Come Up To The Mountain

Yeah, I survived! Boy am I happy May is over!! At the beginning of the month, I was thinking to myself "how am I going to do ALL this?". Stress set in and we just took it day by day, sometimes minute by minute. It was a crazy month for us, but so worth the many things going on. We were busy with our usual things like soccer practice and games, dance, tumbling and swim lessons and I've got the "Taxi Mom" thing down. The thing that made it so busy was the opportunity to serve. I am in the YW Presidency in our ward and I absolutely love my calling. My cute Beehives keep me young (at least I think so). They are the sweetest girls ever and I look forward to seeing them at our weekly activities. However in May I saw them almost every day. Our Stake had the privilege to participate in the Youth Temple Celebration for the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. "Come Up To The Mountain Of The Lord" was the theme. We have 14 wards in our stake, so that made for 325 kids that participated and ready to Come Up To The Mountain. It was AWESOME! For the last 8 weeks they have been learning a Latin American Dance that they would show at this wonderful Celebration. During May we would have practices on Tuesday nights and rehearsals at the Conference Center downtown on Thursdays and Saturdays. It was a very special opportunity for our youth and leaders. During rehearsals, we were able to walk in the "Sacred Hallways" that President Monson and the other General Authorities walk in. We went behind the stage and into areas in the Conference Center that most people don't get to go in. It was very touching. We were told that when you enter the Conference Center there is a special Spirit there and there is, you can feel it, but as you get closer to the stage were the Prophet stands it gets stronger and stronger. I could feel it. It was a very special opportunity for me and just made my testimony of the church stronger. We saw all the chairs that the Leaders of our church sit in for General Conference. They were covered in black covers. It was fun to see the view that the speakers in General Conference have. I stood where the podium usually is and looked up into all those seats, it was crazy. That room is soooooo big. It was amazing! However, I don't really want the opportunity to speak from that podium! I think I would pass out. This is some of our Mia Maids on our last rehearsal night. They are just waiting for their costumes. This same night some of the leaders were starving, so during the second time through the program we snuck out for some Lion House rolls, but unfortunately it was closed. So we headed up to the Garden Restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the sweet Hostess gave us some rolls and tons of butter and we headed outside by the Reflecting Pool in front of the Salt Lake Temple and ate our rolls. What can I say, we had been there since 4:00 PM and didn't get home that night until 11:15 PM and we were starving. It was a lot of hard work watching the youth dance. It was a very stressful time watching our youth trying to pull this dance together. Many long hours and some very tired kids and leaders (myself included!!), but on the night of the Celebration it all came together. Many prayers were answered. President Monson was there and sat right below us. I could see him all night. President Eyring and Elder Perry were there also, along with many members of the Seventy. It is always a privilege to be in the same room as our Prophet. He brings such a special feeling to the room. Our youth were thrilled to see him. The Temple Celebration was amazing. There were 15 dance numbers from Stakes in our Temple District that all danced from some era or country. They were all awesome. They ended the Celebration by raising a Temple above the Mountain while the choir was singing. So cool! As tiring as it was I am so thankful that I got to be a part of this special Temple Celebration. Check out our Stake's blog on how it all came together. Scroll down far and you might see a familiar face teaching the dance.

Our ward also had the chance to host a Special Needs activity for the Special Needs Ward at the beginning of the month. What a very humbling activity. My cute Beehives played musical chairs with these special spirits and had so much fun. We also had our Stake Standards Night the middle of the month where they talked about the new value Virtue. The Young Men in our stake gave every Young Woman a white rose and said to them, "Thank you for being a virtuous woman". Wow was that a touching night. At the end of the month, Dan and I had the opportunity to serve in the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple for the VIP tours. I was in the Hospitality tent serving food and Dan was over parking. We spent 5 hours helping out and serving this beautiful new Temple. We get to go back and serve again next week. I can't wait!!!

I'm so thankful for this month of service! I didn't think I would make it through the month but somehow with lots of prayers I did. I will forever remember this fun experience!!