Kim and I for our aniversary this year decided to get a hotel room in Manti and go to the manti pagaent. We also went to the temple the next morning.
It was soooo much fun. We stayed at the Yeardley Inn and Spa which was cool. They treated us really well there. It’s a bed and breakfast and a spa. After the pagaent we sat in the sauna for 20 minutes which was cool. Then, for breakfast she fed us fruit, eggs (really good ones with goat cheese and all kinds of spices), and 9 grain pecan pancakes. Normally I don’t like pancakes at all but these were sooooo good.
The pagaent also was awesome. I love the show they put on and the story they tell. One of my favorite parts is where they talk about Captain Moroni and how he fought the Lamanites who were completely evil at the time. After he kills most of them, and the rest agree to leave with an oath to not come back, they say that “Moroni knew that if you negociate with evil, evil wins.” That line says sooo much about the world today and what’s going on in Iraq with the Gadianton robbers (al Queda) there. As you read the Book of Mormon, Al Queda and the people who are fighting against the US and against the restoration of an Iraqi government there fit the description of the Gadianton robbers perfectly. What’s even more amazing is that every description of evil in the book describes them perfectly too.
We also went to the temple the morning after which was soooo cool. That is such a cool temple. It has paintings on the walls that are so cool. Afterwards, we talked with a man who officiated in the session who had grown up in Manti and is currently the director of sets in the pagaent. He had a ton to say about the pagaent, the pioneers, the temple, all kinds of stuff. It was really enlightening and really a neat experience.