GALA
GA'LA, noun A lavish public entertainment or celebration. A gala day is a day of pomp, show or festivity, when persons appear in their best apparel.
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From the Church website:
A GALA celebrating the 95th birthday of President Russell M. Nelson will be held tonight Friday, September 6, 2019, at 8:00 p.m. mountain daylight time in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City and will be broadcast live in eight languages on various Church channels.
Church members have looking forward to this for months when this worldwide Birthday Party was first announced. The day that complimentary tickets were available on the Church website, the tickets were sold out within minutes.
On the front page header of the Church website, www.churchofjesuschrist.org, there is even a countdown clock ticker to when the party begins tonight.
So if you aren't one of the 21,000 people who were able to get tickets. Here are your options to watch it live.
Watch Online
The performance will be broadcast live in English on the Church satellite system, ChurchofJesusChrist.org, and Facebook, as well as on thetabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/thetabernaclechoirattemplesquare, and facebook.com/thetabernaclechoir.
The program will be broadcast in French, German, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, and ASL on the Church satellite system, ChurchofJesusChrist.org, and thetabernaclechoir.org.
Watch On-Demand
The broadcast will be available for on-demand viewing on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, tabchoir.org/95thcelebration, and youtube.com/thetabernaclechoirattemplesquare imediately following the live broadcast in English, French, German, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, and ASL.
BYUtv will rebroadcast the event on byutv.org at Sunday, September 8, 2019, at 4:30 p.m. (2330 UTC).
Sidenote:
I am anxious to see how the gala event tonight compares to the birthday celebration held a few months ago when thousands were gathered to celebrate the birthday of L. Ron Hubbard.
Addendum:
Holding this event on September 6th is somewhat symbolic. Russell M. Nelson's actual birthday is September 9th. When someone says "The September Sixth", a few members might remember not the actual date of September 6th, but instead what happened to six members of the Church who were either excommunicated or disfellowshipped. They were called The September Six.
An article was printed yesterday in the Tribune about one of the September Six. Her name is Lavina Fielding Anderson. For over 25 years she has consistently attended her ward and has sat quietly in the same pew. She has participated as much as she was able like playing the piano and sung in the choir. She has been visited by all her ward and stake leaders since 1993, she said, but after the passing of her husband last year, her Bishop proposed that her membership be reinstated. Her Stake President
reconvened a high council were the decision was reached to recommend that she be approved for rebaptism. The request was forwarded on to the First Presidency at Church Headquarters.
A few days ago, a response came back from the First Presidency.
It was denied.
Despite the rejection, Lavina said that she’ll be in her same pew again on Sunday.
