Temple Dedication Celebration

This post has been a long time coming and it's kinda kept me from blogging. I like posting chronologically and I was waiting on Samantha to write this post. Instead, she agreed to let me copy what she wrote in her journal. On May 29th, Samantha, along with 7,000 youth in our temple district performed at the Conference Center in front of the Presidents Monson and Eyring. When the prophet walked to his seat, everyone stood and sang "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet", which I know has been done before, but not with me there! The audience was also privileged to sing Happy Birthday to President Eyring. How cool is that! The production itself was Broadway quality, and I got completely choked up when Samantha was on stage. I called the performance "spiritually entertaining". Is there such a thing? I even saw President Monson take out his handkerchief to dry his eyes during the closing prayer. It was a night to remember. Here's what Samantha thought:

"Yesterday was the performance. I was so excited! Our dance was the second act. I was nervous during the first dance. My group is front and center! The Prophet, Thomas S. Monson was sitting in the front row! Then it was us pioneers to come on. It was so fun! It was an awesome experience. The prophet was right in front of us! I waved to him when we came off stage. I don't think he saw me, but it was worth a try! Our dance is about 3 to 5 minutes long, but it was the best 3 minutes of my life! When we came off the stage, I just stared at the prophet. His smile is something I will never forget. I was just a few feet away from him. I wish I could have shaken his hand or maybe even a hug. I wish I could live it over and over again. I wish it would never end. But it did end. The rest of the celebration was really cool. The only dance I missed was the one right after us. The one before us was the Native Americans. After us is the Pioneer Celebration, the Train Dance [Promontory Point], then Draper in 1912, then Early Immigration, then the Farmers Dance, then the 1920's, then the 1940's, then the Military Appreciation, then the 1950's, then there was this really cool dance called The Gift. Then there was the cultural dances: Hawaiian, Mexican and Chinese. The Chinese dance was my favorite! It was so cool! It had dragons, fans and drums. It was awesome. Then there was the finale. Behind the stage there was this cool mountain. Our theme was "Come Up to the Mountain of the Lord". The mountain was so big and the whole audience could see it! At the finale, this Draper Temple came up and covered the mountain! Then one family "climbed" the mountain to the temple. Then the kids came to the parents halfway up. Then they got to the temple and stood there [while the choir sang Families Can Be Together Forever]. Then it was over. Oh, how I wish it wasn't! It was the most coolest thing I've ever done! I'm glad the prophet was right there. Oh - I just remembered two things! The performance day was President Henry B. Eyring's birthday, so at the beginning we sang Happy Birthday to him! It was so cool! I also found out [during the Military Appreciation segment] that Thomas S. Monson was in the Navy. How cool is that? Then after the performance there was a cast party at the stake center. It was awesome. Me and Ashley danced to midnight. Literally! It was so fun! I got really hyper. The leaders took a picture of all of us together in our costumes last Wednesday and they made a copy for everyone. Now I have the picture, my wristband that says "Come Up to the Mountain", my ticket and my celebration pamphlet to scrapbook. Oh, I also have a petal from the roses my family gave me after the performance. My parents were so proud of me! I've never seen them so proud and of course they made me feel good about myself. My mom said that she got so emotional she couldn't even swallow! Now that's proud! This will be something I will never forget. This experience was so cool, how could you forget! I'll never forget the people in our group and especially the smile of Thomas S. Monson, our awesome prophet!" - Samantha Beutler, May 30, 2009

You can play Where's Waldo to find Samantha....or you can just look in the front row.