trek mormon church

Religion in the American West

Mormon Trek

Each year, Mormon youth groups around the world participate in several-day-long reenactments known as trek. During trek, these groups walk in the footsteps of the pioneers who traveled across the country from upstate New York to Utah. Young Mormons wear mostly authentic clothes and, along with a family group, pull handcarts across terrain reminiscent of important locations from the journey west. Latter-day Saint youth learn about the core values of the religion and visit places of religious significance. For Mormons, trek is a safe way to interact with the experiences of Mormon pioneers on their journey west. Trek is an immensely significant religious event that allows Mormons to inhabit sacred time and place in a carefully crafted and controlled environment.

The power of trek comes from its universality and accessibility since this allows Mormons from all over the world to tap into the spiritual well of power that trek represents. Although the premise of trek is simple, it is a meticulously constructed program that balances the necessities of reenactment with the harsher realities of the original expedition. The official trek manual provided by the Church suggests activities like pulling handcarts, devotionals, scripture study time, singing hymns, a women’s pull, reenactment of stories, and walking for a specific pioneer ( Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2015, 13-14 ). Most stakes (the standard church subdivision for an area that tends to run trek) offer some combination of these activities, each of which encourages young Mormons to reflect on their spirituality and their connections to the pioneers. There is much emphasis placed on the core gospel principles of sacrifice, faith, love, and perseverance. In this way trek is a tool of the church to guide young Mormons to leading virtuous lives according to Mormon principles.

Trek also gives Mormon youth the ability to draw clear connections between the hardships they face and those of the pioneers. Countless testimonials provided by recent trek participants illustrate the manner in which trek strengthens participants’ connection to the spiritual aspects of their past, including the land, which they refer to as Zion, and the people, with whom they forge a personal connection ( Anonymous, 2:26 ). This connection allows the trek participants to relive the founding of the religion and experience the lives of the mythologized pioneers.

Trek is an instrumental part of Mormonism’s ability to maintain strict adherence to religious values. The modern equipment and favorable weather make the practice a flawed reenactment. However, it is tremendously successful as a way to force young Mormons to reflect on their place in the grand scheme of the religion. The widespread accessibility of trek across the globe is indicative of the success of Mormonism internationally. Trek is a way to prompt reflection upon the journey west and sacrifice of the first pioneers. It creates a way for young Mormons to not only connect to the pioneers as role models, but also to recognize personal hardships as instances of the early trials faced by the pioneers.

-Tucker Ward, November 2018

Suggestions for Further Reading:

Anonymous, Pioneer Journeys—More than a Trek .  YouTube Video. Salt Lake City, UT: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2016.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Handcart Trek Reenactment: Guidelines for Leaders . 2015.

Jones, Megan Sanborn. “(Re)Living the Pioneer Past: Mormon Youth Handcart Trek Re-Enactments.” Theatre Topics 16, no. 2 (2006): 113-130.

Featured Image:   “ A Group of Men Push a Handcart as They Go Uphill ” (2015).  LDS Media Library. Courtesy , LDS Media Library.

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How to Survive Your Trek Experience

Pioneer treks are a common summer activity for Church members around the world, allowing them to experience, if even partially, the challenges the earliest pioneers faced in searching for religious freedom in the 1800s. Opportunities abound to learn how suffering and sacrifice brings one close to the Savior. Walking in the pioneers’ footsteps, participants can feel empathy for those who heeded the call to gather to Zion.

“It’s important to remember the pioneers and what they did, because without them, we wouldn’t have the Church like it is today,” says 15-year-old Jenna Rasmussen, who embarked on a pioneer trek with her stake in June 2012. “Being able to see the struggles that they went through and sacrifices that they made for the Church shows you that we shouldn’t take it for granted. That was a big part of the lesson for me: you have to appreciate what we have.”

Rasmussen encourages every youth to participate in a trek, if possible.

“Go into it knowing that it’s going to be hard, but go into it knowing that it’s not about you. It’s about the kids who are on the trek,” she says. “It’s about how big of a difference you can make for them, and how real of an experience they can have—and most importantly, how much their testimony can grow in the time that you’re with them.”

Youth in Mongolia reenact a pioneer trek.

For many youth who would rather be at the movies or playing video games, leaving behind modern amenities may not exactly sound like fun. And when blisters and sore feet start setting in, attitudes can get even worse. When that happens, the charge to “do your duty with a heart full of song” becomes even greater for leaders (and any not afflicted with attitude-itis).

“You’ve got to get into it!” says James Baird. “You want to have a super optimistic attitude. Kids are going to complain.” He was called after his mission to be a “pa,” who, along with a “ma,” was the leader of a “family” typically comprising around 10 youths. One trek activity may consist of 20 such groups.

“You have to figure out how to be in a place where you can inspire them to keep going and to appreciate what they’re doing,” says Baird, who grew a beard and taught outdoor crafts to his trek family.

A positive approach may even need to involve embracing square dancing.

“We encourage them to learn how to do it [square dancing], as this was an important activity for the pioneers to rejuvenate them after long days on the trail,” says Elder Lorin Moench, the director of the Mormon Handcart Historic Sites of Wyoming, which encompasses about 100 miles of historic trails and locations and is the destination of about 25,000 trekkers each summer. He encourages trek participants to bring portable instruments such as harmonicas and violins to play at their campsites and along the trail.

Phillip Millett’s attitude proved to be the most important thing he brought with him on trek. At age 19, he was older than what was usual, but because he had had so much fun at trek four years earlier, he contacted the stake president, trek leaders, and the stake Young Men president in order to be able to join.

Eleven miles into the first 13 of the trek’s initial day, rain began to drizzle. After arriving at their camp that night, lightning prompted the families to seek shelter. Then sleet fell, with the temperature dropping 30 degrees in half an hour and biting air penetrating hundreds of teenagers.

With some of the trekkers beginning to contract hypothermia, the stake president ordered them off the mountain. Ward members drove to the location to quickly shuttle the youths to safety.

But Millett rose to the occasion, staying behind and loading other trekkers’ items into the vehicles. His effort proved to be crucial in helping some 200-plus people make it that night to a Heber barn owned by a ma and pa.

After the trek, a powerful testimony meeting was held in a stake youth sacrament meeting. When the stake Young Women president asked the self-described “tough guy” to share his feelings during the meeting, Millett soon found himself crying.

“I can count the number of times I have cried,” Millett says. “I could say I knew the Church was true, that I had a spiritual confirmation of that, and I could tell my peer group because of what I experienced over that weekend.”

The next week, Millett met with the stake president and began working on his mission papers.

As youth embark on modern-day treks and, in some cases, walk in the same places where the early Saints walked more than a hundred years before, their testimonies can be strengthened by learning more about the pioneers whose lives they are reenacting.

Youth can also gain a greater appreciation for the trials and faith of the pioneers by watching pioneer films such as the upcoming  Trek: The Movie   film , Ephraim's Rescue , and  17 Miracles at Mutual activities leading up to the trek. Keeping in mind the cause for which the early Saints were pushing forward can change the trek from a meander to a march.

That’s why it’s optimal for youths to find their own pioneer ancestry, Moench says. “If youth are unable to find an ancestor, they are encouraged to find the name of a pioneer and learn about their life and their experience with the handcart companies before walking in their behalf.”

Baird prepared extensively to lead the youth in trek by studying and pondering the scriptures and reading ample amounts of pioneer stories, considering how to share the experiences of his ancestors with his trek family along the trail and seeking counsel from the Spirit to understand how to direct his youth.

“I had the opportunity to work with some kids who needed some extra help or extra attention, so I was really excited to make a difference—to help them grow and change,” he says.

Physical Fitness

Pioneer treks range in mileage, but be ready to walk. A lot. A common suggestion is to take lengthy hikes and even runs to get in shape, so you can better enjoy the experience. Some days of marching can last as long as 13 miles, all while pulling handcarts over rough terrain.

“We had kids—we laughed, but it was true—walking like ducks,” says Gretta Millett, who has participated as a leader in four different treks. “Mile after mile, you get chafed. When you are told what to do, you may think you’re too tough. But then you walk.”

One of the most physically difficult but also most impactful experiences for many trekkers is the “women’s pull,” Moench says. During that time, the men and boys are called away from the handcarts and taken by their leaders to the top of a hill, where they learn about their priesthood responsibilities toward the women in their lives. Meanwhile, the women are told about how any pioneer women lost their husbands along the way (or temporarily to the Mormon Battalion) and had to pull the handcarts to Zion by themselves.

Then the women pull the handcarts up the hill while the men stand silently along each side of the road.

“It is usually a very tender and emotional experience for all,” Moench says.

For Baird’s family, the physical burden was huge, but the inner strength and connection it provided was as well. Among the three girls in his group pulling their handcart (along with the ma), one had shin splints and another was 12 years old—two years younger than the typical minimum age for participating in a trek. Once the team reached the top of the hill they had to conquer, the girl with shin splints collapsed. Baird carried her to a resting place immediately.

“To this day, I am not quite sure how she even pulled that handcart up that hill,” Baird says. “I was amazed to see how they overcame that obstacle.”

Treks offer acquaintance with nature, hard work, and living outside—but without the right gear, it can sometimes be a frustrating experience.

“BRING CHAPSTICK!” Rasmussen emphasizes.

“I wish I would’ve brought more socks,” she adds. And the type of sock can make a difference, too. “I went and got hiking socks and didn’t get any blisters, so that made everything better.”

But one of the biggest supplies that can make a difference is your pioneer clothing.

Rasmussen says the change in wardrobe (and leaving behind makeup and traditional fashion standards) helped her get in character.

“A pocketful of beef jerky never hurts either,” Baird adds.

Retailers like Zions Mercantile at Deseret Book provide bonnets, skirts, blouses ,  shirts, aprons, bandanas, suspenders , and satchels —and that’s just the clothing (pictured below). You can also find trek completion certificates, wristbands, neck coolers, journals, and dinnerware to make sure you’re fully prepared to have an immersive pioneer experience.

A variety of pioneer clothing, journals, and mementos are available at Deseret Book.

But regardless of what supplies participants bring on trek, the things they carry away are sure to be greater.

“In removing [youth] from their normal, everyday lives, they have to be reliant on the Spirit and their physical abilities in other ways. They have to rely on members of their trek family,” says Gretta Millett. “To make a difference, they have to work together. Working together is a really wonderful tool for friendships, to gain an appreciation for different people—not particularly with people you may associate with regularly.”

“Kids will bear testimony who never have before. They have the opportunity to recognize the Spirit. Sometimes, there’s a first time for them to recognize how it works in our life,” she says. “That’s when the miracles come: when there’s growth and challenges.”

To learn about safety guidelines or general trek information, visit lds.org and handcarttreks.com.

Pioneer trek is here. What you need to know

Latter-day saints reenact the pioneer trek into the salt lake valley every year. here’s what to bring, what to expect and how to learn more about the pioneers.

Members of the Lakeside Arizona Stake pull handcarts in their August 2010 pioneer reenactment.

Denise Wilkins

During the summer months, some Latter-day Saints participate in an event known as “Pioneer trek,” a microscale reenactment of when pioneers crossed the Plains into the Salt Lake Valley in the 1800s.

This popular event even has a movie made about it. If you’re going on a pioneer trek this summer, here’s what you need to know.

What to bring (and where to find it)

Stakes, which are groupings of congregations, often offer packing lists , and these packing lists include many of the same items. While going on these treks, Latter-day Saints wear period clothing. Stores like Deseret Book sell pioneer-appropriate outfits. Etsy is full of options , too.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also has provided simple patterns for pioneer clothing in its handbook on pioneer reenactments.

Other common needed items include a water bottle (especially in the summer heat), sunscreen, hygiene products, socks, moleskin, a 5-gallon bucket, bug spray, a flashlight, scriptures, lip balm, leather gloves and more. While trekkers often go to locations where handcarts are provided, the church also has a section in the handbook on how to build handcarts if needed.

What to expect

Trekkers can expect a 20- to 30-mile hike over three to five days. There are several locations where pioneer treks occur. Some of these locations provide rickshaws for the different physical needs of participants. These locations often provide handcarts, portable toilets, potable water and campsites, and all trek activities typically occur on the property.

The handbook advises that trekkers walk for 20-30 minutes at a time and then stop for water breaks. In the morning and at night, trekkers will often have scripture study, participate in dances, sing around campfires and learn pioneer history.

The Deseret News asked experienced trekkers what to expect on a trek.

A bishop in Utah County said, “Expect to drink more water than you ever have before. But also expect to come back changed.”

A Gen Zer whose family reunion each year includes a trek said, “I always loved my family more after I did trek. Whatever problems we had all went away when we worked hard together. Each year I would be so tired afterwards, but also happy that I saw my family differently.”

Learning pioneer history

Trek is all about honoring and remembering pioneer history. Before heading out on a trek, look at the Utah Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database .

• Pioneer database thriving and growing
• ‘Unwavering faith’: The stories of 8 female pioneers you’ve never heard of

The database has the names of tens of thousands of pioneers and thousands of journal entries. Church media has also published many pioneer stories for audiences of all ages to enjoy including pioneer recipes and touching stories about sacrifice . Stories about pioneers across the globe are also important to read to learn about pioneer history.

The church also publishes stories to read along the trek.

If you plan to go on a pioneer trek this year, be sure to check out the church’s website for resources, and of course, drink water.

Frequently Asked Questions about Trekking at the Wyoming Mormon Trail Sites

To make a reservation, return to the trekking webpage by clicking here .

If you don’t find the answer to your question, please contact the missionaries at [email protected] or 307-328-2953.

End of May through mid-August. Trekking typically begins the Tuesday after Memorial Day and runs for 12 weeks.

$15 per person, including all adult trekkers, leaders, staff members—even if they do not walk the trail. This fee is the same regardless of the length of the trek. The fee will be withdrawn from unit funds.

The site accommodates groups up to 600 people. Groups will be divided into subgroups of 150 people for trekking at Martin’s Cove and Sixth Crossing. Groups will be divided into subgroups of 300 for trekking at Rocky Ridge. Each subgroup will start on the trail an hour apart. Some of the trek itineraries are not available for all group sizes.

The site will provide up to 15 handcarts for every trek of 150 people. It is recommended that 6-10 people be assigned per handcart.

Yes, two missionaries accompany each trek group on the trails. The missionaries set the pace for the group.

If you want missionaries to tell stories along the trail (either in addition to or instead of members of your own group preparing stories to share), please communicate this to the trek coordinators prior to your arrival.

Each ward or stake must have two medical professionals for each trek. These must be licensed health care professionals. Medical doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and registered nurses are top-tier candidates, especially if they have had emergency medicine exposure and experience. You might consider calling a trek medical coordinator to handle finding and securing medical assistance for your trek. Accepted licensed professionals include MD, DO, DDS, PA, NP, LPN, RN, EMT-P, and EMT. If a unit does not have the required licensed medical support two weeks prior to their trek, the Wyoming Mormon Trails Sites will cancel the group’s trek reservation.

A trek is defined as a group of 150 people. If a ward or stake is large, they will need to calculate how many separate treks their group will be divided into and provide two medical professionals for each trek. (Example: if a group has 450 participants, they will be divided into three treks and need six medical professionals.)

Wards, stakes, families, and other groups.

Requests for trek reservations are accepted beginning September 15 for the next summer.

You will need to know three things to schedule a trek: (1) approximately how many people will be in your group, (2) which trek itinerary you prefer and itinerary you’d choose as a backup in case your preference is unavailable, and (3) three choices of dates for your trek. Once you have this information, request a trek reservation through an online form. Missionaries will review the request within a week and let you know if your trek can be scheduled. To make a request, go click here .

Itineraries

Trek itinerary options vary by group size. Click on the number of people in your group to view the itinerary options available for your group:  25-150 ,  151-300 , 301-450 , 451-600 .

Martin’s Cove loop is 6 miles. Sixth Crossing loop is 6 miles. Rocky Ridge loop is approximately 10 miles.

Groups must stay on the designated trail routes.

Trek start times are assigned by the missionaries. Martin’s Cove and Sixth Crossing treks start at 7:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., and 10:00 a.m. Rocky Ridge treks leave Sage Creek at 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.

Martin’s Cove and Sixth Crossing have river crossings, which are available depending on weather conditions and water levels.

Martin’s Cove and Sixth Crossing have parts of the trail that are ideal for a young women’s or young men’s pull.

Campgrounds at Martin’s Cove and Sixth Crossing have areas for square dancing. You will need to request to reserve the square dancing when you request a trek reservation. Each group must provide their own music, sound equipment, and caller.

Many groups choose to stop at one of the amphitheaters in Rock Creek Hollow. Reservations for day use of these amphitheaters can be made at here.

All campgrounds have available drinking water. Groups are responsible for filling up water containers before trekking. There is limited drinking water on the trails. Groups should bring two five-gallon jugs for each handcart.

Each campground has pit toilets, and the site stocks these with toilet paper. There are portable toilets along the trails.

The Rocky Ridge trail has only two toilet locations, which are several miles apart. Groups trekking at Rocky Ridge might choose to bring a garbage sack, bucket, and pop-up tent for emergency restroom needs along the trail.

We are a “pack in, pack out” site. Groups must take their trash with them when they leave the site. You may dispose of your trash at a city dump in one of the Wyoming towns for a fee. Please do not leave trash at any service stations or roadside rest areas.

While trekking, we recommend each handcart have a garbage bag tied to it. We encourage “leave no trace” trekking and camping, which helps preserve these sites for other groups.

Open fires are only allowed in fire rings at the campsite. Groups may bring propane stoves for cooking. Dutch ovens may be used in fire rings or on appropriate stands. Regulations in the area may restrict fires due to weather conditions.

No. Please contact the missionaries if you need to charge something during the day, such as medical devices. Generators and refrigerator trucks may run in the campground from 6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.

There are no cooking facilities. However, there are designated areas for groups to set up as kitchen areas.

The campground host will provide you with a cleaning checklist when you check in. Cleaning supplies are provided at the campgrounds. Before you check out on the last day, you will need to do a walk-through with the campground host. You are responsible for picking up all litter and cleaning restrooms and firepits.

All groups trekking over Rocky Ridge are required to take the National Historic Trails (NHT) training within 24 hours before they trek on that trail. This training will be provided at 7:00 p.m. in the Sixth Crossing Visitors’ Center the evening before each Rocky Ridge trek. Adult trek leaders (including either the “ma” or “pa” for each “family”) must attend this training.

There is a one-page medical informational sheet that we recommend each medical personnel read in preparation for accompanying a trek at this site.

There is no other onsite training required for trekking at Martin’s Cove or Sixth Crossing. It is recommended that you review Preparing to Trek at the Wyoming Mormon Trail Sites .  If you have questions, please contact the missionaries at [email protected] or 307-328-2953.

Yes. See Preparing to Trek at the Wyoming Mormon Trail Sites . The trek chairperson and ecclesiastical leader (if applicable) are both required to sign the last page of this book and email a copy of that page to [email protected] .

Groups trekking on Rocky Ridge must travel in buses and must provide a four-wheel drive, high-centered vehicle and driver for each trek. (One trek is up to 300 people.)

Each group trekking at Martin’s Cove and Sixth Crossing is required to have one medical vehicle for every trek. (One trek is up to 150 people).

No. Leaders who want to stay in a tent trailer, camper, or camp trailer will need to make a personal reservation at a nearby campground, such as Ranch 66 (near Martin’s Cove) or River Camp (near Sixth Crossing).

Semitrucks and anything larger than two axles are not permitted, but enclosed utility trailers work well.

No. The missionaries have ATVs to retrieve participants in emergency medical situations. No other ATVs are permitted on-site.

Only if a member of the medical team says it is necessary for medical reasons, and even then, only temporarily. If you have someone who wants to go on trek but is unable to walk the trails, there are a limited number of rickshaws available. (A rickshaw is a chair with two large wheels that is pulled like a handcart). If you have a special need, please request a rickshaw when you submit your trek request.

(60 miles from Martin’s Cove) Wyoming Medical Center 1233 E 2nd St Casper, Wyoming

(40 miles from Sixth Crossing) Lander Regional Hospital 1320 Bishop Randall Dr Lander, Wyoming

No. The Church does not allow drones on Church-owned property due to safety issues. The Church’s agreement with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) also does not permit drones to be used on BLM land.

The missionaries will have a microphone and speaker that can be used on the trail. Groups must provide their own sound equipment for activities at the campgrounds or at the Rock Creek Hollow amphitheaters. Quiet hours are from 10:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m. Air horns, bugles, and similar items are not permitted.

No. Water is for drinking, cooking, and washing hands only.

We recommend that you limit how much you carry in the handcarts. Make sure to have two five-gallon jugs of water, individual water bottles, and lunches. Some groups have taken tarps to sit on for the lunch break. Overloading the handcarts may damage them and create undue hardship for those pulling them.

Pioneer clothing is not required. Whatever your group decides to wear, it is recommended that participants wear natural-fiber, lightweight clothing that cover the arms and legs to protect them from the sun and from bugs. Cotton, linen, and wool are best because they allow the skin to breathe. Synthetic fibers can cause the wearer to sweat more, which increases the chance of dehydration. Hats offer protection even if participants use sunscreen. Shoes should be closed toed and appropriate for walking several miles.

Yes. The weather in the area is unpredictable—a sunny day can easily turn to rain, hail, snow, or high winds.

Related Resources

Why I Left The Mormon Church And Why It's A Cult

If you know a Mormon, you probably have had one of three thoughts: “ Their family is so big and they all look the same,” “Why are they so judgmental?”, or “Wow, they sure invite me to a lot of church events.” You might know about the Book of Mormon (the racist Mormon bible of the Americas that essentially erases the real history of Indigenous people, written by a white man in the 1800s). You might know what a Mormon temple looks like. You might even know that they don’t drink , but no one outside of it really comprehends most of what they teach, or why there seems to be a lot of problematic themes .

There’s a reason for the lack of information. The church doesn’t want people to know that it’s actually a cult , so it takes years for even members to slowly find out information about it. Once you’re 12, you start learning a little about church history and what’s expected of adults. You’re taught to strictly adhere to modesty rules , to not drink coffee or alcohol, fast for 24 hours once a month, pay 10% of your income (or allowance in this case) every month to the church, get baptized in place of the dead (yeah), and devote your life to the Gospel. In the summer, you go to week-long camps for your gender and age. Every few years you go on “trek,” which is where you dress up, starve, and recreate the Mormon trek to Utah. It’s a forced thing, and it’s shocking there hasn’t been a lawsuit yet.

You’re also forbidden from making out “passionately” or having sex until marriage. When boys turn 18, they go through the temple for the first time so that they can serve a two-year mission. This is when they find out about temple ceremonies (plagiarized from masonic rituals and complete with bizarre, cult outfits), the teachings about them being the master over their future wives , their secret name (they’re given a name that is said to be their true name in heaven—women are ordered to tell their husbands their names, but husbands can keep theirs a secret), and many more bizarre things.

Women don’t learn about the temple ceremonies or go through it until they are about to get married. They go on to serve a mission only after the age of 19 (it’s not compulsory for girls, so most don’t find out until they’re married). Adults are to attend the temple as much as possible to perform “endowments” for the dead , or rather, marry the dead and make promises on their behalf. To attend temple (which is vital to make it to the Celestial Kingdom—the highest of the three in Mormon heaven), members must obey all the rules, pay their tithing, and sustain their prophets without question. After you attend the temple, you must wear garments at all times (you know, “magic underwear”), and you’re to swear an oath to never talk about what happens in the temple to anyone (not too long ago it was a blood oath). Later in your life, you find out that men are to be the gods of their own planet once they die, and their wife will be merely one of many spirit wives to them in heaven, and they will bear them children and pleasure them for all of eternity. You find out later that having sex is renewing your temple covenants, and so sex is considered a duty on the part of the wife. All that being said, many members never find out that all of this is for nothing, or find out the lies, coverups, and scams of their cult. In fact, most will never know that their church is in fact a cult, which is why it’s so rare to leave it.   

SLC Mormon temple

As a child, I was a “non-member.” My dad’s side was firmly Mormon, and they all lived in Utah. My fourth great-grandfather was Wilford Woodruff, an early “prophet” of the church and founding member. My mother was a convert, and had gotten baptized in order to marry my dad. When I was little, we left the church because my mom read up about the history of polygamy, so I have very little memories that are specific to the church from that time period. I spent most of my life outside of the church, and grateful to not be in it. I didn’t know a lot about the teachings, but it bothered me that the women in the church only ever seemed to do one thing with their lives—get married ultra young, have as many babies as possible, and serve their husbands. I hoped it was a coincidence but I figured the church was old-fashioned in that way. My dad’s side handled our “apostasy” as it’s called (a.k.a. defection) in varying ways, but many didn’t speak to us. They taught their children to not be like us, and later admitted to crying about our “darkness” and “sad lives” when we’d leave their houses (or gas station where we were allowed to meet them), so my siblings and I were not close to our cousins on that side for years. Meanwhile, we were happily living in the San Juan Islands, drinking coffee (something that’s not allowed in Mormonism) and playing outside in our tank tops (also not allowed—women in the church must be covered at all times). 

Fast forward to November of my 16th year. My parents decided that we’d join the church again. It’s hard to pin down a specific reason for this, but keep in mind that my dad’s roots were all in Utah and all in the church. Joining again would mean reconnecting with our family and restoring broken bonds with them. My mom also had a special place in her heart for the church. She was a member for years back when she first joined in her twenties, and she loved the focus on families that was such a big a part of the culture. I was terrified when they told me. I thought of the women who all seemed to want the same things and do the same things and think the same things. I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to follow my dreams. I was an ambitious kid, and I wanted to chase that. Long story short though, after the missionaries came to our house, it was all over for me. They seemed so normal and kind, and it reminded me of what it was like to believe in a god. I was agnostic growing up, so it was suddenly kind of comforting to meet people who were so convinced, but also seemingly normal. So I agreed to get baptized too, and in January, we all did. 

My family gets baptized on this day

My sisters, Mom, and I get baptized after my brothers.

There were a lot of challenges that came with being in the church. I had to swallow beliefs that were really out there, but when we moved to Utah, it was a lot easier. I was surrounded by pretty much only Mormons. If you’ve ever been to northern Utah (Cache Valley), you understand. It’s rare to meet a “non-member.” The state is run by them, because that’s where they went in the early days when they were run out of towns in Missouri because they were practicing polygamy, stealing other people’s wives, kidnapping daughters, burning printing presses, and raising a militia (something you don’t learn about as a member). So my teachers were all Mormons. My new friends and classmates were all Mormons. Now we lived close to our family on that side (who were now very welcoming), so now every person that we knew, hung out with, or spoke to was a Mormon. Mormon theology was spun into our classwork, and we attended seminary every school day at 6 a.m. I was known as “the convert” at school, and lots of boys wouldn’t go on dates with me because of it. I’d hear rumors that they thought I “wasn’t pure enough” or that they were worried I’d “corrupt the other young women.” I made really good friends in my senior year, but before that it was a lot of having to prove that I was righteous enough to spend time with, despite my heathen roots. All in all though, our individual ward (or congregation at our specific church building) completely embraced us. The Mormon church is a missionary church, so that was not surprising. 

I learned quickly that my body was a shameful thing, and that I needed to hide it. We had to buy all new clothes, because Mormonism teaches that women must cover everything, including their shoulders, knees, and chests, and nothing could be too tight. On the flip side, women and girls are encouraged to “embrace their femininity” so the clothes should reflect that too. So we bought loose-fitting jeans, but they were light green. We bought high-necked shirts and long dresses for Sunday, but they were floral or otherwise feminine. Women are not allowed to wear pants to church, so we had to get a lot of clothes and adjust to dressing that way. No one is allowed to get more than one piercing (unless you’re a man—then you can’t get any), get any tattoos, dye your hair unnatural colors, or look like anything besides clean cut. I worked on cultivating a more feminine version of myself, and worked to become less passionate and loud, and more gentle and meek. Looking back, I remember feeling very guilty for wanting a big life and having goals. That all said though, we weren’t miserable or anything. We had community, our family loved us, and it was so fun to go hiking in the mountainous area. 

My sisters and me with our Personal Progress medallions a few weeks after baptism.

On top of that, by now we were thoroughly brainwashed . We lived and breathed the church, and that had a lot to do with a quick conversion. We attended our 3-hour church meeting and hours of meetings for your “callings” (work you are called to do for free for the church) and firesides on Sundays (not to mention if you were a visiting teacher, in which case you also had hours of visiting the houses of other members—especially the “weaker” ones who needed to be indoctrinated). Monday nights were for Family Home Evening, which is an evening devoted to church study with your family. On Wednesdays we went to “mutual” all night, which was where teens ages 12–17 went to church and learned more church lessons and participated in activities. Throughout the week we had to prepare for our callings, we went to seminary every day, read our scriptures daily, and we worked on our work books for Young Women (a lengthy process that girls must complete that involves studying and activities that involve preparing to be a good wife and mother someday). If you were assigned a talk for Sunday or there was a ward activity happening (both very frequent occurrences), then that was another chunk of weekly time spent in/for church. The time spent on all of this alone was enough to indoctrinate, but combined with the strict rules, we all swallowed that the church was true and that if we had doubts, that was pride talking. You have songs, scriptures, doctrine, talks, and people hammering into you that “the church is true” (the most commonly used phrase in Mormon culture), and on top of that, we lived in Utah, where if you doubted anything, you thought you were the delusional one since everyone around you is acting like it’s normal. If everyone around you tells you that you’re crazy for long enough, you’ll believe them. You hear songs in church saying “Follow the prophet / Follow the prophet / Follow the prophet / Don’t go astray” and everyone around you cries when they bear their testimony and talk about how true the Gospel is. You don’t have a chance to question it, and you don’t really think to. How could so many people believe in something that isn’t true?

After I graduated, I got a scholarship to BYU (a church university) and my plan was to attend after my mission.

This all may seem very strange to someone who’s never been in the cult, but remember, information is slowly given to you. I didn’t know about the mandatory interviews with male bishops until I joined (you’re asked sexual questions behind closed doors—which is the main reason child abuse is so high in the church). I didn’t know I was to be a spirit concubine to a husband in heaven someday until I went through the temple. What you are taught is taught to you slowly, “precept by precept.” So when I was 19, I decided to serve a mission. I wanted to do good, and I wanted to get out in the world. I was thrilled when I was called to Brazil, because my grandparents and family had lived there on missions and otherwise. The country was a big part of my identity, so I was so overjoyed when I read the letter that told me I’d go there. My family and friends all came to see me open my letter. Everyone was proud of me and I was proud of myself. I felt like I was doing the right thing, and I was beyond thrilled that I’d also get to see the country that shaped my family. 

After I opened my mission call to Brazil. A few months later, I attended the temple for the first time.

Here’s me before I went inside the temple for the first time to take out my endowments (what the ceremonies are called). You’re not allowed to look in the bag you’re given ahead of time, which is filled with the strange cult clothing and garments. I left for Brazil a few weeks later.

Mormon missions are not normal missions (sensing a theme here?). Boys go for two years, and girls go for a year and a half. There was to be no contact with the outside world, except you can email your family and loved ones once a week on “P Day.” You can call home on Mother’s Day and Christmas, and that’s it. You cannot use the internet, a phone (except the mission flip phone which is only to be used to contact local members and your leaders), or read or look at or watch anything that isn’t made by the church.

The first time I was allowed to speak to my family in months (Mother’s Day)

You are assigned mission companions who are to remain with you at all times, except when you’re using the shower or toilet. You switch companions every so often, but they’re there to spy on you and you on them. You work together, but you’re taught to keep each other in line. Keep in mind, every male serves a mission. It’s forced. So every male is thoroughly and completely indoctrinated by the time the two years are up. The females who do choose to serve get just as indoctrinated. So I went to the CTM (training center) for a little over a month and learned the lessons I was supposed to teach to “investigators.” We had to wear Sunday clothes at all times along with our name tags, and we were not to be called by our first names again for the rest of the mission. I was Sister Degn, which wasn’t too different, because members in church call each other Sister or Brother (insert last name here). The male missionaries, however, are called Elders. So I learned the language and became fluent during my mission.

I t was really hard to be so isolated, and I missed my family so much, but I loved my mission. A lot of missionaries have terrible times on their missions because it’s so hard. You have to be up at dawn and working until late. You’re on your feet, knocking on doors and proselytizing the entire time. That’s your life for those two or 1.5 years. On P Days (Mondays) you get to email home for 30 minutes, but you’re not supposed to go back and forth (or respond if they email you back during those 30 minutes). That’s the day to do laundry, exercise, grocery shop, and relax or go exploring if you want until 3 or 4 p.m. Then it’s back to work. It’s exhausting, especially if you’re learning a new language on top of that. I had a migraine every minute of every day because no one around me knew English and I was spending every ounce of energy to will myself to communicate. Eventually I became fluent, but it was the hardest thing I had ever had to do up until that point. I loved every minute of it. I was getting to understand a new culture, exploring the Brazilian coasts (no swimming allowed, but hiking was approved for us), trying new foods, and being exposed to a beautiful culture. It made the difficulties feel more manageable. I made sure we also fit in volunteer work as well, which we were reprimanded for because it distracted from our duties. 

A few weeks in the mission field in Brazil.

I didn’t struggle on my Mormon mission. I was a happy missionary.

One day, I got a call from my mission president (which doesn’t happen—he’s too high up to be randomly calling missionaries working for him). He said my mother was “very insistent” on talking to me. I was really concerned, because again, no communication with the outside world allowed. He said he’d pick me and my companion up in the morning to drive to the city and talk to her. He told me to calm her down and get back to work, so I was really nervous about what would happen. In the morning, when we got picked up and started driving to Santos, the entire drive was a giant lecture. They wanted to make sure I’d make my mom feel better and I could get back to normal. I had no doubt that I’d go back to normal, and I was expecting her to just be missing me or something. I loved being on my mission, and despite it being hard, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. Also, by then, this was my home. Brazil was home, and I was dreading the thought of ever leaving. I had no idea I’d be leaving that night. 

When I got on the phone with my mom, I knew the president and other leaders would be listening nearby, so I answered calmly. My mom and dad were on the other line. It felt so good to hear their voices, but I was determined to stay. That was when my world broke open. My mother told me that she had found out that Joseph Smith, the founder of the religion, had married 14-year-old girls. She said that she found out that the polygamy that we were taught was necessary and non-sexual and only involving widows, was actually happening with him and teenagers. She told me of the records of him forcing young girls into marrying and having sex with him, and how he also married already married women by threatening them or sending their husbands off on missions. She also told me that she found out that “the first vision,” the one I was teaching to members, the story of how Joseph Smith was spoken to by God and angels and told to restore the “true church” was actually a later edit of the true story, which was a story that he wrote as an adult about how when he was 14 years old he prayed to be forgiven of his sins and he had a good feeling come over him. I felt sick. I had just been teaching a false story to hundreds of families and vulnerable people, and not only that, but I realized that everything I based my beliefs, values, personality, desires, and thoughts on was all a lie, and built by a pedophile rapist. I was so scared, but I knew I needed to leave. It broke my heart to leave the country, but I couldn’t stay and pretend I didn’t learn what was really going on. I told my parents I’d find my way back to the States, and that I’d call them from a stranger’s phone when I landed stateside. They had already packed up the house and were staying in a hotel by the airport back in Salt Lake City in the hopes that I’d come home and we could all start over. They wished me luck and told me they loved me. 

The following hours were the hardest of my entire existence. To make a very long story short, I spent hours pleading with the president and leaders to give me my papers and fly me home, all to be met with spiritual blackmail, shaming, name calling, and refusal. When it was clear that I wouldn’t leave without my paperwork and ticket home, they agreed. I was traumatized but I wouldn’t let them see that. They begrudgingly got me a ticket for flight that they were sure I’d miss. I had to leave almost all of my things behind because I didn’t have time to pack, and they dropped me off at a random bus station. I had to find my own way to the Sao Paulo airport, and figure out how to get to my gate. I did find it thanks to a kind French man (thankfully I spoke a little French and he spoke a lot of English) and me tossing a lot of the weight I was carrying in the trash—including my temple garments and church manuals. I put on regular clothes for the first time in a long time, and pulled up my hair. I felt really good. Scared, but strong. I remember looking at myself in the airport bathroom mirror and breathing deeply for the first time that life-changing day. I knew I had to leave. So I picked up my bag, and a few minutes later I was on a plane over Sao Paulo, ordering my first wine.

I will never be able to put into words the emotions I felt right before I reunited with my family.  It was a lot to process, and the trauma and hurt of leaving Brazil was a lot to bear. That all said, I felt relief for knowing the truth, no matter how hard it was to learn about, and I was so happy to hug my family again. I cried as I saw that my little brothers had sprouted up when I was away, and my dog had gotten little white hairs around her eyes. My sisters beamed and tackled me in the biggest group hug, and my parents held my face and told me they were proud of me. 

Reuniting with my family as nonmembers.

Since leaving four years ago, I have since learned of many other Mormon lies . I learned about the violence, rape, and coercion of the early history. I learned about the church’s strong stance against desegregation and ties to the KKK. I learned about how the church teaches that Black people would be servants in heaven, and that early Mormons were sealed to their slaves and servants “for time and all eternity” through the temple rituals. I learned about the handshakes and rituals in the temple being stolen from Masonry. My eyes were open to the homophobia and blatant sexism that I had not fully understood while inside it, and the frauds committed by Joseph Smith before he even started the mormon cult. It was a lot to take in, and it was horrifying to feel so duped. Once again, many in our family stopped talking to us, and this time I lost 99% of my friends. I was bullied, harassed, threatened, and preached to by members in their efforts to save me or at least teach me a lesson. I learned to get very good at advocating for myself and standing up for myself. I learned to drop people from my life who were hurting me or supporting oppression, and I learned to open my mind once again. In the church, you’re taught that people who leave it are dark, crazy, disobedient, lost, or bad people. I’ve never been happier or more whole. I don’t need a manual for life, and I don’t need men to be in charge of me. I’m in charge of myself, and I don’t have to limit myself to marrying as young as possible and forcing out as many children from my body as I possibly can. I don’t have to accept solely male leaders, pay them , let them ask me about my sexual habits, or obey them. 

My first time in years showing my shoulders and thighs- a week after I left my mission.

The Mormon church is a cult. It checks off every box on any cult requirement list . People often don’t understand that because they are not allowed in these temples, members don’t tell you the weird and harmful teachings, and who’s going to sit down and figure out how much time is spent by leaders indoctrinating members and themselves? Members don’t understand that it’s a cult, because that’s the beauty of a cult. You’re brainwashed, and you’re told that everyone else is crazy or lying. It doesn’t matter what evidence you show them, even if it’s proof from their own organization or words from their own prophets. They won’t believe you – believe me, I’ve tried. It’s rare to wake up from this, and I don’t know if I ever would have had my mom not called me and been so blunt with me with proof and evidence. It helps that I was a convert, but I was just as brainwashed as everyone else. I’ve had close friends leave the church too when they saw evidence or woke up about the injustice ( the church is unsurprisingly also very against homosexuality and it’s causing a lot of suicides in the state of Utah). It’s not impossible to leave or to get out of it. It’s just traumatizing. 

If you know someone who’s mormon, don’t let them take you to church events. Don’t affirm their faith. It’s oppressive , harmful , sexist , abusive , homophobic , violent , racist , and among other things- proven to be false. Be upfront with them, and share resources with them like the CES Letter. If you know an ex-Mormon (while rare, it does happen ), be kind to them. No matter how they left, it was traumatizing, and probably the hardest thing they’ve ever done. They’ve most likely lost loved ones and family and even their job or scholarships because of it. Ex-Mormons have to adjust and rebuild their entire lives , so be patient with them and let them know that you’re a safe space. The mormon church is excellent with marketing, so many assume it’s just a slightly strange but happy family filled religion. It’s not. It’s dangerous and it ruins lives, even if the members don’t understand that that’s what’s happening to them. Exmormons are told to leave quietly with their tails between their legs. If any of us speak up about what we found out, we are further ostracized and lose the few people who didn’t drop us when we left in the first place. Exmo’s deal with high rates of religious based PTSD, chronic shame/guilt, and many other issues that come with leaving a high demand cult. Give them resources , and be a listening ear . It can be embarrassing to talk about, because once you wake up, it’s really hard to not see how obviously wrong it was the entire time. Many don’t reveal that they used to be mormon because of this. Be a friend, and let them know you have their back. Sometimes having someone to vent makes all the difference in the world. 

The last time I saw my family as I left for my mission. It was the last time we would all be together as Mormons. Everything changed the next time we saw each other.

It took me years to go public about all of this, but better late than never. So, if you get one thing out of my story, I hope it’s to never stop questioning. Don’t ever let someone tell you to be submissive, and never let your curiosity die. Be the black sheep. Be the dissenter. Don’t listen to gaslighting . Be the person who gets others to ask “Why,” and don’t ever feel guilty for listening to your gut. That gut feeling is there for a reason.

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This article was originally published on September 20, 2020 and updated on March 28, 2023.

Photo: Emily Iris Degn

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What is the Mormon trek?

I think you're talking about the movement from Ohio / Illinois to Salt Lake City . It's just when Joseph Smith and his brother were Martyred Brigham Young moved the Church west to Utah.

In modern times, the word 'trek' among Mormons also often refers to a summer youth camp experience in which youth groups re-enact this event. Teens and leaders will dress up in pioneer style clothing and pull handcarts through the wilderness in order to gain a greater appreciation for what the real Mormon pioneers suffered for their faith. So if you hear a Mormon say they are "going on trek", this is probably what they are referring to.

Add your answer:

What was the Mormon trail like?

It was a difficult trek, and many died along the trail.

What day did the Mormon trek start?

The Mormon exodus to Utah officially began on February 4, 1846, although in reality many families stayed in Nauvoo, Illinois later in the year. Almost everyone had left by September to join the others moving west.

What has the author Margaret E Tucker written?

Margaret E. Tucker has written: 'Trek of faith' -- subject(s): Biography, Frontier and pioneer life, History, Mormon pioneers

When did most Mormon pioneer go west?

The Mormon Pioneers began the famous trek west in 1846, the first group staying the winter in Nebraska before completing the journey to Utah in 1847. Several groups continued to come each year until the railroad was completed in 1869, after which most came by rail.

Did the Mormon trail run in Council bluffs?

Council Bluffs (called "Winter Quarters" by the Latter-day Saints) was one of the primary settlements along the so-called Mormon Trail after the Saints were forced to leave Nauvoo, Illinois. As immigrants pushed westward, they would camp at Winter Quarters until they had finished preparations for the balance of the trek. Thus it can be said that the Mormon Trail did indeed run through Council Bluffs.

What are the names of the Star Trek series?

In order Star Trek: The Motion Picture Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn Star Trek: The Search for Spock Star Trek: The Voyage Home Star Trek: The Final Frontier Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country Star Trek: Generations Star Trek: First Contact Star Trek: Insurrection Star Trek: Nemesis Star Trek (plain and simple Star Trek)

What were the spinoffs from the original Star Trek?

Star Trek: The animated Series (1973) Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) Star Trek: Voyager (1995) Star Trek: Enterprise (2001)

What is a sentence with the word trek in it?

The ride to the top of the pass was an exhausting trek, but the cyclists managed it with style. I like to watch Star Trek. It was a long trek up the mountain. I am exhausted from the long trek. It was a long trek to the campsite. I knew I was in for a real trek when I heard, "twenty miles." I am a fan of Star Trek.

How much will a Himalayan trek cost in India?

It all depends on the duration of your trek, the state in which your are going to trek, the altitude of your trek .

What is the Scottish word for trek?

Which was a subtitle of a star trek movie.

Star Trek: the Motion Picture Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan Star Trek: The Search For Spock Star Trek: The Voyage Home Star Trek: the Final Frontier Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country Star Trek: The Captain's Summit That's all the movies in order.

How Many televisions series have bared the Star Trek name?

Star Trek: The Original Series Star Trek: The Animated Series Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Voyager Star Trek: Enterprise Star Trek: Bridge Commander (TV Series)

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Why the Mormons Settled in Utah

By: Sarah Pruitt

Updated: August 30, 2023 | Original: June 15, 2018

In 1844, reeling from the murder of their founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, and facing continued mob violence in their settlement in Illinois , thousands of Latter Day Saints (better known as Mormons ) threw their support behind a new leader, Brigham Young . Two years later, Young led the Mormons on their great trek westward through the wilderness some 1,300 miles to the Rocky Mountains—a rite of passage they saw as necessary in order to find their promised land.

Young, and 148 Mormons, crossed into the Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. For the next two decades, wagon trains bearing thousands of Mormon immigrants followed Young’s westward trail. By 1896, when Utah was granted statehood, the church had more than 250,000 members, most living in Utah. Today, according to official LDS statistics , Utah is home to more than 2 million Mormons, or about one-third of the total number of Mormons in the United States.

Joseph Smith is jailed and killed by an angry mob.

Forced to flee anti-Mormon hostility in New York , Ohio and Missouri , in 1839 Smith and other church members arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River. Jailed in Missouri, Smith was allowed to escape to Illinois, where he helped build Nauvoo into a thriving city. Then in mid-1843, after Missouri’s governor blamed a failed assassination attempt on Mormon agitators, the governor of Illinois, Thomas Ford, agreed to extradite Smith to face trial.

Why all the hostility against Smith and his fellow Mormons? “The Mormons were fairly clannish, you might say,” Matthew Bowman, professor of history at Henderson State University and author of The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith , explains. “They tended to vote in blocs, they tended to consolidate all their economic activity within their own communities. These kinds of things generated suspicion from people around them.”

Smith evaded extradition for a while, and even began planning a run for president of the United States in 1844. But when a local newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor , published a front page article criticizing the Mormon doctrine of polygamy, Smith ordered its printing press smashed. In the ensuing uproar, Smith was convinced to turn himself in at the county seat in Carthage to face a hearing.

On June 27, 1844, a mob gathered at the jail and killed Smith and his brother Hyrum. Though the Mormons had been considering migrating West, beyond the reach of the United States government, before their founder’s murder, the crime solidified this intention. And Brigham Young, who emerged as de facto leader after Smith’s death, had just the place in mind.

Relying on reports of Western explorers and the low population, the Mormons set their eyes on Utah.

Young and his fellow apostles considered options such as Texas (during its brief period as an independent republic), California and Canada. But relying on the reports of Western explorers like John C. Frémont, they decided on the Great Salt Lake Valley in the Rocky Mountains. At the time, the region was part of Mexico, with limited oversight by the Mexican government. They set out from Nauvoo in April 1846, but were forced to spend several months camped along the Missouri River between Iowa and Nebraska. When spring came, Young and an advance group of 143 men, three women and two children left the winter camp and headed for their final destination.

Despite warnings about the region’s unsuitability for agriculture and the hostile Native Americans living near the smaller, freshwater Utah Lake, the Mormons were drawn to the low population of the Salt Lake Valley. And the mountains ringing the valley were stocked with freshwater streams and creeks that could nourish crops, despite the saltiness of the Great Salt Lake itself. “It didn’t seem to be wanted by any other white people,” Bowman says of Young’s chosen spot. “There was not a large Native American presence, but there was the potential for agriculture, and for supporting a large population.”

In a later account of their arrival, the future LDS leader Wilford Woodruff wrote that Young paused and gazed down at the valley for several minutes when they first arrived, and “he saw the future glory of Zion and of Israel, as they would be, planted in the valleys of these mountains.”

When Utah becomes part of the U.S., Young sees an opportunity to control a state government.

When Young and his followers first arrived in the Great Salt Lake, the region was still part of Mexican territory. But in early 1848, Mexico ceded some 525,000 square miles of its territory to the United States at the end of the Mexican-American War, including all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming—and Utah.

Young saw an opportunity in this turn of events: State governments had a lot of power, and controlling one could give the Mormons considerable autonomy. In 1849, he sent representatives to Congress with a proposed map of the state of Deseret (a word from the Book of Mormon meaning “honeybee”.) The state would have been massive, encompassing present-day Utah, most of Nevada, good chunks of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Idaho, and even the city of San Diego.

Instead, as part of the Compromise of 1850, Congress greatly reduced Deseret’s size and renamed it the Utah Territory. President Millard Fillmore appointed Young as territorial governor, a decision made “largely as a matter of practicality,” Bowman points out, as Young had essentially been governing Deseret (as he called it) and the Mormon Church as one entity for three years already.

In Utah, Young is able to ignore the federal government, until the practice of polygamy prevents Utah’s statehood.

Young largely ignored the federal agents the Fillmore administration sent to Utah, and did what he wanted. Federal courtrooms sat empty, while Mormon leaders filled the territorial legislature. Suspicions of theocracy, and particularly of the Mormon practice of polygamy, which the church made public in 1852, “really inflamed the animus of Americans—particularly Protestants—against the Mormons,” Bowman says. It also made the Mormons a useful political foil for Washington politicians, some of whom likened the religion to another highly divisive institution: slavery.

In 1857, President James Buchanan declared the Utah Territory to be in rebellion, and ordered federal troops to Salt Lake City to force Young to step down in favor of a non-Mormon governor. Though Young eventually agreed to be replaced as territorial governor, the Mormon practice of plural marriage would delay Utah’s statehood for nearly four more decades.

Congress began passing laws trying to get rid of polygamy (or bigamy, as it was then called) in the early 1860s. Though during the Civil War these laws were not pursued, Bowman says, this changed in the decade after that conflict. In the 1874 case Reynolds v. United States , in which Young’s secretary, George Reynolds, tested the constitutionality of an 1862 anti-bigamy law, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Constitution does not protect polygamy.

In the 1880s and early 1890s, more than 1,000 Mormon men would be convicted of charges relating to plural marriage. In 1887, the Edmunds-Tucker Act took square aim at the Mormon church itself, disincorporating it and authorizing the federal government to seize much of its property. Again the Mormons brought suit, but in 1890 the Supreme Court ruled the Edmunds-Tucker Act constitutional. “When that happens, the president of the church, Wilford Woodruff, issues what Mormons call the Manifesto,” Bowman explains. “It’s a proclamation saying that for the good of the church, for the survival of the church, we have to abandon plural marriage.”

Utah becomes the 45th state.

Once Woodruff had formally renounced polygamy on behalf of the LDS, Congress’ attitude changed greatly, and the path to statehood became considerably clearer. On January 4, 1896, Utah became a state. A year later, when the church celebrated the 50th anniversary of Brigham Young’s arrival in the Salt Lake Valley—Young himself died in 1877—the newly completed Mormon temple in Salt Lake City was draped in American flags.

Utah is now home to more than 2 million Mormons, or about one-third of the total number of Mormons in the United States.

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Treks give Mormon teens a taste of pioneer past, but some practices steer away from history

By Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

It happens every summer.

Mormon teens forsake cellphones, iPads, makeup and video games, don long dresses, aprons and bonnets or pants with suspenders, and set out on a grueling, exhausting, heat-smacking three-day wilderness experience. Organized into "families," with mock siblings and an assigned "Ma and Pa," they pull wooden handcarts for miles over uneven terrain, sing old-time hymns, munch beef jerky and saltwater taffy, jot in their journals, read scriptures by campfire and sleep under the stars — sometimes in hailstorms.

Many come back from this exercise in planned deprivation and shared suffering proclaiming it the most spiritually invigorating time of their young lives. Even the adults who go along on these pioneer treks often feel profoundly moved.

"It's clear that for everyone who went, it was an overwhelmingly rewarding experience," says former Salt Lake City Councilman Carlton Christensen, an LDS stake president in the Rose Park neighborhood, who just returned from a trek with about 120 teens and 60 adults.

"I felt like my [deceased] mother and father were walking with me," Christensen says, his voice cracking with emotion. "Talking to others, I knew I wasn't alone in that experience. One couple lost a baby girl born prematurely. They weren't going to go but decided to walk for their daughter. It was extremely meaningful for them."

In the past two decades, going on a "trek," as it is commonly called, has become an almost ubiquitous rite of passage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, designed to inculcate youths with character, empathy and a connection to sacred Mormon history. These excursions have become so popular, in fact, that they have been exported from the West's Mormon belt to LDS congregations in Eastern, Southern and Midwestern states as well as countries like Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Argentina, Mongolia and New Zealand (complete with gingham and cowboy hats).

"Just as Pioneer Day celebrations over the years have generated and perpetuated Mormon folk identity," explains LDS historian Tona Hangen, trek "retraces (sometimes on precisely the same ground), an epic historical journey [of Mormon pioneers from the Midwest to Utah] and replays certain pieces of an actual historical past."

But it doesn't come easy — or cheap.

Upping the ante • The trek experience, orchestrated by an LDS stake (region), requires an army of organizers to arrange the necessary permits, food and camping logistics, along with a wagonload of financing and supplies. An entire industry has sprung up around it to market trek goods.

Now, some members want to take the whole thing up a notch.

How about if the kids build a replica of the faith's Nauvoo temple and then have a black-faced, gun-wielding mob sweep unannounced into the camps, jostling tents, screaming invectives at the trekkers and then burning the sacred structure? What if folks dressed up like American Indians raid the camp, looking for contraband cellphones and "kidnapping" young women? What if the kids have to bury "babies" made from bags of flours?

Some LDS groups have embraced these theatrics, but many have declined to adopt them, seeing such tactics not only as nonhistorical but also potentially traumatizing.

"There is enough power in the authentic experience — getting the kids outside, putting them in 'families' that become close and enduring — without adding a faux experience," says Don Hangen, Tona's husband and an LDS leader in Massachusetts who oversaw his stake's youth trek. "We didn't want to emotionally manipulate the kids."

Besides, these Mormon treks, Tona Hangen says, are really about "collective memory."

It is a "dialogue with the past in the service of today," she says. "Instead of receding further into the past, the handcart pioneer experience has been yanked forward through the wormhole of time, where it has become a useful and highly adaptable vehicle for building Mormon identity in an era of rapid growth, global extension and the proliferation of social media."

In this context and with these as goals, she says, guns — even fake ones — are never a good idea.

Grass-roots movement • The notion of youth treks did not come from the top down in the hierarchical faith. It bubbled up from the bottom, spawned by media coverage of the 1997 sesquicentennial re-enactment of the original Mormon pioneer journey.

Soon, Mormon youth groups began to share general outlines for such ventures, including what became known as "the women's pull." Trek leaders tell the teenage boys and male adults that they have been called to serve in the Mormon Battalion, leaving the girls and women to pull the handcarts — sometimes up a hill — without them.

"For older men like myself, it was extremely painful to stand by and not help," Christensen says. "I had a 15-year-old daughter dreading it. Because of the length of the second-day walk — more than eight miles — I wonder if we were asking too much. But they still wanted to go ahead with it."

Of course, no such "women's pull" happened during pioneer times. Some men did join the Mormon Battalion in 1846 and 1847, but the handcart pioneers did not start crossing the Plains until a decade later.

More history, please • Last year, church headquarters established more consistent trek standards to enhance safety and historical accuracy.

"Symbolizing the absence of the young men by calling them to serve in the Mormon Battalion is historically inaccurate and is therefore inappropriate," says the church's Handcart Trek Reenactments : Guideline for Leaders. "The wearing of white clothing to represent deceased persons or angels ... is not to be included as part of treks."

The faith also has a safety and health webpage for treks, with a strong emphasis on the importance of hydration. An Arkansas woman died of heat-related injuries on a Mormon trek in Oklahoma earlier this year.

"The guidelines are revised regularly based on experience and need, including following incidents like in Oklahoma," church spokesman Eric Hawkins says. "In these guidelines, the church does not suggest or promote mob re-enactments, the building of temples, tar and feathering, and other historically inaccurate activities."

Sunny Ernst Smart says her Meridian, Idaho, stake planned to terrify the teens with a fake mob attack during a 2015 trek.

"They would be coming in early in the morning, rustling tents, yelling, verbally threatening people, running through with [unloaded] guns," Smart recalls. "Then people outside of camp at a safe distance would fire real weapons to further scare the kids."

When Smart complained that it would be disturbing to some campers, she says she was told to get over it and that it was an "inspired" decision handed down from the organizers.

"In a community where we often attribute intense emotion to the [Holy] Spirit," Smart says, "the need to continually up the spiritual wow factor for youth drives ideas like this."

Thankfully, she says, a member who is a cop was similarly "horrified" and put a stop to the plan.

Sans any surprise attacks, Smart's two teens — accompanied by her husband — went on the trek and loved it.

"You put kids in the woods, away from everything they know, and with people they love," she says, "and they'll have a great experience."

That, says historian Hangen, is precisely the point.

[email protected]

Twitter: @religiongal

25 years ago: A look back at the sesquicentennial pioneer trek reenactment

The sesquicentennial wagon train traveled from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to Salt Lake City April-July 1997, tracing the pioneer trail

Participants enter This Is the Place Heritage Park during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Salt Lake City in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

President Gordon B. Hinckley, President Thomas S. Monson, President James E. Faust and President M. Russell Ballard sing with participants at This Is the Place Heritage Park during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Salt Lake City in July 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Credit: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints addresses participants at Simpson’s Hollow during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Utah in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Handcart participants make their way through the original ruts of the Sand Hills of Nebraska during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Ethan Lowe, 2, Spanish Fork, looks out of his tent in Florence, Neb., during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Sarah Robinson, former missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Omaha area, participates in the pioneer trek by walking home to Salt Lake City after her mission during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Nebraska in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

The Wyoming State wagon crosses the Green River near Green River, Wyo., during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wave to participants at This Is the Place Heritage Park during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Salt Lake City in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

John Stewart, Knoxville, Tenn., waves to the onlookers at Independence Rock, Wyo., during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

A message is inscribed on a handcart during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Nebraska in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Amy Freestone, Orem, Utah, and B.C. Moore, Scottsdale, Ariz., make their way along the trail during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Salt Lake City in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Participants dressed in white represent pioneers that died along the trail during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Salt Lake City in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Amee Olsen, Darla Jones, Angelene Israelsen, Angie Olsen and Devarie Jones wade in the Groshen Creek during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Fort Bridger, Wyo., in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Actor James Arrington shakes hands with a participant during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Florence, Neb., in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Children run through This Is the Place Heritage Park as the wagon train enters the valley during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Salt Lake City in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints places a Book of Mormon into the pocket of the wagon master Joe Vogel at the beginning of the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Omaha, Neb., in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

A wagon from Burley, Idaho, loses control and breaks apart coming down a steep hill at East Canyon during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Utah in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Participants dance during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Fort Bridger, Wyo., in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

The wagon train makes its way through the fog on the first week of the trek during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Nebraska in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Participants celebrate completing the journey at This Is the Place Heritage Park during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Salt Lake City in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Wagons move through East Canyon during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Utah in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

On July 22, 1997, the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment reached its culmination at This Is the Place State Park near the mouth of Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City. The reenactment was one of several events honoring the 150th anniversary of the pioneers arriving in the Salt Lake Valley.

An estimated 50,000 people greeted the 61 wagons, nine handcarts, 45 horseback riders and 380 walkers, according to a 1997 Ensign article . The sesquicentennial wagon train traveled from the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery at Winter Quarters near Omaha, Nebraska, to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

“You have done something really extraordinary,” Church President Gordon B. Hinckley told the trekkers. “You have caught the imagination of all of us. … You have brought to the attention of millions upon millions of people across the world the story of the unparalleled migration of our people from Nauvoo, and from Liverpool and beyond, to this valley in the mountains.”

Nearly 10,000 people participated — some for only a few hours, days or weeks, and others for the entire 93-day journey of more than 1,000 miles.

President M. Russell Ballard  will never forget sitting beside President Hinckley and other members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the This Is The Place Monument, watching as handcarts and wagons entered the valley that July day.

“Tears were streaming down President Hinckley’s face, down all of our faces really,” recalled President Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in a recent Church News interview . 

At the time, President Ballard was serving as chairman of the sesquicentennial committee. He emphasized that the sesquicentennial was more than a wagon train — it was an opportunity to tell the world the story of the Restoration.

Read more: Pioneer Day is more than handcarts — it’s about the story of the Restoration, President Ballard says

Speaking to media during a press conference at the culmination of the trek reenactment, he said: “It is possible that you could be out on the trail and all caught up in the excitement of this 150th year and the celebration of the pioneers coming into the Salt Lake Valley and not fully comprehend what this is really about. Our message is a message of the Restoration of the fullness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Elder Ballard added that the message of the Church is moving across the entire world — through missionary efforts and through increased interest in the Church — as evident by the media coverage of the pioneer trek reenactment.

National and international coverage of the trek reenactment included spots on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” NBC’s “Today,” CBS’s “This Morning” and Fox National News; and feature articles in Newsweek, Time, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and USA Today, according to the Ensign . International newspaper coverage included BBC World Service, which serves nearly 140 countries; and Asahi Shimbun (Evening News), the largest newspaper in Japan. Television crews from Britain, Germany, Russia, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Belgium also followed the trek.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, co-chair of the sesquicentennial committee, said at the press conference : “We didn’t set out to do it as a publicity matter, we set out to do it to pay tribute. We wanted to salute the faithful, devoted pioneers of 150 years ago. But it has been an attractive story — we think an inspiring story — and we are delighted for that.”

In honor of the 175th anniversary of the first company of pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley, here is a look back at photos from the sesquicentennial pioneer trek reenactment 25 years ago.

Photo gallery

Paticipants enter This Is the Place Heritage Park during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Salt Lake City in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

Paticipants dressed in white represent pioneers that died along the trail during the Latter-day Saint pioneer trek reenactment in Salt Lake City in 1997. The group traveled from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City over a three-month period, tracing the pioneer trail.

What the LDS Church, other Western faiths are up against in Russia: a dominant Orthodox Church and a wary government

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Red Square at dusk, the Kremlin, seat of the government, left, and St. Basil’s Cathedral on the right.

This three-day series examines how Western faiths, including the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are having to adapt to survive and grow in a nation where the government, with encouragement from the dominant Russian Orthodox Church, continues to put up barriers. Part 2 explores the future of Mormonism in a land where missionary work is essentially barred . Part 3 explains why building a temple in Russia will be a tall order for Latter-day Saints.

Moscow • Russia’s campaign against Mormonism and other “new religions” is not unlike the devastating blockade of Leningrad during World War II, which killed 800,000 people trapped in that port city.

At least that’s how Latter-day Saint general authority Seventy James B. Martino described it this spring to a band of believers during worship services in St. Petersburg (known as Leningrad during the Soviet era).

The Texas native, who served as the church’s area authority, had visited the nearby Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad , which honors those who mostly starved to death during the Nazis’ 900-day siege of the historic city, barring any food or goods from entering. At the memorial site, statues of men, women and children proudly represent defiant soldiers and workers in their collective fight against a vicious enemy.

In the end, Soviet troops broke through and liberated the city.

“They learned how to overcome difficulties to become a great nation,” Martino told his well-dressed listeners in the windowless chapel. “That is like the gospel challenge the church faces today.”

The closing song that hot June day was the rousing Mormon pioneer anthem, “ Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel ,” a homage to 19th-century members in their epic wagon and handcart journeys across the Plains to Utah.

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Statue of Soviet citizens uniting to hold off the Nazis at the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad in St. Petersburg.

The comparison to the Leningrad siege is, of course, wildly hyperbolic — no one has perished in the battle for souls that Russia has been waging in recent years — but many minority faiths are under assault.

That’s because the mammoth Russian Orthodox Church, which is seen as synonymous with the national identity, is pitted against convert-craving newcomers from the West.

In response to — and at the urging of — Orthodox officials, the government passed a draconian amendment in 2016 to its anti-extremism law. Known as the Yarovaya Law, it forbids “preaching, praying, disseminating religious materials, and even answering questions about religion outside of officially designated sites,” according to a report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom . The law “effectively criminalized all private religious speech not sanctioned by the state.”

Utahns know a thing or two about the mingling of church and state but not to this degree. Imagine the outcry if the Legislature — at the prodding of the state’s predominant faith and in an effort to prop up the primacy of that traditional religion — enacted and enforced a law that prohibited public proselytizing by any denomination not called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Those are the choppy waters these fledgling faiths are struggling to navigate in Russia. Their pastors and preachers have been arrested, their buildings demolished or confiscated and their missionaries or evangelizers detained and deported .

The crackdown has thwarted the growth of these churches, even threatening their very existence in the vastest country on Earth.

It also has ignited a new kind of religious Cold War, which is altering Russia’s visible and spiritual landscape at a time of escalating political tensions with the West.

For many Latter-day Saints there, such hostility to spreading the Good News of their restored gospel is the work of Satan. It may also be God’s refining fire, says a Latter-day Saint stake president who serves as regional leader in St. Petersburg, forging more malleable members into sturdier believers.

Russia’s religious roots

Prince Vladimir, a ruler in the 10th century, chose Eastern Orthodoxy over paganism and other monotheistic traditions — he allegedly rejected Islam for its ban on alcohol, saying, “Drinking is the joy of all Rus[sians]. We cannot exist without it ” — as a way to unite tribes scattered across the massive kingdom. Vladimir was baptized a Christian. He then ordered the populace to do likewise. Hundreds in Kyiv (formerly Kiev) took to the water July 15, 988, in a mass baptism that is still celebrated today as the “christening of the Russian people.”

By the time of Peter the Great seven centuries later, Orthodoxy was the supreme faith. But Peter took a cue from his cosmopolitan counterparts in Europe and opened the door to other believers — Islam, Buddhism and Judaism as well as Christianity — at the same time naming himself head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Thus, church and state were forever wedded — on cathedral walls (at St. Isaac’s in St. Petersburg, paintings of czars hang just below saints), at the Kremlin (the walled complex that houses government offices and domed sanctuaries), and in Russian hearts.

From the 17th century until the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Orthodoxy was a central part of daily life. Its ornate churches immersed the faithful in a world of beauty and wonder. Its artistry in mosaics and oils made biblical figures come alive with emotion and awe. Its mystical teachings were communicated in ritualized chanting and sonorous singing.

The czar was their political ruler as well as their conduit to heaven.

This traces to the Byzantine Empire, with its “idea of caesaropapism, that the church should be subject to the state, and the ideal of ‘symphonia,’ where the state and Orthodoxy work in concert together,” says Elizabeth Clark, a law professor at Brigham Young University and associate director of the school’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies. “This ends up meaning that Orthodox individuals are often more comfortable with direct state engagement in religious issues and see nationality and religion as intertwined.”

In 2000, the church canonized Czar Nicholas II and his family , the Russian rulers who were executed by the Bolsheviks.

Just like the past union of czar and cathedral, Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin, and Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, both former KGB cronies , work in sync.

The czar once was seen “as God's chosen ruler of a Russian nation tasked with representing a unique set of value(s) embodied by Russian Orthodoxy, and was revered as ‘the Holy Orthodox Czar,’” Paul Coyer writes in a 2015 piece in Forbes. “Today ... many Russians are beginning to see Vladimir Putin in a similar vein — a perception encouraged both by Putin and by the church, each of which sees the other as a valuable political ally and sees their respective missions as being interrelated.”

In 2016, Putin installed a 52-foot statue of his namesake, St. Vladimir, just outside the Kremlin, and last year publicly dunked himself in a frozen lake in commemoration of Jesus’ baptism, traditionally celebrated in January.

“Without the Russian Orthodox Christian Church,” Putin has told worshippers, “it is impossible to picture either the Russian government or our culture.”

The clear message to would-be religious competitors: Don’t mess with the church or the government will come after you.

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Recently erected statue of Prince Vladimir, who brought the Orthodox faith to Russia, near the entrance to the Kremlin in Moscow.

After the revolution

When the Bolsheviks took over, they killed the czar and tried to uproot all belief in God, Christ and angels, renaming cathedrals as “ museums of atheism ,” and razing or repurposing churches across the land. Before their reign, Russia had roughly 50,000 churches. In 1939, there were fewer than 500.

In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union began to unravel amid Mikhail Gorbachev’s push for perestroika, Boris Yeltsin’s promises of liberalism, and a grassroots clamor for Western-style freedom.

Many Russians rushed back into the arms of their former faith. They were baptized by the thousands, joyously celebrating their historic beliefs in the remaining cathedrals, and eager to reexperience the rituals of their parents.

Because the church had been suppressed for so long, it was not ready for the onslaught, says Father Dmitry Serov, deputy director of the international department at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies in Moscow.

“A lot of laborers came to church and got baptized by immersion — between 300 and 500 day. We were unprepared for this huge number of people,” Serov says through a translator.

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Father Dmitry Serov, front, performs vespers with Archpriest Michael Nemnonov in Russian Orthodox Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist in Moscow.

"We didn’t have enough priests who could serve. During the Soviet Union era, young priests were not allowed to do missionary work so they lost interest in doing it,” he says. “If one young priest wanted to study the Bible, he got a call from the KGB.”

That produced a generation of priests and bishops who could do formal, traditional work, Serov says, but “without the experience of preaching or taking the initiative.”

Since the 1990s, the Russian Orthodox Church has been working to reanimate its parishes and power.

According to the then-head of the church, Patriarch Alexy II, between 1990 and 1995 more than 8,000 Russian Orthodox churches were opened , doubling the number of active parishes.

At present, the church has around 30 seminaries to train future priests, Serov says. It constructs about three churches a day, bringing the total to around 15,000, even though fewer than 10% of Russians, according to a Pew poll , regularly attend services and about half believe in God.

That early religious fervor has dimmed somewhat in the 21st century, which Serov blames on secular ideas from the West.

“In the U.S., few young people are interested in church. Better to hang out with friends than go to church,” he says. “So we now are establishing work with youth in the regions.”

To him, being Orthodox means being conservative, which includes opposing multiple sex partners, gay marriage and maintaining “mystical traditions.”

But the church also has to adapt to changing times, to speak to modern society about “serious issues,” Serov says. “We need to find the line where we can change.”

What about foreign faiths?

The thoughtful deacon believes Jehovah’s Witnesses are extremists, who deny blood transfusions for their children.

“Russia has nothing against their beliefs, but in some cases they may seem dangerous. Laws against them were meant to save lives,” Serov says. “People ascribe bad motives to the government, but there was a reason behind the decision.”

And Mormons?

“I don’t think we have them here in Russia,” Serov says, even though a Latter-day Saint ward, or congregation, meets in a nondescript building a few blocks from his seminary.

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) The Latter-day Saint central Moscow meetinghouse.

Dedicated for Mormonism

Representatives of the Utah-based LDS Church touched down in Russia on a few occasions in the early 20th century.

In 1903, apostle Francis M. Lyman offered two prayers of dedication — one in Moscow and one in Catherine the Great’s Summer Palace Garden in St. Petersburg. More than 50 years later, then apostle (and future church president) Ezra Taft Benson , as the U.S. secretary of agriculture and a famously fierce foe of communism, preached at the Central Baptist Church in Moscow.

But the real action for Latter-day Saints began April 26, 1990, when apostle Russell M. Nelson , today the church’s 17th president , found his way to the same spot in the St. Petersburg garden where Lyman had offered his dedication decades before.

There, Nelson found several Romanesque statues of buxom women — one named “Flora” (the name of Benson’s wife) and one named “Camilla” (the name of former church President Spencer W. Kimball’s wife). Across from the Camilla bust was another female, labeled the “allegory of virtue.”

That was, the apostle told his Russian hosts, the right place.

(The statues in the park have one or two breasts uncovered, respectively, while a painting of the dedication moment that hangs in a St. Petersburg stake center depicts the statues as being full-bodied rather than just torsos — and the women’s bosoms are tastefully draped in fabric.)

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) A composite painting that hangs in the St. Petersburg LDS stake center depicting Francis M. Lyman in 1903 and Russell M. Nelson in1990 dedicating Russia for missionary work.

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Statue of Flora in the Summer Palace Garden in St. Petersburg.

A little more than a year after Nelson’s prayer, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation recognized the church as a centralized religious organization, according to the faith’s official website , just as the world-renowned Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performed in the Bolshoi Theater and later in St. Petersburg.

It was a time of unparalleled excitement for spreading the American-born faith across the world’s largest country.

The LDS Church kept adding missions until the number reached eight and congregations were distributed across the land.

It was during this halcyon phase of 1990s that Alexey Samaykin first met this unfamiliar religion.

Samaykin was a 17-year-old college student in Saratov , when his university professor, who was a member, invited a Mormon missionary to explain Latter-day Saint history and teachings to his class.

“I was curious,” says Samaykin, now the father of three, who attends a Moscow ward.

He went to a church branch, a smaller congregation, near his school to learn more, Samaykin says, and was not sure what he believed about its theology but was “impressed by the feelings I had in the building and that the Book of Mormons was special.”

His parents were nominally Russian Orthodox but were atheists who did not practice any religion. When Samaykin asked to be baptized as a Latter-day Saint, his mom and dad balked.

“They loved me so much and wanted to protect me,” he says. “They were scared. They were not sure what I was getting into.”

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Alexey Samaykin in the Latter-day Saint central Moscow meetinghouse.

Those outside the scope of traditional faiths “become suspicious,” Samaykin says. “People wonder if you have been tricked or spiritually imprisoned by an American church. They think you are part of a ‘sect,’ which is like ‘cult’ in the U.S.”

But he downplays those objections as a matter of misinformation. A colleague once asked him, for instance, why his church “baptizes the dead,” Samaykin says with a laugh, alluding to the Latter-day Saint ritual of vicarious baptisms for departed ancestors .

Eventually, his parents gave their approval and now are proud of their son and his Mormon family.

Samaykin, who now works full time as a welfare and self-reliance manager for the church in Moscow, has never had people who “stop conversing with me or being a friend because of my religion.”

Any pushback, he says, is aimed at institutions, not individuals. “It’s not personal.”

It started with Muslims

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Moscow's Cathedral Mosque.

The first anti-extremism measures were instituted in 2002 as a means of dealing with radical Muslim groups and alternative Islamic preachers, explains Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis , a Moscow-based nonprofit organization that conducts research on nationalism, racism and relations between churches and secular society.

“They were aimed not only at immigrants,” he says, “but also at those who came to a regular mosque and engaged them.”

The government was looking for a way to weed out potential terrorists, who had entered the country to try and win over moderate Muslims.

For years, politicians and Orthodox religious leaders had been pushing for anti-missionary laws, but the government resisted.

By 2016, these proponents finally found a way to do it — use the fear of Muslim infiltrators to rally the security forces against would-be proselytizers, Verkhovsky says. “When attached to the anti-terrorism package, it couldn’t be rejected.”

It declares that any person “who would try to make any religious convert had to have permission from an official priest or religious organization,” the SOVA scholar says. “If somebody talks to people too much about religion, police can ask if they have permission. If not, he is a violator.”

Of the 177 political prisoners who were jailed by the government for their religious beliefs in 2018, the State Department report says, most of them were Muslim.

But the extremist laws also have been convenient tools against Pentecostals, Hare Krishnas, New Age believers and others from so-called modern religious movements, blocking their growth.

“All these religious groups are seen by the Russian Orthodox Church as competitors,” Verkhovsky says.

The government lumps them together as “sects,” says BYU’s Clark, who has written extensively about Russia.

Much of the opposition to these perceived new “Western” religions, she says, “is based on the importation of American anti-cult ideas from the 1980s.”

The charge was brainwashing and control, allegations that often hounded the LDS Church.

Matthew Luxmoore writes in a recent piece for Radio Free Europe that “Russian state media have long portrayed Mormonism as a dangerous cult, with the church’s wealth and U.S. origins held up as proof that it’s used for espionage and sedition.”

Georgy Belodurov, an Orthodox priest in Tver, a city northwest of Moscow, tells Luxmoore that Russian Latter-day Saints are lured by the prospect of prosperity in the West.

“For some people, America is a safe haven where paradise reigns and you live in a land of milk and honey," the priest says in the piece . “And the Mormon church is first and foremost the temptation of a better life.”

So is it Latter-day Saint theology or rituals like baptism for the dead that most rankle the Orthodox Church — or is it the site of its birthplace and headquarters?

Theology or geography?

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Latter-day Saints enter the St. Petersburg stake center.

Ironically, the religious bodies that have most felt the pinch of persecution have been ones that share similarly pessimistic views of modernity.

Mormons, Witnesses, Adventists, evangelicals and Muslims share the Orthodox belief that today’s young people are awash in contemporary ills — including disbelief, drugs, secularism, materialism and promiscuity.

So why aren’t they spiritual compatriots against these problems rather than rivals?

To the Russian Orthodox Church, it’s not what these groups believe or what they profess that is most worrisome. It’s where they hail from.

Such religious movements “have been increasingly seen as a security concern for Russia because of their ties to the West,” Clark says. “They come under fire more for that than the substance of their beliefs, which are largely unknown or exaggerated.”

The country’s law enforcement “always underscores,” said SOVA’s Verkhovsky, “that the most evil things are imported from outside.”

Given the long-standing tensions with the U.S., he says, Russia views religions from there “as potential spies who could be undermining their population and moral authority.”

In 2012, a group of pro-Putin youths protested outside Moscow LDS meetinghouses, according to an NPR report , alleging that the church was an "authoritarian sect” with links to the CIA and FBI.

Mormon missionary attire sometimes feeds those mistaken notions with their mandated dark suits, white shirts and ties.

Russia has deployed various tactics to stunt these faiths.

“The Foreign Agent Law of 2012 made registration for outside groups difficult,” says David Stewart, an independent Latter-day Saint demographer who served a two-year mission to St. Petersburg in the early 1990s, “incurring extensive audits and mandatory public disclosure of activities.”

That seems to be working, he says. “Many nongovernmental organizations have left. Foreign missionary visas are restricted and cumbersome. Increased costs and loss of productivity are incurred by requirements to leave and reenter the country every three months.”

Foreignness always will “trump any similarities,” Stewart says.

(Photo courtesy of David Stewart) David Stewart, second from right, who had served a mission in Russia in the early 1990s, with a convert and her family in a chapel in St. Petersburg in 2010.

Russia may be open to Western clothing and music, but the government most fears “Western ideas and stances toward democracy and human rights.”

It especially frets about “faiths that have allegiance to a foreign authority,” he says, and a “high commitment in their members.”

“High commitment” is an understatement for Latter-day Saints. Their church is led and staffed by volunteers. They eschew alcohol and tobacco, give 10% of their income to the faith, attend two-hour Sunday services and strive to minister to one another during the week.

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Roman Lunkin, director of the Institute for Religion and Law in Moscow.

Russia’s anti-missionary laws have “revived the fears that existed in Soviet times,” says religion scholar Roman Lunkin, director of the Institute for Religion and Law in Moscow, “and returned to Soviet-style tactics.”

Citizens could report their neighbors for supposedly illegal activities, Lunkin says. “Every Protestant and evangelical could be against the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons if they are seen as disloyal to the state.”

The laws, which don’t define “religious activity,” have given license to security units across the country to interpret as they see fit.

“If people are meeting in private homes, for example,” Lunkin says, “any police force could interpret that gathering as breaking the law.”

And they do.

“Law enforcement is a kind of game, very selective, all foreigners involved in religious activity take a risk,” Verkhovsky says. “We have an Orthodox Jewish rabbi from the U.S. who has worked here for years. Then suddenly he was deported without any explanation, not even a visa violation.”

Detention and deportation

(Michael Stack | Special to The Tribune) From left to right, Elders Benjamin Stone from Denver, David Gaag, from Bothell, Wash., and Elijah McQuivey from Denver on "preparation day" near Old Town Vilnius, Lithuania.

In response to Russia’s clampdown, the LDS Church spelled out new rules for its proselytizing force.

Missionaries now are called “volunteers.” They don’t wear their nametags or talk about religion outside of chapels. No longer do they erect street displays, pass out pamphlets or invite strangers to hear about founder Joseph Smith, his view of deity, or how families can be joined for eternity.

They can respond only to questions and never can initiate a religious conversation.

Even with that compliance, however, Mormonism remains seen as foreign and suspicious.

In March, four policemen and three cameramen entered a Mormon meetinghouse in Novorossiysk just as two Latter-day Saint “volunteers” were hosting a game night in which visitors could practice their English.

Kole Brodowski of Garden Grove, Calif., and David Gaag of Bothell, Wash., were arrested on the spot for allegedly violating their religious visas, which did not allow them to teach English. The two were held for nearly three weeks, endured two trials and ultimately deported.

Gaag had been in the country barely a month.

“From the moment the police walked into English club, I felt God reassuring me that everything would be all right,” Gaag told The Salt Lake Tribune in Lithuania , where he was transferred after the deportation. “I felt his comforting hand as I prayed day and night.”

That same month, “authorities tore down an ‘unauthorized’ Pentecostal meetinghouse [and] banned the Seventh-day Adventists gathering,” according to Christianity Today .

Novorossiysk is “strategically important to Russia,” Stewart notes. “It is one of the few warm weather ports that operates year-round with access to waterways from Europe.”

It is not, he says, “an ideal place for foreigners right now.”

So not only do the security enforcers differ from city to city, so, too, do the perceived security threats. Such a patchwork of paranoia makes implementation of the anti-missionary laws spotty and unpredictable.

“Legal problems the LDS Church and other minority groups face vary greatly from region to region,” says BYU’s Clark, “depending on the attitudes of local administrations and security forces.”

Moscow and St. Petersburg, the country’s two largest and most tourist-appealing cities, have seen the fewest punitive actions. All across the land, though, the brunt of the law’s consequences has fallen squarely on one faith: Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The case against Witnesses

Jehovah’s Witnesses, a millenarian Christian faith launched back East in the 1870s, arrived in Russia more than 100 years ago. As part of their faith, members share their testimonies and teachings for a certain amount of time each month. They often can be seen walking in pairs, distributing their religious pamphlet, “The Watchtower,” to all takers.

Russia’s political powers have always opposed Jehovah’s Witnesses, who number about 175,000 adherents in the country, partly due to their resistance to military service and their unwillingness to bow to any government. So it was added to the list of “extremist faiths,” a fate the LDS Church has managed to avoid.

Witnesses agreed not to distribute literature with the claim that it is the only true church and haven’t brought any into the country since the law took effect, says Yaroslav Sivulsky, a representative for the European Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

But, he insists, the Russians have planted some in members’ apartments and charged the group with distributing the materials.

“It was unjust and unfair,” he says. “We were accused during a Supreme Court trial that we continue to possess extremist literature. We tried to prove this isn’t true, but the judge was not inclined to listen.”

After exhausting all Russian avenues, both local and national, Witnesses have taken their case international.

“We have 41 applications in the European Court of Human Rights,” Sivulsky says, “as well as complaints with the United Nations’ Center for Constitutional Rights.”

Since 2017, all Jehovah’s Witnesses meetinghouses, called Kingdom Halls, as well as their headquarters in St. Petersburg, have been either confiscated or closed, Sivulsky says, so people have gathered in homes to read the Bible and study their common faith.

But such gatherings sometimes are deemed “extremist activities,” he says, so heavily armed police often raid them, remove literature, seize electronic devices and arrest the attendees. The believers are then thrown into detention for days, weeks or months.

“ On Feb. 15, 2019, a particularly egregious incident took place in the city of Surgut, where law enforcement officers tortured seven male Witnesses after conducting searches of the homes of Witnesses in the area,” the faith’s website reported. “The victims were stripped naked, suffocated, doused with water, beaten, and shocked with stun guns. The torture occurred on the first floor of the Russian Investigative Committee’s office in Surgut.”

Putin has called the classification of Jehovah’s Witnesses as extremists “complete nonsense,” says Sivulsky, but he has done nothing to prevent it.

It is difficult to say who is behind the systematic oppression, he says, but the Orthodox Church leaders have publicly criticized Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Russia’s Federal Security Bureau “is very active in persecuting Witnesses.”

SOVA’s Verkhovsky doesn’t think Russia’s sweep against Jehovah’s Witnesses will ultimately win the day.

“Hitler couldn’t stop them. Stalin couldn’t. I doubt Putin can, either,” he says. “Witnesses are very stubborn. They will never stop.”

Sivulsky gently corrects the scholar.

Witnesses aren’t stubborn, he says. They are the real Christians, the resolute Christians.

“We are very peaceful people. We don’t participate in the army, not even in the Second World War,” he says. “To blame us as extremists is absolutely ridiculous.”

For Baptists, the solution may be political

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) The Central Baptist Church, where Ezra Taft Benson preached in 1959, in Moscow.

More than half of all cases of alleged illegal proselytizing last year “were against evangelicals,” according to an analysis by Forum 18 , a news service covering religious freedom issues in Russia and surrounding countries.

“Of the 159 individuals and organizations prosecuted for demonstrating their faith in public, 50 were Pentecostals and 39 were Baptists,” the service reported.

Though the Central Baptist Church in Moscow has been a fixture in the capital city since the 1830s — it’s where Latter-day Saint leader Benson once preached — its members still are cautious about too much exposure.

“Local members do their mission work at train stations,” says Deacon Anatoliy, who declined to give his surname. “They share their message with others about our Central Church.”

A lot of attendees come from Ukraine, Moldova and middle Asia, Anatoliy says. In 1992, famed preacher Billy Graham spoke from the pulpit at the stunning church with a historic organ and a stained glass window that carries the words, “God is love.”

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Deacon Anatoliy in Moscow's Central Baptist Church.

Last year, Graham’s son Franklin Graham addressed the congregation from the same podium.

The younger Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, worries about the future of religious minorities in Russia.

His church members “have suffered a lot there,” Graham says in an interview. “And it has a lot to do with politics.”

Moscow’s relationship with the U.S. “began to deteriorate with the Obama administration’s imposing sanctions and continued in the first two years of the Trump administration.”

Sanctions hurt Russian evangelicals, too, he says. They are mystified as to why the U.S. doesn’t try to resolve the political tensions.

“I’m not sure evangelicals are persecuted,” he says. “But they are seen as second-class citizens.”

The best strategy for evangelicals, Graham says, is to build positive relationships with people in the Russian Orthodox Church and the government.

“I spoke with President Putin a few years ago and shared what we evangelicals believe,” he says. “I’m not sure anybody had ever done that before.”

The Russian leader was cordial, Graham says, but made it clear that his country was meant to be Orthodox.

Just speaking to Putin, he says, incurred criticism in the U.S. He’s still the No. 1 guy there “whether we like it or not,” Graham says. “It’s a country that has a huge amount of power and we need to be talking with them.”

)Al Hartmann | Tribune file photo) Thousands gathered on the steps of the Utah Capitol several years ago to listen and pray with Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham.

On the flip side, Graham believes evangelical Christianity appeals to the young people who are turned off by historic Orthodoxy. The Russian Orthodox Church is isolated outside of its homeland, he says, “and doesn’t have many friends around the world.”

Graham is trying “to be a friend to them.”

Latter-day Saints building bridges

In response to the security forces’ pattern of detaining and deporting, some religious groups are openly defiant, while others have tried their best to comply with the law, no matter how capriciously it is executed.

To Latter-day Saints, the key has been to develop “relationships with authorities,” says SOVA’s Verkhovsky. “They get involved in local councils.”

Twice a year, the St. Petersburg stake presidency and members have been invited to join with other faiths to put flowers on the graves of those killed in the Leningrad siege, says Mikhail Kotov, a Latter-day Saint convert and tour guide who lost several of his own forebears during the Nazi blockade.

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Mikhail Kotov, center, stands at the LDS Russian dedication site in the Summer Palace Garden in St. Petersburg.

“We are involved in lots of interfaith activities,” he says.

Senior missionary couples as well as young Latter-day Saint evangelizers spend time going to cultural events and serving as volunteers in places like the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

“We take a shift every Friday,” says Max Wood from Delta, Utah, as he helps tourists navigate the museum’s entrance. “We love it here. People are so respectful on trains and buses.”

Since the March detention of two volunteers, says Wood’s wife, Marilee, church attorneys reviewed all mission rules to make sure they were in compliance.

“While we don't always agree with the restrictions or regulations placed on our volunteers and missionaries,” says Salt Lake City-based church spokesman Doug Andersen, "we always abide by those rules and teach our volunteers and missionaries to do so as well."

Indeed, one of Mormonism's Articles of Faith declares that members believe in “ being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law .”

Andersen reiterates that sentiment, saying that the church “encourages its members to be loyal citizens in the country where they reside and to be engaged in service to their country.”

With all this opposition, the church’s growth has slowed and stands at about 23,000, according to Stewart’s cumorah.com , which tracks Latter-day Saint membership trends. (Statistical information about Russia is no longer listed on the church’s website .)

In St. Petersburg, the number of members attending services is actually less than it was 25 years ago, Stewart says. Between 1993 and 2000, the number of branches mushroomed from 33 to 112 as new cities were opened to missionaries.

(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

There were 15 branches by the summer of 1994 in St. Petersburg alone, according to Stewart’s almanac. Today, there are four wards and no branches.

Similar consolidations happened in Moscow and other cities, the demographer says, as the church worked to retain its members amid decreasing convert baptisms.

Then came the anti-proselytizing law and a reduction of missions across the country to five.

There are now only three meeting places spread across St. Petersburg, which means it takes a long time for many members to travel to services, Stewart says. About 300 people regularly attend Sunday meetings in those branches.

On top of that, birthrates among Russia’s Mormons are quite low, economic opportunities slim and marriage to a member less likely.

There’s been “a migration of young Latter-day Saints out of Russia,” he says. And they’re not coming back.

Boris Leostrin, president of the St. Petersburg Stake, remains undaunted.

“The church has great potential here,” he says, pointing to a map with pins where he hopes to grow his stake.

He exults about the possibility of a Latter-day Saint temple in the country, which Nelson announced more than a year ago would be built in one of Russia’s “major” cities.

(Michael Stack | Special to The Salt Lake Tribune) Boris Leostrin, president of the St. Petersburg LDS Stake.

According to most experts in that former Soviet country, a Mormon temple is a far-off dream, not much more than a fantasy at this point.

Still, Leostrin, who owns a successful tourist company, is a glass-half-full guy.

When the two missionaries in the Rostov Mission were detained , the little branch where they served had about 10 members, he says. After their story became public, it doubled in size to “20 or more, with lots of investigators.”

To the exuberant leader, that demonstrated “how the Lord is aware of everything in our lives.”

Such opposition will not defeat them but rather strengthen the Latter-day Saints, the optimistic convert says. It is but “a little challenge, like snow in April.”

But, he insists, the brutal Russian winter “is not coming back.”

This current autumn, though, is bitter cold.

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