Hill Cumorah Pageant

Happy Pioneer Day to all and Happy Birthday to Caleb!  As Pioneer Day approaches I am hoping you are all getting ready to celebrate in style just  as the Abbott Family has done for years – with homemade bread, butter made from scratch in a mason jar, and at the very least making s’mores for dessert!  I must admit that the homemade bread and butter idea didn’t last too long (does anyone remember shaking the jar to make butter?) , but the backyard fire with s’mores happened fairly regularly.  Dad and I are proud of our pioneer heritage, so July 24^th has always meant something to us.  I think it is wonderful that Caleb was born on July 24^th.  He has an entire church celebrating on his Birthday!

This was a week that we have been waiting for: Our trip to the Hill Cumorah Pageant!  On the way we took a little detour and visited Ithaca, NY, a very pretty little town, home of Cornell University, and several lovely State Parks with cool hikes and waterfalls.  We are including a picture of Ithaca Falls, and Lucifer Falls.  We have learned that upstate NY is beautiful!

We arrived a little early to the Palmyra area to join the crowd of people hoping to get a good seat for the Pageant.  Only at an LDS event can you leave your jacket on a chair for two hours and have no one move it or steal it.  The Pageant is performed on a large grassy field and hill next to the Palmyra Visitors Center.  There was a light rain falling for the entire two hours we waited for the Pageant to begin.  We were anticipating a soggy hour, craning our necks around umbrellas, trying to see the stage.  Exactly, I mean EXACTLY, when the prayer was over, the rain stopped and did not start up again for the entire performance.  I might have been more impressed with this small miracle than I was with the Pageant itself!  The Hill Cumorah Pageant is a cast of hundreds acting out specific parts of the Book of Mormon.  This is done to a recorded soundtrack and the action moves fast, with performers coming and going on and off stage.  The whole thing was meticulously choreographed and the costumes, lighting, sound, was perfect.  It was a great experience.  The few pictures we took do not do it justice.  It is one of those things that you have to witness to appreciate.  The audience is over 5000 people each night for about 10 nights.  Wish we lived close enough to see it more than once.

We spent the night in a small town close to Palmyra and the next day we headed to Corning, NY – home of Corningware and the Corning Glass Museum.  Truthfully, how much could there be to learn about glass?  You would be amazed – I was!  We stayed five hours and I learned more about glass than I ever thought I wanted to!  Ask me about fiber optics next time we talk!

This week we hope to do some teaching to Lance and the Hanna Family.  We are also hoping to visit and invite a less active family to come back to church and hopefully we can teach their 11 yr old to prepare her for baptism.  I love Mondays when we have our preparation time, set our goals and get all motivated for success.  Our week seldom ends with our goals being realized, but there is always Monday to refocus and go forth with faith.  Happy Monday to all of us!  Much Love, Mom and Dad