Cultural Celebration

Well this post is coming rather late but oh well. With the Gilbert, Arizona Temple dedication that happened at the beginning of this month, we the youth of the church in the temple district participated in the Temple Cultural Celebration that was held the night before the dedication. Since the beginning of January, all the youth ages 12-18, that live in the temple district, started learning their assigned dances and songs that they were to perform.

On February 22nd we met together at the park we were going to perform at as a temple district (12,000+ youth strong plus all the medical teams, security, youth leaders, and everyone that might be involved with sets, props, music, etc) to have our first day long rehearsal of the whole celebration. It was hot and dusty but it was worth it. Emily and I were only there for the first half of the day though because we had a wedding to go that night. Through out the day so many kids ended up in the medic tent due to allergies from the dust and grass and everything that was getting kicked up from the dry ground. I think we even had four kids that ended up in the hospital because of allergies.

Then we met again on March 1st to rehearse that morning and then perform that night. During the week leading up to the performance weather reports showed a lot of rain for March 1st. So many prayers were said asking Heavenly Father to let the rain be in your favor. Let's just say our prayers were answered in ways we didn't really except. While many of us were praying for no rain, so many more people through out the state were praying for the rain. Plus most of the medical team was praying for the rain. If they rain came, we wouldn't have allergy issues and no body would end up going to the hospital. I was just thankful that the rain really didn't start until right before the celebration started. We were standing as a youth on the field waiting for President Monson and President Eyring to show up when the rain really started pouring! As we were standing on the field soaking wet, we started singing hymns and would break out chanting "LIVE TRUE" while we waited. When they finally showed up, the rain stopped when they walked out and we went crazy! You would have thought you were at a rock concert when we first saw them! Everyone was yelling and they were waving and it was incredible! The spirit was so strong throughout the entire performance! While is poured and poured and poured buckets of rain on us all night, and there was a lot of mud and sliding, it was one of the best times of my life!

I recentely saw a shirt that said WE CAME IT RAINED WE DANCED. I really want one of those shirts! We did get a booklet of a bunch of pictures and things from the celebration and our Ward Young Women's President bought all the Young Women in our ward a necklace that on one side represents the celebration and one side that represents the dedication. I love it and I wear it almost every day!

I didn't actually take any pictures at the celebration but here are some pictures that I have found and I love!

This is how much mud we were standing in by almost the end of the night and it just kept getting worse.

There are so many more pictures out there and you can even watch the whole performance online! It truly was an amazing experience to be a part of this and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

(Ps I would have posted more pictures but my computer is being stupid)