Pageant!!

It has been a pretty amazing three weeks since my last post!  We have been buried with thousands of visitors, had two weeks of the Hill Cumorah Pageant and visits from General Authorities and friends.  Whew!  

Friends
We have been surprised several times by friends from Colorado Springs showing up (some of whom don't live there anymore).  Bryan and Jamica Wilcox and their children appeared at the Smith Farm one day.  So good to see them after a couple years of them being gone from our lives!  Then Keith and Teresa Lundberg stopped by the Book of Mormon Publication Site to see us.  Jim and Sandy Gremillion, who we haven't seen for several years were next.  Bill and Teresa Henrie showed up at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center and we watched the Pageant with them two nights.  Yvette Sampson and son Matt (who now live in Syracuse, about 60 miles east of here) were at Pageant one night and we spent some time catching up.  Dennis and Mary Sparrow were here with two of their granddaughters.  We also watched the Pageant with them.  It was fun to see everyone!  
 

The Wilcox's

The Sparrows

Yvette Sampson

General Authorities
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was here visiting the sites with his entire family week before last.  They came to the Book of Mormon Publication Site when we were working there, so we got to meet he and his wife and their family.  It was pretty cool! 

I was taking pictures before Pageant one night and saw this great shot of a family with the guy playing Joseph Smith.  After I took the photo, the dad (who was also taking a picture) saw my name tag and came up to me to say hello.  I asked him where he was from and he said Zimbabwe.  I told him I had been there (but just barely - across the bridge at Victoria Falls).  We chatted for a little while and then parted ways.  He turned out to be Elder Edward Dube, a member of the First Quorum of Seventy!  

Elder Dube's wife and daughters with Joseph Smith

A couple of days later he and his family came to the Whitmer Farm unannounced and by themselves while we were working.  I was able to give them a bit of a private tour (Ann was with another group most of the time).  What a great experience!  He is a humble, good man and I was honored to be able to spend some time with he and his family.  

The Hill Cumorah Pageant

Wow!  A truly amazing show that tells the story of the Book of Mormon and Christ's visit to the Americas.  It is the biggest outdoor production in the country and is spectacular.  The cast checks in Friday morning, all the casting is done Friday afternoon and they have a dress rehearsal put together by Wednesday.  It's really a miracle.  There are some great special effects and wonderful music.

We got to meet many of the cast members (mostly families that have come at their own expense to be in the show) and attended several nights.    

The weather was fantastic.  When Elder Holland spoke to the cast before opening night he promised them that the weather would cooperate - and it did.  One night the forecast was a 99% chance of rain at showtime (9:00 PM) and it had rained most of the day so it was looking grim.  But when I checked the weather map just before nine, it looked like this:

There was a hole right over us, with big thunderstorms all around.  It didn't rain a single night during the performances. 

The stage was pretty spectacular just in and of itself.  The young guys on the work crew put it up in two days.  They also climb the light towers and man the spots during the performances.  

9000 seats - you can count them...

The Stage

Elder Steve Bean and Ann

The cast comes early and mingles with the audience each night.  They pose for pictures with people and teach about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, which is very cool.

Wicked King Noah and his Court

The Prophet Lehi

Two of the cast talking to the crowd

Ann had a chance to take Geraldine on a tour through the Hill Cumorah Visitors' Center a month ago.  She was baptized on Sunday!

Geraldine, Ann and Ed

One of the Magi (Christ's birth scene)

The Wrights from the Palmyra Ward where we are assigned

The Prophet Lehi

Another one of the Magi

And the third...

Noah was the most photographed - he was about 6'8" without the hat...

Several of the characters had multiples to facilitate action on the stage

Three of the four Lehi's 

I've decided that taking photos of a brightly lit stage with dark all around is well beyond my photographic skill level.  Most of my efforts turned out pretty lame, but I'll post some anyway.  I need to study up for next year on how to do it...

With all this talk of Pageant, you thought you were going to get by without the botany lesson of the week, didn't you...?  Think again, Bucko...  

Recognize this leaf?   

Sugar Maple is the answer.  There are still hundreds of Sugar Maples on the Smith Farm, including some gigantic ones.  The Smith's produced a lot of maple syrup and sugar when they lived here between 1818 and 1831.