The Manti Pageant

The Manti Pageant isn't something I've ever been to and wasn't something I ever really planned on going to, but our friends invited us to go with them this last weekend. It was fun to be in that tiny town, built around the beautiful Manti temple, and hang out before the show started at 9:30 pm. It was kind of like a small-town carnival with booths and a craft fair ( for some reason I LOVE those...I just like to see what people make I guess...even if what they make is sometimes ugly and/or cheesy). :)

My favorite part of the pageant was when Jackson wouldn't go to sleep and I kept having to walk in front of the entire audience to calm him down. Ha! Not really. My REAL favorite part was when they were acting out when Jesus came to America to visit the Nephites and he called the children to him. Let me paint the picture - the pageant is performed on the giant hill just below the temple (for those Boiseans out there, you could compare it to Simplot's hill...only Simplot's house is a giant beautiful white temple that kind of looks like a castle). For this part, the actors are, of course dressed as Nephites and they are spread out ALL OVER the hill. Jesus is near the top right-hand side of the hill and when he calls the children to him they run from every part of the hill weaving in and out of the adults to get to him. It made me cry, and I think that when we see him again that's exactly what it will be like. I also kept thinking to myself, "What if that was really him? Am I ready to meet him?" That was an introspective moment, which was good for me.

Here are just a few pictures of our adventure:

Waiting for the show to start:

Lance wouldn't smile....guess he was too busy eating his giant sno cone:

Lance and Ashley in front of the huge hill where the pageant is (guess I didn't have to describe it up there...a picture truly is worth a million words). :)