These teens re-lived the hardships of the Mormon Trail? Such silly statements denigrate the great sacrifices made by the Mormon pioneers.

Oh Brother, the mormon march to mecca.

Many youth and adults from our Stake recently had the opportunity to participate in a Trek. No we did not live through many of the difficulties that the early Mormon Pioneers did. Yes, we walked and pulled handcarts for a meer 25 miles over 2.5 days. A short representation of a wonderous, life changing experience. We were not looking to suffer all that those early Saints did. We were honoring them with remembrance and a bit of sacrifice from our comfort zones. Not silly. Do not mock and denigrate those who while doing only small things, at least did much more than you. We got up we walked we talked we laughed in sun, rain, mud. We walked for a moment in the steps of those who came before. We gained a strength from their lingering spirit of courage and testimony.

How come all the other pioneers that settled the west seemed to have it so much easier? Was it because they planned better? Were smarter? Hardier?

My oldest son went on a trek and had a marvels time, my other son was unable to go do to a medical problem and was very upset because he could not go and when the next trek come he will be 20 and unable to go.

According to Church History nearly 70,000 pioneers made the trek west in over 10,000 vehicles. Of that total only about 3,000 individuals came by handcart. The westward movement had been going on for nearly ten years before the first handcart ever crossed the plains.

So I ask, why focus all this time, energy and attention on such a miniscule part of the pioneer movement? Of all the success' of the origional pioneer experiences, we choose to narrowly focus on the worst planned and executed experience in all of pioneer history and 're-enact' it faithfully over and over again as if it is gospel doctrine?

Please, someone tell me why?

My point exactly Narrow Focus. These people suffered due to poor leadership from the LDS church. Poorly planned, poorly financed, and poorly executed. Not by the pioneers, but by the LDS organizers and leaders. That's just a statement of fact folks. Don't take it personal.

Fredd is exactly correct. The Church's history is filled with incompetence in its leadership. Take Mountain Meadows Massacre as an example. Even if you assert that Brigham Young did not order it, there is no denying it happened on his watch, and was the result of lack of clear direction and untimely communication - i.e., incompetent leadership! Because the Church operates with many volunteers in local leadership positions, and provides very little practical training, the Church has been and always will be plagued by gross incompetence. Those are the facts.

Narrow Focus | 8:19 a.m. July 13, 2009 Fredd | 9:59 a.m. July 13, 2009 Anonymous | 11:52 a.m. July 13, 2009 All three of you don't know church history, the members were forced from their homes by a murderess, thieving mob. They had no choose but to leave all they owned, well 99% of it anyway. If it had not been for the leadership all would have died.

Of the pioneers driven from their homes in the 1840's ALL of them traveled west in Ox or Mule drawn wagons. Most of them survived the westward trek and had little incident along the way. Many stayed behind and were not killed.

Handcart pioneers came largely from from England and other parts of Europe in the 1850's. They were not driven from their homes, they came willfully - to be part of Zion. They were extremely destitue and because of their poverty the Handcart method was devised to bring them west. Only about 12 handcart companies ever made the trek west with the first leaving in the early 1850's.

The failure of the Martin and Willey companies was a combination of poor leadership (localized) and stubborn immigrants who didn't realize how bad conditions could get. Many people tried to tell them not to leave so late in the year. They refused to listen and left late in the year anyway.

It is also not true that all of the Martin and Willey pioneers remained faithful to the end. Upon arrival in SLC several left the Church because of the events they experienced.