Phoenix Temple Cultural Celebration

I had the amazing opportunity to be asked be a "Captain of 10" for the Cultural Celebration for the Phoenix Temple.  Weekly practices started months before the performance- on a ward level.  As it got closer, we started to have stake level practices, and multi-stake.  The Saturday before the big performance day- we got together with EVERYONE (around 4,000 youth plus many leaders).  The temple district takes in areas in downtown Phoenix to as far north as Prescott.  Lucky for us, we didn't have to travel long distances like many of the other groups - since the temple is in our stake boundaries.  So exciting to see all these youth put their practices all together and see it on larger scale.  We had 2 Saturdays of practices from 8am to 5pm - the day of the performance we got there around 8 and got home at about 9pm... it was a LONG but truly amazing day.

My job as a captain was to take care of my assigned 10 youth from our ward.  I had a mix of young men and young women in my group- I just needed to make sure they were drinking water, hauled around coolers to keep the kids hydrated, brought umbrellas for shade, fun snacks, and games for the small amounts of down time we had in between group practices.  I had to keep the kids costumes organized and make sure things went smoothly for my 10 youth.  There were 5 captains for our ward to cover our youth.  It was really fun to get to spend these long practice days with the other leaders and our super fun youth!

Pics are in no particular order...

The performance night was unforgettable - our Prophet- President Monson,  as well as Pres. Uchtdorf, and Elder Oaks attended that evening.  President Uchtorf spoke to the youth just before the performance began.  It was an amazing evening!  Everyone got so quiet as the Prophet made his arrival.  He waved at the crowd and everyone could feel his sweet spirit.  I felt so blessed to get to be small part of this event and be in attendance when the Prophet was there!

Some dress rehearsal videos...

 
The moment the Prophet arrives!  It was silent for about 15 full minutes as we all waited - the silence and reverence was amazing... when he finally arrived, it was so exciting to see the youth's reaction!
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