Tempest Tossed

I woke up to a muggy, grey day and went for a run down to the school where we rehearse. It has now been a week since we reported for duty there at the school. In some ways it seems like it was a month ago. We have learned so much and grown so close together. In other ways it seems as if it were just yesterday. My thoughts turned to the new group which was reporting that morning and I thought of our pageant and about the Welcome Dance. In it the existing Saints welcomed the arriving Saints. As this new group has been arriving, we have some feelings of selfishness (we don't want to share the core cast with them!). As I thought of this, the thought came to my head, wouldn't it be great to do the welcome dance for them? I thought of the scripture in 4 Nephi 1:17, changing it slightly--There were no red casts, nor blue casts, neither were there gold casts, nor any manner of -casts; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. Well, the muggy day turned into a good old midwestern thunderstorm. Our practice was moved from the stage to the school. I talked to our dance director about my idea and she loved it. We started our practice in the gym and then at 9 AM when the blue cast came to report, we showed them the circle dance once and then everyone grabbed a blue cast member, we doubled our size and did the dance. We had an absolute ball. All the timidness and fear that we had from last week we saw in their eyes, but soon melted away in our enthusiasm.

Due to the rain we had some time to talk to David Warner, the man who was behind the creation of the pageant and the first director. We had a question and answer period with him, which was fascinating. As we left, sitting in the hall was a large group of girls. Karalee had brought her boon doggle craft supplies with her and she taught everyone how to make them. It was so neat to see them all working together like a big family.

In the afternoon we spent some time at the visitor's center and the gardens there. Our family had fun taking pictures looking like the statues. Gina looked up her father's cousin who is currently serving a Temple mission in Nauvoo. We went and visited him and his wife. The evening was spent getting ready for our last dress rehearsal. We got to the grove-again all hot and muggy. Thunder cracked on the river and before you knew it all 200+ of us were gathered under a large tent. Rachael and a group of girls started singing hymns ("There is sunshine in my soul" etc). The whole group joined in. As the rain passed we practiced the very last scene where the blue casts joins us, filling the stage. We were told another storm was on its way and to head for our cars to wait about 30 minutes. It never let up and the rehearsal was cancelled. I got completely soaked getting our stuff back in the car, we gathered with the Brands and they came to our place for ice cream. The kids had a racous game of Catch Phrase till too late at night but had an absolute ball. Through the whole day, the rain didn't let any of us down. I loved seeing how the youth especially just turned it into a fun experience. We'll get to practice this morning and tonight will be our first performance. Wish us luck!