Savior of the World - Greg

Tammy asked me to write some of my thoughts about our ward's experience with the Savior of the World play. What a fantastic experience!! It turned out to be one of the most wonderful things I've ever been involved in. Our whole family had a chance to be intimately involved with it throughout the planning and preparation for it. It was just a great thing for us!

It really was a couple of years in the making - something our ward leadership council had discussed for some time, but finally decided to tackle last year.

We had a few goals in mind - to help the ward grow on unity, to strengthen families, and to share the gospel. I think we were successful in the first goal - I saw friendships develop and grow throughout the year among those who were participating. Even now several months later I think we are feeling the benefit of a stronger, more unified ward. Nearly every family was involved in some way with most families being very heavily involved. The youth and children that participated each grew to love the experience and were among the most sad when it was all over.

The second goal was to strengthen families. Most people participating were able to do so with at least one other family member. It was fun to see Adam and Tammy growing together in this way and I think the same effect was seen between all the family members that participated together. On the other hand, it was kind of hard on the family members left at home and the small chldren. There was a lot of time required for families to be apart in that way. I wish we could have found a way to improve that - I think that was the most difficult thing in the whole experience.

Our third goal was to share the gospel. The play is really about each actor testifying of Christ through the portrayal of scenes from his life. The story and the music are so, so powerful - amazingly so really. Each night of the performance we had good crowds, many of whom were friends of other faiths and backgrounds. We were able to share some of what we believe about Christ and to help change some views and misconceptions about our faith. One big regret we had was that we didn't plan to present the show more than 3 nights. We were pleased with the turnout but only wished more had an opportunity to share in the experience.

The end result of the production was very very positive. We have a unique ward with a huge number of extremely talented people. They all came together to do something marvelous. Now, even 3 months later hardly a week goes by that someone doesn't say something about the show or ask me when we're going to do it again. It had such a positive influence on everyone involved.

I only wish that we could continue to have those same kinds of experiences in our day-to-day lives. I guess we can to some degree, but to feel things and to experience things to the degree of this experience is something unique and something I think our family will always remember and cherish. We are so happy to have been able to participate.