Dear Brothers and Sisters, Friends and Family, HELLO AGAIN!!
First off, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH HI!!!! I CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS HAPPENING HERE!!
While doing rehearsals, and while performing in Nauvoo, I have decided to keep a digital journal every night, and share that journal with you every week in my weekly emails! There will be a lot of stories, and this method will help me so I can break up my email writing into smaller pieces every day rather than one long writing session at the very end of the week! So without further ado, here is week one of the Nauvoo and British Pageants!!
Saturday- I celebrated my uncle's birthday with him! It was a SUPER HUGE party, and honestly a lot of fun! That man knows how to get a crowd together!! It was really cool too because we got to see just how much of an impact he has made in other people's lives throughout his life! I strive to be like him every day, because he is a great example! Who in your life is a great example to you? And why are they so influential? My grandma made me this super sweet bucket hat that she gave to me! She embroidered on the front a picture of the Nauvoo temple! How COOL right?!! She has a super awesome embroidery machine, so she loves doing stuff like that! I’ll put it to good use! My uncle's house was really full this weekend, so I crashed on his neighbor's couch (his neighbor was letting us use his house while he was out of town, very nice guy!) And let me tell you, that was the comfiest couch I have ever slept on! Billion out of ten would recommend!!! Don’t worry though, I moved into my uncle's place after the weekend, so I am in a real bed now, which is still super comfy… Though occasionally I dream about that couch hahah!
Sunday- Was really relaxing! I spent a lot of time with my extended family and played A LOT of pool! I got a little better, but my cousins (who are young girls under the age of twelve by the way) are still way better than me! I even helped my uncle and like… second cousin.. I think…? I am not sure what he was… there was a lot of very extended family about hehehe… take apart a boat engine! That was WAY cool, and I totally felt all manly getting my hands and arms covered in oil and grease as I pulled this engine apart in a driveway! 10/10 would recommend, but only if you have someone smart like my second-cousin-or-something to help you out! After the boat engine thing, I went to my very first in person rehearsal at the music directors house! It was just a quick rehearsal, about two and a half hours or so (yes, that is very quick… you'll see…) and I got to meet almost everyone that is in the Nauvoo cast this year! OH MY!!! THEY ARE ALL SO TALENTED AND WONDERFUL AND NICE AND I CANNOT BELIEVE I GET TO KNOW THEM AND WORK WITH THEM!! Some of my childhood heroes are in the cast!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?! Well anyway, we sang together in person for the first time and needless to say I got chills! It certainly made me very excited for our first day of full rehearsals on Monday!! What a great start to all of this!
Monday- Well today was really awesome! It was our first ever rehearsal inside the Conference Center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City! I can’t even believe I just wrote that sentence if I am being honest! I didn’t know this, but tucked away in the back of the Conference Center is a small theatre! It felt wonderful to be rehearsing there, and running lines on a stage again! We started the day by introducing ourselves in a big circle, and of course people shared some awesome things and cried. Because I cried a little, my right eye just decided it was going to fold my contact in half while it was still sitting on my eyeball. And WOW did that hurt! I sat there for about 20 minutes not really understanding why it hurt so bad, but just blinking over and over and over. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and I got up to rush to the bathroom to try and pull out my contact and put it back in. No joke, as I was speed walking to the bathroom my eye literally started pushing the contact out of my eye, so by the time I got there, my contact was on my cheek. So yea. If your contacts hurt, don’t just blink, fix it. Lesson LEARNED. Anyway, after that we read through the Nauvoo Pageant script all together for the first time, just sitting in that big circle. And yep! I cried some more! I cannot even describe to you how powerful the Spirit was in that room. I was just so happy to be there. In fact, I told a few of my new friends, “I would have flown all the way out here just for that”. But that wasn’t the end of the day! We continued on with rehearsals, and my nerves kept getting the best of me. I was falling into some old acting habits, and thankfully was gently reminded of them. I am super rusty, very nervous, trying too hard, and attempting to do the best I possibly can all at once. So not a good combination. Anyhow, we had rehearsal from about 9 AM to 6:30 PM today! I had a mini lunch break in between, and me and a few friends walked down to get some food at the Temple Square food court! On the way, I found out some fabulous people in the cast had seen some of my work last year when I was in the Shakespeare festival at BYUI! They said and I quote, “oh we know you! We like you!” Let me tell you, it made me feel so much better!!! I got myself a huge burrito and I think I ate it in record time. All in all, it took me about 12.5 seconds to wolf that thing down. (I might be exaggerating just a tad, but it was really fast. Seriously a few seconds was all it took) After rehearsal I went and grabbed some groceries with my awesome uncle and cousin. We had been living off of old pulled pork, chips, stale cupcakes and root beer all weekend, so I am looking forward to some real food tomorrow! I moved my stuff into my uncle's house today and finally had some space to unpack a little. I don’t want to unpack too much, seeing as how I will be flying out in only two weeks, but its nice to settle and not feel like you are living out of a suitcase! I can’t believe this is really happening, and OH MY everyone is so wonderful! I found out today that one of my new friends was in my favorite performance about Jesus!!! It is called Lamb of God by Rob Gardner, and it is A. MAY. ZING. We were talking about music, and I asked if he had ever heard of Lamb of God and he just went, “oh yea, I was in it!” My jaw dropped so fast! There are so many wonderfully talented people, and I already love them all!!!
Tuesday- This was a really long day. I felt on Monday that I had talked too much, and hadn’t listened to others as much as I should have, and that made me sad. So Tuesday I tried really hard to just listen to others… However, I am a talkative person, and this did not work as well as I thought. You see, I had no problem listening to others, but flat out choosing not to talk to people as much was really harmful to my mental health. I found myself feeling really lonely for a bit, for really no reason at all because I was surrounded by lovely people, but I decided to take a moment and step away during some quiet time to find a secluded place to pray to my Heavenly Father. It was a wonderful experience! I felt suddenly much lighter, and filled with a warmth from the Holy Ghost! After that it was a much better day! We mostly worked on the British Pageant, which is the story of the early Latter-Day Saints in Great Britain when those first missionaries came there in 1839ish!!! It is a GLORIOUS play, and I am so glad to be a part of it! It talks so much about how important the reformation period was, (so people like William Tyndale and John Lathrop) so that the Bible could be printed in English!! Fun fact, Joseph Smith is a descendant of the reformer, John Lathrop! Many of these reformers taught about how Christ needed to restore His church again on the earth through prophets and apostles, which is exactly what the Lord did through Joseph Smith! Later on in the evening we practiced for the first time a beautiful little show called Our Story Goes On. This show is a modern story that talks about the importance of families, and how we can be together forever. It is a story about the plan that Heavenly Father has had for us from the beginning, even before we came to earth! I was sobbing at the end of that show. It is so beautiful, and the Spirit I feel when we rehearse it is so real and so powerful. Oh, I know this Church is true, and I testify that God’s plan for us is a plan of happiness!!
Wednesday- Today was wonderful! I allowed myself to be myself a little more and still listen to my friends, but also tell stories when appropriate! It made me feel a lot better, and helped me understand how much each of our own little quirks are valued in the kingdom of God! Today when rehearsing, we did a little show called Trail of Hope. Now this is a smaller show that isn’t formally staged. As the audience walks down Parley Street in Nauvoo Illinois they run into a few characters who tell them little stories about how the Saints were driven from Nauvoo. The beautiful part is, these stories are all focused on Jesus, and how He helped those Saints to feel safe and have hope in the immense struggles they were facing. We had rehearsed this show on Monday, but at the time we only rehearsed it with the males (the Brothers as we call them) because the females (the Sisters) were all rehearsing a part of the Nauvoo Pageant at the time. Don’t get me wrong, Monday’s rehearsal was fabulous, but today when the Sisters joined us something in my brain just clicked. Suddenly, I understood just how important women are in the kingdom of God. You see, when the Sisters joined us, they brought such a Spirit with them. Their testimonies presented in their work was so powerful, it drove me to tears time and time again. I understood for a brief moment a fraction of how much God loves and needs His daughters. The women of Zion are the Lord's chosen people! I am so grateful to know so many wonderful women! It reminded me of a quote from the prophet President Russell M Nelson where he says "the culminating act of all creation was the creation of woman!" I love President Nelson, and find this quote stirs my heart of gratitude for all the beautiful women of the Church who are so diligently striving to serve as the Savior would! You are all loved! In today's rehearsal as well we went over one of my hardest scenes. You see, Hyrum Smith was largely in charge of a lot of the initial construction of the city of Nauvoo, and its temple. Like an overseer of sorts. Therefore there is a scene where I am quite literally just running around shouting at the top of my lungs random street names. And it's crazy. As I dash about from one place to the next, I have to remember which street name it is that I have to call out, and what random person I need to “interrupt” in order to shout out my line! I ended up drawing out a detailed map of where I need to run to so that I can be more prepared, but if I get the street name right, I am standing in the wrong place, and if I am standing in the right place, I say the wrong street name. I have to work on putting the positives together now don’t I!! But with God’s help, I can do all things! Even crazy things like learning 4 shows in 11 days!
Thursday- Today was FANTASTIC!! So today we did not rehearse in the Conference Center on Temple Square, but instead we rehearsed in the Bountiful Regional Center. WHOA that place is HUGE!! It's built in this gigantic circle shape, so in the main auditorium area it looks like you are in a UFO! We just rehearsed in the lobby though, which was still super big and even had multiple levels to it! LEVELS!! In a LOBBY!! Phew. Anyway today we focused on learning the rest of the Nauvoo Pageant and at the end of the day we ran the whole show from start to finish for the first time. You read that right. In four days we not only learned four and a half shows, but we also ran one start to finish. That's what you get when you work 13 hour days for four days I guess! We got to have a catered lunch today which was pretty cool, but it made me super sleepy for a bit! During the big show run through I was having a really hard time feeling the spirit. You see at the end of the show, the figure I am playing (Hyrum Smith) and his brother (Joseph Smith) are murdered for their belief in Jesus Christ. You do not see any of the violence, but it is very emotional when they leave to be imprisoned on false charges because they knew they would never return. In fact, every time we had run that scene thus far the Spirit of God would be so strong in that room and in my heart that slow tears would start streaming down my face. But I wasn’t feeling the Spirit as much leading into this very important and sacred scene during the run through. I had a few moments before my entrance though, so I took a second and just quietly prayed by myself, asking my Heavenly Father to help me feel the Spirit, and to represent Hyrum honorably. I asked God to assist me in my portrayal, and the Spirit gradually filled me up! I was ready to enter for my scene now, and it went beautifully. There were hiccups in rehearsal of course, but that last and glorious moment was so powerful. At the very end, Joseph and Hyrum come back as Spirits, and we sing the Hymn called the Spirit of God together. I couldn’t even choke out the words. I couldn’t believe I was there. I can’t believe I have been given this opportunity to be in this production. And I will never take this for granted. How grateful am I that the Lord still needs me for His precious work! What a great day! I even said at the start of today, “Today is going to be a great day, I can feel it!” Maybe I should seek for more great things about the days ahead so they are all just as wonderful! I love these people so much, and would gladly do anything to help them at all! This work is wonderful, and it is the work of salvation!
Friday- Today was a mixture of a lot of really interesting things… To start with right off the bat this morning I had an opportunity to serve one of my new dear friends! It was a wonderfully Spirit-filled experience, and I cherish that I was able to do what I could in my very limited abilities. About forty minutes later, that same friend came to find me and let me know that he had just found out there was a tragedy in his family. I will not go into details for respect for him and his family, but I wished to share this so that you may know just how carefully God watches over His children. He helps us make connections to one another so that when adversity comes, we are able to bear one another's burdens and lift each other up. My heart goes out to him, and we all felt for him and prayed for him all day, and will continue to do so. Today we rehearsed a lot of the British Pageant, and learned the rest of the magnificent dances that are performed in the show! It was intense to learn so much all in one day, but we got through it and ran through the entire show at the end of the day! We had not learned much of the show at that point, we we gave it everything we had, and got through it! We are not perfect yet, but it's wonderful for all the work we have done on so many shows in the last five days! Today I learned that the Conference Center Theatre (where we have been spending this whole week minus Thursday) was actually the place that General Conference was recorded and broadcast during the Covid-19 pandemic!!! I’m literally dancing on the floor where President Nelson gave his talk Christ is Risen: Faith in Him will Move Mountains!!! Obviously the Conference Center is where Conference is usually held, but this smaller theatre is for other Church productions! Cool right?!?! At the end of rehearsals today I realized something really cool. There is a very large directing board, probably about seven or eight different kinds of Directors and Stage Managers of all kinds, and not a single one has raised their voices in anger as of yet. Imagine that! Five straight days of 13 hours every single day and not once have they gotten angry at us… It’s certainly not because we are perfect little angels. No, I honestly think it is because we are all trying so very hard to be like Jesus. And you know the especially amazing part?! We keep getting work done! We don’t need someone to shout at us, or get mad at us so we focus up, no, we genuinely all want to be there, and all want to work hard! It really inspired me a lot because I want to be a drama teacher when I grow up (I think, it changes every day) and I would LOVE to be like that! To try to be so patient and loving that I can put on a production without contention! I have faith that this could be done, and I am excited to try out this idea some day! So if I ever gripe and moan about theatre kids, please remind me what I said about being a Christlike director, and get me to shape up (just gently of course, that would defeat the whole purpose if you shouted at me to be more Christlike hahah!!) All in all, it was a very long day, but it was a glorious one! This is the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and He is helping us all each and every day as we strive to be good people in our communities! I love you all, and will always try to serve you in any way I can!
I know this was sent out late, but I get home super late every night and really needed some sleep, so please enjoy this newsletter! As per usual I want to share a scripture with you before I go! This week my verse is from Ether 12 in the Book of Mormon and it is verse 41. This verse is very significant to me because it is what Hyrum Smith read to his family before he left with his brother Joseph to prison on false charges, where they were then murdered. It says,”And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.”
Brothers and Sisters, I would like to extend this very same invitation to you as well. Because I know that Jesus Christ wants you to come unto Him. He loves you. And so do I. I say these things as a missionary of Jesus Christ, and a disciple of the word of God in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Much love!!
Elder Taylor
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