Almost twenty years after I had left the first time, I returned to Buenos Aires again on assignment from the Church – this time with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. The depth of impact and import of that blessed return for me and the first visit to Argentina for the Tabernacle Choir were unmistakable and unforgettable.
Some months prior to that return, I had an experience in the Tabernacle with a visiting guest that, on reflection, felt preparatory to the experience I was soon to have in Argentina. Because of my assignment to meet and greet guests as they arrive at the Tabernacle to attend Music & the Spoken Word on Sundays, I was engaging with all kinds of visitors to offer them an enthusiastic welcome as they entered the hall. When a well-dressed middle-aged woman caught my eye, I took a few steps in her direction, eager to make her acquaintance. To my surprise, when our eyes met, she promptly turned and quickened her pace in the opposite direction. I was curious about the abrupt detour, but I simply carried on with the welcoming of others.
At the conclusion of the program, I resumed my interaction with the visitors, delighted to bid them farewell and thank them for having come. To my surprise, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the woman who had clearly chosen to avoid me at the beginning of the program. She was walking toward me with the same determined pace with which she had turned away just an hour earlier. I waited for her to reach my side. Once there, she looked me in the eye and said, “I so hope you will accept my apology.” I assured her she didn’t owe me any apology, but she insisted. “Oh yes, I do. When I arrived here this morning and our eyes met, I thought to myself, ‘There is one of those Mormon women who is a member of this church. I don’t want anything to do with her!’ But I was wrong. After having heard what I heard and felt what I felt during the program, I realize that your Jesus is my Jesus, and my Jesus is your Jesus. I am terribly sorry.”
Of course, I reassured her that she had no need to apologize, and yes, we both love Jesus – the same Jesus.
In Argentina, at the recent concerts, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performed for thousands of attendees and live-streaming listeners all over South America and the world, that same recognition and sacred certainty that Jesus – the singular Savior of the World – is the Redeemer of us all. We indeed are all united in dependence upon and adoration of the same precious Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The three concerts performed in Buenos Aires were committed to commemorating the dedication of the continent of South America for the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a park in downtown Buenos Aires by Elder Melvin J. Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles one hundred years ago on Christmas Day 1925. 
Among the holy things that occurred at those marvelous concerts was an unmistakable experience of connection – each of us to ourselves, to each other, and to God. We all celebrated the same Jesus.
I personally experienced what felt like a miraculous connection to myself and extended family members. As I sat adjacent to my husband, holding his hand, I received text messages from our daughters showing images of their three missionaries similarly assembled to watch from their mission fields in Utah, Peru, and the Dominican Republic. I also received snapshots of our other children and grandchildren watching the live-streamed program from their homes in Texas, California, and Utah. Thanks to the miracle of our modern moment, we were all blessedly connected, literally around the world, united in a common cause that was not at all common.
Tens of thousands were united in the Buenos Aires arena and around screens all over the world, experiencing the same miraculous sensation of connection and shared celebration of the dedication of the continent of South America, even as they, and we all, were rededicating ourselves to heavenly causes.
In the arena, others were connected to share what they had assiduously prepared as a rich visual display of the unity of peoples and countries. Youthful dancers, both members of the Church and their friends, were energetically dancing their hearts out on stages large and small built throughout the floor space of the arena. Their dancing was an unmistakable display of the connection and joy they were feeling as they offered to the celebration the results of their substantial preparation and much heart.
Simultaneously, screens on either side of the enormous main stage showed other teens across the area, all dressed in the same costumes, likewise joyfully performing the same dances in churches in their own countries. Hundreds of youth were united with the same energy, doing the same dances across South America. United. Connected.
Guest artists from several of the countries that had been so profoundly and fundamentally impacted by that continent’s dedication a century ago represented a striking unity. Those famous performers were connected to each other as they stood side by side on stage, joining their eclectic voices and musical styles with irresistible harmonies and choreography. Even without being members of the Church, they clearly delighted in the celebration. Our Jesus is also their Jesus.
Others in the Buenos Aires arena had prepared thoughtful narration to express verbally the blessing of dedication, both of their continent and of themselves. Children, teens, parents, and grandparents all took their turns sharing their perspectives of faith and gratitude for the fact and import of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.
The enormous LED screen behind the Tabernacle Choir on the stage reflected visuals that emphasized and underscored the themes of the celebration. Life, growth, beauty, promise. Beginning when guests arrived in the arena and recurrently throughout the program, that screen was filled top to bottom and side to side with an illuminated image of a giant oak tree. The gnarly roots of the tree wound across the lower section of the screen, while the upper space was filled with a brilliant image of the branches and leaves of that tree glowing with emerald luminescence. From the ceiling of the arena hung dozens of large oval-shaped cutouts representing additional leaves that covered and surrounded us all. They felt like heaven overhead.
The symbolism originated in the text of the prophecy Elder Ballard pronounced after the dedicatory prayer in 1925. He said that the growth of the Church would begin as a small acorn, but it would grow into a mighty oak, and that the continent would eventually be one of the strongest areas in the kingdom.
The image of trees continued with references to the Sacred Grove and then the Tree of Life. The prophetic pronouncement of Elder Ballard has indeed come to fruition.
Towards the end of the spectacular celebration, the energy in the joyful room increased further when hundreds of young missionaries dressed in white shirts and blouses paraded up the aisles to assemble in the front of the large hall. They were all missionaries currently serving in the four missions in Buenos Aires, and they represented missionaries all over the world who are also sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. As they sang “Called to Serve,” the Tabernacle Choir, plus thousands of members and missionaries watching the program on screens around the world, sang along. United. Connected – to each other, to the rest of us, to heaven. 
As one final reminder of our shared objective and opportunity, after the missionaries filed out, scores of dancers streamed through every door and flowed gracefully to the front of the arena. Each was carrying in both hands a translucent ball illuminated from within. They carefully, almost reverently, held those balls high, reflecting their treasuring of what the globes symbolized for themselves, even as they felt like an offering to all the rest of us. Those balls represented the fruit from the Tree of Life – the essential Love of God that is available to everyone to brighten and illuminate our way. As their globes filled the space with a gentle, persistent glow, we were all beneficiaries of the light the dancers carried and offered. Together. United.
I left that grand arena more connected to my truest self, to fellow travelers in Buenos Aires and around the world, and to God, the perfect Father of us all. As we embrace our multi-layered connectivity and rejoice in the singular Jesus we love, we will surely be more confident, more joyful, more whole. All of us – the entire family of God – is here to become one – with ourselves, with each other, and with God and His Son, Jesus Christ, the Savior of us all.
