Standard of Truth

"Our missionaries are going forth to different nations. The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

-Joseph Smith

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Another pageant has come and gone...For the past three years my family and I have participated in the Hill Cumorah Pageant which takes place just 25 minutes away from my house at the Hill Cumorah. It's been one of the best experiences of my life! And now a week after it all happened I wish we could just rewind the past month and do it alllll again. This year was probably the hottest year weather wise. The first week was sunny, hot, and really humid. So that meant very few games of ultimate frisbee, volleyball, and whatever else and a lot more time just sitting in the shade or sneaking into the costume shop where the AC was.

I thought one year as Nephi was enough but once again I got to wear the wig and costume. I guess it was a good thing I was the same character again because it took me a lot less time to "learn" how to put the costume on since I did it all last year. The only difference this year was the scene I was in. I was in the vision of the tree of life. And if any of you don't know what I'm talking about then I'll assume that you aren't mormon and encourage you to read the Book of Mormon to find out :). But in the scene there were water jets that shot up during the scene so every night without fail I got soaking wet. Most of the time it felt really really good because it was so hot. But other nights it wasn't as great because the mosquitos just loved my wet costume and I ended up with new bug bites after every show. But it was all definitely worth it.

During pageant we have our cast team which is like our family during pageant. I must say that I'm pretty sure I had the best cast team ever this year. Even though there were only four guys, including me, and sixteen girls. But I guess I shouldn't be complaining. And my cast team leaders were the bomb! The Watsons and the Tomas were great! We got to go on a service project, which was scraping gum off chairs and tables at the high school and then moving boxes of paper around the school, tour the church sites which is always an awesome thing to do, and then we had our free day where we went to the lake. I've seen the church sites so many times since I only live twenty to twenty five minutes away, but they never get old. The lake was awesome! It was sunny and gorgeous out. 

Whenever something begins you know that there's always an end and it's the same way with pageant. The last sunday was so sad. Probably more so for me because I won't see most of my friends for over two years. There were plenty of last minute pictures with friends and good bye hugs and some tears from various people. But thank goodness for the church and BYU because there's a very good chance I will see most of them again. Even if it is after two years.