5/20/18 - Family Letter to Emma

Emma,

We love you so much !!!!! You are the bomb. com. how is your new area?

what is your favorite food in Brazil? every thing here is okay docky.😉there is this thing goinI'm in the g on at school, so each the kids in my class is apart of a group . I'm in the fourtan telling group  were going to sell people there fourtan.

we miss you and love you ,

Mari

YO YO YO YO YO YO YO YO-YO

How ya doing? The temple celebration was really spiritual.

So was the dedication. I was in the choir! I was a BASE!

We also got to sat in the temple for the dedication!

It was really amazing to sit a few floors below the actual dedication!

Love you lots with all my heart

Even though we are apart

And I wouldn't be very smart

If I didn't give you a work of art

HYRUM

Sweet Emma,

The Celebration was wonderful!  The Spirit was very strong.  To see the looks on their faces as it was their turn to get up to perform for President Eyring was priceless.  They were so excited!  I had a few kids come up and give me a hug and tell me thank you.  I also got a thank-you card from one!  Doc brought some white gloves for all of our Youth Conductors to help them be seen.  He let them keep them as a momentum.  They were so happy! 

We asked many difficult things of our musicians:  They had to memorize the music for all of their songs, play standing up (this was especially hard for our cellos and large band instruments), spread out through the Conference Center aisles- making it difficult to hear the other musicians around them, follow Youth Conductors (who were following me and our band directors- Gary “Doc” Jensen and his son Eric), and rehearse early mornings and late at night.  Many of these youth had school and AP tests the next day. I would find them studying in between numbers. Their dedication was humbling. Through it all, we became closer as a group...all 450 of these musicians). They shared their testimony through music. It was wonderful!

After months of rehearsals, late nights, many meetings and preparations, it was finally time for the Youth Celebration.  As we began to run the show at the Conference Center, miracles and power from Heaven was abundant! The singers, dancers, musicians, narrators, and all participating gave their best efforts.  We felt the Lord blessing us. Each youth was gifted with a light-up wristband that was used throughout the production. In the Conference Center, they looked like thousands of twinkling stars.  The youth would hold them up and sway to the music. The light colors would change, according to the program. We got you a wristband. We will send it with the next package.

Ben and Eve were a tremendous help during all of this!  Not only was Eve playing the cello in our orchestra, but she was always available to help with random things, like steaming costumes, sorting wristbands, setting up-taking down rehearsal, driving Mari to cousin Sami’s house to play while we rehearsed.  She was constantly positive and wonderful to work with!

Ben’s specialty was his organizational/logistics skills.  He was fabulous at finding ways to make things more efficient.  He also helped the musicians relax and get to know each other at our rehearsals.  Each rehearsal he did a “Question of the Day”...what is it?...what is it?...what is it?

He then had each of the musicians to use the question of the day to get to know a new friend.  They were then asked to pray for that new friend all week. Some of the questions of the day were:  Favorite Dessert, Dream Vacation, Favorite Scripture Hero, Favorite Veggie, Most Embarrassing Story, and Favorite Experience with this Celebration (the youth requested that “Question of the Day” while we were at the Conference Center).  Ben really helped unify the Band and Orchestra!

Ben was also a sweetheart and helped me climb down from my stool after conducting a song (I was in heels and needed someone to hold on to).

During the Celebration, Mari stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and cousin Sami.  They each wore their READY t-shirts while they watched the broadcast. We brought them each a light-up wristband!  

Hyrum sang with the choir (bass).  Because of logistical need, Hyrum spent a lot of time with cousin Jacob and Jaron Lever (also singing bass).  They gave him rides and “adopted” him during this time. I am so proud of him! His favorite song was “Poor Wayfaring Stranger”.  He has a beautiful voice!

We had a special opportunity to sit IN the Temple during the dedication.  Brother Burton gave all the committee and their families tickets.  We felt blessings from heaven as a result of your mission service and I knew that the blessings would be sent to you in Brazil too.  

Brother Craig Burton gave the opening prayer.  What a humble, yet powerful servant of God! My childhood neighbor, Elder Merv Arnold, spoke and shared some memories about my childhood ward (with Bishop Calvert) and how he and his wife were asked to donate money to help build the Jordan River Temple.  He shared how he got out his checkbook and wrote a check for a significant amount. Bishop Calvert took his check, looked at it and gave it back to him and asked him to go home and pray about what the Lord would have him give. Elder Arnold humbly took that counsel and he and his wife prayed about what the Lord would have them give.  His new sports car came to his mind. He loved that sports car, but he knew it was keeping him from giving his all. He sold that sports car and gave the money to help build the Jordan River Temple.

President Eyring also spoke and gave the dedicatory prayer.  I love that humble man!

When it came time to sing “The Spirit of God”, my heart was full as I remembered my first experience with that special song.  I was about 4 or 5 years old, sitting in Sacrament Meeting when I first heard that song. I remember feeling the Spirit testify to me through that song.  I KNEW then that the church was true and that I wanted to be a part of it my whole life. I wanted to be with the Saints to “sing and to shout” praises to Him and be with him when he comes again!  

Our Jordan River Temple is dedicated!  We are READY to go to work! Oh, how I love that Temple! I'm so glad you were able to participate before you left.

One more story: When we "chatted" last week, I was shopping for something to wear for the Celebration. I looked everywhere for many days. Finally, in desperation I prayed for inspiration and guidance. I felt that I should go to the DI. There I found the perfect thing in the exact size/color/ etc. It was only $10! When I got back to the van, I said a prayer of thanks. He told me that when you do the Lord's work, you do it His way and He blesses you. He said I didn't find anything a the world's store because it was His work and I needed to find something at His store instead. It seemed like He had something specific He wanted me to wear. It turned out more beautiful than anything I could've found on my own! It was the perfect color/style for what was going on in the Conference Center. I'll send you a picture of my outfit!

Emma, I am really proud of you. I love to hear about your stories. How did it go with Guidacei? How do you like your new Ward? Did your cookies turn out? I got word from the post office that your package is out of Customs and was delivered to the mission home. I hope they get it to you soon. The things in there won't spoil so there's no worries if it takes awhile to get to you. I hope you like your surprises!

Have a wonderful week! We love you so much!

Mom

M,

I hope you have had a great week. We have shared the video from our visit last week. Everyone who knows Portuguese was very impressed with your control of the language.

We had a crazy week. It was very busy and fun but crazy. We were all hand on deck for the temple dedication. Mari's personal dance concert was great. She shined as expected. She was glowing and seems to have a lot of fun. She has become a great dancer. It will be interesting to see how she progress in other areas outside of dance. Hyrum received Eagle of the Quarter. He received the expected accolades that comes with the award. The best part is that night we cam home to some cookies on the porch. Some of Hyrum's lady admires made him some congratulation cookies. He is very proud.

The week leading up to the JRT Celebration time consuming and very interesting to be a part of.

Tuesday Night - We went to the Conference Center for a walk through to see where we would be parking all the instrument cases. The room they gave us was the boiler room. It was very hot and caused some concerns with the instruments staying in tune. We found a way to get them all in there.

Thursday Night - We were at the Conference Center with the full Orchestra/Band, Choir and Dancers for 6 hours as we tried to figure out placements. The rehearsals started so early we went and got food and ate in the parking garage under the Conference Center. They had me at the check in table and then I moved to help the kids know where they were going. We had the main gal in charge attempting to direct the kids on where the stand. My loud voice came in handy. The Levers took Hyrum back and forth as the Levers are Basses while the Neighborhood boys are all Tenors. Jaron mentioned to me that is was comforting to hear me yelling at the kids to stand up and move and then come and sit down. Your Mom and I stood the whole time. We attempted to run through the program but we did not have the cues we needed. the day was spent trying to get the process and placements.

Friday Night - I started at the check int able again and then tried to be helpful inside. The kids knew where to go so I was not as helpful and I was the day before. We ran through the program twice making adjustments as needed. Mom and I stood the whole time again. Needless to say our feet are a little sore. It was great to see how everything came together as worked beautifully. The kids started to gain confidence.

Saturday - We spent most of our time building up the kids before the show. Mom offered a pep talk about 15 min before ti began. I offered a louder interpretation of her well wishes for those who could not hear. IT might have varied a bit. The kids did great. Again your Mom and stood the whole time. The kids sat in the last row of the lower level so give them access to move in and out of there spots. We stood behind the last row making sure the kids were going where they were supposed to be and help with the conducting. We put the adult conductor half way down the first second and youth conductors along the back row. The Adult would lead facing the back while the youth conductors were along the back and conducting towards the front. The youth conductors were watching the adults and making sure they were keeping the appropriate pace. The players were scattered throughout the Center. This allowed everyone to be able to see a conductor. Watching the kids, both musical and dancers, run back and forth the their places you could see the excitement they had. it was contagious. Once it was all over we felt numb. The stress and strain was gone but we didn't know what to do. IT almost felt like a balloon that is slowly leaking air. We got home and were too tired to do anything. We got some CupPob and tried to decompress.

Sunday - All members of the committee were given tickets to go to the Dedication in the temple. We were able to go the your Grandma and grandpa Barlow, Grandmother Mildred, Sammie and on of her cousins. It was a challenge to stay awake as we were just beginning to feel how tired we all were. Today has been a day of many short naps as we attempt to get back to a normal week. The dedication was great. I feel the best part of the week was to have your Mom remember all the ways she is connected to this temple. I'm sure she wrote you all about it.

This week we are heading into the week of end of the school year concerts. I'm coming home early every day this week to attend something.

Have a great week kid. I can't to hear about the experiences you are having.

Dad

D&C 50:44-46