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SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently launched a social media campaign to highlight the challenges overcome by both early and modern-day pioneers.
The campaign is designed for Latter-day Saints and others to think about the accomplishments of their pioneer ancestors and how they can leave a pioneer legacy for future generations, according to a press release.
The campaign website features a video that includes examples of what it means to be a pioneer. Campaign participants can watch and share the video in addition to sharing their own pioneer stories with the hashtag #IAmAPioneer.
#IAmAPioneer in my family as a Mormon 💟 pic.twitter.com/v7Pl0X3qXd — carolina (@ldsdetermined_) July 20, 2015
> The legacy I am most proud of are these two and my testimony of the truth of The LDS church. [\#IAmAPioneer](https://twitter.com/hashtag/IAmAPioneer?src=hash) [pic.twitter.com/5ROsbpkBos](http://t.co/5ROsbpkBos) > > — Rebecca L. Dewey (@RebeccaLDewey) [July 15, 2015](https://twitter.com/RebeccaLDewey/status/621171339861200896)
> [\#IAmAPioneer](https://twitter.com/hashtag/IAmAPioneer?src=hash) in my family. The 1st one in the app world. Sharing my story over [@FamilySearch](https://twitter.com/FamilySearch) blog:
With information offered in 10 languages, the #IAmAPioneer campaign is a joint effort between the Church History Department and the Family History Department.
Several phases of the campaign will be introduced on FamilySearch, Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Those who wish to participate are asked to discover others' stories and share their own for future generations at FamilySearch.
The Church History Department recently gleaned information from journals and ledgers about approximately 1,000 more Mormon pioneers who travelled to the Salt Lake Valley. Internet users can view this information, provided by the Church History Department's Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, on FamilySearch.
Users who have Mormon pioneer ancestors will see them and the pioneer company they travelled with listed in their family tree and will have access to stories about them.
FamilySearch
New stories and journals from the Mormon Battalion Pioneers will be available August 9 via FamilySearch. To read more about additional pioneer stories, visit LDS.org.
The LDS Church commemorates the day its pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 each July 24. These pioneers came to Utah with their handcarts and wagons by way of the Mormon Trail from almost 1,300 miles east. In an effort to avoid persecution and find religious freedom, the Mormon pioneers traveled from 1847 to 1868. The completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 ended the pioneer treks, according to the press release.
