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The Nauvoo Temple model from the Historic Visitor's Center. The inside is where we spend each day.
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Our week began with a Sunday fireside featuring Cynthia Collier. She has been the director of the Nauvoo and British Pageants for 25 years. (She is also the director of Savior of the World at the Conference Center in Salt Lake.) Here are a few highlights from her message:
- She works with about 1,500 missionaries each summer.
- There could be 500 people on stage
- The City of Joseph pageant began in the era of community-type pageants and ran for 27 years.
- When the Nauvoo temple was dedicated in 2002, it was time for a new pageant.
- A committee in Salt Lake (of which she was a member) was working on something to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith's birth. And then they were asked to prepare a new pageant for Nauvoo. That's why they were doing this.
- Their resources included Preach My Gospel, Emma Smith's hymnbook, Book of Mormon, the martyrdom (but not the blood and carnage), and of course the Nauvoo Temple.
- The stage is set simply--as the pioneers would have done.
- The story is based on a composite of real people who lived in Nauvoo.
- It is not by accident that the brothers and sisters who build the temple are a people to go inside.
- Nauvoo is an an amazing crossroads--then and now. There are miracles--then and now.
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Scenes from the Nauvoo Pageant which brought to life many of the familiar people, experiences, stories, scriptures, and hymns -- culminating with the building of a temple. A line to remember by Elijah Fordham,\: "I will rest in God's Kingdom, but let me build it first."
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The British Pageant tells the inspiring story of the British missionaries' success as they taught the restored gospel and helped thousands migrate to join with the saints in the United States. The story is still being written. . .
There was something for everyone. All afternoon in the green around the pageant stage was a Country Fair with such activities as:
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A short bagpipe concert was held before the vignettes.
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We attended a "vignette" called Letters of Joseph and Emma--powerful portrayal.
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And then another powerful vignette -- excerpts from the King Follet Address. It was amazing what he had so beautifully memorized for 25 minutes. (However, Joseph had spoken for two hours at the original King Follet funeral.)
To celebrate Pioneer Day we had a missionary breakfast this morning. Here are the questions asked:
1. What day did the saints first leave Nauvoo?
2. What was the Bill of Particulars?
3. How many pounds of flour was a family of 5 required to have?
4. How many pounds of soap for each family did they need?
5. How many muskets or rifles for each family to take?
6. How many sets of pulley blocks and ropes did they need?
7. What was the temperature when they left Nauvoo?
8. Who was the first person to load their wagon on the flat boat to cross the Mississippi?
9. How many estimated pioneers traveled overall?
10. How many handcart companies were there in total?
1. February 4, 1846
2. The list of items they should take
3. 1,000 -- 200 per person
4. 20 pounds
5. One per each male over age 12
6. Two
7. Nearly 0
8. Charles Shumway
9. 70,000
10. Ten
Happy Pioneer Day!
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