This morning began early with rehearsal for the Blue Family Cast beginning at 9am. I headed to the Stake Centre (the church building here) beforehand to post yesterday’s blog and found guys already there busy hoovering and cleaning from the night before. There are so many people working behind the scenes here to make this pageant possible, it’s pretty overwhelming when you stop to think about it.
So today we spent the morning learning another of the dances. Without revealing too much to those of you yet to come, I’m going to be Scottish for that particular dance. Wish me luck! We also spent time going through several of the scenes. I love that I’m now seeing the pageant from a totally different perspective. There is so much energy and enthusiasm in the family and core cast. Watching the core cast interact, they really are like one big family.
Today one of the core cast opened his mission call during rehearsal – everyone was so excited for him and being able to share in that moment with him and his family was fantastic.
Perhaps it was sharing in that
moment that made tonight’s performance so incredible. In my opinion it was the
best night yet.
I was fortunate enough to have my ‘second parents’ come
tonight. They emigrated to Canada when I was 18 and though we have seen them
several times since, it has been at least a year since I last saw them. So to
see them here was SO great! They enjoyed taking part in pre-pageant activities
and when I saw them afterwards they said it was fantastic. Mary said it made her
proud to be British!
I also got to see one of the girls who was on Young Women’s
camp when I got dragged into going last year. She had travelled for around 5
hours to get there after being on camp all week – I’m very impressed! I
overheard two ladies talking during the pre-pageant events this evening, saying
how much fun it was and that everyone was so friendly. It really made it hit
home to me how the experience begins for our guests the moment they arrive.
What is so great is that we’re not faking anything – we genuinely are happy to see you all and have you
come. Without an audience we would have no pageant.
A scripture was shared with us tonight during our evening
devotional, Doctrine and Covenants 100:5-6, where the Prophet Joseph was told
that he would be given the words to say in the very moment he needed them. The
scripture was likened unto us in that as we have faith, we will know what to
sing in the very moment. This was a lesson for me in having faith – I have to
admit here (Beth, if you’re reading this, please skip this part!) that I have
found it a bit tricky to remember which song comes in when, so with the help of
a friend I had a cue sheet stuck to the side up where we sing (out of sight of
the audience of course), where we could sneakily check which song was coming up
next! I have also been known to forget words on occasion. After hearing that
scripture at our devotional tonight I decided that I needed to have more faith,
so I didn’t look at the cue sheet once. And I did remember all the words! (I
nearly missed a couple of cues because I was so involved in what was happening
onstage, but once I began I remembered all the words!) What a blessing.
My Stake President was there with his family tonight. I
asked him afterwards what he enjoyed the most about the pageant. Amongst other
things, he said that he enjoyed the peripheral things – the children playing, just
being children and things like that – that it is the small moments that make
something like this so special. And it really is – by small and simple things
are great things brought to pass, and it is certainly the little things here at
pageant that add up to make such an incredible evening night after night.
Those of you that know me well are fully aware that I am not
the most coordinated or graceful person. During rehearsals this morning we were
asked to share things we’d learned. For me, it was that we all make mistakes (I
know I was making plenty!) but that we can pick ourselves up and continue. I
truly believe that is applicable to our lives, not only to the dances I was
learning (or trying to!); we make mistakes every day, but because of the
Saviour’s atonement we can repent and move forward with our lives. If we are
sincere in our repentance, He will not let it hold us back; He would have us
keep moving forward in our efforts to become more like Him. Sometimes this
requires the help of others, just like when we made a mistake or missed a step
in the dance, with the help of our partner or group we were able to keep going
and pick it up again. I know that my Saviour loves me, and that He loves each
one of us. That He lived and died to give us the opportunity to return to live
with Him after this life is over. That is the truth we want to share. That is
the Truth that will prevail.
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