Before we headed off to New York, they broke ground for the Gilbert Temple. And now over two years later, they were ready to dedicate this beautiful temple. We were lucky enough to go through the temple open house two or three times with the kids and with friends. Our Stake was the host Stake and so we were responsible for a lot of the maintenance and working the open house. Jared got to host and explore the temple inside and out. It is such a magnificent building.
So while Jared was busy hosting, I had been asked to be part of the Temple Celebration with the youth. I was the liaison between the Stake and our ward. It was so amazing to see these youth, lots of whom did not want to dance AT ALL, join in, practicing for months the music and the dance number to pull this whole Cultural celebration off.
Our ward got to do the "Fire Dance" portion of the song and bang sticks and dance around in partners jumping and twisting around as they go, they also got to make their own "title of Liberty" just as Moroni did in the Book of Mormon, of the things they will stand for and sing in front of President Monson and President Eyring.
I was one of the lucky leaders who got to be there for all the practices and production for this huge event! Only the youth and their leaders were allowed on the field to be a part of this. All others had to watch it as it was televised on ABC 15. The even cooler part was that I got to be there with my nieces and nephews too!
It was amazing to me to see over 13,000 youth come together, perform and share with the world, their testimony that they will stand strong and be a beacon of light to the world.
The pictures will never do it justice, and the feelings I had while they performed was so incredibly strong, words can barely describe the feelings I felt.
I just hope they know what a privilege it is to be a part of this huge production and know that the Gilbert Temple is their temple and that it is more than just a building, it's the House of God.
One thing I know these kids will never forget is that the week before the performance, it was so hot on the field there were several kids having asthma problems from all the dust being kicked up, and others having heat stroke. Alas, the day of the performance, just one week later, we were worried that we were going to get wet! And indeed, wet we did get! All day, it threatened to rain, but nothing produced until 30 minutes before the performance, and then the heavens opened up and down the rain came. The kids, at first, thought it was pretty fun, but as the field got soaked, and they got soaked, and the cold started to settle in after 2 hours of being there, they realized it wasn't as fun as it first seemed. As they shivered and waited to perform on the sidelines, we huddled trying to keep them warm and dry, but when it was time to dance, they put on a smile, they drove out to the field and sang and danced with the biggest grins I have ever seen. These youth won't let anything stop them when they've put their mind to it!
Some say that they believe it was like Heavenly Father was so happy, he was crying tears of joy and he was overjoyed with love for his children. Others aren't sure what to think, but what I believe is that these youth won't let anything stop them, come what may, and I was so proud of each and every one of these amazing youth who helped build my testimony!
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