The Storm Will Not Molest Us - A Nauvoo Pageant Experience

In 2006, we were members of the cast of the Nauvoo Pageant. What a blessing it was to make this sacrifice for the Lord and how blessed we were to participate that summer in preaching the gospel through acting, word, and song.

During one of the days of the performance, the most amazing “bubble clouds” were seen in the skies. Something so unique that we took many pictures. It looked like tons of marshmallows in the sky. Some people we talked to said that this cloud formation usually meant that a big storm was coming. That night, as we prepared to participate in the pageant, the skies were darkened with fierce clouds and it appeared that thunderstorms were going to dampen the evening and possibly even cancel the pageant.

As the time got nearer to start time, the rain had not yet arrived, so the pageant began as usual. As the pageant progressed, we could see lightning in many different areas and heard thunder round about. In effect, we could see the thunderstorm all around us, but miraculously the storm was not bothering us. We all had a prayer in our hearts that the storm would be held back to allow the pageant to finish. In the security cabin near the stage, the security guard said that the storm radar had this area getting a lot of rain (it was 100% red), and we found out later that this security guard got on his knees and prayed for the storm to hold back its fury until after the pageant.

As the pageant ended, I helped to put the props away, and just as the last door beneath the open stage was closed, the rains poured like I’ve never seen before. It was a deluge. I remember walking back to the Joseph Smith Building, which was down the street and up the hill; we were all soaked. The wind was also howling; the wind and rain were overwhelming. Everyone who was in the pageant that night knew that they had just witnessed a miracle. It was beyond a shadow of a doubt. The timing of the last door closing and the simultaneous furious downpour was a witness to us that the Lord held back the storm to allow the gospel to be preached to those people in attendance that night and allow for all the equipment and props to be protected.

Our experience at the Nauvoo Pageant in 2006 was very similar to the experience of an early Latter-day Saint, Mary Westover. She records an experience which happened in the same area and in much the same manner: the miraculous event of the rainwaters being held back by the Lord.

Mary C. Westover wrote: “I was very small when we lived in Nauvoo, but I always attended the meetings. The most striking thing I remember was a prophecy Joseph Smith made, which I saw fulfilled immediately. I was at the funeral service of King Follett, in the Nauvoo Grove. A heavy thunderstorm arose. The people became frightened and started to go home. But the Prophet arose and told the multitude that if they would remain still and pray in their hearts the storm would not molest them in their services. They did as they were bidden, and the storm divided over the grove. I well remember how it was storming on all sides of the grove, yet it was calm around us as if there was no sign of a storm so nearby. I thought as I sat there that the Lord was speaking through Joseph.” (Robert L. Millet and Joseph Fielding McConkie, Life Beyond)