Manti Youth Conference Sunnydell Ward

That's me in the back with the sunglasses & Morgan on the front right.

This year for our Sunnydell Ward Youth Conference we took a trip to Manti, Utah to see the Manti Pageant. It is the story of the Book of Mormon and how it was restored. We left on Tuesday morning riding a bus and spent most of the day at temple square on Tuesday. We did a scavenger hunt, which was really fun. We split into groups and had to find places in temple square that were on pictures they gave us. They were just parts of the big picture so we really had to look and we saw things that we would not have noticed otherwise, like beautiful stained glass, reflections on buildings, door handles, and statues.

Inside the visitor center on temple square they have this model of the Salt Lake Temple. It shows everything in the temple the way it is. It is beautiful. You can see on the top floor shown that it is a big conference area. I wonder what kind of meetings they hold in there?

Our scavenger hunt team.

My tour group (we split into 4 groups). Sitting on top of the conference center in front of the living waters. It is a water feature that sits directly above the pulpit. The water comes out in all four directions. It signifies the living waters (or words of the prophets) going to all corners of the earth. We are looking at a mural carved in granite of people of all over the world. The amazing part is that they are all real people, but also, everyone that looks in it reflects back, adding you to all the people of the world.
After our scavenger hunt we went on a tour of the conference center. I have never really been in there before, other than to walk through it to get to the temple. What an amazing building. The artwork in there was all original, with some of it being very old. The paintings were unbelievably beautiful. My favorite statue was one of Joseph Smith when the Father & the Son appeared to him in the grove. The tour guide asked us what the 1st words that were spoken by Heavenly Father were. Everyone said "This is my Beloved Son", but the guide said "No, he said Joseph..." He went on to point out that our Heavenly Father knows us by name and loves us. He turned the statue around to show the back. I showed Heavenly Father's arm around Christ. Again showing that he loves each of us. That was my favorite part of the tour.

The top of the conference center over looking the temple. Ashley Grover & Carlie Wilcox (one of my favorite young women)

Taking a moment to look at the temple. Ashley, Carlie & Rebecca Taylor (Bishop's wife)

A picture of the biggest picture, showing Christ visiting the America's after his resurrection.
We also toured the Welfare Square and the Humanitarian Center. It makes me realize how truly important service is to the core of our beliefs.

Beautiful Manti Temple

Waiting for the pageant to start. My beehives. The pageant was awesome. It showed the Lamanites & Nephites during Book of Mormon times. Samual the Lamanite on the wall, Christ visiting the Americas. Truly beautiful. Christ literally glowed, it stopped my heart. It showed Joseph Smith & his vision and restoration of the Book of Mormon. Truly an amazing and inspired pageant. We camped over night at a camp ground near by in tents and headed home the next morning.

Some of our trusty leaders.

Getting ready to start