June 20-26
Monday- well today was finally the day that we flew out of Salt Lake to go to Nauvoo! I got up at about 5 AM after a terrible nights sleep, and picked up a friend on my way to the airport! My super awesome uncle and cousin drove me up there. Honestly, none of this adventure would have been possible without them, and I am beyond grateful! After we got to the airport, we sat around and visited with all those who were flying with us in the plane! There were lots of actors whom I know and love, and several new people who will be in what is called “work crew”. Basically their job is to be the men behind, under, and around the stage! Also known as techies, or stage hands! The show cannot happen without them! The majority of them are fresh out of high school, or just started senior year. Which is rather weird to me, seeing as I am older than all of them, yet they seem so knowledgeable and wise… very humbling! Anyway, our flight was a little late leaving (about an hour) because the plane we were to fly on came in late due to some storms. But once we were in the air, it was smooth sailing! I was so tired, I tried to sleep, but it was pointless. Attempting to sleep on a plane when you are 6’2” is rather futile and I only got snatches of four or five minutes rest at a time. After we landed in Saint Louis, we met up with the Pageant Missionaries and they helped us load our bags into the trailer! I might be the only one with two checked bags (as a missionary is allowed) and I felt kind of bad. I am notorious for over-packing. But at least I know I am prepared!! We got some box lunches, and then we had a three hour drive to Nauvoo!! At this point my throat was SO DRY. It felt terrible! But I pushed through and took a good hour nap in the big van. Before going to Nauvoo, we stopped at Walmart for groceries. Everyone was told we had thirty minutes to get their groceries, so I grabbed my stuff and got back in thirty minutes. An hour later, we finally had everyone loaded back in and were on the road again hahaha! I didn’t mind, I just thought it was hilarious! After that, we finally got to our condos, and the blocked our groceries! I have yet to go into historic Nauvoo as we are living just a few miles away from the temple, but it is SO CUTE HERE!! Everything seems so magical! I am staying in a condo with all the other single men in the cast! So right now that’s my friend who is playing John Taylor, another friend playing Heber C Kimball, a director of the Pageants who in past years has played both Hyrum and Joseph Smith, and another friend who plays George Fordham! We are going to have SO MUCH FUN!! Tomorrow we should be going out to see Carthage Jail, where Hyrum and Joseph Smith were martyred, so it’s going to be a great day!! This is SO EXCITING!! And the joy I feel here radiating from everyone is PALPABLE!! AHHH THIS IS AWESOME!!
Tuesday- This morning it was a little hard to get up in the morning, but I made it! My throat hurt SO BAD. As in, it was really really hard to swallow. But I made some breakfast and my roommate made me some throat coat (a singer thing), bless him, and we went out to the parking lot! Today we were going to visit Carthage Jail where the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred. Before we left we all sang an opening Hymn for our day, and I was tearing up from how awesome it was! It was surreal that we were finally in Nauvoo, and that I was with such fantastically talented people! We drove then to Carthage and it was absolutely gorgeous there. My voice was completely gone so I couldn’t talk much, but I was certainly feeling the Spirit very strongly. I got to the first plaque at the very beginning of the path leading to the jail, and I was already starting to cry. So by the time I got into the visitors center to watch a video before going into the jail itself I was sobbing uncontrollably. It was really intense. But I just know and understand the value of the sacrifice these two men made. Just standing in that sacred place was so powerful. When I finally got to the room where these brave and innocent men died, I just felt completely at peace. They played the Hymn A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief which the future prophet John Taylor (no relation to me) famously sang for the prophet and his brother just before they died, and I was sitting across from the man who is playing John Taylor. It was so special to look at him and know just how important that song was. Afterwards we went outside and sang I Am a Child of God together as a cast. Then we went back home to get ready for rehearsal. We spent all afternoon working on the British Pageant and I felt TERRIBLE! I had a really bad fever, and was trying so hard to stay awake. But thanks to some great friends giving me all kinds of funny looking herb remedies I got through the afternoon! It turns out I am the ONLY PERSON in the core cast who signed up for the Nauvoo meal plan!! So that’s awkward but hey! I get food still! And no need to cook! Anyway, we then had rehearsal for our musical show called Our Story Goes On for a few hours, but I couldn’t sing much… so I did. When I maybe shouldn’t have haha! Then it rained some, so many of us went out and danced in the rain singing outside our condos! It was a great day! I cannot wait for tomorrow because we are finally going to the temple!! YAY!!
Wednesday- This morning we got up way earlier than I wanted to, but for the greatest reason on earth! We went TO THE NAUVOO TEMPLE!! It was AMAZING! First of all, it was WAY bigger than I thought it was! I’ve seen pictures and paintings, but it is absolutely amazing how large it truly is! One cool thing about that place is there is a hallway inside where they have on display old church artifacts and old temple clothes! One of the artifacts is Joseph Smiths sword! The temple itself though is beautiful. I would type “beautiful” in all caps, but honestly, it feels too irreverent to say it that way. It was just so precious to be there. The spirit was unlike anything I had ever felt. I just felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the chance to be in such a place! After the temple we went out to the old Nauvoo cemetery, where many members of the church are buried. One of which is Edward Partridge, the first ever Bishop of the Church. He died of what I believe was malaria soon after moving in to Nauvoo in May of 1840. Nauvoo was originally a swamp, and many people got sick and several died from all the diseases that came from the mosquitoes that thrived in the marshes of that swamp. We sang a few Hymns at the cemetery after walking about for a bit, and we then went home to get some food. I had Chinese food at the cafeteria, and I have to say that I never expected to eat good egg rolls in Illinois while doing a pioneer show, but it was pretty delicious! After that, it was time for some solo work, so I went to the costumers to get fitted for my costume! Oh my, it took a long time! I have WAY more costumes than I thought I did! I mean, I was on there for about an hour and a half or so, and I am not even halfway done yet! May God bless those wonderful sisters in costuming because that work is IMMENSE! I did get to try on my Hyrum Smith costume though, and it was AWESOME to wear! I am so excited to move out to the first dress rehearsal! I love dress rehearsals! I then went directly into a rehearsal of the Nauvoo Pageant after that. It was different doing that show after visiting Carthage, but a good different. The Spirit was teaching me new things this time! Then it was time for dinner after a short district meeting. I was so tired, that I was nearly falling asleep during the fifteen minute meeting leading up to dinner. But there is no rest for the weary here! Only joyful service! So I visited with some new friends at dinner, and then went back for another run of the British Pageant. I was exhausted. Today’s run was hard, mostly because I was so tired but I enjoyed that I was learning! After the run rehearsal was done, and I marched home signing Hymns to myself at the top of my lungs, just enjoying the fireflies! What a great day!! Oh and!! My throat started to feel lots better today! No more pain with swallowing! Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be back to full recovery! Today too my friends grandpa came to say hi to me!! Apparently he has been looking around for me for a bit, so he was glad to finally find me! It was great to see a familiar face as so far, I haven’t known a single soul yet!
Thursday- Today was supposed to be the day that our sheets got laundered in our condo, but that never happened… rather strange, but okay! Today started off great though! I woke up with my voice feeling much better, but still not quite at full capacity. I am at like 85% of my power right now, but we are getting there! I have been taking lots of medicine and drinking more water every hour than a child “learning” to swim so I should be just fine by the time we have our first official performance this Sunday! I will keep praying though! This morning we started by meeting at the Pageant Headquarters, where we have been rehearsing this week, which is basically a giant airplane hangar. We worked on some of our vignettes there this morning, and I feel like that rehearsal went really well! The directors seemed to like my work, but I will keep going! There is a few verses in the Book of Mormon that warn us to never say “all is well in Zion” because there is always something to be done and we should never assume we are perfect. I like to apply those verses to theatre as well. Never think your work is “good enough”, for everything is always changing and so should you! Let yourself grow! Anyway, after that rehearsal we ran the show we will be performing on Sunday called Our Story Goes On. I believe I have mentioned it a few times here, but basically it tells the story of where we came from and where we are going through musical theatre songs! Its like, The Plan of Salvation Karaoke but all the singers are FANTASTIC!! I was really moved at the end of that show because the words we sing say “I am a child of love, I have been born above, I am a child of glory, And as I pass along, I’ll sing the Christian song, I’m going to live forever”. I love that song. Its like the song I am a Child of God times a hundred if that’s even possible! (It is called Pilgrim Song if anyone would like to look up that song I shared!) Then it was lunch time, and I enjoyed a BLT that had about eight pieces of bacon on it. (I didn’t dish the bacon, but I was grateful nonetheless!) Afterward, it was time to drive! We were to drive into Nauvoo to watch and rehearse some of the vignettes (or small plays) that we do in the locations where we will do them. So first we went to the Seventies Hall, where we performed Go Ye Into All the World which is a story about the missionaries of the Church, and how early missionaries were called in the first Seventies Hall! (The one we are in is a replica as the original no longer exists) Then we went just out the door to walk along a trail that runs along Parley Street. This trail has actors positioned along stations to tell you about the member of the Church that were exiled from their homes and left Nauvoo walking down that very road. This vignette is called, Trail of Hope. We only watched a few of our friends perform their respective parts, and it was so joyful to see these representations of people along the real road they walked! Then we drove over to a little field to watch a different vignette called Letters of Joseph and Emma. When we arrived at the parking lot, my friend and I got out of the car and looked about us. Now, part of the city of Nauvoo (most of the south side) is not owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Instead, it is owned by another church known as the Community of Christ. So some of the signs we were seeing on this southern end of town had the Community of Christs logo on them. As we read the sign directly in front of us, we looked at each other in shock. Then, rushing reverently forward we started on a small brick path that led through a little green field. As we passed a flower bed, we saw up on our left a great granite monument. The graves of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith. I had no idea that they were here in Nauvoo. My friend and I just froze there, and stared. I couldn’t believe I was so close to them. We took a few steps closer, but still didn’t go too near the grave. I expected to be overcome with the Spirit, but nothing came. I was confused at first, then realized I wasn’t remembering Joseph and Hyrum the way they wanted me to. I was thinking of them as grand and imposing, when they were simply humble servants of God. Then I realized that if I went and stood in front of Hyrum’s grave, the one of the far left, that Joseph and Emma would be at my side in the same positions that they are when we enter for the first time in the Nauvoo Pageant. Then the Spirit overtook me, and I remembered them as the loving disciples of Jesus Christ that they are. We also walked around a little bend in the path and visited the graves of Joseph and Hyrum’s parents, Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith. It was a very special experience. After that, we crossed the street to watch a vignette about these people, as Lucy Mack Smith tells the story of Emma and Joseph’s love for one another in front of their mansion house. It was marvelous. Then we went to a grove of trees to listen to the vignette called the King Follet Discourse. This vignette is excerpts from a speech that Joseph Smith gave at a funeral for a man named King Follet in April 1844. This speech outlined some of the most important teachings in our church. One of these was the idea of eternal families, and that we are born of Heavenly Parents. These seem like regular idea today, but back then it was revolutionary. Joseph died just two months after he gave this speech. Then we finally went to the Relief Society Gardens to watch Women of Nauvoo there. I had a funny experience in the victors center there with a man who asked a lot of questions, but luckily the Spirit helped me to avoid contention and just answer nicely and honestly without backing myself into a corner! I am so grateful for the Spirit! I was a little flustered, but I said a quick prayer and then everything was set right! After all this awesomeness, we went to get some dinner, and then had some rehearsal time on our own. I visited the makeup crew to ask about my beard. They told me I could shave it off! I was rather sad actually, as I have become rather attached to the three or four hairs that have grown on my face in the last two months! It has been a labor of love, and you could say that the idea of a beard was growing on me, but I am ready to move on. After that we went out to visit the stage for the first time! It is HUGE!! I will have to detail just how complicated it is another day, but oh my what a splendor! I got some cool pictures as the Nauvoo Temple (which is now my favorite temple in the whole wide world) is directly behind the stage! Then we went for an ice cream social with the Nauvoo Performing Missionaries! It was great to see fellow missionaries, and visit with them! They are all so talented and wonderfully full of the Spirit! This Church is true, and I know that all of us are Sons and Daughters of a great God who loves us!! You are all wonderful!
Friday- Today was our first day rehearsing on the outdoor stage! We had a HUGE miracle today! It was really cloudy and nice and cool out all day long! We didn’t get too hot, the sun wasn’t beating down on us, and we had a GREAT run through of the Nauvoo Pageant this morning! We are feeling very blessed today! After I got some lunch, I went to go finish getting the rest of my costumes for my other characters. Thing was, there was a big line. So I sat in that costuming room for about two and a half hours. Most of the time (about an hour and half) I was just sitting around waiting for my turn. But it was fun at the same time! I got to play with some whirligigs (a pioneer toy with some string and a wooden disk, look it up! They are really interesting!) with some of the kids in the cast! We had fun trying to scrape dirt off of our shoes with the high-speed disks, and we all got really good at it! I did get a small blister on one of my fingers though from the really quickly spinning string but it was WORTH IT! After my costumes were found and put away (I’m still not done yet so I’ll be back there soon!) I found out we had some free time. So you know what I did? I dashed back to my condo, took out my contacts and went RIGHT to sleep. After a blissful twenty minute power nap I was ready to eat some dinner! The meal we had was with the Temple President and his wife, along with lots of other local leaders. We sang the song Pilgrim Song that I mentioned yesterday for them. It was a great little get to know you event! I even saw a few of the people that will be in my district that I will be a leader for, and was able to meet them and say hello! It was great to finally see their faces and hear their voices! I already love them! We then dashed back to the outdoor stage to do another run of the Nauvoo Pageant, but sadly it began to rain about halfway through. So we went back to headquarters to finish the show inside, and we felt so happy! All day long we just felt so happy! It was a great day today! When I got home, my roommates showed me that they had let a little tree frog into our house, and he was crawling around on the walls! He even ate a fly for us off the wall, so we really appreciated him! One of the cast came over to show us that he found a toad, so some of the guys came over and we played with and talked about the frogs we had found! We had some good laughs, and then it was time for bed! This is a great group of people, and I love them all so much! I hope you know you are all included in that group of people I love!!
Saturday- Today I basically got a taste of all the worst and best things that Nauvoo can throw at you! Our morning started off pretty great, as it was really overcast so the sun was gone, however it was raining a bit. Since we all are wearing really expensive microphones, every time it started raining we would have to dash to cover. During one cloudburst we all ran for cover and started singing Hymns about sunshine! One of the songs we sang is a primary song I really love called Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam. In that song every time you say the word “beam” you sing it really loud and jump up from your chair! We were all standing, but we still jumped! Apparently little children only jump up in America because all of our British friends were looking at us like we were crazy people. Towards the end though, they too were jumping with joy! Joy is contagious like that! The rain just kept coming, so we had to stop our run of the British Pageant, and went back to Pageant Headquarters to stay inside and rehearse Our Story Goes On. We perform that show tomorrow (Sunday) so we need the practice! After that rehearsal, which was just a cue to cue (basically meaning we only do the lines and don’t sing the songs) I went to lunch! After that I decided to put on some pants because it was still pretty cloudy and I had been wearing shorts in all that rain. But then… Oh but then… We were outside in the afternoon to run the British Pageant. And the rain had made it SO humid. I’ll spare you the gory details but many of us got overheated in some of the worst ways. Nobody got heatstroke though! After that super grueling rehearsal (it was SO HOT OUT, and the sun wasn’t even really visible!) I got dinner, and went home to change my clothes. Almost everyone took a shower during dinner time! We then went back to the stage for a little more work on the British Pageant, and then a run-through of Our Story Goes On. It was getting rather dark about the time we were doing the show, and around sunset a nice cool breeze set in. We were doing GREAT and I thought about how excited I was to be doing this show! Then… Oh but then… A HUGE gust of wind blew in from the South and as it whipped through our hair we saw this cloud. Not a cloud of condensed water, I can deal with those. No, this was a cloud of just bugs. Flying in on that gust of wind, they suddenly were just THERE. And since we had those big stage lights shining on us, they just stayed. And they were EVERYWHERE. I know I exaggerate a lot, but I am not kidding when I say there were seriously about five hundred million little gnats all over. Apparently its not always like that. Apparently they get bigger. They were all over the place. As we sang they would fly down our throats, and down our shirts, and up our noses, and in our ears, and down our throats, and in our hair, and all over our arms. The stage looked like it was covered in a dusting of living snow. We couldn’t see the audience because the flurry of bugs was too thick. And we perform in the same space tomorrow. What an adventure! After the show ending we all went on a shimmy and shake rampage, trying to get all the bugs off of us because we were trying to hold still during the performance. We then went home and I IMMEDIATELY showered. Then I ate some food, and read some scriptures before bed!! It has been a FANTASTIC WEEK! I cannot wait for next week! Tomorrow the first families show up and we will be teaching them the shows! It will be GREAT!
Before I go today I would like to share a scripture with you all and that is found in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 2 verse 25. I know I share a lot from 2 Nephi, but I have been reading from it a lot lately, and just finished it last night! So maybe you'll get new material soon haha! Anyway, it says, "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." This week I have really felt that joy! I know that this is a gospel of joy, and I cannot wait to continue to share that with people!! I love you all, and pray daily that you can feel joy! It is the purpose of life to have joy in Jesus Christ!! I bear testimony that He lives, and wants you to have happiness in this life, and in the life to come! I say this as a disciple of our Savior, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Much love!!
Elder Taylor
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