Hello yet again everyone!!!
I'VE GOT BIG NEWS!!! Like, HUUUUGE news!!!!
Are you ready for it!?!?!?
Some of you haven't had this news given to you yet, and I figured it was about time to let you all know that I have been selected to be in THE NAUVOO PAGEANTS THIS YEAR!!!
But not just as a tourist or anything, nope! I have been officially cast in the principal role of Hyrum Smith!!! That's right, little old me is going to be a professional actor for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!! And AAAAAAAAAHHHHH I AM SO EXCITED!!!!
Now, several of you on this email list, or that follow me on Facebook or Instagram might be a little confused. So let me explain. Every year during the summer, my Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) puts on a couple of summer productions in a beautiful city called Nauvoo in Illinois. Back when the Church of Jesus Christ was first getting organized, back in the late 1830's, the members built a beautiful city along the Mississippi River called Nauvoo. Unfortunately, due to some misunderstandings, these faithful people were actually driven from the city they had built and forced to move west where they finally settled in the Salt Lake Valley up in Utah. Hence the reason that so many of the Church of Jesus Christ's population seems to come from Utah hahah!!
Anyway, these summer productions tell the stories of faith from those people who founded Nauvoo, and tell about how they built a temple there! Thousands of people come to watch the shows every year!!! Many of the people who participate in actually putting on the productions are volunteers who audition for the opportunity to put on an official Church production! This January, I had the chance to audition, and made the main cast list!
The character I will be portraying is named Hyrum Smith, and he was the older brother of the Prophet Joseph Smith! Joseph Smith was the man who translated The Book of Mormon, and was called of God to restore Jesus Christ's church back on the earth! In that Church, which is known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Hyrum Smith was a great leader, and I am honored beyond belief to be chosen to represent him!! If you are still confused, it's okay. It's kind of complicated... So hopefully my emails will continue to explain things! If not, let me know any questions you may have!!
New (old) shoes!!
The Nauvoo temple!!
A poster for the Nauvoo Pageant!!
Hyrum Smith!!
My trusty Pioneer hat I am planning on wearing!
Really awesome old picture of me my aunt sent me from like 6 years ago! Looks like nothing has changed!
So I'm sure many of you still have questions, so let me answer the most common ones so far right off the bat!
I will be flying out of Tucson this upcoming Friday, June 3rd, to start rehearsals. I will rehearse in Salt Lake City Utah for two weeks before flying to Saint Louis Illinois, and driving up the Mississippi to Nauvoo!
I am still a Service Missionary right now, and my Mission President (a.k.a. my Stake President or local leader) has said that my time there in Nauvoo will count as part of my two years of missionary service!
I will be back into Tucson on August 1st of this year, and will immediately continue my work as a Service Missionary here!
The Pageant is not being broadcast (as far as I know) but the show dates are from July 5-30! Come swing by if you can!!
I still do not know where I am staying in Nauvoo yet!
There are multiple shows in Nauvoo that I am a part of, but the Nauvoo Pageant is the biggest one. This also means I play more characters, but more on that next week.
I do get paid as a professional actor, but it's seriously about .10% of minimum wage. No complaining though, because Missionaries never get paid haha!!
The Nauvoo Pageant is a musical, but there are no solo songs. Only group numbers!
Yes, The Nauvoo Pageant is the title of the show haha!
I found out about my role as Hyrum Smith around April 12th (so about a month and a half ago) but couldn't tell anyone for a long time! So if you feel behind, it's all good! Most people don't even know!
I have to have all my lines memorized before I leave for Nauvoo, so I've been working hard at that so far!
I am literally SO excited to start this crazy adventure, and am looking forward to sending out emails each week with lots of pictures and stories from all the crazy things happening there!! Remember that 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon I told you all about last week? That's why I started reading it! That's how those early Latter-Day Saints read the Book of Mormon, and I want to read it like they did!! It's a great read if anyone is wondering!
Anyway, now that you all know what is coming up, here's a little breakdown of my missionary week!!
Saturday I wrote you all an email, and did my laundry. You burn through a lot of white shirts as a missionary! I also drove my siblings and their friends up to a Church dance! It was about an hour drive away, so I just parked the car in the lot and waited for the dance to be over and drove everyone home! It gave me a lot of time to work on my Nauvoo script memorization!
Sunday I taught my class of little kids about the scriptures, and how Jesus is who the prophets teach about! They really love Jesus, and it's so awesome to see them get so excited when they see a picture of Him! The testimonies of little kids are just incredible!
Monday I cleaned the temple and it was great!!! I even did some detective work! You see, there were all these really weird looking scratches all along one wall in the temple. It kinda looked like someone had taken a lead pencil and slapped it a few times along the wall! Only problem is number one, there aren't lead pencils used in the temple, like at all, and second the scratches were at a really weird height. I puzzled over why the scratches were there as I cleaned some other things, until later when the answer hit me! The place the scratches were was in a location that only the female patrons (we call them Sisters in our Church) go. Therefore the scratches would be on the Sisters left side. I realized that the strange height meant that the marks were made by the wedding bands of the Sister patrons!! I felt so cool when I figured that out! I even thought as I walked away, "it's because I read Encyclopedia Brown as a kid!" (that's a really cheesy detective series that I loved when I was like 8)
Tuesday I substituted for a friend of mine, and worked a shift at the temple! It was really cool to be a worker on the day I am usually a patron, because that meant I got to spend time with all the people who I see, but never really get to talk to! I also spent a lot of time rehearsing my music parts for Nauvoo as well!
Wednesday I worked in the Bishops Storehouse, and went to the temple with my parents later in the day! After that we watched some Church history movies together and it was awesome! I have always loved Church history, so this calling to go to Nauvoo is the perfect excuse for me to be as nerdy as possible!!
Thursday I worked another early morning shift at the temple, and went for a run afterwards! I didn't run on a treadmill this time, as I have been for the last few months, and it felt awesome to actually move around rather than "run six miles" but never actually move from underneath the air conditioning vent. I have been doing a lot more running lately to get in shape for Nauvoo, so I've lost a little of the muscle mass I gained. It's all good though! I'll gain it back!
Friday was the LONGEST DAY EVER. I woke up at 5 am to get to the temple for an early shift, and then finished up that shift around 11:30. However, I could not go home, because I had another shift to do at 5 pm (I am to be a laundry worker on Friday nights!). Thus, I needed to find some stuff around that side of town! So I drove up to drop off some clothing donations at Deseret Industries (a charitable thrift store!) and bought myself some great Pioneer shoes for Nauvoo there! Then I headed to a temple clothing store (called Beehive Clothing) to get myself a clip-on tie... *GASP* "but Elder, you hate clip-on ties!!!" Yep. I do. But I have to wear one when I do laundry work at the temple for safety reasons. Could you imagine getting strangled in a temple because your tie got snagged in the super industrial washing machine??? Yikes! No thank you! Anyway, then I went to Eegees and got myself a snack while I read the scriptures! I then worked on memorizing my scripts for Nauvoo, and went right back into the temple! And guess what! It was a good thing I got that clip-on tie! Only about an hour into work and my tie got snagged on some laundry cart! It was a great blessing to not get jerked off my feet!
Well goodness gracious! This is a long email today!! I hope you all had a great week like I did!!
Before I go, I just want to share a new favorite scripture of mine, which I think fits really well considering my announcement from this email!
Doctrine and Covenants section 136 verse 28 reads, "If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving." And I LOVE THIS VERSE!! If you ever feel good, make sure to sing out happy songs! Those of you that know me know I LOVE singing happy songs when I am happy!!! God loves to hear our happy songs!! So sing them, and pray in gratitude!! God is good!
I know your Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you, and I hope you all have a great next week! I'll be emailing you next week and the weeks to come about the adventures of Nauvoo!!! See you soon!!!
Much Love!!
Elder Taylor
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