The Pioneer Challenge

We interrupt the area reports for this message.  Not to worry!  The area reports will continue after a few weeks.
In my last area, we knocked on a man's door who did NOT want to hear from us.
He talked of how Joseph Smith was a fraud, he talked of how he deceived millions of people, including ourselves.  He talked of the pioneers who crossed the plains walking to their death in a hope of reaching a land where they could pray in peace.  These pioneers, he claimed, were blinded and led to their death by a fraudulent book and its' author.
I heard the opinion of this man with sorrow, and disappointment.  However, I found it interesting how with his words, he proved true exactly what he felt was false.
The fact that the pioneers went through what they did is positive proof for me that they knew what they were sacrificing for was right and true.
For those who have a hard time discovering the truthfulness of this church, or at least have a hard time finding respect for those who gave their lives for it, below is a challenge I offer to you.
Put yourself in this situation:
You live a comfortable life.  You have a beautiful home in an area surrounded by friends and family that love you.  You have been blessed with a happy, comfortable life for which you are very grateful for and would be heartbroken if you left it behind.  The ties to your life here in this area are stronger than anything you have ever experienced before.
Until...
One day, a nice young man comes to you and your beautiful family with a book and a message.  This message fills your soul with more joy and more happiness than you had before, even when you thought your happiness could not increase.
However, your family, friends, community, government, nation, see this joy in a different way.
They see your joy as demonic possession.  You try to share it with your loved ones, only to have those whom you love and respect dearly, spit in your face, stab you in the back and make threats on your life.
This becomes much more than just hurtful words with no action.  They start to turn into what only could be thought of in nightmares.  People you had respect and love for now threaten the lives of you and your children.
Your family and all those who have discovered and accepted this new happiness and ideas are forced by the government to move away from your home.  The government, which was originally written for religious acceptance, treats you as hostile, doing the very thing they were designed not to do.
You have little or no frontier experience, which means you will be learning by trial and error.
You must travel across the country in a harsh and unfriendly environment.
You and your family must experience the most extreme conditions of
thirst, hunger, fatigue.  Your food per day will average 10 ounces of flour mixed with water, and will go below this average as you continue, becoming more and more weak.
Not to mention diseases that escalate your conditions, snakes and wolves, uncharted terrain, violent Indians and mobs, several experiences that strike fear into the hearts of you, or your little ones.
Did I mention that you will be doing this on foot?  The only things you can bring are those that you can carry.
All of this will be done in weather that chaps the hide of coyote and rattlesnakes.
Extreme heat, dust, wind.  Freezing cold, blizzards, hail.  The temperature will be well below freezing.  The snow will be more than 18 inches deep multiple times.  The only shelter you will find from this will be in natural mountain coves or under the contraption you built by hand to carry your supplies, or the bodies of those who have passed on.  You will find several rivers, streams, rocks, mountains, blocking your way.  In the middle of the harsh weather and living conditions you are suffering, you must cross these frozen rivers, climb these mountains, etc.  Doing so will most likely cause physical injury, disease and death.  Not only must you get your family and luggage across this river, but you must also help strangers you are traveling with to cross this river.
Not only must you take your family on this journey, but you will help others along the way out of kindness, not strength. Your clothing will have no technology to block out the weather.  It must be cotton or wool.  Your shoes will in no ways be ergonomic.  They will be built by hand.
All of these conditions will take the lives of your loved ones; spouse, children, parents, dearest and closest friends, etc.  The image of your loved ones lying dead by the side of the trail will haunt you for the rest of your life.
You will travel thousands of miles to a land you have heard nothing of, with people you have never met, arriving jobless and homeless at your destination, tearing your family and yourself apart all because of the book you read and the ideas you accepted.
You must do all of this willingly, relying on God to get you there.
Would you do this for something you knew were not true?
There is only one answer to the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ; it happened!
If it did not, those who believe it to be false must explain what caused so many people to pursue this journey, and it is not enough to simply declare so many good Christian people as possessed by demonic evils.
Have some respect for those who did this because they knew it was right.  They were guided by the hand of God on their journey, and they saw the miracles to prove its truth.