If You Have Felt a Change in Your Heart: HCP Seventeenth Day

What a bittersweet day! We had so much fun but it was sad knowing it was the last performance. The work crew took the primary for a tractor pull/wagon ride all around the Hill. They were squished but had so much fun!

Then the we had a huge water party. There was a gigantic water slide, water balloons, bubbles, water in all its varieties.

But the most fun of all was the Primary Pageant. It was AWESOME! It was shorter than the actual pageant--just about 15 minutes long. The kids were well cast and we had practiced the day before. I directed the trumpeters so that was super fun! My trumpeters did such a fantastic job.

Mary, Lily, Abigail, Isabel, Jillian

Here are the sweet girls in a practice. They did so AWESOME!! I was incredibly proud of them.

Though it rained a bit in the evening we still had a fun time. It was great to see Kelly Moulton Harris (from Schenectady ward) and her daughter Ariana (a former student):

It was a raining night but people were in a goood mood:

Kelly Moulton was so kind to take some pictures of me on stage. I'm so happy to have them!

Alyson, Julianna, Jane, Landon

Here is a short video that Jason Cook took when he and Eliza were here. He got in trouble for video taping at the beginning (whoops) so only caught the tail end. I'm in the middle. It's still fun to have as a memory.

As a cast we get to sing Song of Cumorah after each performance. This is the song that is played in the background when the children come up to Christ in the Descension scene. Some of the words are:

If you have felt a change in your heart

And sung the song of redeeming love

Then come unto Jesus our Savior

Sin and death are swallowed up in Christ

Jesus light and life of the world

Come unto, come unto Him

Michael Campbell was the original choreographer of the current pageant which debuted in 1988. He and his family were members of the cast this year so it was fun to have him lead us in the singing of Song of Cumorah each night. The original pianist was there as well.

Michael told some interesting stories from the old years. First of all, in 1987 the sets were made out of wood. They were so excited to be getting new sets with the new pageant the next year that the concluding night of pageant they burned all of the old sets. I believe Orson Scott Card was done with the script mid-year but the Tabernacle Choir was not done recording the songs and the actors were not done recording the words by February of the next year so L. Tom Perry (who was the head of the committee) decided he wanted to stick with the old pageant for another year but it was too late—the sets were burned!

It was a 1 million investment to get the new one up and running but they felt it would be a great missionary tool and it has greatly exceeded their expectations. However, that first year in 1988 there were tremendous setbacks. The directors did not receive the pre-recorded soundtrack until five days before opening night so they couldn’t block out and choreograph until then. They would do that all night long and then teach the cast during the day.

They also received an immense amount of rain—so much so that the front berm of the stage fell completely off. About 100 members from the area helped to replace and contour this the day of the opening night. Also, they had laid sod on the Hill and all of this kept sliding down the steep Hill because it was so slippery. They had to keep lifting it up and placing it in the right spot only to have it slide down again.

Things have come a long way to the polished, amazing production of today. There are special effects timed to the exact second with fire, water, shooting cannons of foam rocks, and a hydraulic boat. It’s mind boggling that a cast of 740 can all be in just the right place at just the right time doing just the right thing.

We were blessed with fantastic weather this pageant. We did have some rain but never on the performance and overall it was quite cool and pleasant.

The only thing that kept pageant from being perfect for me was the Antis. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they just handed out their literature or had their signs in protest but to be SO loud on their bull horns that you could hear them all the way back stage when they were standing out by the street was a bit much. And they shouted such vile things that it just makes your skin crawl. It was so disturbing to Lily that it was almost more than she could bear. Several people, including President Schwendiman, kept pointing out that it was a great indication we were accomplishing an important work if Satan was working so hard against it.

We heard a similar story in Kirtland. The 4^th General Conference of the church was at the Morley farm. Just before it started a man was suspended horizontally by an evil spirit. Joseph Smith rebuked it and then the man was fine. Similar to the Sacred Grove experience Joseph said, “We know something wonderful is about to take place.” I just wish Joseph Smith had been there to rebuke the Antis at the Hill. It seems like they could get away with absolutely anything. The one positive is that the people coming to attend the pageant could feel such a marked contrast of spirit when they entered the pageant area. On Wednesday President Bean (the Visitor’s Center President) suggested that we put the children forward so that people would see their shining faces and several people commented on how bright and shining that was.