The Manti Pageant

Warning: Ranting/Raving Blog Ahead!

After spending a rather uneventful day working at LDS Hospital, I was excited to meet up with Ryan and head out to good ol' San Pete County. I left work with an expectant giddiness as I made my way westwardly on North Temple. As there are several different possible routes that would take me to meet Ryan, I called him to ask which one he'd suggest. He concluded that during rush hour traffic, they would all be bad. I made the decision, and chose very, very un-wisely. Let me just say to anyone traveling in the Salt Lake Valley, don't ever take the 201 westbound to Bangerter around 5pm. HUGE mistake! I was so anxious to get on the road that the terrible traffic and a slight miscommunication with Ryan almost resulted in a near meltdown for me!

By 6:20 we'd finally made it to I-15 and were well on our way. Things, by now, were going much smoother! We went to Manti by way of Springville, Indianola and Mount Pleasant. Once in Mt. Pleasant, (which is also where my mom grew up) we made a stop at the cemetary to visit my grandparent's grave. I wanted to show Ryan where they were buried, but I also wanted to visit myself, since it had been several years since I'd been. I found it right away and it was nice to take a moment to think of them. I hadn't realized, but they had both passed away 20 years ago. Time sure does fly!

Shortly after, we were back on the road in hot pursuit of our destination! Ok, it wasn't a hot pursuit, but we were both pretty hungry and wanted to get there in time! We arrived in Manti and since it was a Wednesday night, saw that it wasn't too crowded. We found a great parking spot only a couple hundred yards or so from the action and headed to the seating area. We found great seats right in the middle section on the seventh row. What luck! We put down our blankets and went to seek out some food. They had a "food court" area with several different booths offering various "cuisines." We settled on some very healthy choices and shared home-made curly fries, "famous" marinated turkey, and a funnel cake with caramel topping. (By the way, while standing in line, I noticed how terrible the mosquitos were. I'd already gotten six bites at this point! Luckily, I brought bug-spray along, unfortunately, it wasn't seeming to work!) With ten minutes to spare before the pageant started, we sat down and started scarfing our food. About the time I was shoving curly fries down my throat, I noticed a woman and a young man walking aound the table at which we were sitting. They walked slightly past, spoke to each other, and then came back and asked if the seats next to us were taken. (Clearly, they were not, along with the four empty tables surrounding us.) The first thing they asked was if we had ever been to Manti before. I knew immediately they were not from the area and was immediately put on guard because I'd already seen all the protesters in front of the temple grounds. The next question they asked was if we were LDS. We, of course, said yes, and then I asked them what religion they were. They said they were Christian. I said, "Oh, are you here to protest the pageant?" (Ryan later told me he thought that was pretty bold and slightly rude, but hey, I said it in a nice way, AND I've dealt with protesters before and didn't want to get into it with them!) Anyway, they said no, they weren't prostesting, they were there to find truth. I got a little excited for a minute because I thought, "Wow, maybe they really want to know!" Needless to say, they pulled out their copies of the Book of Mormon and began to question different principles and beliefs. I thought it was so strange, the young guy kept bringing up the scripture Moroni 10:32 that talks about being perfected in Christ and denying ourselves of ungodliness. He kept saying, "How can we be perfect? How can we deny everything ungodly? So you have to be completely perfect to go to heaven?" Of all scriptures to choose to contest, I was confused as to why that one. I think it is a wonderful scripture that talks about giving all we can, and THEN by God's grace we can be perfected in Him.

By now, the show was about to start soon. I didn't "bible bash" with them, but just tried to bear my testimony that if they truly were seeking the truth then they should really read the Book of Mormon with a sincere heart and the desire to know. I told them I didn't want to be rude, but the show was starting and I didn't want to miss it! We got up and started walking and they walked all the way back to the temple with us. It was clear they weren't there just to "find truth!" In their defense though, they were actually quite polite and not too pushy, but it was still not the way I was hoping to start my Manti Pageant experience, nor for Ryan!

We got to our seats right as the prayer started and got settled in. I was praying that it would be a great show and Ryan and I could feel the Spirit. At this point, however, I couldn't help but notice the relentless pain/itchiness of the dozens of mosquito bites I now had! Grrr! They were everywhere, including several on my butt! I tried to ignore them and focus on the show, and it worked for awhile. There were a lot of cool effects, and if you haven't been in several years, they've updated a lot of things technically. It seems to be a bigger production too. About the time I started forgetting about my "protester" encounter, and the mosquito bites, I became aware of the four young teen boys directly behind us. At first, they were only making rude comments now and then, and mocking some of the narration. Soon after, it was more giggling and whispering. Not wanting to put a damper on their "fun," I let it go for awhile, but eventually turned and gave a quiet, "shh." It quieted them for awhile, but before long, one of them farted and they all started laughing and making farting noises! Are you kidding me?! By this point I was starting to get mad and I was worried cause I really wanted Ryan to get something out of the pageant. I kept telling myself, "It doesn't matter, just ignore them and focus!" But it was so hard! At the most climactic part of the play, (when all the angels appear in white on the hill and the couple reunites) these dumb boys were full-blown talking. I turned directly around and went, "SHHH!!!" It finally shut them up, but by this time I was so angry and the closing prayer was being said. After the prayer, I just wanted to turn around and say, "Don't you know how rude you were being?! Don't you know the person directly in front of you is trying to find answers about the church and all you did was talk, and laugh the ENTIRE time, therefore ruining it for the rest of us?!" Ha ha! I didn't say anything to them of course, and I know they were just young boys having fun. Even though there were some mishaps, it really was a fun night and I was happy to spend it with Ryan. The funniest part about it all is that Ryan thought nothing of the "protesters," nary complained about a bite, and he didn't even notice the talking-boys.

Go figure!