Bringing the Christmas Spirit

I was so happy that we got tickets to see "El Salvador del Mundo" the Saturday before Christmas. It's the Spanish version of "The Savior of the World" that the LDS church originally showed in Salt Lake during the winter olympics there. This was the first time I saw it though.
It is a musical production about the birth of Christ with beautiful music. If you'd like to read the whole script you can read it HERE. The whole play has the birth, death and resurrection of Christ, but this one we went to was only the first half since it's near Christmas. We waited in a crowded area before the doors opened to be seated. (Elisa said that Robin looks like a secret agent ready to kidnap her back there.)

Before it started and after it was over we were able to take a few quick pictures, but no flash photography was allowed during the show.

Three of our friends were in the production and we are so proud of them. They were so awesome! As you can see, Alex snapped a photo of Gabriel in his costume, but I didn't get one of Sofia or Veronica all dressed up unfortunately. But I did include pics of them.

The musical told the well-known nativity story, starting with Elisabeth and Zacharias singing of their desire to have a baby. It ends with the shepherds coming to visit the newborn Christ. Sabrina was sitting on my lap to see better for most of the play so I translated parts to her. Although they show that Elisabeth and Zacharias will have a baby, John the Baptist, they don't talk about him being born at all. So at the end of the production, Sabrina asked, "What about John the Baptist?" Then Alex asked the same thing a few minutes later. I was surprised he asked because the play was in Spanish and all my children know very little so I wasn't sure how much he could follow, even with it being this story that they know. Alex was on the other side too far to hear my translation.


For me, besides seeing these three talented actors/singers we know on stage, my favorite part was the song where Joseph and Mary are both singing a prayer in a duet. Mary told Joseph what the angel told her and they are both worried about what will happen with her not being married, but being pregnant. I always think of how faithful she must have been to be chosen for this enormously important task and what an honor it was, but how very difficult it must have been, to say the least. She had to worry that her life was in jeopordy and her fiance may not want to marry her after all. Even though these two people were faithful and chosen, Heavenly Father did not make their life easy. They had to suffer like we all do. I can feel their agony in the song. But also, the song ends with them both praising God. I know these aren't the exact words of their real prayers, but I can imagine that it was similar.

Joseph and Mary in the play didn't wait until there was a resolution to their problems or until the trials passed to praise Him. In the very prayer where they asked for knowldege and help, they acknowledge the goodness of our Heavenly Father. That made me stop and think. When I am praying, asking for something, whatever it is, how often do I praise Him in the same prayer? To me, the song is a beautiful example of what I need to do more often.

As the play was over and the actors were walking off the stage, two of the women who were playing angels were crying, touched by the music and story about Jesus. They hugged each other up on the platform where they stood. I imagined that when He was born, so many angels really did cry tears of joy.



I loved the production so much that I went to the LDS distribution center and bought a copy of it (they only have it in English) on CD. We've listented to it MANY times since I bought it last week. Apparently some stakes or wards have put on their own productions of it in their areas. Have you ever heard of it or seen it?