The Christmas Nativity
One of the highlights of the beginning of the Christmas Season here in Nauvoo is the live nativity
which is performed in the Visitors Center by the missionaries. It was well done and included singing and narration and was a great prelude to the annual Church Christmas devotional. Rather than being only a Bible narrative it also included what was happening on the American Continent with the signs and prophecies that are included in the Book of Mormon. Our good friends, Elder and Sister Hughes were Joseph and Mary and Elder Beecher provided a great solo with his baritone voice booming throughout the theater. Elder Lee Master is shown portraying Nephi in his tailored leopard skin outfit. Sister Gibson is working with his wife in the Conservation Department.
Is there a Dentist in the house??
It's pretty much a given that while serving a "senior mission" that things are going to break down. That being said this is apparently the year of the bad tooth. Sister Gibson put us through the test requiring urgent care just prior to our leaving for Nauvoo. So when a piece of tooth popped loose when eating a peanut butter sandwich it required a trip to the dentist. There are no dentists in Nauvoo so the mission referred me to Max Roddefor, who practices in Hamilton, about 14 miles South down Highway 96. Not to my surprise it turns out that it would require a root canal and crown.
When my scheduled appointment time arrived Max is not going to be in the office but his son Zach would be there to do the job. As you can see....Zach is a little older than a teenager, and looks like one. He assured me he had graduated Dental College and has plenty of experience....since August.
I guess he had to practice on someone....just as well me...after all I am on the Lord's mission ...everything should be fine.....Welllllll....so far so good, and everything looks like it is going to work out well. Hail to our youth!
It's Show Time................
The Editor and Relief Society President Debut
On December 10, 2016 the first issue of our Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo performance with Elder and Sister Gibson making their debut performing their Editor and Relief Society President roles. It was a mystical performance. Sister Gibson was marvelous in her lines and he performance was fantastic. As for the rest of the cast.......well that was what I might call very interesting...
Not only was it our debut but it also included the Hughes doing a vignette called Peter and Abagail.
And that's when things began to fall apart...(not to spoil the plot..but things work out fine in the end.)
It took three tries to get the first take of our scene with the Hughes... while practicing people kept interrupting and not being where they were supposed to. In addition it was Elder Mortensen's 81st birthday and his eighty yearl old wife was going "all out" preparing for the cast celebration during the performance. Well.....she got into it to the point that she showed up very late....missed two of her lines and Sister Gibson had to stand in next to Elder Mortensen and pose as his wife in the Noah scene. I was doing great..... rattling off my editor lines, feeling pretty good about myself....it was much better than I expected......even got some audience response which is most times difficult to get. I finished one of my sequences and moved to the back of the Cultural Hall in preparation for my entrance from the rear. Sister Lowe, our patient and loving director, was immersed in problems with the back stage sound system which was causing problems for the others before they came on stage. She was so busy in fact, she didn't notice the newbie editor (me) was jumping a scene ahead and in the wrong place....even thought I was next to her.....these oversights would effectively end the show without one of the vignettes....ooops! I charged down the I, shooting off lines and finished the entire monologue before I even realized what had happed. There I was sitting in a stupor...
There I sat contemplating my fate and imagining the chaos I had caused for the cast and the show. So, I thought, I will go back and do the intro to the scene I skipped and somehow tie it into the last scene....somehow, some way......IT WORKED!!
Things were going to be all right after all.....Nope! The last scene before the finale is called Willingly which is very dramatic and special. All of the men are on stage holding (fake) rifles and join in singing a very moving song. How it happened no one really knows..... but we ended up skipping an entire verse and standing like dead lumber on the stage. The others marched off the stage leaving me to figure out what to do with the rifle I wasn't supposed to have and conclude the scene with the "editor's" final words...before the entire cast returns for the finale. I fumbled through placing the rifle, gave my last and moving monologue and exited through the rear doors. Fortunately it seemed to work and the show finally ended with the cast meeting in the cast room and eating Sister Mortensen's lavish spread for Brother Mortensen's birthday. I can hardly wait for Sister Lowe's review when we next meet.....
Sister Lowe is indeed a Saint of the highest level and should be given a free pass for her work with all the senior "actors" here. Patience is indeed her virtue!!!! Some weeks are better than others....this wasn't one of the better ones. I hope she has forgiveness in her heart for me....which I know she will.
Decorating the Tree......
When my scheduled appointment time arrived Max is not going to be in the office but his son Zach would be there to do the job. As you can see....Zach is a little older than a teenager, and looks like one. He assured me he had graduated Dental College and has plenty of experience....since August.
I guess he had to practice on someone....just as well me...after all I am on the Lord's mission ...everything should be fine.....Welllllll....so far so good, and everything looks like it is going to work out well. Hail to our youth!
It's Show Time................
The Editor and Relief Society President Debut
On December 10, 2016 the first issue of our Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo performance with Elder and Sister Gibson making their debut performing their Editor and Relief Society President roles. It was a mystical performance. Sister Gibson was marvelous in her lines and he performance was fantastic. As for the rest of the cast.......well that was what I might call very interesting...
Not only was it our debut but it also included the Hughes doing a vignette called Peter and Abagail.
And that's when things began to fall apart...(not to spoil the plot..but things work out fine in the end.)
It took three tries to get the first take of our scene with the Hughes... while practicing people kept interrupting and not being where they were supposed to. In addition it was Elder Mortensen's 81st birthday and his eighty yearl old wife was going "all out" preparing for the cast celebration during the performance. Well.....she got into it to the point that she showed up very late....missed two of her lines and Sister Gibson had to stand in next to Elder Mortensen and pose as his wife in the Noah scene. I was doing great..... rattling off my editor lines, feeling pretty good about myself....it was much better than I expected......even got some audience response which is most times difficult to get. I finished one of my sequences and moved to the back of the Cultural Hall in preparation for my entrance from the rear. Sister Lowe, our patient and loving director, was immersed in problems with the back stage sound system which was causing problems for the others before they came on stage. She was so busy in fact, she didn't notice the newbie editor (me) was jumping a scene ahead and in the wrong place....even thought I was next to her.....these oversights would effectively end the show without one of the vignettes....ooops! I charged down the I, shooting off lines and finished the entire monologue before I even realized what had happed. There I was sitting in a stupor...
There I sat contemplating my fate and imagining the chaos I had caused for the cast and the show. So, I thought, I will go back and do the intro to the scene I skipped and somehow tie it into the last scene....somehow, some way......IT WORKED!!
Things were going to be all right after all.....Nope! The last scene before the finale is called Willingly which is very dramatic and special. All of the men are on stage holding (fake) rifles and join in singing a very moving song. How it happened no one really knows..... but we ended up skipping an entire verse and standing like dead lumber on the stage. The others marched off the stage leaving me to figure out what to do with the rifle I wasn't supposed to have and conclude the scene with the "editor's" final words...before the entire cast returns for the finale. I fumbled through placing the rifle, gave my last and moving monologue and exited through the rear doors. Fortunately it seemed to work and the show finally ended with the cast meeting in the cast room and eating Sister Mortensen's lavish spread for Brother Mortensen's birthday. I can hardly wait for Sister Lowe's review when we next meet.....
Sister Lowe is indeed a Saint of the highest level and should be given a free pass for her work with all the senior "actors" here. Patience is indeed her virtue!!!! Some weeks are better than others....this wasn't one of the better ones. I hope she has forgiveness in her heart for me....which I know she will.
Decorating the Tree......
Please, please tell me they video tape every performance and provide you a copy at the end of all this.
ReplyDeleteYes I wanna see a taping of this!!
ReplyDelete