By Mindy Durden | Recently in July, over 300 youths and leaders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints showed up on a Thursday at 8 a.m. to start their three-day journey to link them with the past. They arrived in full pioneer attire, which most of them made themselves, and a five-gallon bucket that held only the bare necessities.
The group consisted of over 245 youths from all over Forsyth, Hall, Gwinnett, Lumpkin and Dawson County. Their journey started at the Church meeting house in Suwanee, where over 100 parents and leaders had spent the last year recreating and building the city of Nauvoo, Ill. to look like it did back in the mid 1800s. Nauvoo is the city where most pioneers gathered to start their journey out to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Sawing wood
Later that day, the youths and leaders were transported to a property near Cleveland, Ga., where they pushed and pulled wooden handcarts that were filled with all of their supplies, just the way the early Mormon pioneers did. Over the next three days, the youths were happy to walk a total of eight miles in 90 degree weather, instead of the 1,300 miles that the early pioneers walked in temperatures as cold as 10 below. The trails that the youths walked consisted of river crossings, steep hills, and many reenactments of stories that were experienced by early members of the Mormon faith so long ago.
At one point of the trek the youths were able to witness a re-enactment, that of a pioneer mother, whose small infant died on their journey. The youths watched as this mother had to say goodbye to her child and dig a small grave for him. Anna Stephenson, from the Hamilton Mill Ward, commented: “I have a baby brother that I never got to meet, and I thought about how I will get to meet him when I die.”
The air was filled with a joyful spirit so that the youths couldn’t stop smiling. People helping each other, caring for each other, and grateful that they had this opportunity.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, said, “Pioneers learned that doing hard things deepened and strengthened body, mind, and spirit; magnified their understanding of their divine nature; and heightened their compassion for others.”
Pushing up a mountain
Today’s Mormon youths that participated in this journey endured many hardships and learned to work together to overcome the challenges that came before them. They gained a confidence that can only be achieved from overcoming hard obstacles in their life.
Ryan Howells, a leader over the trek, said, “We hope that each of these youths will have a better understanding of what some people went through just to have the simple freedom to worship how they feel. We often forget that there were many that came before us, of different religions, and gave up everything they had, including family members that they lost along the way, just to have the freedom that we so freely have today.”
In a week where the biggest subject in America was same-sex marriage being legalized, a small group of Mormon youths focused on the freedom of religion. They honored their ancestors by giving three days of their lives to live as they did and witness first hand that the freedoms we have today were not just given to them— they were earned.
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