PROJECTS CELEBRATE PIONEERS.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

When the Church of Latter-day Saints commemorates its Mormon pioneers Saturday with a Pioneer Heritage Service Day, John Potter says he will celebrate his roots in the church community with renewed gratitude.

From North Platte to Ash Hollow, Neb., the 49-year-old Camarillo man and his family pulled a 4-by-6 wooden handcart more than 96 miles of the Mormon trail. The Potters retraced only a portion of the path traveled by their own ancestors on the religious exodus to Salt Lake City 150 years ago.

``This was a firsthand opportunity to see what it was like for our family to have traveled across the plains in wagons,'' said Potter, who returned from the trek just weeks ago.

Part of a yearlong commemoration of the arrival of the first 110 Mormon pioneers into the Great Salt Lake Valley 150 years ago this July, re-enactments and exhibits of the trek have been organized throughout the world and culminate in Saturday's Pioneer Heritage Service Day.

``It's a time to think about our ancestors' experience and come to a better appreciation of our families,'' said Potter, who with members of his Camarillo church will help clean up local parks and recreational areas in their community.

All around Ventura County, each church will contribute more than 150 hours of community service to local neighborhood improvement projects to honor the Latter-day Saints' roots and its pioneers.

In Simi Valley, local church wards will plant 30 types of trees throughout Rancho Simi Park and finish a trail leading into Mount McCoy to work toward its goal of 150 community service hours.

``What we are trying to do is to get back into our communities,'' said Scott Jones, bishop of Simi Valley Ward 3 of the Church of Latter-day Saints. ``If we can get people to realize the importance of sharing free time with the community, we can make a difference.''

In Agoura Hills on Saturday, one ward got a head start on the 150-hour goal. More than 100 local Latter-day Saints joined in for a cleanup effort along Medea Creek in Paramount Ranch and a pioneer picnic.

This week, Agoura Ward 1 plans to refurbish the historic Reyes Adobe House and to clean up Chumash Park, said Cathy Roberts, who helped coordinate the ward's activities.

``I think it's really nice that we as a ward can work on projects together. The day should really unify our church,'' said Cathy Roberts, an Agoura resident who helped coordinate her parish's activities for Saturday. ``And it's an opportunity to think back on our pioneer ancestors and on the sacrifices they made.''

Roberts said she grew up hearing the tales of her great-great-grandfather, Wilford Woodruff, a member of the pioneer company to arrive in the Great Basin in July 1847. Woodruff, best known for his 1890 manifesto prompting the end of plural marriages, served as the fourth President of the Church of Latter-day Saints.

In addition to community service activities, local Latter-day Saints are also celebrating the sesquicentennial with discussions of the pioneers who first settled California and Ventura County, as well as with local re-enactments of the pioneer's crossing.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) Larry Sheflo collects trash along Medea Creek in Agoura Hills during a Latter-day Saints cleanup day.

(2--ran in SAC edition only) Keri Johnson hauls a rusted can from Medea Creek as part of a cleanup drive organized by the Agoura Hills Latter-day Saints.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News