Hello brothers and sisters. my name is Jarod Norton and im so happy to be given the chance to talk to all of you about my experiences while performing in the Nauvoo pageant.
When I first heard that my parents would be giving a talk I laughed at them... then they told me that I also would be giving a talk… all of a sudden the situation wasn't so funny.
When I first heard that we were going to nauvoo I was not thrilled. Two weeks of my summer spent in Extreme humidity, a small rv and terrible cell reception.
Thankfully I wasn't apart of the crazy drive to nauvoo. I was on a choir tour so I was able to fly in on a plane.
When I arrived I was a couple days late So I had some catching up to do. The next week was exactly like my brother described it. We would wake up early in the morning for practice and end practice late at night. It was extremely humid… and don't even get me started on the cafeteria food…
because I showed up late I was even more slow than usual at learning where I was supposed to be, what scenes I was in and memorizing all the music. I feared that I would single handedly ruin the entire performance.
When I came to practice I was surprised by how kind everyone was. Everyone knew who I was and was eager to get to know me. In no time I was up to date on everything we were doing.
Each family who was apart of the pageant had a district leader. A district leader was one of the main characters in the performance.
My family's district leader was Ben Hunter. Ben was from Scotland. I think my whole family will agree, that if it wasn't for ben's support we would've never been able to do it. Ben wasn't just an actor, he was such a hard worker, he did everything in his power to make sure our family knew what they were supposed to be doing. Ben had a strong testimony of the gospel. When I would watch him act it felt so real… it was because he believed what he was acting out with such power
The second week in nauvoo we started performing. Every night we would perform. It was amazing. During practice It was hard to feel the spirit, because you couldn't really see the full picture… but when we started performing it all came together and I felt the spirit so strongly.
My favorite part of the nauvoo pageant was when I was able to build the temple on stage. I felt like I had a better understanding of how hard it must have been to build a temple with such simple simple tools. After each performance the cast would go out into the audience and talk to the people about what they thought about the performance. This was one of my favorite parts of our trip. It really made it worth it when I would hear how the pageant had affected them. I remember talking to this one man who apparently hadn't been to church in a few years… but after this experience he said he would consider going back. Some people I would talk to weren't even members of the church. But it still touched t hearts. To me, that was worth it. All of the hard work and dedication to do our best so that we could affect the lives of others. I would like to share a scripture about service…
And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
I would like to bare my testimony that I know that when we serve the lord and that when we lose ourselves in the service of others we are blessed.
I'm grateful for the stories of the pioneers that we were able to re enact.
I'm thankful for their example on how to always have a good attitude in adversity.
And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen
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