Twas the Eve Before the Celebration

SO much happened between waking up on Thursday morning, the 3rd, and going to bed on Sunday night. the 6th.
Thursday morning my brother and I accompanied my dad to an underground cave storage area. The KC Symphony has a storage room there and we just happened to be borrowing their old choir risers. We met a few other men from our ward at the storage center with two pickup trucks for hauling.

While the men loaded the platforms, my brother and I counted out the riser legs.

After most of it was loaded, we headed over to the Municipal Auditorium.

We unloaded everything onto the arena.

Next stop, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. We still needed some more risers from there.

Then back over to the storage unit. We picked up the loose ends that didn't fit in the first round.

 And one more time back to the Municipal.

Dad studied the map he had drawn and we started setting up the risers.

We got a few of them up before we ran out of time.

After all that, this is what my hands looked like.

Friday morning we got up early and arrived at the Municipal at 7:30am. My dad had to be there early to start setting up the AV equipment with the rest of the crew. My brother and I tagged along to help with setting up the downstairs area where we would be spending most of our time the the next day, unfortunately the committee members wouldn't be showing up until about 10am. So we sat at the top of the auditorium for 2 hours waiting. This is a time lapse of what we saw up there while we were waiting.  

Finally some of the leaders started showing up and we went down to help. The first job was to rearrange the massive amounts of tables and chairs.

Meanwhile the floor upstairs just kept getting more and more crowded with boxes and other lighting and sound gear.

Just before lunch break, large pink "telephones" showed up, along with ladders, a couch and other props. Everyone that had a spare hand helped with the unloading.

We had other little assignments throughout the day that kept us busy. There was plenty for everyone to do!

For lunch, we walked down the street to a food court. I got a Philly cheese steak sandwich. It went down my throat quite quickly. I was hungry! When we got back, one of the leaders asked me if I could take her back to where we had eaten, so I did. She got a few orders from some other people and she, her daughter and I set off down the street. Everything went smooth and we made it back, bags of sandwiches hanging from our arms. But a few minutes later her daughter came up to me and asked if I could take her back...her mom had left her phone on the counter there. So the two of us hiked back, this being the third time in two hours for me. We went to security and got the phone back no problem. Mission accomplished.

After lunch, but before that adventure of hiking around the block 3 times, my brother and I ran back to the car and got our white shirts, the most basic but vital piece of everyones costume, and brought it back so it was already on location for the next day.

My last job was to cut ribbon for the balloons. They were just for decoration, but they added a nice touch to the room. After the ribbon was cut, a few other people helped me blow the balloons up.

A quick dinner break and all the youth started showing up.

It turned out the we didn't get much done that night, but we did take a short tour up to the arena. When we got there, most of the AV stuff was finally up.

The last event of the night was a quick fireside and a musical number by Kenneth Cope, who would be in the Joplin segment of the performance the next day.

Only a few more hours and we would be back!

I LOVE to See the Temple!

AAAAAAA!!! It's almost here! Well I mean it's already here but the temple will be dedicated and all official in just a few days. I figured now would be a good time to share some of the many, many pictures I took in the past three weeks. My goal during the duration of the open house was to take new, unique photos of the temple with my iPod each time I went. I posted some of my favorites on Instagram so those ones are edited a little. You can also find a few other pictures in previous posts.

The first time I went it was dark already. There is an extra type of beauty when the temple is lit up at night. I found that the Celestial room seemed to be the most stunning when it was dark outside.

 The next four times I went with family and friends or to volunteer (see previous post about shoe covering patrol), all during the day.

 These are some friends that came up from Springfield MO to visit the temple.

 The Temple Presidents house is just across the street.

 After a long day, a few men sit in the shadow of the temple to rest for a minute.

 The reception area back at the stake center was always abuzz with people asking the sister missionaries questions and nibbling on the delicious cookies.

While sitting at the back of the temple opening the doors one day, I found this moth that matched the outer wall of the temple.

The sixth and last time visiting during the open house was Saturday night (4/28). The YW in the temple district, their moms and leaders were invited to a special fireside and tour of the temple which included the brides room (not included in the regular tour). It was actually scheduled into three blocks so there were really three firesides and each of the stakes were assigned to one of them. In our block was with my stake (KC MO stake) and Olathe stake. Our two stake presidents were there along with Elder Deshler.
The first speaker was the woman who will be the first to get married in this temple. She spoke about preparing to be sealed in the temple. Next, a young mom spoke about family. Then a couple of my friends, who are sisters, sang a duet for the musical number. Finally, my stake president, President Goodson, gave the closing remarks.
We then headed outside and we split into groups of about twenty so we could go on the tour.

 My wards YW group and our president.

Lots and lots and lots of people were there!

 The last time in a long time that I will be wearing these little shoe coverings.

I borrowed my bishops tag because I'm a nut like that. And because I didn't get a picture of me wearing mine when I was volunteering last week.

My mom realized that the shadows on the side almost look like a silhouette of the temple.

If you don't know much about LDS temples or just the KC temple in general, check these websites out:
ldschurchtemples.com/kansascity
lds.org/church/temples/kansas-city-missouri
Because we are asked not to take any pictures of the inside of the temple, there have been interior pictures released on the churches official news website:
mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-kansas-city-missouri-temple-open-house

Temple Celebration Choir & Orchestra Rehearsals

As I have mentioned before, I am in the specialty youth choir of 250 teens for the Temple Celebration that is coming up on Saturday. The excitement is almost to the unbearable point! The last two Sunday evenings (4/22 & 29) has been the official choir rehearsals along with the orchestra. Oh yeah, I am in love with the orchestra! Especially during the song Arise. It sounds so amazing (even if they do mess up from time to time) that I just want to cry and laugh and dance all at the same time. Forget about singing, I just want to listen to them! Can you tell I'm a little new to this whole singing with the orchestra thing? Yeah, so, anyway...

At the last rehearsal, I recorded most of the songs we are singing and put them all together in this YT video. Fair warning: besides the fact that we don't sound quite as perfect as we would like too, these recordings were recorded on my iPod and because I'm sitting in the alto section, the alto part is most dominant. So ignore the imperfections and enjoy the music of 300 really happy youth!

15+ Hours at the Temple and Counting

We jokingly call it "Bootie Duty". Unfortunately that's kind of ah...not as appropriate as other names so I'm just calling it "Foot Covering Patrol". My first day volunteering at the temple open house, April 16, I was on the afternoon shift and I was doing this job. That is, putting pieces of plastic that look like shower caps on everyones feet as they were going into the temple for the tour. A basket of shoe covers looks something like this:

Sometimes there was some waiting that happened. Actually, a quite a bit of the time. Monday afternoon isn't the busiest of times.

 Just a lot of hurry up and wait for five hours. But it was totally worth it! But don't imagine the wrong picture ether. There was plenty of busyness too.

I didn't get any pictures of us in action because...well we were a little busy. Sometimes I only saw feet for a while. Feet. Lots and lots of feet! Well, shoes really. In some ways that's all those five hours revolved around. From toddler shoes to shoes that...just...didn't...quite...fit into the covers. When those shoes didn't fit, we would ask if he (there wasn't ever a woman that had this problem I don't think) could remove his shoes and put the covers on his feet. Then we would take his shoes to the exit at the back of the temple where he could get them back when the tour was finished. That was always a little awkward.

After awhile, some of us started to hear a pattern. There were some lines that it seemed as if every other person would say and we would just laugh politely. Here is the "Top 5" list that we finally came up with:

Top Five Things Not to Say to the "Foot Covering Patrol"

because we get tired of hearing them. (Trust me...it's not as original as you think.)

1. "Wow you're going to do this for me?"
2. "My feet are so big..."
3. "Can I take you home with me? It would be so helpful to have someone to help me with my shoes."
4.  "What a great service!"
5.  *screaming little kid that refused to have anything on their feet* "AAAAAAHHHHH!!! NOOOO!!!"

But my favorite line I heard was "I should have brought smaller feet!". Something different like that was quite refreshing.

Remember, this list is simply for humor (although an accurate observation) and I'm not making fun of anyone who said any of the above. We were somewhat bored and those little things were what amused us.

The second day I went to help, April 26, I was expecting to go back and do the whole thing over again. Just for two consecutive shifts this time. I ended up staying at friends house the night before so we could get up bright and early and be there for training that started at 7am.

 This is my friend and her mom on the way to the temple ready to start helping.

The number one rule for volunteers: be flexible! I did just that. Instead of shoe covering for the first shift, I was assigned to open the inside front door. It's surprising how fast 5 hours go when you're in the temple. Although my feet and legs and back started hurting almost right away, the shift was over before I knew it and I took a quick break to find my lunch and then headed back to the temple. I was again under the impression that I would do shoe covers but I was, once more, assigned to door duty. Just at the back of the temple this time. Because I was now outside, I actually got to sit most of the time and be with other youth. Turns out the deacons seem to always get sent to the back so I got to know a few of them pretty well. Even though my brother is a deacon, I still forgot how entertaining they can be.

 A random fact: 

After about ten hours of door opening, my hands smelled a bit like copper.

My thoughts now that the open house is all but over: I'm a little sad. I enjoyed going to the temple multiple times a week and being able to go through the entire temple. I won't be able to do that for a long time after its dedicated. In fact last week, only 4 days after I had been there, I was already starting to feel anxious to go back. On the other hand I am way excited. The dedication is just a week away! After that I'll be able to do baptisms and go as often as I want to (within reason) even if it is closed to the public. It's a bitter-sweet feeling but I'm just really glad that its here. I didn't think there would be a temple build in KC while I was still a kid or teenager and yet here it is. The new gem of I-435 and the rest of the city.

Note: All these pictures were taken on my iPod. I'm so glad I have it because I don't think I could have gotten as many pictures with a full camera. I will be posting a whole bunch more that I took of the temple over the last few weeks soon.