My temple weekend began with the Youth Cultural Celebration...a huge music and dance spectacular that the youth from all 14 stakes in the valley have been working on their numbers every mutual night since Christmas.
Our branch ended up with a handfull of tickets, so Saturday afternoon a bunch of us piled into my car and headed up to the fair grounds. Melissa drew the short straw and had to sit up front with me for the first leg of the trip. Amber and Elizabeth hung out in the back.
We stopped by the temple to pick up Lacie, who promptly took over the duties of co-pilot.
Here we are on the highway about a mile or so from the fair grounds in a TRAFFIC JAM. I had to take a photo since TRAFFIC JAMS aren't common occurrences in this part of the world. I thought my taking-photos-while-driving talent would impress my passengers, but it turned out they were more frightened than impressed. That meant Lacie chose to add blog photographer to her list of co-pilot duties. It was either that, or use her skills as a highly trained nurse to patch us all up after my attempts to drive and take photos at the same time eventually ended in tragedy...as we all assumed they would.
When we finally got to the fair grounds, we found other members of our branch waiting for us. Melissa's seat was right by Brother and Sister Hobson on the second row. Yes, I said the second row. Those were pretty darn good seats, but not quite as good as...
...the front row seats Amber and I got. Yep, FRONT ROW. I think we may have been closer to the action than the visiting general authorities. Of course, good seats like that always come with a price. I am assuming Amber and I are going to find ourselves scheduled to speak in Sacrament meetings about once a month for the next two years.
Oh, and speaking of visiting general authorities...from left to right...Elder Costa of the Presidency of the 70 and his wife, Sister Neilson and Elder Neilson (our area authority, who is right behind the podium), then President Eyring and his lovely wife, Elder Cook of the 12 and his just-as-lovely wife, a random photographer, the PRESIDENT THOMAS S. MONSON, shielding his eyes from the sun and looking out at the hundreds of assembled area youth. It was an impressive sight.
The theme of the cultural celebration was "Living Waters" and the opening ceremony used blue flags, blue bandannas, and blue dancers to make you feel like you were watching the Snake River dance right there in the middle of the rodeo arena.
The organizers, the youth leaders, and the kids put in an awful lot of work to make this night amazing and they really exceeded everyone's expectations.
The performances were inspired by different aspects of the history of the Magic Valley. My favorite was the Paul Stake's hip hop inspired dance that they performed to a rap about potatoes. The dancing potato in the background was a real show-stealer.
We hated for the show to end...partly because it was so good but mostly because it meant trying to fight our way out of the field where everyone had parked before we could even start the process of driving home. But I managed to remain cheerful despite the cow pasture gridlock. The only time I cussed was when I was quoting what my dad would say if he had been there.
We took a lot of back farm roads on the way home which was fun...except for the 25 or so near death experiences that resulted from unmarked death curves, suicidal raccoons, and a driver who can't see in the dark. In my defense, I did mention that last part to my passengers before we left the nicely lit freeway and none of them tried to leave the car. of course, the doors were locked and I didn't slow down...but if they were really that worried that wouldn't have stopped them, right?
But we did manage to get home safely, just in time for me to fall into bed so I could get up for the dedication this morning. Here are Zealanda and I flashing our white tickets.
There was already a line when we got to the temple, but we only had to wait in it for a little while before our white tickets were noticed and we were whisked past the line, into the temple, and up to the Celestial Room.
The dedicatory session was such an amazing experience. Both President and Sister Gerrat spoke, followed by Elder Costa, Elder Cook, and President Monson. Zealanda and I were in the second row...less than ten feet away from the prophet the entire time! Elder Eyring gave the dedicatory prayer, and I got to use a handkerchief that belonged to my Grandmother (a magic valley native) for the shout at the end.
Afterwords, we met up with some of the leaders from our branch. Finding them on the temple grounds felt wonderful...like what I imagine meeting long lost friends will be like on the other side of the veil. Talk about a joyful reunion!
Meeting up with the Barkers, Hobsons, and Woodhouses really helped put the whole experience into a proper context for me. I loved being in the Celestial Room and being there with the Prophet was a once in a lifetime spiritual feast, but something wasn't quite right. I spent quite a bit of time wishing my family and the rest of my wonderful branch could have been there with me.
Which means the real gift I received today was a renewed and strengthened testimony of Doctrine and Covenants 18:10-16. The fullness of joy does come from returning to Heavenly Father's presence as part of a group of people you love. Who would have thought that the old saying"the more the merrier" is an eternal truth?
