Last January our Stake began preparing for a multi-region Dance Festival. It was a huge undertaking and involved practices almost every week. As a Young Women leader, I wondered at times whether it would ever come together! The Dance Festival was held in a football stadium on the other side of Vancouver on June 24-26, the week after school ended.
I helped behind the scenes at each performances, except for one show, which I watched from the stands with the rest of the family. It was a very different experience to see the entire show from the audience. It was exhilarating, fun, impressive, spiritual, inspiring . . .
To start the show all of the youth run onto the field and immediately started an energetic dance. That's when I began to cry. It was touching to see all the youth, from different areas and of different ages, performing together and supporting each other. I knew the many hours of sacrifice involved in the practices, and I recognized the deliberate choices the youth had made to participate in something uplifting rather than the many other activities the world offers. In an area with a low population of LDS families, it was really cool to see so many youth with similar values working and dancing and laughing together.
As one of the oldest group of kids, Brandon performed in two dances, a disco and a waltz. Luckily, my zoom lens of my camera caught some of his smiles.
The above pictures were from the disco. Below, the waltz.
Bailey was part of a jazz dance with the other Beehive-age girls.
For the final number of the show, all the youth came onto the field and sang "How Firm a Foundation." Bailey was one of the few youth chosen to stand at the front and sign the words to the hymn.
During the second verse of the song, the missionaries serving throughout our area marched onto the field holding flags which represented the temples. They surrounded the youth, and everyone sang the last verses of the hymn. It was a breathtaking sight. 
I had a very spiritual moment where I felt the presence of a "bubble" of power and righteousness extending over the stadium. It felt as if the combined goodness and testimonies of the youth on the field were enough to repel the effect of the adversary, if only for awhile. I was cognizant of the power of righteousness to combat the evil of the world. I felt privileged to be a mom to two of the youth who are so valiant. I felt the power of LDS youth supporting each other. I felt a strengthening of my testimony in the restored gospel and in my Savior, Jesus Christ. I felt the love of my Savior and His desire to help me and my family. The words of this hymn have always been one of my favorites. They are even more meaningful to me now. I will never forget the power exuded from a group of youth as they sang these words on a cool summer evening in Vancouver.
How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word;
What more can he say than to you he hath said?
You, who unto Jesus, for refuge have fled.
In every condition - in sickness in health,
In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth,
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.
Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed!
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes:
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never - no, never, no, never forsake!
No comments:
Post a Comment