During the Trek you will have experiences designed to help you feel the Spirit. The more you are spiritually prepared, the better those experiences will be for you.
Take the notebook with you on the Trek, and write your experiences as you go. Include the mundane as well as the spiritual; sketch the scenery; write about your physical challenges, the food, and sleeping arrangements and about the things spoken to your heart.
Music was important to those traveling to the Salt Lake Valley. Music has the capacity to lift the spirit, encourage one of failing strength, comfort the mourning, and express delight and joy, no matter the circumstance!
All but one of the following hymns were included in the first hymnal put together by Emma Smith. Memorize the lyrics and tunes of some them. You will be amazed how your Trek experience is enriched by your ability to sing along the way. Hymn singing keeps our hearts focused on the spiritually rich experience of a Trek, whether the songs are solemn or exuberant.
Strive to Live a Christ-like Life
“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul – We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” – Article of Faith 13Attend Church Meetings
- Sunday meetings
- Mutual
- Seminary
Pray Daily and Study the Scriptures
Re-read scriptural passages that deal with the various “exodus” experiences in the history of God’s people from the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants.- What were these groups leaving?
- What did they hope for in their destination?
- What gospel principles were taught and/or learned?
- How are your challenges different or similar?
- How do their experiences and outcomes encourage you?
Attend the Temple
Attend the temple at least once before the Trek and take the name of a personal ancestor or an ancestor of a member in your branch or ward.Keep a Journal
Get a small notebook or journal to write down your thoughts as you prepare for the Trek. Write about your own life, your challenges, and parallels you find to the early Saints.Take the notebook with you on the Trek, and write your experiences as you go. Include the mundane as well as the spiritual; sketch the scenery; write about your physical challenges, the food, and sleeping arrangements and about the things spoken to your heart.
Learn Hymns
“For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.” – Doctrine & Covenants 25:12Music was important to those traveling to the Salt Lake Valley. Music has the capacity to lift the spirit, encourage one of failing strength, comfort the mourning, and express delight and joy, no matter the circumstance!
All but one of the following hymns were included in the first hymnal put together by Emma Smith. Memorize the lyrics and tunes of some them. You will be amazed how your Trek experience is enriched by your ability to sing along the way. Hymn singing keeps our hearts focused on the spiritually rich experience of a Trek, whether the songs are solemn or exuberant.
- Carry On – Hymn #255 (composed for the youth in the Church’s centennial year)
- Come, All Ye Saints of Zion – Hymn #38
- Come, Come, Ye Saints – Hymn #30
- Come, Let Us Sing an Evening Hymn – Hymn #167
- For the Strength of the Hills – Hymn #35
- Gently Raise the Sacred Strain – Hymn #146
- Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah – Hymn #83
- How Firm a Foundation – Hymn #85
- I Know that My Redeemer Lives – Hymn #136
- Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise – Hymn #41
- O God, Our Help in Ages Past – Hymn #31
- O Ye Mountains High – Hymn #34
- Redeemer of Israel – Hymn #6
- The Spirit of God – Hymn #2
- The Wintry Day, Descending to Its Close – Hymn #37
- They, the Builders of the Nation – Hymn #36
Learn about the Pioneers
Recommended Books;Books
- I Walked to Zion by Susan Arrington Madsen
- Handcarts to Zion by Leroy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen
- The Price We Paid: The Extraordinary Story of the Willie & Martin Handcart Pioneers by Andrew D. Olsen
- Rescue of the 1856 Handcart Companies by Rebecca Bartholomew and Leonard J. Arrington
- We’ll Find the Place: The Mormon Exodus, 1846-1848 by Richard E. Bennett
- 111 Days to Zion by Hal Knight
- Recollections of a Handcart Pioneer of 1860: A Woman’s Life on the Mormon Frontier by Mary Ann Hafen
- Against All Odds: Amazing Pioneer Stories of Courage and Survival by Shirley A. Bahlmann
- True Stories of Mormon Pioneer Courage by Lucy Parr
- The Story of the Mormon Pioneers by Mabel Harmer
- The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail by Wallace Stegner
- Remember – The Willie and Martin Handcart Companies and Their Rescuers – Past and Present by Riverton Wyoming Stake
