President Monson said this in the April 2011 General Conference:

"The first temple to be built in this dispensation was the temple at Kirtland, Ohio. The Saints at the time were impoverished, and yet the Lord had commanded that a temple be built, so build it they did. Wrote Elder Heber C. Kimball of the experience, 'The Lord only knows the scenes of poverty, tribulation and distress which we passed through to accomplish it.' And then, after all that had been painstakingly completed, the Saints were forced to leave Ohio and their beloved temple. They eventually found refuge - although it would be temporary - on the banks of the Mississippi River in the state of Illinois. They named their settlement Nauvoo, and willing to give their all once again and with their faith intact, they erected another temple to their God. Persecutions raged, howerver, and with the Nauvoo Temple barely completed, they were driven from their homes once again, seeking refuge in a desert place no one else wanted. The struggle and the sacrifice began once again as they labored for 40 years to erect the Salt Lake Temple, which stands majestically on the block just south of those of us who are here today in the Conference Center."

I have a strong testimony that the Pioneers were led by the Lord and were very strong as they went though their trials in establishing the West.