Our evening began with some food on the go from Arby's. And then a long drive to Manti. Once we arrived and found the perfect spot on the Manti temple grounds we went for a walk to see some craft booths and snack vender's. Of course we encountered a street preacher or two. I politely decline their brochures, while Ted takes them to read and says he gets a good laugh. One guy thanked Ted for being open minded. I don't mind people having different opinions about God and other so called spiritual beliefs But I think they choose really strange places to voice this. Really. Do they think they will convert at a place were people gather for conferences, education classes, pageants, etc.? We obviously have a strong belief and WANT to attend. So I don't give a second thought to the protesters and such until we came to a group of teen boys. They were shouting things like "Joseph Smith is not a prophet." "We are 14 and how can we have God's knowledge." And "Mormons are going to hell." And much more things that really offended me. Well it did more than offend. I felt myself feeling mad. Because like the adult protesters they truly did believe what they are doing is right. But the age of the boys was what really bothered me. Keegan didn't catch what was going on because there was a huge group of people and he was more concerned with holding my hand and dodging people who didn't see him. I am pretty sure Daesha didn't understand either because she asks a lot of questions. Neither Ted or I had to answer anything about this disturbing experience. I'm not sure why I share this other than the fact that I want to remember the hate I felt from the voices of those boys. I didn't like that feeling. And then I was reminded that Christ's love was precious, towards everyone. That I was happy and that's what matters. No matter who is in the right or wrong. I felt so much love from my Savior. And even a little bit towards those boys.
And then once on the temple grounds we felt the peace and love of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We talked with missionaries for a long time and others around us. Found that we were sitting by people from American Fork and they knew my sister. Also met some people who knew us. (Strange meeting people for the first time when they already knew us.)
The kids became restless waiting for the pageant to start so Ted got out their Pillow Pets and started throwing them at them as they ran away. Within minutes 2 other kids came running to play with Ted. They were both carrying a Pillow Pet. Some kids around us were excitedly holding their Pillow Pets and pleading with their parents to let them play. Those were a bit more cautious parents who didn't want their kid to get tripped and break an arm. But I thought it was really funny to see all these Pillow Pets start to appear. Everyone who is anyone owns a Pillow Pet!!! :) We had taken our friend Lisa with us and she mentioned that Ted always attracts kids. And the crazy thing is that most the time he doesn't play soft. And the kids love it! He was tripping the kids with their pillows and whipping the pillows so fast at their heads that you could see little noggins whipped back and drool being flung in the air! It was great entertainment for everyone with a 10 yards radius.
Once the pageant started the kids settled down and watched the entire show. It didn't get over until 11 o'clock. But like I expected they were asleep as soon as the car started to move.
Maybe this is why Keegan did so well. We just gave him some good juice (Coke) and lots of treats!
The Manti temple is one of the oldest Mormon temples. It's was the 3rd operating temple. Building started in 1877. It's made of Limestone and took 1 year to build. The hill that it sits on was once invested with Rattlesnakes. And my favorite thing about this temple is that it has progressive sessions. And has live actors for the presentation. Most of our temples have a video we watch. The Manti temple is only 1 of 7 temples that do this. Currently there are 134 temples.
The kids right in the middle of their Pillow Pet fight when some actors in the pageant walked by.
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