So Great a Cause

We had a wonderful stake activity on Saturday. You may have heard me complain a time or two about the lack of activities around here, but after this one I think I'm willing to forgive. Our stake went all out. It was just amazing. This activity was the culmination of a year long goal to work on service. I think I read something in the Ensign that gave me the impression this was a church-wide goal, but I'm not sure about that. We were asked as individuals, families and wards to set goals to find different ways to serve -- specifically outside of our area. They really stressed that this isn't supposed to end after this activity, but that we'll continue to find ways to serve (as should always be the case!)

As for Saturday's event, there was so much to see and do! We sure didn't have time to fit it all in, and we were there for the entire 5 hours.

• There was a talent section -- 3 1/2 hours of various stake members performing musical numbers, recitations, and theatrical pieces.
  
• The games and activities consisted of face painting, a petting zoo, fishing pond, bounce house and obstacle course, human foosball, relay games, Minute-to-Win-it games, and watermelon eating contests. I was really impressed with the way they tied all these fun activities into gospel principles. It really strengthened the point of why we were there, but also made it enjoyable.
  
• The different displays consisted of a world map where people could place pins of where they had served, a trail of testimonies (kind of like in Nauvoo, but with testimonies from recent converts in our stake), Book of Mormon testimonies (for people to fill out their personal testimonies to share with missionaries to hand out), arts and crafts display (Chloe entered a drawing she had done and Sophie made a clay sculpture), and they had "I'm a Mormon" video clips made from some of the youth in the stake.
  
• There was a "giving tree" filled with different acts of service that you could pull off. We took one to help get supplies for a school in Ghana. They also collected canned food for the food bank.
  
• Dinner was served, as well as various concession stands: cotton candy, popcorn, and ice cream! And let's not forget, they didn't overlook the need to have water stations! Brilliant :)
  
• Then it was all topped off with a celebration program. They put together a time capsule that will be opened in 20 years, at our stakes 50th anniversary. We all had little parts to play. I was only aware of the primary's part they would do. Sophie was a wee bit disappointed that they didn't get to go up on the stage, but they just had them stand where they were seated and wave flags they had made and sing a song we had practiced. I thought the whole thing was very moving, but I especially loved the end when everyone with mini flashlights (handed out before the program began) started waving them and then they set off some glow-in-the-dark balloons.
  

Some friends had asked Brandon to take their family photo, and I thought it looked so cute I asked them if they would do the same for us. The part we're covering says "CENTERVILLE NORTH STAKE, ESTABLISHED APRIL 11, 1982."