I Saw a Prophet Today!

The Boise Temple was rededicated last weekend. Saturday night was the youth cultural celebration with President Monson in attendance. Over 9000 youth from Glenn's Ferry to McCall to LaGrande Oregon participated. The theme for the performance was "Treasure the Light" and it was a wonderful show full of lots of music and dancing. The performance highlighted things Church members in the Boise district treasure: the light of faith, heritage, industry, families, youth, liberty, service and the gospel.

The youth were so excited when the prophet arrived. He came in in a golf cart and the crowd went wild! He couldn't resist reaching out to the youth and shaking hands.

It was so fun watching him interact with the youth. They were so excited to see the prophet and it was fun watching their faces as they performed. All they wanted was for him to recognize them and he would often imitate what they were doing and give them thumbs up, etc.

He spoke to the youth before the performance.

President Monson was accompanied by Elder David A. Bednar, Elder Craig C. Christensen, and Elder William R. Walker. President Monson praised the youth, "My young brothers and sisters, I pronounce a blessing upon you tonight, that you may feel the love which we have for you. May you know, also, that our Heavenly Father loves you. I bless you that you will ever have a desire to serve Him and His son Jesus Christ. I bless you that you will always walk in truth and treasure the light of the temple.”
"There is a warmth, light, brightness and radiance that comes from a temple anywhere in the world," he said.

So many youth participated in the event that they filled the Taco Bell Arena on the campus of Boise State University, while their families and other attendees watched the program via broadcast from stake centers throughout the temple district. The celebration featured 4,000 dancers, 99 fiddlers and a choir of more than 1,000 singers. The theme of the celebration, “Treasure the Light,” was the inspiration of a representative group of youth leaders who believe that they are who they are today because of the rich heritage of faith, hope and love given to them by their parents, grandparents and all who have gone before them.

Highlights from the western culture in Idaho

Basque dancers represent the Basque culture

Mexican dancers represent the Mexican culture

Chinese dancers represent the Chinese miners that settled in Boise

Lumberjacks represent the influence of the lumber industry

Gigabytes represent the influence the tech industry in Idaho

Popcorn popping!

A tribute to the Boise State Broncos!

Our stake participated in the patriotic tribute

The choir was amazing! They looked just like missionaries.The highlight was when they showed all the missionaries serving from this area on a big jumbo-tron (they had emailed all missionary families asking for pictures). They showed a bunch of missionary pictures during the pre-show while the choir sang Armies of Helaman and we were disappointed because we didn't see Taylor so we thought we had just missed it. During the show, they had a section on missionaries and there was Taylor's picture. It was so exciting to see Elder Taylor Morris on the big jumbo-tron!!

President Monson's favorite song "Give Said the Little Stream"

"As Sisters in Zion"

The grand finale

Everyone waved flags, President Monson's favorite color is yellow so there were yellow flags throughout the audience

President Monson again reached out to touch the youth before he boarded into his golf cart and left the arena.

The Boise temple was rededicated on Sunday in 3 different dedicatory sessions. We were able to attend the 12 noon dedication.

The youth seated outside the temple helping put "shoe coverings" on everyone

We were seated in an assembly room off the main hallway. The usher came in before the meeting began and told us to remain seated when the prophet walked by and he said if we were lucky the prophet would stop in our room and say Hi. Well, sure enough we heard his booming voice coming up the hallway. He was singing "Hi-Ho, Hi Ho" as he marched towards the celestial room. He peeked his head into our room and then came walking in. He walked right up to a young man, shook his hand and said "hello, squirt, are you going on a mission?" and then he wiggled his ears. It was so cute. We were only 2 rows away from him. That is the closest I've ever been to a prophet of God. It was so awesome. He was so kind to take time to say Hi to us and recognize that we were there. The dedication was awesome

I am so happy that the Boise temple is open again! We are so blessed to have a temple in our midst and I know it will bless our community.