My daughter and her husband are being the ma and pa of Trek for the second time. So I get to hear first hand how "amazing" it is for the kids. What is amazing to me, is how manipulative it is. You put kids in a situation where they have to endure hardship to some degree, which guarantees they will feel emotions. Then the church hijacks those feelings and slaps a testimony label on them. One stunt they pull on the kids is to blindfold them, take off their shoes and socks and place their feet in buckets of ice water. Then relate the story of SOME of the pioneers who were unfortunate enough to have to cross rivers in the winter months.
I just find the whole thing distasteful. They are manufacturing feelings so they can con the kids into thinking they felt the "spirit", whatever the hell that means.
I have been on Trek. We went to Martins Cove. What the pioneers had to endure and what they were forced to do is amazing. But I also feel if JS and the the early church had not been such terrible neighbors, maybe the church headquarters would still be in Missouri.
Anyone else been on Trek, and if so, what feelings do you have about this little church recruitment tool?

It does sound a bit EST'y.

I agree. It's manipulative, in a cultish way. Sleep deprivation, dehydration, fatigue, heat exhaustion, etc. Of course they are going to be vulnerable.

Looking into my nevermo family history, I have become convinced that people emigrate to new countries or new places for their own reasons. The reasons often include religion, but IMO are more complex than that. The immigrants are looking for a new opportunity and a fresh start for both themselves, and perhaps their immediate families. But in the end, it is a deeply personal decision. The immigrants are attempting to further their own interests, often at a potential or real great personal sacrifice.

So I don't get the ancestor-worship of Trek. Why should a young person attempt to recreate the experience of their pioneer ancestors? The young person will make their own decisions about the best, most productive place to live and raise a family. One day some humans will be making decisions about whether to immigrate to Mars. I have my own opinions about that, but I think that such decisions are neither to be admired nor treated with derision.

When creating a loyal group, it is helpful to have a creation myth and to make new generations go through the creation symbolically and physically. It ties them to the larger group and the tradition.

In lots of primitive cultures the coming-of-age rituals are like this, with the initiate going through frightening and painful experiences to gain a personal stake in the myth. Circumcision, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, baptism, etc., are all such rituals. So too are young people going through the temple for baptisms of for the dead--and, more impressively, the whole temple marriage charade, in which the couple participates in the creation of the universe. The couple are thus bound to the church, their family traditions, and even to God's creation of the universe and of human life. It's psychologically powerful stuff.

This trek nonsense is the same. You put people into painful situations and manipulate their emotions; you also tell them this is their heritage, what their ancestors went through for them. It binds the young to the church and to their family histories. The goal is not what you suggest as healthy--the exercise of personal choice--but rather the psychological constriction of personal choice.

It probably does create more loyalty to the church. That benefit is small, however, when compare to the forces that are slowly tearing people away from Mormonism.

I've watched my wife and kids do TREK (I didn't do it because my ancestors crossed the plains in trains).

The first one did it many years ago. TREK was much smaller and more likely risky for participants' health and safety. Something about rationing water comes to mind...but it was a long time ago.

The last one did it several years ago. There were pre-made handcarts, porta-potties, and a lot more organization and safety procedures. The Boner.

This video is about 90 min. long, but very informative.


Historian Will Bagley's "Truth about Trek."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou47dupzoys

By 'TREK' do you mean pioneer trek? I don't know if the name has changed since I went. I was forced by my parents to go on the pioneer trek in the 90's. It was awful, but I guess that's the point. To reenact the struggles that the pioneers went through in an effort to make kids appreciate it I suppose? It's one of those things that I can look back on and think how bizzare it was and the further distance I have from the church it just seems more strange.

Oh and an 'important' person on our trek had a serious medical issue occur while we were hiking over mountains and he had to be airlifted out. You think 'the church' paid for that?!

I have never understood people wanting to experience pain for pain's sake. Sure, there is pain involved in running a marathon, for example, but there is also accomplishment in the end. Most runners enjoy the training process, and there's the bonuses of having a trained, healthy body with endorphins coursing through it.

But to want to feel the pain...? Are kids these days that bored?

Why not have the males go through "childbirth." They could go for 12 hours with nothing to eat except ice chips. They could be forced to lie in bed, in a ward of women, in actual labor, right next to them, and wait, and wait, and wait, while listening to them moan and some of them scream. I know, the Mormon meetings already teach kids to endure boredom, so some sort of physical pain needs to be added to this. Make the males do heavy lifting for 12 hours, with no break, no sleep the night before no comfort, no encouraging words (My husband was not there--he was playing golf.)

Make the men watch birthing movies, and listen to a dozen women tell in vivid detail exactly what happened when they gave birth. Oh yeah, don't forget the stories of women who died in childbirth, and of babies who died, or both. Then have the bishop speak to the males, and tell them that they owe everything to their brave mothers, so they don't DARE disobey and leave the cult.

And make them wear pantie hose and high heels, when they are doing the heavy lifting. Make them clean the hospital toilets.

Trek is merely a reenactment of a historical event that was so stupid that it never should have happened.

Do they point out that the death rate for handcart pioneers was significantly higher than for the non-Mormon pioneers?

My wife and I are catching flack for not letting our 2 teens go. Besides the whole it's BS, why would a group want to celebrate this? Do Japanese youth play interment camp all summer? I told my wife they could go under a few conditions. They had to keep it real. 50% mortality, no blacks and multiple wives. And the WOW is only a suggestion.

haha Best comment and thought about trek! I wish I had given that response when my daughter went!

The mock trek sounds stupid. The real trek was stupid as hell, poorly planned, and never should have happened.Inspiration, my big ol' butt.

Was it last year that a woman died on the "Let's-Pretend-We're-Another-One-of-Brigham-Young's-Victims" fun ride in the Magic Kingdom?

Maybe it was the year before.

Two years ago. Somewhere down south.

I never did it but my family did. They gave reports of being overcome with awe at the sacrifice our ancestors had made. They would say with tears in their eyes, "Now I understand how Aunt Matilda did it as a widow. God gave them strength."

Meanwhile, I was thinking, 'A day in the cotton fields does not give one a deep understanding of being a slave."

Why it is different for the Mormons is that their ancestors weren't just moving;just looking for a better place to live. No, the Mormons ancestors were following their prophet at great sacrifice. They were going because God wanted them to. They crossed too late because Brigham commanded it even though everyone knew it was too late. They were fighting all the elements and the odds to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. Don't know why God didn't part a few things for them to cross like he used to do for the Israelites. The Red Sea thing was pretty cool.

Not to mention that it was a necessity due to the mobs wanting to get rid of the block-voting Mormons wherever they went. Persecution my a$$, they were properly driven out.

Haha. Oh yeah. There was that too.

My TBM wife and I were trek ma and pa a dozen years ago. It was odd, but not any more weird than other things that the church asked us to do. It was like an extended campout while dragging a hand cart. Oh, and there was a tearful testimony meeting at the end.

Four years later we were invited back for the next one. Someone else must have been in charge. We did a pre-trek campout for leaders. The plans for each stage of the trek were explained. There were so many new events, all involving mind games and manipulation, that I told them I could not be a part of it.

It is hard to imagine that I used to think that kind of thing was good for the kids. I am embarrassed.

Trek is over.
Heard a few more details about this sensory deprivation tactic they use on the kids.
Feet in ice water is only one stunt.
They have the blindfolded kids hold a doll, listen to stories about SOME pioneers who lost children on the trail, then they take the doll out of the kids hands to try to evoke the emotion of the child dying.
The adults that go on trek as the "ma & pa" get to hold hands while blindfolded, then are forced to let go of their spouse hand to try to get them to feel the emotion of their spouse dying.
All this is going on while the Morg cryers are singing in the background.
They also have someone behind the kids place a hand on their shoulder, to signify Jesus, and then they remove the hand to try and make them feel alone and lost....blah...blah...blah....

They play other mind games with the kids along the way. Every group (family) has an infant that they get told dies and they make the kids dig the grave and bury the doll.
They kill chickens to try and add realism to this counterfeit experience.
In the end they hope this emotional ambush will be mistaken for "The Spirit" and the kids will become part of the collective for life.

Whaaaaattt?

That is just plain nuts!

:-O

After all these years, I finally know the REAL reason why my daughter refused to go, year after year. Ward members even offered to pay her way, and provide her with clothes, but we knew it wasn't about the money, and my daughter loved to camp and hike. She would NEVER, ever harm a living creature, or be a witness to something like killing a chicken! She carefully removes spiders and flies from the house, and gently releases them into the garden.

The cult lost a great potential mother-in-Zion!

Me again.

A war veteran once told me how they would subject prisoners to all sorts of sensory deprivation. Then he'd give one a stick of gum. That prisoner would then become loyal to him.

Same thing.

TREK: Another reason for Mormons to feel and act superior. To Mormons, the only pioneers that matter are Mormon pioneers.

I was a convert to the Mormon church. I grew up hearing stories of my nevermo pioneer ancestors who made their way to Ohio in the early 1800s (more than 20 years before the Mormons made their way to Utah), when the entire state of Ohio was pretty much a wilderness covered in trees. They arrived with a few hand tools and proceeded to chop down the trees and clear the land for crops. It was back breaking labor.

When my family converted to the Mormon church in the 1970s, we heard the stories of the Mormon pioneers making their way to Utah. Mormons seemed to think that the only true pioneers were Mormon pioneers. My ancestors were lesser than because they didn't push/pull a handcart to Utah with the Mormons. I was almost embarrassed to talk about my ancestors. The Mormons have such an attitude of superiority of so many things: The ONLY true church, The ONLY true pioneers, etc.

My TBM brothers children recently did trek. They don't have Mormon pioneer ancestry but are reenacting the handcart fiasco. I'll bet they know nothing of their Ohio pioneer ancestors.

Yep. I always felt lesser in the church for not having pioneer ancestry. My parents joined the church in the late 1960s.

About a decade ago, our ward planned a pioneer trek for the youth and I had a YW calling at the time. They wanted each person to have the name of a pioneer ancestor who they could pretend to be while on trek. They were to share the pioneer's story with others during trek as well. There was a person placed in charge of researching everyone's ancestry so that everyone had a pioneer name and story to share.

I, of course, didn't have a pioneer ancestor. The person in charge of pioneer names pulled me aside one day at church and said, "It's really unfortunate that you're not a descendant of pioneers." I told him that I actually have interesting ancestry, just not Mormon pioneer ancestry. I suggested that I could go on trek for one of my ancestors and share their story. Nope, I was told that just wouldn't do. They would find have to just find another pioneer name for me.

The whole thing rubbed me wrong and I ended up not going because of it.

Treks are just another way of inducing Stockholm Syndrome.

All of our kids participated in TREK over the years. (The stake holds TREK every 4 years so that each child in the family will have a chance to participate, if they wish to do so). Each time, when our kids would "return and report" ;), they talked about the food and conditions. It was for 3 days, covering around 26-30 miles in Wyoming. One day's rations consisted of watery potatoes which passed as potato soup, one roll with a small piece of cheese, and breakfast being a watery oatmeal. Our son is extremely allergic to potatoes, so he was able to bring his own food which was mainly rolls and some fruit. Each time, there was a re-enactment of a pioneer woman whose baby had died. The woman would pretend to cry while holding a doll, and then some of the "PA's" would have shovels, and dig a hole in the dirt, and they would bury the doll. Fun. There is a time in the TREK when everyone has to do the "Silent Pull" over a high hill. At the top of the hill, one of the TREK guys played "Come, Come Ye Saints" on his violin. Wow. I can't think of a more enjoyable way to spend 3 whole days and nights!

I hope they used biodegradable dolls. Think of all the thousands of plastic dolls scattered throughout southwestern Wyoming.

Now, imagine hundred years from now some poor archeologist doing digs and discovering these mysterious dolls.

Who were the people who so lovingly buried the dolls? What purpose did the dolls serve? How did the dolls fit with the groups' mythology? Why were all the dolls white? Why weren't any of the dolls anatomical correct? We'll never know the answers to the mysterious dolls of Wyoming! Pa's Boner.

LOL, awesome thought, but (sadly) it may take more than 100 years for the inhabitants of this continent to forget Mormonism . . . although one can dream!

As an archaeologist in Wyoming I was having the same thought. If they are doing this on BLM land, they could get their permits pulled.

I did the Trek thing against my will

I did not dress the part which bothered the bishopric. ball Jacket and a ball cap.
I accompanied my now ex mega tbm wife as I am an outdoors guy and can make chicken salad out of chicken shit when things get difficult and they did. It snowed,rained, hail and wind blew down tents everywhere but ours. I had lashed them down and supported them for wind. I brought rolls of heavy visqueen which save the day in snow. I knew from experience the high desert. The kids thought they were spared and blessed over the others- hardly you idiots.
My point is that sickened me most to my stomach was the testiphony meeting they had out on the high Deseret as the sun went down.. The scene was idyllic. But what got me was out of the hundred or more kids every single one got up and gave the same wording as the previous kid - sheeple, one after the other saying the same words and crying or smirking( for boys) and saying fast as they could 'inthenameofjesuschristamen'.
What a brainwashing waste of time and missed teaching opportunity for kids. Ancestor worship of men, women and children dying in the desert following a JIM jones type cult leader ordering them in to harms way sickens me to the core.

inthenameofjesuschristamen

Yes, they use very well known manipulation techniques. I always thought it was interesting that the guy in Bush's cabinet who came up with the justification for torture and the techniques that would best be used, was Mormon. Gee, what we learn on Trek could come in useful in government jobs down the road.

And to add more drama and emotion to it, add things like someone riding in on a horse to deliver a kid's mission call, or burying the bloody clothes from your friend's fatal car accident along the trail or best yet, watching one of your leaders succumb from heat stroke. How can anyone possibly not know their ancestors sacrificed so much just so their progeny could have the gospel. "Weep. Weep. Weep. I can feel it. See the tears in my eyes? It's true, I know it's true."

Mission accomplished.

As a third generation member with many many more generations born on US soil I would always say

"I don't understand the fascination with trek and celebrating YOUR pioneer ancestors who were the dregs of 19th century Europe!"

"It is way better to celebrate MY pioneer ancestors who were the dregs of 17th century Europe!"

Ok, I've got a doozy for you all.

A trek in a Texas stake about 4 years ago and the SP was on the trek with his daughter. They did the following - the SP starts to struggle to walk as he already had a pre-existing medical condition anyway, so nothing too surprising so far.

Anyways the handcart had to carry him the entire trek. The last morning they came out and could not find the SP, everyone looked for him and eventually found him on a rock out of camp dead. Sat up in the upright position. They rallied around and found his daughter and she was beside herself with distress. It only became clear the final evening he was alive when the testimony meeting was in full flow and was considered a roaring success.

Yes, this really happened. Wow!
Talk about emotional manipulation.