Rainy Day - Study Shelter, Frisbee in the bowl, and wet

July 9, 2010 - Opening Night

RAIN! RAIN! RAIN! ...but the show must go on. We started very tired today. Last night was a 1am bedtime and the wake time did not change. We ate breakfast, the normal fare, caught the bus and went to morning devotional. It was good, a few rehearsal schedules throughout the morning and then a full run-through in the afternoon. Morning was not as hot but it was still sweating conditions. We ate lunch, had a devotional by Elder Snow, a member of the Seventy, and then went to a full rehearsal, all hands.

The rehearsal started and the rain began. A quarter of the way through they stopped the rehearsal due to thunder and lightning. All the technical crew came down from the towers and we went to the study shelter to let the storm pass. 15 minutes...30minutes...announcement that we will resume the rehearsal from where we left off. We all walked to the stage in time for a new cloud burst. Again we went back to the study shelter and waited for word. THe word came that rehearsal was cancelled and we should go to our cast team tents.

The rain kept coming. THe cast team tents are just a canopy. The water kept coming down. Our cast team leader led a discussion about Ministering Angels, using Elder Holland's conference talk and then we had a prayer, I was asked to include a request for the Lord to temper the weather. Half-way through the prayer the rain picked up and got so loud no one could hear me. The water was all over. It was an amazing set of cloud -bursts.

When the rehearsal was cancelled the first time Spencer joined the rest of the youth playing Ultimate frisbee with most of the youth out on the grass. The rain kept coming, they kept playing. He soaked his clothes. I gave him a dry shirt and it ended up wet as well. He was having fun. It was only after Frisbee that he realized that his church clothes were not protected from the rain, yes, they were soaked. Fortunately, Janette and Spencer found the dryers on-site (for the costumes) and were able to do a quick dry.

We did not expect many to show for the pageant but they came. Numerous bus loads of people and car after car. I am certain there were multiple thousands. The rain was constant but people did it anyway. We were surprised.

The anit-Mormons were at the road that passes Cumorah. A truck was parked on the side of the road with "What Mormons don't tell you" painted on the side. Down a bit, near the entrance off the public road were the protesters. They were using a bullhorn an telling everyone how wrong the Mormons are and how Joesph Smith was a liar. Fortunately, they are so far from the actual pageant you can not hear them until you walk in the parking lot. We just expect it.

Before and after each show we are assigned to be greeters. Spencer greets them and walks them into the bowl to find a seat. Janette, Meleah and I greet people after the show. We have missionary tracts in hand. Our job is to help people that are non-members recognize the good spirit they have felt and invite them to come to Christ, and also invite members to submit referrals for special friends. We did not get any tonight but we enjoyed greeting and asking how people enjoyed the show.

Many stakes in the east apparently use the Pageant as a Youth Conference trip. Some stay at Hobart college. A lot of people.

We get to sleep in late this morning. We are having a brunch before we go to the Hill. All of us are spent. We know our parts and now just need to do them 6 more times.

THe rain cooled things down a bit, except for the dorm room. Better but not best.

Thursday - 7/8 - Full rehearsal with audience

THe audience was about 2,000 in number. Tents are setup in the parking lot with local groups providing food booths etc. We, the cast, do not have an opportunity to visit.

Another long and hard day. We started getting up at 5:30am and are back at the dorm at 12:00am. Two showers a day is a must. The problem is that it takes forever to get dry, it never really happens, you just start sweating again.

Breakfast: Eggs, french toast, fruit, cottage cheese, good nectarines

Lunch: Salads, Ham&Turkey wrap, PBJ, macaroni salad and cookies

Dinner: Roast beef, baked potato, caesar salad, apple crisp

Not bad today.

Janette and Larry attended a lecture on Rwanda and Vietnam. Both interesting but I need to go to sleep.

I hear the heat wave has hit Oregon.

The pageant was beautiful. Note there are about 7 directors of which all except two will leave after opening night. We are suppose to know what we are doing.

Wednesday - Full Run-through

They call it a very bad heat wave. The news stations are recommending people stay inside unless they absolutely have to go out. We were outside ALL day! We were rehearsing in the sun. I believe it only got to 90 degrees.

The chairs were setup yesterday, today we setup the last two rows and washed all the chairs in the 9am sun. Now it is done, I hope. Even when we are waiting to do the next rehearsal or activity we are outside. It was a good day, we had success.

The 3rd missionary training lesson was completed. We are now ready to receive the visitors, talk to them about the BofM and Jesus Christ, invite them to do something and get a comment card filled out.

Today's fare: French toast, scrambled eggs, yogurt and cottage cheese. Meleah and Spencer added a bow of cereal. Lunch was a bummer, Meleah and SPencer went to choir practice and when they finished the only food left was salad. Let's just say they were not happy. We were able to get a PBJ for them to eat. For Dinner, stir-fry, rice, cream puff, fruit dish. Meleah was not happy again. Spencer did not eat well so I asked his problem and he said he downed a few Pop-tarts available from his cast team leaders. We are surviving.

Tonight we ran through the whole performance (after a loaded day of practices) in full costume. THe costumes are great. Janette, Meleah and Larry walk in together for the opening processional. Janette walked up in her costume, all I saw was a lady looking at me strangely. Finally I recognized her (the heat is getting to me). She has a wig of brunette hair that is 18" long. She was not easy for me to recognize. Meleah has braided hair and Spencer and Larry have "man skirts"(we wear clothes underneath!).

The place we are staying is called Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva, New York.

I asked some of our "local" cast team members about special regional food that we should try while we are here. Here is the list:

• Grape pie
• Salt potatoes (you buy a sack of new potatoes that includes a pound of salt for cooking)
• Garbage plate (fries, hamburger patty, and other, not sure what)

The one place I am most interested in trying is Grill and Chill in Palmyra. I have not been to Palmyra yet, no church sites other than the Hill. We are saving these for after the pageant.

This is not a vacation, this is WORK; sweaty, hot and miserable work in a very sacred place. This is all really cool. No matter what, this is an experience we will remember. It is great doing something crazy like this. I have not figured out why people keep coming back year after year. However, the pageant is really neat and the spirit is strong. We are involved in something real special, that is for sure.

Good night. I need my 5 hours of sleep.

July 6, 2010 - First Run Through of full Pageant

What a day! We started normal, early. Pancakes, fruit and cereal for breakfast. Meleah made it in time. Sunny, hot and humid.

We started with a short devotional and then went to the House (the bowl where the attendees sit). At 9am we setup 8000 chairs. Janette and I both agree that we have not sweat so much in memory. It was dripping and our clothes were soaked in no time at all. Worse, it was probably 90+ degrees out. We worked an hour and then Janette had a rehearsal in the bowl. It was just plain hot and nasty out.

At 11am we had our missionary training lesson. THe sisters are teaching us to Open our mouths and share testimony using the scriptures. THey do an excellent job of it all.

Lunch was a salad for Janette and I. Meleah and Spencer had peanut butter and jam after they returned from practicing with a youth choir in the basement of the visitor center. It is the coolest place around, almost unnatural cool. As soon as you left the basement it was like hitting a wall of humidity. It stayed with us all day.

At 4pm we practiced the opening procession. We all walk in through the audience in full costume. Unfortunately, we picked a line that goes up to stage 5, about 3-4 floors of stairs. We practiced it about 3 times, the sweat was pouring.

Dinner was a good break, still hot. They had a shell pasta with ricotta and red sauce. THe chocolate pudding was soup, but good.

THis evening, ending at 10:45pm, we did a complete run-through of the performance. It was great, of course, no one in the pageant got to see it. It seemed to go well and the director was pleased. We are now in the tuning phases of the performance.

We are on the Hill Cumorah! It is the place where Joseph Smith received the plates from Moroni, this is really cool. You can feel it, you know the Book of Mormon is divine. It really happens, the spirit testifies of the truth.

I am going to bed, it is 12:20pm. Early morning coming.

Picture

Monday -Wow!

Meleah is ill. She has a sore throat, headache, and congestion. We now have penicillin, robitussin, decongestant and a blessing. Please ask the Lord to bless her, she is miserable.

I believe the temperature was up to 95 degrees today. Fortunately, there was a breeze most of the day. We had a lot of rehearsals out on the stage so there are a lot of sunburns. It was tough getting up. I set the alarm for 5am to go running, woke up and said forget it! We slept until about 6am and got ready for breakfast. Meleah was a little slow but she made it for a french toast breakfast, but did not feel good enough to eat it all. We made it to the buses and off to the "Hill", as they call it. Breakfast, devotional, rehearsal, missionary training and more rehearsal, lunch, rehearsal, dinner and then a run through of most of the show. That was the WOW! of the day. These directors pulled together 700 people into various roles and staging to perform. All of us did something on one of the seven stages. It was great and very moving. The show has the following scenes:

• Old world - Jerusalem - Lehi called to be a prophet
• Nephi seeks to know what his father knows - visions of Christ
• Lehi leaves Jerusalem with the brass plates travel in the wilderness
• They wander for years, build the ship
• Voyage to ancient america - Laman and Lemuel rebel at sea, tie Nephi up until Nephi is required to save them
• Abinadi burned
• Ministry of Alma
• Samuel the Lamanite and the day-night-day of Jesus' birth
• Resurrected Christ appears - visits - blesses the children
• The Golden Message - Mormon and Moroni
• Restoration of Christ's Kingdom - through Joseph Smith

I had some down time in the middle of the day so I went to the cast tent and laid on the ground and fell asleep for a time, it was great.

Lunch - salad or roast beef sandwich, macaroni salad, nectarine, yellow cake w/choco frosting

Dinner - Beef stew on a biscuit, peas, mayo-free cole slaw, peaches and whipped cream (I ate the peas)

With each meal you can choose two drinks out o fthe following choices:

Lemonade

Milk

Choco Milk

Water

It works. The school buses are still uncomfortable, but they do the job.

Have a good day!