Last night was great. We went to the fireside that concluded the Dance Festival activities.
Before it started, me, our YW president and our YM president went up to talk with Sister Dalton. We introduced ourselves and told her about our 99 day Book of Mormon challenge. We showed her the booklet we made, pointed out where she was quoted in it, and gave it to her. Then we told her that we will be finishing the final chapters in SLC when we take the kids for General Conference. She was so excited to hear that and invited us to take a tour of the Relief Society building when we’re there. She gave us her number and got our YW president’s e-mail address. She told us she will join us in the 99 day challenge and would treasure the booklet! Then we introduced her to some of the youth in our ward who were taking the challenge. She hugged them and spoke with them for a few minutes.
The fireside was awesome! The spirit was very strong. The BYU dance team director talked first, then four of the BYU dancers. They all sincerely expressed how amazed they were with the youth. Here we were, all this weekend just watching these BYU dancers, admiring them and it turns out the whole time, they were doing the same with our youth! The director told us she had been to hundreds of dance festivals, but none had ever impressed and touched her so much as ours! They all told how their testimonies had been strengthened, especially of Joseph Smith as this festival was in celebration of the 200 anniversary of his birth.
Then 8 youth were chosen to bear their testimonies. That was powerful. This festival has changed lives, starting with our own. These youth developed a greater understanding of Joseph Smith during their workshops. They have felt the spirit as they performed, bearing testimony through dance. They have seen the miracle of what was said “could not be done”, done – and done beautifully. And they will treasure this weekend.
We also heard from Sister Dalton. She told the youth she will be returning to SLC a better person than she was when she left – because of this dance festival. Her testimony of the pioneers was strengthened as she watched the performance dedicated to the pioneers. She told the youth that she felt the spirit of those pioneers there during their performance.
One thing I didn’t mention before… We all received wristbands. You know, the ones that are so popular now. Ours are white and say “Choose Light”. When you go in the sun, it turns yellow. Sister Dalton was given one too. She told the youth that she would never forget them and this weekend. She said that she will wear her wristband to help her remember. And she told them that when she speaks in General Conference, not to be surprised if she casually puts her elbow on the podium, bringing her hand towards her face so we could see her wristband still on her wrist. And that would be a sign to us that she was thinking of us.
Afterwards, most of the youth signed a poster (with the logo of our dance festival) which will be given to President Hinckley. As we drove home, I asked the youth what they thought. They really liked the fireside. They especially love those BYU dancers! They love that the dancers called them their friends and seemed to get as much from the youth as the youth had gotten from them. This whole experience has been wonderful, and we're a little sad to see it come to an end. But all good things do.. and before we had gotten home (the drive was about an hour, the fireside was in Longview), they were already starting to talk about Girl's Camp which will be in one week. Ya gotta love teenagers!
Monday, July 25, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Dance Festival 2005
What an experience!
Dance festival was amazing! And honestly there simply aren't words to describe it. It consisted of a three day conference with the youth, most of which was rehearsals. But there were also workshops with the BYU dancers and some devotionals.
Those youth worked hard! They worked, sweated, danced, played, and it was not easy! I was fortunate to be there all of Thursday, most of Friday and all of Saturday. We are all sunburnt! But it was worth it! And I've got pictures!
Tech Rehearsal, American Tribute:
Cadi with me at the Tech Rehearsal:
The Day of the Performance!!! Waiting to start Dress Rehearsal:
Elder Nash, our area authority gave an opening devotional before the Dress Rehearsal. He talked about what we need to live spiritually.
Two of my girls they were lining up to start the Dress Rehearsal:
Beehives and Mia Maid in their costumes waiting in bleachers behind the field while the Laurels/Priests dance:
Dress Rehearsal Grand Finale:
Sister Elaine Dalton of the General YW Presidency giving a devotional at the end of their Dress Rehearsal. She had just come from being with the prophet the night before during his birthday celebration. She bore witness that he is a prophet of God. She was so very impressed with the youth and their performance in the dress rehearsal! She immediately called President Hinckley and spoke to him about them and what they are doing. She told him that there is a DVD being made and he asked her to show him a copy of it. He said he wanted to see these kids dance! We told the youth this right before their first performance. We told them that when they dance out there, it wasn't going to just be for the people in the stands. They would be dancing for the prophet too! They errupted into huge cheers and applause!!!
I watched the first performance in the stands, here is the Israeli dance (my girls!):
BYU dancers:
Grand Finale:
We were all so tired!!! This was a common sight after the first performance, during lunch:
During the second performance, I took my turn backstage. We had so much to do! We had to make sure flags and ribbons were given out and collected, got kids in costumes, helped them get lined up for the next number, touched up hair and make up, even mended costumes! When we were finally on the Grane Finale, "Get Your Shine On", all we had to do was wait for them to finish! Here are some of the leaders dancing along with the kids backstage:
We wanted a picture of all the kids in our stake, but lots of them were already changing. We still got a large group and a good picture:
More pictures on my Photo Bucket album.
Here's an article from Friday, announcing the festival and also an article in today's paper, reporting on it. They are two different papers, they each had pictures too, but they aren't on the websites. Watch the Church News too, it should be in one of the issues coming up.
Dance festival was amazing! And honestly there simply aren't words to describe it. It consisted of a three day conference with the youth, most of which was rehearsals. But there were also workshops with the BYU dancers and some devotionals.
Those youth worked hard! They worked, sweated, danced, played, and it was not easy! I was fortunate to be there all of Thursday, most of Friday and all of Saturday. We are all sunburnt! But it was worth it! And I've got pictures!
Tech Rehearsal, American Tribute:
Cadi with me at the Tech Rehearsal:
The Day of the Performance!!! Waiting to start Dress Rehearsal:
Elder Nash, our area authority gave an opening devotional before the Dress Rehearsal. He talked about what we need to live spiritually.
Two of my girls they were lining up to start the Dress Rehearsal:
Beehives and Mia Maid in their costumes waiting in bleachers behind the field while the Laurels/Priests dance:
Dress Rehearsal Grand Finale:
Sister Elaine Dalton of the General YW Presidency giving a devotional at the end of their Dress Rehearsal. She had just come from being with the prophet the night before during his birthday celebration. She bore witness that he is a prophet of God. She was so very impressed with the youth and their performance in the dress rehearsal! She immediately called President Hinckley and spoke to him about them and what they are doing. She told him that there is a DVD being made and he asked her to show him a copy of it. He said he wanted to see these kids dance! We told the youth this right before their first performance. We told them that when they dance out there, it wasn't going to just be for the people in the stands. They would be dancing for the prophet too! They errupted into huge cheers and applause!!!
I watched the first performance in the stands, here is the Israeli dance (my girls!):
BYU dancers:
Grand Finale:
We were all so tired!!! This was a common sight after the first performance, during lunch:
During the second performance, I took my turn backstage. We had so much to do! We had to make sure flags and ribbons were given out and collected, got kids in costumes, helped them get lined up for the next number, touched up hair and make up, even mended costumes! When we were finally on the Grane Finale, "Get Your Shine On", all we had to do was wait for them to finish! Here are some of the leaders dancing along with the kids backstage:
We wanted a picture of all the kids in our stake, but lots of them were already changing. We still got a large group and a good picture:
More pictures on my Photo Bucket album.
Here's an article from Friday, announcing the festival and also an article in today's paper, reporting on it. They are two different papers, they each had pictures too, but they aren't on the websites. Watch the Church News too, it should be in one of the issues coming up.
I have a testimony of Visiting Teaching!
When I first moved here and was assigned a visiting teaching route, I learned that I had a less-active sister. My new companion had been her visiting teacher for awhile and fortunately, we were able to set up a time for us to have a visit right away. The day of that first visit, my companion was sick. I felt very uncomfortable going to the less-active woman's house, who I had never met before, alone. But I did. We visited for about an hour, getting to know eachother. I was never able to "get back in" - not for 2 years!
I started to wonder if I had maybe said something wrong and she didn't want me to visit her. We repeatedly called sometimes reaching her and sometimes not. When we set up times to visit, always she would not be there when we arrived. We quickly learned not to make appointments, we started to just "come by". I actually caught her once and talked for a couple of minutes on her doorstep. All other times she was either not there or hiding.
Several months ago my companion was switched but I kept the route and continued trying to reach her. During the last two years, each time we didn't see her, I left a card on her door just letting her know we were thinking of her and always including our names and numbers. Early this year, after months of leaving these cards, I got a call from her! Still, though I set a time to visit her (with my new companion) when we went, she wasn't there. But after a couple of months - she was!
We had a great visit, she told us about many of the things she has had to struggle with lately. I asked if she would come to church with us and told her I knew it would help her with her trials. She said yes! I told her I would pick her up. The following Sunday she called me to say she was sick. Shortly after that, her phone was disconnected. We had a hard time reaching eachother.
After a couple more weeks of me going to get her and something coming up, she still hadn't come to church. Today I wondered if I should even go to her house. But I did because I will NOT give up on her! Imagine my surprise when her son answered the door and said, "She's almost ready"!!! She had just worked a graveyard shift but instead of going to bed she got dressed for church and was ready to come with me!
I cannot tell you how grateful I am that she came today! I cannot tell you how glad I am that I never gave up. When she needed help, she knew who she could call. Not because I am the greatest visiting teacher. But more because I made sure she knew I had not forgotten her and I truly cared.
I know that sometimes people don't have great experiences with visiting teaching. Maybe they don't have good visiting teachers, maybe they don't see the results of their efforts to reach the sisters on their lists. I have always loved visiting teaching. And my testimony of it has grown immensely this week. Don't give up, you never know when your small acts of service are touching someone without your knowing it.
I started to wonder if I had maybe said something wrong and she didn't want me to visit her. We repeatedly called sometimes reaching her and sometimes not. When we set up times to visit, always she would not be there when we arrived. We quickly learned not to make appointments, we started to just "come by". I actually caught her once and talked for a couple of minutes on her doorstep. All other times she was either not there or hiding.
Several months ago my companion was switched but I kept the route and continued trying to reach her. During the last two years, each time we didn't see her, I left a card on her door just letting her know we were thinking of her and always including our names and numbers. Early this year, after months of leaving these cards, I got a call from her! Still, though I set a time to visit her (with my new companion) when we went, she wasn't there. But after a couple of months - she was!
We had a great visit, she told us about many of the things she has had to struggle with lately. I asked if she would come to church with us and told her I knew it would help her with her trials. She said yes! I told her I would pick her up. The following Sunday she called me to say she was sick. Shortly after that, her phone was disconnected. We had a hard time reaching eachother.
After a couple more weeks of me going to get her and something coming up, she still hadn't come to church. Today I wondered if I should even go to her house. But I did because I will NOT give up on her! Imagine my surprise when her son answered the door and said, "She's almost ready"!!! She had just worked a graveyard shift but instead of going to bed she got dressed for church and was ready to come with me!
I cannot tell you how grateful I am that she came today! I cannot tell you how glad I am that I never gave up. When she needed help, she knew who she could call. Not because I am the greatest visiting teacher. But more because I made sure she knew I had not forgotten her and I truly cared.
I know that sometimes people don't have great experiences with visiting teaching. Maybe they don't have good visiting teachers, maybe they don't see the results of their efforts to reach the sisters on their lists. I have always loved visiting teaching. And my testimony of it has grown immensely this week. Don't give up, you never know when your small acts of service are touching someone without your knowing it.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
It's worth saying again...
The youth are doing GREAT!!!
Yesterday Cadi and I spent half the day with the youth at dance festival. I didn't get to be there for most of the worshops they did with the BYU dancers, but I was there for a YW general meeting. Sister Elaine Dalton of the General YW Presidency was supposed to talk to the girls, but she couldn't get here til today. But she will be at our performances. Our area authority (can't remember his name right now) is here too and addressing the youth first thing this morning. We'll also have the mission president here.
Last night was a Tech Rehearsal - it looks AWESOME! This morning is dress rehearsal, lunch, and then SHOWTIME!!! I preordered a DVD that is being professionally made of the whole thing. They will have several different camera angles and are also including some pictures from some of the practices. I'm glad, this will relieve the pressure of taping it myself! (I'm still taking pictures of my girls though!)
So, today's the day! If you are in the Vancouver, Washington area - COME!!! McKenzie Football stadium (138th Ave near 18th street - right next to Cascade Junior High School) 1:30 or 6:30. Come early to get good seats, performances will begin ON TIME!
Yesterday Cadi and I spent half the day with the youth at dance festival. I didn't get to be there for most of the worshops they did with the BYU dancers, but I was there for a YW general meeting. Sister Elaine Dalton of the General YW Presidency was supposed to talk to the girls, but she couldn't get here til today. But she will be at our performances. Our area authority (can't remember his name right now) is here too and addressing the youth first thing this morning. We'll also have the mission president here.
Last night was a Tech Rehearsal - it looks AWESOME! This morning is dress rehearsal, lunch, and then SHOWTIME!!! I preordered a DVD that is being professionally made of the whole thing. They will have several different camera angles and are also including some pictures from some of the practices. I'm glad, this will relieve the pressure of taping it myself! (I'm still taking pictures of my girls though!)
So, today's the day! If you are in the Vancouver, Washington area - COME!!! McKenzie Football stadium (138th Ave near 18th street - right next to Cascade Junior High School) 1:30 or 6:30. Come early to get good seats, performances will begin ON TIME!
Friday, July 22, 2005
WHAT CAN I SAY... I WAS UNDER A SPELL!
Have you felt neglected? Probably not, but you should. And to make me feel good, I am going to pretend that you did notice my lack of blogging over the last 48 hours. (Yes, I had a post on Wednesday, but that was in the morning.)
It happened... I got my hands on the new Harry Potter book. I asked one of my young women to babysit for me while I did some errands. She needed "mary jane" shoes for the dance festival, but couldn't buy them, so that was her payment. During my 2 hours of freedom, I went down to Portland to visit the Beehive Clothing store and Deseret Books.
*Insert "plug" for Deseret Books here*
My heart was torn between doing these errands or going to Costco just to buy HP. Clearly in the end, I went with my "errands" and I found that I was immediately "blessed"! As I entered Deseret Books, I realized... (duh) THEY SELL BOOKS! And they had HP for 30% off. I knew that this wasn't as good as Costco's price, but I asked the lady at the counter how much it would be after the discount anyway. She said something like $20.99. I thought for a moment, (and decided to share my thoughts outloud, saying) "Hmmmm, do I buy it now or save $5 by waiting to get it from Costco? Hmmm... I'll have to keep looking and think about it."
So when I was done shopping and decided to save the Costco trip by purchasing it here at Deseret Books, the lady said, "Since you actually said 'Costco', I can price match it for you." Deseret Books price matches?!? Hallelujah!!! So I was able to do my errands AND get my book - and it was tax free, less than $16, AND counted toward my Deseret Book points. Yeah, me!
So as soon as I took home my young woman (who had been babysitting) I started to read, that was late Wednesday afternoon (around 4). I finished the book yesterday while sitting in the bleachers as the youth in 4 surrounding stakes practiced for this weekend's Dance Festival.
1) I TOTALLY recommend this book - I loved it!!!
However,
2) I TOTALLY do not recommend reading the last 100 pages or so in public!!! That is all I will say.
Also worthy of noting - As we began the official start to our "Dance Festival Weekend" yesterday, I am speechless! (Well, not really, but almost!) It was absolutely amazing and the kids are doing great! We had them all down on the field last night and to see them cover that whole field and do their dances and sing the hymns - it is actually coming together, we felt the Spirit strongly while we watched them practice. Saturday is going to be amazing!
Anyone living in the Portland/Vancouver area should try to make it - Saturday 1:30 or 6:30 at McKenzie Stadium in Vancouver - its FREE!
It happened... I got my hands on the new Harry Potter book. I asked one of my young women to babysit for me while I did some errands. She needed "mary jane" shoes for the dance festival, but couldn't buy them, so that was her payment. During my 2 hours of freedom, I went down to Portland to visit the Beehive Clothing store and Deseret Books.
*Insert "plug" for Deseret Books here*
My heart was torn between doing these errands or going to Costco just to buy HP. Clearly in the end, I went with my "errands" and I found that I was immediately "blessed"! As I entered Deseret Books, I realized... (duh) THEY SELL BOOKS! And they had HP for 30% off. I knew that this wasn't as good as Costco's price, but I asked the lady at the counter how much it would be after the discount anyway. She said something like $20.99. I thought for a moment, (and decided to share my thoughts outloud, saying) "Hmmmm, do I buy it now or save $5 by waiting to get it from Costco? Hmmm... I'll have to keep looking and think about it."
So when I was done shopping and decided to save the Costco trip by purchasing it here at Deseret Books, the lady said, "Since you actually said 'Costco', I can price match it for you." Deseret Books price matches?!? Hallelujah!!! So I was able to do my errands AND get my book - and it was tax free, less than $16, AND counted toward my Deseret Book points. Yeah, me!
So as soon as I took home my young woman (who had been babysitting) I started to read, that was late Wednesday afternoon (around 4). I finished the book yesterday while sitting in the bleachers as the youth in 4 surrounding stakes practiced for this weekend's Dance Festival.
1) I TOTALLY recommend this book - I loved it!!!
However,
2) I TOTALLY do not recommend reading the last 100 pages or so in public!!! That is all I will say.
Also worthy of noting - As we began the official start to our "Dance Festival Weekend" yesterday, I am speechless! (Well, not really, but almost!) It was absolutely amazing and the kids are doing great! We had them all down on the field last night and to see them cover that whole field and do their dances and sing the hymns - it is actually coming together, we felt the Spirit strongly while we watched them practice. Saturday is going to be amazing!
Anyone living in the Portland/Vancouver area should try to make it - Saturday 1:30 or 6:30 at McKenzie Stadium in Vancouver - its FREE!
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Oops
Last night we had a great time - but I had such a good time, I forgot to take any pictures!!! Oops.
We had two families over for a barbeque. Why have I never thought of this before??? We often have people over for "dinner" - that involves lots of cleaning, preparing, cooking, entertaining, then tons of clean up afterwards. What was I thinking???
Last night was great! There wasn't a lot to prepare for. (We had each family bring a salad so all I did before anyone came was prepare "the works" for the burgers (slicing onions, tomatoes, prepping lettuce, etc). Then when they got here, we spent the entire time outside. The kids mostly played in the wading pool and later went through the gate to the park and us "grown-ups" sat around talking. SO EASY! Dessert was ice cream cones - again... EASY!
Clean up was even easy! We used mostly paper so it was done in less than 10 minutes! And even though we had 7 kids here under the age of 7, my house is still clean!
That's it! From now on, BBQ is the way to go.
Again, sorry there aren't any pictures. :(
We had two families over for a barbeque. Why have I never thought of this before??? We often have people over for "dinner" - that involves lots of cleaning, preparing, cooking, entertaining, then tons of clean up afterwards. What was I thinking???
Last night was great! There wasn't a lot to prepare for. (We had each family bring a salad so all I did before anyone came was prepare "the works" for the burgers (slicing onions, tomatoes, prepping lettuce, etc). Then when they got here, we spent the entire time outside. The kids mostly played in the wading pool and later went through the gate to the park and us "grown-ups" sat around talking. SO EASY! Dessert was ice cream cones - again... EASY!
Clean up was even easy! We used mostly paper so it was done in less than 10 minutes! And even though we had 7 kids here under the age of 7, my house is still clean!
That's it! From now on, BBQ is the way to go.
Again, sorry there aren't any pictures. :(
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Cadi Quote
"Today I learned to be a cannibal!" ~ Acadia
Translation: "Today I learned to be accountable" lol
That's up there with "I don't want to see the old fossils at conference." ~Acadia
Translation: "I don't want to see the apostles at conference."
Translation: "Today I learned to be accountable" lol
That's up there with "I don't want to see the old fossils at conference." ~Acadia
Translation: "I don't want to see the apostles at conference."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)