provo city center temple cultural celebration
I've mentioned my involvement in the cultural celebration a few times on the blog, but now that it's all over, I wanted to take some time to write about all the things I thought about and felt throughout the experience.
It's difficult to write about, because so much of it is just feelings, and the feelings feel personal. Guess that's the trouble with a public blog that also serves as a personal journal haha :)
+ Youth are so cool. They are fun and pure and wonderful. I had SO much fun working with them every week. I loved seeing them work hard and improve. I loved seeing their bright smiles that could light up their whole face. I also loved the healthy amount of teasing that went back and forth between us all. It felt like a little family sometimes :) After every Tuesday rehearsal, we'd all dance to the Electric Slide together, and it was so fun! These kids just all have such great personalities and it was fun to get to know them through this experience.
+ One of my favorite moments that wasn't a spiritual moment happened backstage at the performance. My youth were all lined up in their tunnel because they were next to come onto the floor. We had to be silent in the tunnels. But when the song for the dance before ours came on, we started having this silent dance party, and it was so fun! Haha we were all going crazy, but doing so silently, which made it even better. Ahh I've mentioned it before, but dance parties are one thing that just brings me JOY! So to have a dance party with these youth that I love so much was kind of priceless :)
+ "Beauty for Ashes" -- the theme of the celebration, and such a powerful message! I was mostly involved in the dance part, and not the singing part, so I never really heard the kids rehearse the theme songs until the two practices at the Marriott Center. But every. single. time. that they sang the chorus and got to "He gives us beauty for the ash..." I teared up. I love that the theme was so tied to the actual event. For those who don't know, temples are really special buildings for Mormons. More special and more sacred than churches. The building that is now the Provo City Center Temple used to just be the Provo Tabernacle. It was a special building, but it was used for everyday events like graduations, concerts, and community events. In December 2010, the building caught on fire, and all of Provo cried for this beautiful building that our ancestors had built back in the late 1800s. It looked as if there was no hope for the building, but then our prophet announced 10 months later that the building would be re-built, but it would become a temple instead of a tabernacle. This devastating fire actually led to something beautiful -- Heavenly Father gave us "beauty for the ash." And that message doesn't just fit this story; it also fits with anyone's life. We are all imperfect, but if we turn to God, He can make us whole; He can give us beauty for the ash in our own lives. And every time I heard that message in the song, that's all I could think of: Heavenly Father loves us so much that He will help us become more than we could ever be on our own.
+ So many of the songs in the celebration were so meaningful. In fact, as I write this post, I keep looking up YouTube videos of the dances, and don't even worry -- I'm tearing up at work haha. One that stood out to me was "Look at Your Life Through Heaven's Eyes." I've heard the song several times before because I've seen The Prince of Egypt. However, I watched that when I was young, so though I knew the words to the song, I didn't think about them. Listening to them in the celebration, though, I was so touched by the meaning! "So how can you see what your life is worth or where your value lies? You can never see through the eyes of man, you must look at your life . . . through heaven's eyes." God knows that each one of us is valuable and worthwhile, but it can be difficult to see that ourselves on Earth. But if we look at our lives through Heaven's eyes, we'll be able to see what God sees.
Another song that made my heart sing every time it came on was "Glorious." I had never heard David Archuleta's original version, and until the celebration, I had never hear the children's choir version either. But every time it came on, it made me so happy. Since the celebration, I have looked up the video online and fell in love with the song even more! These kids just look so incredibly pure and happy and I love the way the song makes me feel. I also love the message of the song, which is similar to the message in "Heaven's Eyes" -- that each one of us is glorious!
+ The dance I worked on was "Called to Serve." It's a song about missionary work -- about bringing others to Christ. Working on it with my 33 youth was great, but seeing the 400 or so youth do it all together was awesome. It was like a giant army of Christ-followers! I sincerely hope that all the youth felt the importance of missionary work and bringing others unto Christ as they worked on this dance. (My youth are the ones in the bottom right corner!)
+ Being part of this celebration was truly rewarding. As we neared the end, people kept asking me, "So are you excited/happy/relieved for this whole thing to be over?" And I would say, "Actually, I'm kind of sad!" I loved working with these youth, and I loved seeing them share their testimonies with their singing and dancing. They are amazing, and I am better for knowing them and sharing this experience with them.
It's difficult to write about, because so much of it is just feelings, and the feelings feel personal. Guess that's the trouble with a public blog that also serves as a personal journal haha :)
+ Youth are so cool. They are fun and pure and wonderful. I had SO much fun working with them every week. I loved seeing them work hard and improve. I loved seeing their bright smiles that could light up their whole face. I also loved the healthy amount of teasing that went back and forth between us all. It felt like a little family sometimes :) After every Tuesday rehearsal, we'd all dance to the Electric Slide together, and it was so fun! These kids just all have such great personalities and it was fun to get to know them through this experience.
+ One of my favorite moments that wasn't a spiritual moment happened backstage at the performance. My youth were all lined up in their tunnel because they were next to come onto the floor. We had to be silent in the tunnels. But when the song for the dance before ours came on, we started having this silent dance party, and it was so fun! Haha we were all going crazy, but doing so silently, which made it even better. Ahh I've mentioned it before, but dance parties are one thing that just brings me JOY! So to have a dance party with these youth that I love so much was kind of priceless :)
+ "Beauty for Ashes" -- the theme of the celebration, and such a powerful message! I was mostly involved in the dance part, and not the singing part, so I never really heard the kids rehearse the theme songs until the two practices at the Marriott Center. But every. single. time. that they sang the chorus and got to "He gives us beauty for the ash..." I teared up. I love that the theme was so tied to the actual event. For those who don't know, temples are really special buildings for Mormons. More special and more sacred than churches. The building that is now the Provo City Center Temple used to just be the Provo Tabernacle. It was a special building, but it was used for everyday events like graduations, concerts, and community events. In December 2010, the building caught on fire, and all of Provo cried for this beautiful building that our ancestors had built back in the late 1800s. It looked as if there was no hope for the building, but then our prophet announced 10 months later that the building would be re-built, but it would become a temple instead of a tabernacle. This devastating fire actually led to something beautiful -- Heavenly Father gave us "beauty for the ash." And that message doesn't just fit this story; it also fits with anyone's life. We are all imperfect, but if we turn to God, He can make us whole; He can give us beauty for the ash in our own lives. And every time I heard that message in the song, that's all I could think of: Heavenly Father loves us so much that He will help us become more than we could ever be on our own.
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| during the reconstruction |
+ So many of the songs in the celebration were so meaningful. In fact, as I write this post, I keep looking up YouTube videos of the dances, and don't even worry -- I'm tearing up at work haha. One that stood out to me was "Look at Your Life Through Heaven's Eyes." I've heard the song several times before because I've seen The Prince of Egypt. However, I watched that when I was young, so though I knew the words to the song, I didn't think about them. Listening to them in the celebration, though, I was so touched by the meaning! "So how can you see what your life is worth or where your value lies? You can never see through the eyes of man, you must look at your life . . . through heaven's eyes." God knows that each one of us is valuable and worthwhile, but it can be difficult to see that ourselves on Earth. But if we look at our lives through Heaven's eyes, we'll be able to see what God sees.
Another song that made my heart sing every time it came on was "Glorious." I had never heard David Archuleta's original version, and until the celebration, I had never hear the children's choir version either. But every time it came on, it made me so happy. Since the celebration, I have looked up the video online and fell in love with the song even more! These kids just look so incredibly pure and happy and I love the way the song makes me feel. I also love the message of the song, which is similar to the message in "Heaven's Eyes" -- that each one of us is glorious!
+ The dance I worked on was "Called to Serve." It's a song about missionary work -- about bringing others to Christ. Working on it with my 33 youth was great, but seeing the 400 or so youth do it all together was awesome. It was like a giant army of Christ-followers! I sincerely hope that all the youth felt the importance of missionary work and bringing others unto Christ as they worked on this dance. (My youth are the ones in the bottom right corner!)
+ Being part of this celebration was truly rewarding. As we neared the end, people kept asking me, "So are you excited/happy/relieved for this whole thing to be over?" And I would say, "Actually, I'm kind of sad!" I loved working with these youth, and I loved seeing them share their testimonies with their singing and dancing. They are amazing, and I am better for knowing them and sharing this experience with them.
**ashleynicole
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