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TOLUCA, Mexico — The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square got a very early start of the day in Mexico City as it kicked off the first day of its world tour on Wednesday.
The 450 choir members, orchestra, and staff left their hotel at 5:30 a.m. to drive to Toluca to shoot a music video.
The choir split up and shot in three different locations in the heart of Toluca, where there is a beautiful historical square that features a magnificent Catholic cathedral and the world's largest stained-glass botanical gardens.
The Cosmovitral Botanico is a 32,000-square-foot facility with beautiful gardens and 45 tons of stained glass featuring 28 different colors.
"It is amazing. Full of history, art and nature coming together. Speechless," choir member Megumi Astill told KSL-TV.
"I didn't know what to expect, and I got here, and it was like holy cow, it was like a slice of heaven," expressed Pierre Dartiguenave.
The choir and orchestra arrived in Mexico City late Tuesday afternoon. The one-week tour will include three concerts, two in Mexico City at the National Auditorium, which holds 12,000 people, and one in Toluca at the cathedral.
"(The people of Mexico) are children, are sons and daughters of God, and to have that opportunity to bring the talent that we have in music which is nonjudgmental and to share that and to soothe the heart where it may be aching, but yet here is a little piece of divinity to them. There are no words to express that but through the median of music," Dartiguenave said.
The choir will also be doing service projects, interacting with local members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and shooting the music video.
Their first concert will be on Thursday evening at the cathedral.
KSL-TV's Dan Rascon will be traveling with the choir to Mexico City and filming a documentary on the choir. You can follow that journey on his Twitter,Facebook and Instagram.
