So, the first time I've heard the term pioneer was back in Mauritius, where I grew up. And I remember my aunt, who was a convert, told me about it. And I remember thinking and being very intrigued. And, coming from an international background, an LDS international background, I don't think I knew a lot about the pioneers. So my first question to you is, Who are the pioneers? The Mormon pioneer experience refers to a time in the 19th century when Latter-day Saints around the world gathered to Utah. For many of the pioneers, that meant traveling overland in the continental United States to arrive to the west. And for others it also involved travel around the globe--by boat, by train--to gather together. Over time, nearly 70,000 Latter-day Saints left their homes, their place of origin, and gathered to Utah. So, you talked about they left their home. Where were they coming from? We often think about the ones who were living in Nauvoo, Illinois, and then made the journey across the plains to Utah. But many Latter-day Saints lived in other places. They lived in the United States in the American South, in New England. They lived in the British Isles. They lived in Scandinavian countries. Wow. There were Latter-day Saints who lived in South Africa, who lived in India, who lived in the Pacific Islands. We don't think about that, when we think of pioneers, that they come from these amazing places. Yeah, so people are coming from certainly many places around the world. And so one of the things that happens on the trail is that there are people from different countries. There are people from different racial backgrounds. There are people who speak different languages who come together in this group as they go across the plains. And so, for example, the very first pioneer company had three Black men in it. There were people who came from India, including Elizabeth Xavier Tait, who was a member of the Willie handcart company. We forget that there was a language diversity and a cultural diversity when we talk about pioneers. So what are some of the things that members of the Church might not know about the pioneers? Tell me more about that. In the historical pioneer experience, half of the people crossing the plains were actually younger than 21. These were young people on the plains. We forget that they were pulling pranks, that they were having fun, that they would dance in the evenings. Another part of our stereotype about the pioneer experience is that it was so terrible that they were dying and that it was just an extreme amount of suffering. And we now know that people were just as likely to die living anywhere else in the United States as they were in the pioneer experience. One of the misconceptions we have is that they all traveled by handcart. Yes. But it was a very small portion. It was really only 10 companies out of nearly 400. Really? Why do you think members should care about these historical events? What can they learn about these stories? One important thing about pioneer life and their experience was how committed they were to each other. This wasn't just an opportunity to move myself or my family. But as they traveled together in pioneer companies and groups, it really was the success of the whole group. And so there was a strong sense of making sure everybody made it and looking out for one another. And when food ran out, people would share. And it was a very strong communal sense of "How do we get--not just me and my family, but how does the whole community arrive safely?" I love that. So, that community sense, what can we learn today as Latter-day Saints about that sense of community? You know, that's a great question, because so often today we think about members of the Church as individuals. We think about them as families. And those are important dimensions of who we are. But, in addition, we belong to wards and branches. We belong to stakes. We are members of the communities that we live in. And so one lesson we can take from the pioneer experience is to think about the wider community and who's with us. Who do we need to care for? Who do we need to help and make sure that they make it as well? I think these stories, we need to continue to celebrate them and to show the sacrifice but also how much there was love and devotion for what they were doing. Yeah, I think you hit it right on the head. To me, it isn't so much that the pioneers walked and walked and suffered. The real sacrifice was in people changing their lives-- Yes. --Leaving behind an old life and starting a new one. Many times what was left behind included families, close family members. It included religions and cultures. It included their national experience and then traveling to a new nation, where the laws are different, where the customs are different, where the language is different. When we think about the pioneer experience in that way, about what was left behind to take up a new life to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, then I see far more lessons about the pioneers and things that we can apply to our own lives in the 21st century. I think this is so beautiful. The lessons, the sacrifice that you mentioned just reminded me of my own family. Both my aunts lived in France in 1978. And that's when they joined the Church. And they left everything to be able to be baptized. And it makes me reflect also on my own way of "How do I show my devotion to God?" And I think about when I went to the Nauvoo temple for the first time. Even though I know that I'm not closely related to the pioneers, that I don't have any blood relation with them, when I was in the Nauvoo temple, I knew then that they are my spiritual pioneers because of their sacrifice and their devotion.