Monday, July 21, 2008

“I know I’m being selfish, but it’s pageant. We’re all animals now.”

This quote was Sis. Dalley. Pageant season drains and tries us in beautiful ways. :) She said this yesterday when she took the softest, biggest seat at our sisters meeting. It was pretty hysterical and she’s pretty right. :)

POISENING OUR MINDS
So, not only am I totally incapable of beginning years with anything but “18…” (yes, I was born in 1882. What seems to be the problem?) but Sis. Granja (housemate) was trying to tell her companion a story about Harry Potter, and all of the characters she was mentioning, instead of Harry or Ralph (I don’t know their actually names) were accidentally coming out of her mouth with names like “Joseph Smith” or “John Taylor” or “Brigham Young.” She couldn’t even get through her story. Ahhh, I love it!

PAGEANT MIRACLES
So for the first time in years, it rained during pageant. That never happens. It’ll rain right until pageant and it’ll rain right after but never during. But it did. The miracle was that most of the audience stayed and we had almost record-breaking attendance. Those who stayed were blessed for their efforts and there were lots of little miracles. There was one girl who came with some local missionaries. She’s been investigating the Church, but not that seriously. As she was watching pageant, she just started bawling. She couldn’t fully understand why or what was going on. She described it as both frightening and thrilling. That night she realized she wants to be baptized and that the life changes she will need to make will be worth all the sacrifice she can give.

LITTLE KIDS ARE THE COOLEST
One precious moment was at pageant I was walking around talking to people and ran across this cute pageant member. He was like an 8-yr old boy. I asked him how it was going talking to people. He said it was going okay. He then explained to me that he was supposed to go be like a missionary and talk to people after the pageant and offer then the Nauvoo Pageant CD. He’s explaining this all to me in a very matter-of-fact way, which is awesome cause I go to all their pre-show meetings and help with some of the training but he definitely didn’t recognize me. He’s telling me all about the cards then just kind of transitions and says, “so, do you have anyone you’d like to send the CD to?” So sincere! He then realized I was a missionary but still asked me in was so dang sincere. The coolest thing was that the Spirit gave me right then and idea for someone and it was just because of this boy’s simple and fearless faith.

POWER OF ONE
The other day we had a couple come to the pageant cast mtg. They had just recently joined the Church. They told of an experience they had when they were in UT (before they were baptized). They randomly met Pres. Hinckley and Pres. Monson and the wife had no clue who they were. They walked away and she put her hand on her chest and just said, “Wow. Did you feel that spirit?” (She’s a black woman. They always seem to be so in tune. :) ) They randomly came to Nauvoo last summer and saw pageant. During pageant she remembered thinking to herself “wow, they all have that spirit.” They started meeting with the missionaries as soon as they went home. It was a cool story because it reminded me that the Lord can and will use all of us who are willing as sources to carry His light. For myself, watching pageant, I’ll catch a glimpse of someone’s expression during a song, or even seeing a family I take on a tour, and just the way they carry themselves and the way they are allows their testimony to shine through. It’s been an amazing lesson to me. I love all the pageant miracles. We’ve already been able to send out over 200 CDs to people who want them delivered. Way cool! I love this work and being a part of it!

Love you! Gotta run!
-sis c

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