Another great week gone by. Sunday is a great day to take off and really relax- at least for a while. But the rest is much needed because we hardly get any during the week. We now have our early morning rehearsals for pageant every day at 7:45-8:45 and then we pick up our regular busy schedule with a half hour for meals and adding Pageant performances every night now! The pageant opens on Tuesday. I've never seen the pageant before. But being a part of it has been so great so far. We've actually only had 4 rehearsals so far and we only have one more before Tuesday!! Keep in mind that's all been this past week and we had to learn two dances! It's so incredible.
Last Sunday night Vocal Point from BYU put on the Sociable. They did a great job. After our sociables the Mission President invites the featured guests and all the young misisonaries to their home for an Ice cream social. Sis. Ludwig makes this most delicious hot fudge, and we all mingle with fun people like Susan Easton Black, The BYU folk dancers, The Community of Christ Interns, Pageant core cast, and Vocal Point. Vocal point gave us a private concert in the living room of the Presidents home. It was really neat. They were standing and singing right in front of a huge window which ran the length and width of nearly the entire wall. During one of their songs about Christ it began to downpour outside and then lightning and thunder. Of course we sang for them as well. It was a really neat evening.
On Monday we sang at two commemorations of Joseph Smith, because the 27th was the anniversary of the Martyrdom. First was the commemoration put on by the Community of Christ chruch, they held it in the Smith family cemetary. We sang "Nauvoo" by their request. and then at the LDS Commemoration we sang "No Ordinary Brothers." That was held at Carthage, It was a really great service.
I also thought I'd write a little bit about my characters in the shows. In Just Plain Anna-Amanda, I play the role of the school teacher. JPAA is a musical with a message specially directed at children. Anna-Amanda learns to just be herself..."Because there's nobody else like you! and you are a very important person" It's a shorter play but lots of fun because many of the characters are caricatures. The school master sings a song about Bible characters and the importandce of learning! The kids love it.
In High Hopes and Riverboats I play the character of Peter, the sidekick to the main character Chance. Peter is a logging man from Wisconsin that's come down to Nauvoo to sell lumber to the growing city of Nauvoo. The story is that Chance falls in love while here in Nauvoo, and also converts to the Church. He chooses to go west with the Saints...meanwhile Peter, chooses to go back to Quincy. .. But Peter has a family, he's still a good guy i promise:)
This is a fun handout we got during our district meeting: "As Latter Day Saints we are practically obsessed with anxiously engaging ourselves in good causes. Maybe it's subliminal....Glancing through the hymnal last Sunday I noted that we who are called to serve are all enlisted to go arching, marching forward because the world has need of willing men to all press on scattering sunshine. We wonder if we have done any good in the world today because we have been given much and want to do what is right, keep the commandments, press forward with the Saints, choose the right, and put our shoulders to the wheel going where He wants us to go. However, as the morning breaks high on the mountain top, truth reflects upon our senses, and while we still believe that sweet is the work, we also realize that we have work enough to do ere the sun goes down. And thus we ask Thee ere we part, where can we turn for peace?"
During one of our JPAA shows her mom comes on stage and gives Anna a bowl of apples. Well, during the pre-show puppet show, I slipped a wooden man doll into the bowl. So then when Sister Steele came on as mom, she saw the doll and started laughing a lot, she barely made it through the scene, it was hillarious.
That is all. All is well.
Keep moving forward.
Love Elder ROSE!
