— Hill Cumorah Pageant — 1976, 1977, 1978 —
Three of the most memorable experiences of my life occurred in the summers of 1976, 1977, 1978 as I had the opportunity to be a ‘bus elder’ for the Hill Cumorah pageant groups that traveled cross-country to participate in the pageant. I met wonderful, spiritual people, visited sacred and holy church history sites, played the role of Nephi once and Angel Moroni twice in the pageant, and felt the spirit in my soul on many occasions. We experienced bus breakdowns galore, sickness, restless hours trying to sleep in luggage racks and bus aisles, and many other inconveniences, but they all were overlooked and forgotten as we had wonderful uplifting experiences. Following are a few of the highlights of my three Hill Cumorah Pageant trips.
I was impressed every year with the caliber of the young women who traveled with us to the pageant. They were devoted, diligent, and spiritual. Each year we took about 250 young women and 12 elders from Utah back to the pageant. We traditionally painted our buses (with water-soluble paints) during our stop in Lincoln, Nebraska. That was always a great time that developed unity amongst the participants. Every year we arrived in South Bend, Indiana on a Sunday morning and had a wonderful meeting with the South Bend saints, and then a testimony meeting afterward with just the pageant group. Those meetings were some of the most spiritual I’ve ever attended. Tears flowed freely, fervent testimonies were borne, lives and attitudes were changed, and spiritual witnesses were received of the divinity of this work. Sunday, July 17, 1977 is a day that I will never forget. We had had a wonderful meeting with the South Bend saints, and then we held our own testimony meeting. I was the concluding speaker, and the Spirit was with me as I spoke. I spoke on the worth of souls, and it was one of the great spiritual moments of my life. Many sisters came up to me afterward and expressed gratitude for what I had said, but I reassured them that it was the Spirit of the Lord that was responsible for any good thing that transpired during the meeting. One sister cried as she talked to me. Elder Arbon told me that while I was speaking numerous sisters who had been looking down at the floor lit up, paid attention and really seemed to respond. We had a glorious experience at this meeting in 1978 as well. We had sisters bear testimony the next day that they had seen angels on both sides of us elders as we sang ‘Ye Elders Of Israel’, and two sisters said that they were visited by deceased ancestors during the meeting. Here is a journal excerpt from a wonderful sister that she shared with me: “We’re in South Bend, Indiana. We just finished a fireside in which some of the sisters and elders were called upon to bear their testimonies. While Elder Taylor was making a few comments, he announced that the elders would sing ‘Ye Elders Of Israel’. At that point I saw two personages dressed in white. I couldn’t see them clearly. It was as if I was looking through a mist. At first I didn’t understand. But then my understanding was enlightened and I knew. One of these personages was my brother, the one that had died a few days after birth. After I recognized him, I communicated with him, by means other than words, that I needed him near. The next thing I knew, he was sitting beside me in a chair that had been placed in the aisle. I was sitting at the end of the bench. I felt him put his arm around me, comfort me, and tell me that he held the priesthood and that I was not to worry. He stayed a few seconds more, silent, but with his arms around me. Then he left. I was able to experience this at that time because I was in desperate need of the strength that the priesthood gives. For the last couple of months my family has been deteriorating at a rapid pace, and I had felt the need for a blessing. I had this experience, which comforted me.” Here is an excerpt from a letter I received from another sister: “On our Sunday in South Bend I had an experience that was very sacred and special to me. At the fireside, as you know, you called on several sisters to bear testimony. I wanted so much to add my witness which I had felt so strongly. But you didn’t call on me and I had to be satisfied with a silent testimony. Then we sang ‘I Know That My Redeemer Lives’ to close the meeting. I felt the Spirit of our Heavenly Father there so very strongly. My eyes began to fill with tears and my heart was overflowing because I know that God lives and was with us traveling back to New York. I felt that the elders and sisters were such choice spirits of our Heavenly Father. Then with the uniting of our voices I began to feel the power of the Holy Ghost so very strongly. Although I didn’t see any angels, I knew with all my heart that there were heavenly beings that joined with us. I sang the rest of the song with more conviction than I have ever in my life. I felt my words were being recorded in the heavens and although I didn’t bear testimony to the congregation, I did bear testimony to the heavens that I knew the gospel of Jesus Christ was true and that He lives and loves us.” Truly, it was a unique meeting; I have never experienced another like it. I gained a love for all of the sweet sisters and their humility and willingness to serve the Lord. When another sister bore her testimony, she said that she was promised in her patriarchal blessing that she would see the Second Coming and would play a significant role in the Millennium. It would have been impossible to have had a more glorious, spiritual, uplifting trip than the one we had on our way to Cumorah in 1978.
I had the opportunity to give many blessings on these trips. I had a particularly special experience in 1978 with a particular sister. She had been feeling ill for several days and she couldn’t seem to get well. She asked me to anoint and bless her. Some of the other elders assisted. I was the mouthpiece in the sealing of the anointing and truly felt my tongue loosened as I blessed her. Later on that evening, she came up to me with a huge grin and said that she felt so much better. She had great faith and was a wonderful person.
The first year we bus elders were privileged to stay with members in Palmyra! What a beautiful, quaint little village it is. The “Four Churches” corner was quite impressive. The spirit of the early church and its valiant members was certainly apparent. It was also awe-inspiring to see Cumorah for the first time and to contemplate the wondrous happenings that transpired there.
During the two weeks that we were at the Hill, all the volunteers were assigned to study groups in which we learned parts, studied missionary discussions and approaches, and enjoyed camaraderie. We enjoyed many devotionals with inspiring speakers. We heard from Elder Bruce R. McConkie in 1976, and we also heard Elder Gordon B. Hinckley speak to us in the Sacred Grove, a wonderful experience. We also had a sweet, personal experience with Elder Hinckley. As a group of us was walking toward the grove for the testimony meeting with Elder and Sister Hinckley, we asked a little seven-year old pageant participant to run ahead and to save us 3 seats on the front row. Away she ran, and as we came into the little amphitheater in the Grove, there was little Sister Malcarne sitting on the front row of the podium, right next to Elder and Sister Hinckley, with 3 seats saved. As two of our sisters went up to retrieve her, she said, “This is Brother Hinckley, and he said we could sit up here by him!” Elder Hinckley told of sitting next to a young couple on the plane that studied our church only to find discrepancies and holes in our doctrine. After listening to them rave as long as he could stand, Elder Hinckley told them that the things of God are only understood by the Spirit of God, and that they could never expect to gain an accurate, honest appreciation of the gospel as long as they studied it with a spirit of contention and animosity. They claimed that they only needed one Bible, and Elder Hinckley said, “The Book of Mormon speaks of you.” He read them the ‘Bible, Bible’ scripture in 2 Nephi 29. He told them that since they claimed to be Christians, they should welcome a second witness for Christ rather than seek to tear it down. I felt the spirit strongly as Elder Hinckley spoke and bore his fervent testimony to us, and said, “I testify that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw and heard what he said he heard in this very grove!”. As I sat in the Grove, I was impressed by the beautiful trees in the grove. They are all so straight and tall and seem to be saying that they are proud and grateful to be found in this sacred place and that they bear testimony of the sacredness of the ground by their stature and portliness. They have no encumbering foliage on the lower trunks. The trunks are clean and representative of the important things that happened there.
Our hours were long, usually arising at 5:30 am and getting to bed at 11:30 pm. We had the chance to visit the Martin Harris home, the Joseph Smith farm, and the Sacred Grove, What a calm, serene, and wonderful spirit pervades these special sites. The Grove is truly a spiritual place, and I felt much the same there as when I stood in the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.
I learned a very humbling and memorable lesson during the 1978 pageant. I was assigned a companion named Brother _____ when we arrived in New York, and I was somewhat disappointed because he seemed to be immature and somewhat obnoxious. I prejudged him terribly and was not even willing to give him a chance. But with time and patience and communication, we nurtured a friendship that became very meaningful, and we had some wonderful missionary experiences together. I discovered that he had a beautiful tenor singing voice, and we combined with two other volunteers to form a very respectable men’s quartet. We sang on several occasions during the pageant weeks. How foolish and vain it was of me to judge by appearance and behavior rather than by depth of character and pureness of heart. I also learned much about leadership during my time as a pageant bus elder. The three things that stand out the most are 1) don’t confide private or confidential information to anyone 2) be cautious in asking for opinions from constituents who will be affected by your decisions 3) listen, don’t talk. At another place in my pageant notes, I recorded the following: “Michael, don’t trust people with guarded information, no matter how close you are to them or how persuasive they are. Even those with the best of intentions find it difficult to maintain a confidence under pressure.”
As pageant participants, we would go out into the crowd each night and encourage people to find out more about the Church. One memorable evening in 1976, two bus-loads of members of the Reorganized LDS Church attended. Myself and some other returned missionaries waded right into the middle of them and had some very interesting discussions. I really felt the missionary spirit as I discussed the precepts of the gospel. My testimony of Brigham Young was strengthened.
There were many times when we saw the elements tempered in our behalf. One day while we were having our noon devotional, Brother Sederholm was speaking and a cloudburst began. He continued to speak and as he finished he said, “The Lord has ten minutes to make it stop raining so that we can have our rehearsal this afternoon. He knows our schedule and He will honor it.” Five minutes later the rain had stopped and the clouds broke, allowing us to proceed with our rehearsal unimpeded by the weather. On the evening of July 25, 1978, it started to rain at 6:00 pm and it absolutely downpoured until 7:30 pm. Dr. Sederholm spoke and brought us back together in oneness and unity and admonished us to exercise our faith. He said that this rain was an answer to the prayers of the farmers in the vicinity, and that the Lord would send rain for them and also would answer our prayers by clearing the weather up in time for pageant that night. Sure enough, at 9:00 pm the skies were clear and the weather was beautiful. It was testimony-building experience for us all.
The last two years that I participated in the pageant, I had the opportunity to play the role of the Angel Moroni. This was a wonderful experience. I was in the opening scene in which I delivered the Golden Plates to Joseph Smith, and then I was in the concluding scene in which I raised my arm to the square and quoted Moroni 10:4-5. I had to wear a big heavy black cape whenever I was not on stage to cover my brilliant white robes. When I was actually in the scenes, I would drop the black cloak just as the spotlights would hit me, and it gave the impression that I was appearing as an angel. The plates that I handed to Joseph were actually a stack of wooden blocks painted gold and held together by some flexible rings. One night I arrived at my spot late and in my rushing to get ready, I reached down and grabbed the plates by the rings and all the wooden blocks fell apart and came unstacked. Just then the spotlights hit me, and I can only imagine how it looked in the audience as I handed Joseph a jumbled pile of blocks. Fortunately the director didn’t notice it.
On the 1978 trip when I was the presiding elder, I received 2 very nice compliments. An eastern volunteer said that as soon as our western sisters arrived, all she heard was, “Elder Taylor this, and Elder Taylor that.” She said she was anxious to meet me, but before she met me face-to-face she recognized me because of the spirit I emanated. She also said that a sister in her study group talked about my talk in South Bend and that she could feel of the spirit and import even as the sister related it. I really appreciated her expressing these thought to me.
Our return trips from the Hill back to Utah can only be described as ‘rich’. All of the sisters were so sweet and supportive of the elders, and we had very few problems considering the size of the group that we were transporting all the way across the country. I always felt such and strong spirit of unity and harmony in our groups. I am sure that we were blessed because of the service we had rendered at the Hill. The success of our trips home can best be illustrated by relating the fact that our sisters placed pamphlets and copies of the Book of Mormon in almost every rest stop we had, and they obtained referrals all along the way also. Our participants truly had caught the spirit of the missionary work at the hill, and we elders just sat back and watched in amazement as they did the missionary work on the way home. They had the people at rest stops just reeling. We were fortunate to get our groups into the Kirtland Temple, and our sisters gave the Reorganized LDS guides runs for their money. We had beautiful testimony meetings on the way home and our glorious Cumorah trips were made even more memorable by our wonderful trips home. Tears of joy and friendship flowed freely as we said our goodbyes in Salt Lake City.
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