Okay, okay I promise this will be my last post about the
CULTURAL CELEBRATION
but I couldn't resist a few more thoughts...
mostly because this is my journal and there are just going to be things I don't want to ever forget.
These are the last few stories that I must tell...
1. Last Sunday during Stake Conference they asked a woman from the Stake to bear her testimony. She had been given the task to have the temple cleaned each Tuesday and Thursday night during the Temple Open house. That meant she had to clean it each night after thousands of people had walked through it. Because she had such a special and unique responsibility she was given access to the Cultural Celebration...which only a select few adults were allowed to go because of the sheer volume of kids and volunteer adults needed to pull off the performance. During her testimony she shared with us this amazing story.
The rain started to fall in buckets at 6:40 p.m. The prophet was on route when his security detail had decided that he should not get out of the car once he arrived at the park because his health was not good and they were worried he would get more ill. They were going to pull his car in front of the performance area and let him watch from his vehicle. I can tell you right now as someone who had been with these kids for the last several months that this would have been devastating to them.
They wanted nothing more than to just see the prophet...
they needed to know that he was there!
Everyone was anxiously awaiting him to emerge from the car.
Every kid and adult will witness that that in the moment his car pulled up and came to a stop...
the rain stopped!
He got out of his car and waved his arms to the crowd!
(Photo Credit: Meridian Magazine)
I thought in this moment and so did the kids...
that the rain was over...
but it wasn't...
It kept raining and raining and RAINED the rest of the night.
But for those brief ten minutes the Lord gave to these kids what they needed most...
and that was to see their prophet,
waving them and cheering them on.
I've heard several of the kids say they were just a little disappointed that he never spoke a word that night, but I hope each young man and young woman will know that the Lord made it possible for a Prophet of God to get out of his car and be present in their lives that night.
2. I don't know if I can possibly convey in just a few short words the sheer magnitude of this event, and what it must have taken to pull something like this off.
This is what 12,702 youth on one field looked like!
So how do you possibly include this many people in such a production is beyond me...
and obviously why that part of the night was not my job.
But I want it to be known that as an adult who didn't think this could have been possible and was expecting all kinds of chaos...
I saw nothing but ORDER and DEDICATION by those who were given such tasks as scanning us all through temporary gates that had to be erected hours before, almost a 100 port-a-johns delivered and serviced throughout the day, lunches and dinner that had to be served, leaders who organized dance numbers and movement on the field, those who delivered gallons and gallons of water and the video and sound equipment loud enough for almost 15,000 people to hear.
I heard a joke from someone on the outside that only the Mormons would try such an undertaking...
and that only the Mormons could make it work!
And make it work they DID!
(Photo Credit: Facebook)
3. I don't want to EVER forget those that I got to serve with while being a part of this amazing experience. We were so focused on our jobs and the youth that I am BUMMED I never got a picture with all our Captains of 10...but I have asked a few of them for a re-creation at some point so hopefully I will be able to post that in this very spot and some point and time.
We had EIGHT of us total in our ward...
four women and four men...
and I've NEVER seen a group of people work so hard, for so many hours in two Saturdays and the many practices before...
as I've seen from these amazing men and women. It inspired me when I was exhausted, hungry, hot or maybe even a little grumpy...
to just KEEP going and to remember what we were doing this for!
This was THREE of us the Saturday night before and even though it was nearing the end of the night and I was emotionally and physicall tired...
these girlies kept me going!
And EVEN the night the RAIN fell and we were literally soaked from head to toe...
they made me laugh and kept me going.
I must always remember this because there was NOTHING easy about pulling 51 kids and all our costumes and equipment out of the park in soaking wet clothes and in several inches of water.
Oh the LOADS and LOADS of wet, soaking jackets and shoes I cleaned after this night!
4. Lastly, I loved, loved, loved that I was allowed as a MOTHER to see and feel what my children were going to experience.
Sometimes I wonder if anything I tell them or am teaching them is really "sinking" in...
and then I get to see them in "action" and I realize that I don't nearly give them the CREDIT they deserve.
They are not perfect...
I am not perfect...
but we are ALL trying and we are all trying our VERY best.
So to my amazing children...
and to my amazing husband who spent the day with Jacob...
I LOVE YOU...
every bit of you...
NO MATTER WHAT!
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