shooting. These were all only a backdrop to convey the real message: Jesus Christ has a church on the earth. He is real and He offers the way to happiness for the 80 years we get on earth and the eternities we get after those 80 years. His church was organized on the earth many times, including in the 1800s by Joseph Smith. But it is not Joseph Smith's church. It is the Lord's! It continues on with a living prophet. And it will continue on until the Saviour comes again. Saints in the 1800s knew it. That's why they endured what they did. People know it now. That's why they spend thousands of hours creating a pioneer Trek. His work deserves our very best efforts and our sacrifice. Oh, please let them have heard the message. Then it will all be worth it a hundred times over.