12/01/2015
PLEASE READ AND SHARE
A letter from the Director:
Dear friends of "The Live Nativity in Draper and last year Bluffdale"
It's Christmas and I have some bad news and some very good news for all of you who have experienced and followed the" Live Nativity" over our past 16 years.
First the Bad news; After 16 wonderful years, unfortunately we will not be presenting Utah's most visited Live Nativity this Christmas season. I am so sorry for disappointing any of you who were planning on visiting us this year. I will personally miss our shared amazing spiritual experiences together, with you our quests, and the thousands of cast and crew members over the years. We have been blessed to celebrate the birth of our Savior each year in such a sweet and tender way.
I am so thankful for the 5000+ cast and crew members including 250 little babies playing the role of Baby Jesus, that have been part of our Nativity production. Literally thousands of hours have been enthusiastically given with love and dedication, by family, friends, and new friends to stage the nativity each year. I love you and thank you all so very much!
For 16 years we have been blessed with the sponsorship both physically and financially of three LDS Stakes from which we have been able to present the Nativity each year. And of course, because of the volunteer support of two different communities and a myriad of local churches, this has become a truly non-denominational endeavor in every way. Based on the letters and emails We have received over the years, thousands of lives have been touched in a special way after visiting or being part of the Nativity.
My own life has been forever blessed because of the opportunity Heavenly Father gave me to be part of this life changing opportunity!
Here is the Good News; With encouragement and inspiration from many different sources, I am working on completing "the rest of the dream" I started many years ago when as a young Mormon Bishop, after much prayer, proposed the idea of creating a "Live Nativity" as a gift for our community, to my young ward trying to figure out how we might celebrate Christmas that year. What started in a barn in Draper Utah grew into a miraculous celebration which continued to grow in content and numbers... but I knew all along that we weren't quite finished with our dream.
For the past year, knowing that the Live Nativity, as we know it, had finally out grown its humble beginnings, in terms of crowds, long waits and lines, parking, freezing temperatures, and many other challenges that huge guest numbers bring, I decided to start working on drawings, plans, and seeking, inspiration and guidance once again, to create and lay the groundwork for a New permanent opportunity to Celebrate in our unique way, our Love of the Savior and His miraculous life. I knew that other stories of the Saviors life could also be presented in this wonderful 3 dimensional way, so I started the sketches and research to be able to bring guests to experience these stories in a one on one, multi senses connection to "know the Savior" and His work on earth. Stories like "Christ's last night" and "The Miracles of Christ" were my first thoughts as additions to the" Live Nativity"
Here is where I’m at right now: I am seeking about 7 to 10 acres of land to build a large structure that will allow us to not only house the future permanent" Live Nativity" and adequate parking, but also create enough indoor heated que line space where we can creatively move the crowds through more expeditiously. (We would probably move to a pre-scheduled ticket reservation system to help with the long lines and go to a Disney Que method to organize the movement of the crowds.) The Nativity sets will be extra amazing; permanent with 3 dimensional sculpted walls (not flat panels like we use now), very authentic, larger scale/ 24 foot building heights,
(now most of our set panels rise only to 12 to 14 feet), the new sets will be highly detailed, "Disney quality" including many new sets that I haven't had room to do in the past. We will incorporate stage quality lighting and enhanced sound tracts and sound effects to accent the the experience of the guests, and of course there will also be more animals and amazing costumed characters to help bring the "reality" of the experience.
This new facility will also house similar productions to the Nativity at Easter time and throughout the year, as mentioned above. There will be a professional staging area where we can present amazing uplifting concerts by local artists, and an area that will be used for special multimedia presentations about the" life and times of Jesus Christ" and an array of family friendly venues and inspiring events. I am writing these now with the help of bible scholars from a local college and also experts from Christian universities in the Holy Land.
Soon I will share some of my current drawings and plans for you to study, so I can share some of my inspiration and excitement with you as things move along.
For you information, I have been advised to structure this" new adventure" as a" not for profit corporation" This will enable us to except donations of all kinds including labor, construction and construction materials, architectural and engineering needs, marketing professional, craftsmen and specialists, financial sponsorship and even the property as a donation or in the form of an inexpensive lease arrangement…. to name just a few.
We will also be able to pay some of our permanent employees a wage and bring in local talents to help us with our concerts and new presentations This would also allow us to maintain the facility and keep our sets, props and costumes, parking lot and facility in perfect condition, and also provide a means to pay our utilities and any other monthly costs It would also provide money for the upkeep and management of our animals We hope to be self-sustaining over time and also plan to have the capability of adding new and inspirational venues to the property for which we would seek additional sponsorship. This will also make it possible to be able to present this sacred programming to families of those of God’s children who need to see and experience this, but might not be able to afford to visit us. It would help with securing sponsorship to keep our admission charge down to a bare minimum ( if we were fully funded, we could still continue to not charge and entrance fee for the Nativity as we have been able to do in the past.) If you or members of your family or any of your associates might be interested in being part of this endeavor, please let us know.
I believe there has never been, at least in my lifetime, a time when mankind needed to grow closer to Christ in our lives, to learn about Him, to become like Him, to follow Him, in every way and to prepare ourselves for His great coming! That truly is the "Good News" we are seeking after.
Please feel free to contact me personally through this face book page for your comments, any questions, or suggestions, and let us know if you or any one you know might be able to help us "in any way" as we work to bring this pre tested “Dream into Reality”. Thank you for all of your support. May the Lord Bless you and your families this Christmas season and always!
Stephen E. Buntjer
