April 2005 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

BY LARENE PORTER GAUNT
Church Magazines
Orange! Yellow! Green! Red! A swirl
of color filled an outdoor stadium
in Ghana on January 10, 2004, as
2,000 youth in traditional African
costumes danced in an awe-inspiring
display the day before the dedication
of the Accra Ghana Temple.
Playing simple musical instruments
like those of their ancestors, these Latterday
Saint youth performed music and
dances based on folktales of western
Africa. The event in Ghana was the first of
five celebrations held throughout the
world in 2004 in honor of temple dedications
or rededications.
The following month in Anchorage,
Alaska, Latter-day Saints radiated the same
spirit of joy as they celebrated the rededication
of their temple. Dressed in costumes
that harkened back to their past, 600 Church
members performed an original
musical program honoring the
cultural heritage of native
Alaska.
The largest of the 2004 celebrations took place on
40
Through music, dance, and drama, Latter-day Saints are celebrating
temple dedications, historical commemorations, and the sheer joy of the gospel.
Alaskan members honored their past and looked
to their future in the program prior to the
rededication of the Anchorage Alaska Temple.
February 21, prior to the rededication of the São
Paulo Brazil Temple, when 8,000 Latter-day
Saints and 1,200 missionaries sang and
danced in a steady rain for 60,000 spectators
in Pacaembú Stadium. Thousands more
throughout São Paulo watched the celebration
via satellite broadcast. After a thunderous
rendition of the Brazilian national
anthem by the nearly 70,000 present, emotions
and spirits ran high as a huge
Brazilian flag waved over the stadium.
In Denmark, on May 22, 2004, the simple
words of a powerful solo, “Come light, come
truth,” opened the production A Bridge of
Faith for 4,000 people on the eve of the dedication
of the Copenhagen Denmark Temple.
Latter-day Saints from Denmark, Sweden, and
Iceland, dressed in medieval costumes, sang original
music as if it were a plea from those who lived
in the Middle Ages. Their performance dramatized
how the restored gospel and the building
of a temple became the “bridge of faith”
that led them to light and truth.
In New York City’s Radio City
Music Hall just three weeks later,
thousands of teens reflecting the diverse
ethnic mix of the larger Manhattan area energetically
PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNN HOWLETT Celebrate!
ALASKA PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNN HOWLETT; GHANA PHOTOGRAPHY BY LINDA LEEPER