backing up . . .Memorial weekend

I've been MIA from this for a few weeks. Over Memorial day weekend we spent a half day at the Brigham Young Heritage Park in SLC (posting pics later). We didn't plan on going there, in fact Anthony had job he was doing up by the zoo and so we decided to meet him up there. Instead, we passed by the park and decided to stop there and look around. None of us had ever been there before and so it was an amazing first time experience for all of us. Actually, I think mom might have gone there when she visited several years ago.

Anyway, my favorite part about the park was reading the monuments dedicated to the pioneers. There was a lot I didn't know, for example, I didn't know that there were Catholic priests that traveled with the pioneers. I thought that was most interesting.

One of the monuments described the pioneer trek and the many lives that were lost and also of the joys that were experienced when they first entered the valley. The spirit was really strong there and we all got teary eyed as we read of all the hardships and sacrifices that were made for the gospel of Jesus Christ. My favorite monument was the one that stands the tallest that shows Brigham Young in the moment that he says "this is the place". Although I've heard that story several times, seeing the monument made it come to life and I have a greater testimony now of living prophets and continued revelation in our day.

Our spontaneous little field trip strengethed my testimony, especially since moving here to Utah. I'm not sure if it's because it's the headquarters of the church and that it is well known as the 'mormon' state, but I find that people are a lot more critical about the church here and it can be a little disheartening at times. There are a lot of other reasons that make Utah 'different' for me, but thats another blog all it's own.

Okay, fastforwarding to last Saturday. My friend Peggy from work called me up and asked if I wanted to go to the Oquirrh temple celebration at the conference center. I had never been to one of those in Utah. In fact, the only other one I've been to was the celebration for the rededication of the Samoa temple. My mom and I decided to go with Peggy that night.

I just have to say, it was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. There were nearly 7,000 youth from the temple's surrounding areas including South Jordan and Magna that performed dances from different eras. There were even some non-LDS youth that participated which I thought I was amazing. One of my favorite dances that they did was a section on Polynesia. There were about 350 youth that did poi balls, hula, and an amazing Maori haka. To see all of them be so enthusiastic about a dance and culture that is not their own made me proud to be polynesian. The girls wore cute red and blue ies tied up and around their necks. There were so many of them that they hardly fit on the conference center stage. They also performed dances from the 20's, 40's, and 50's eras. It was cute to see the poodle skirts and swing dances, especially cute to see the little beehives and deacons. We could not stop talking about it. The spirit was so strong throughout the performances.

They painted a huge backdrop of the mountains that stand behind the temple and a mountain path that lead to the top. At the very end they raised up a cardboard replica of the temple to stand at the top of the mountain. That was probably one of the most emotional moments. It was definitely a reminder of the prophecy of Isaiah that the Lord's house would be built in the tops of the mountains which went along with their theme which was "Come to the mountain of the Lord". I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to go to that. I don't know if I'll ever have another chance since those things are really hard to come by. But I know that my testimony was strengthened of eternal families and the importance of temples.