Sunday, July 13, 2014

         It was our ward conference today and I realized that after the division, our ward is pretty small.  The chapel wasn’t even filled.  Most of the people I knew well are now in the other ward but not all of them.  It’s always a chance to get to know new people.  We have an excellent Bishop who is very enthusiastic and brings his expertise as a Regional Institute Supervisor in the Church Education System to his calling.  There are investigators attending nearly every week even though we only have one pair of missionaries now instead of three or four.

         The Bishop’s wife, Gina, played her viola in Sacrament Meeting and her 10-year-old daughter accompanied her.  I was sitting next to the piano when this young girl came to play and watched her put her music in place.  It was a single sheet of paper torn from a magazine and folded in fourths.  It had seen a lot of use and would hardly stay upright.  I reached over and helped secure it a little by reversing a fold and it stayed put.  She wasn’t nervous and played the song without mistakes.  Her mom had written an obbligato part for the viola for the third verse and it was very pretty.

         My mind went right away to how my over-active self would have trimmed and straightened the edges, made a photo copy, mounted it on solid cardstock, placed it in a sheet protector, and added it to a binder.   Many things here are done much more simply than I am used to and they usually turn out just fine!  There is a lesson here for me, I’m sure.

         After arriving for Church, the Bishop asked me to play for Sacrament Meeting, so after Relief Society I went home for prelude music.  One of the choir numbers had to be cut since the meeting went long and I felt bad for all the work the director had put in on the song.  Maybe they can sing it on another Sunday.

         When a Sacrament Meeting speaker goes on for too long, a member of the bishopric places a piece of paper on the podium where the speaker can see it to indicate that his time is up.  I have no idea what it says, but it works.  When the Bishop was speaking today, one of his counselors stood up and placed the paper on the podium!  I was more than a little surprised, and he hadn’t really been speaking very long, but he finished.  He was followed by a counselor in the Stake Presidency and then the Stake President and the total time was running short.  The stake President spoke for twenty minutes going over time by at least 15 minutes.  However, no one put the paper on the pulpit for him—executive privilege perhaps.  Extra time in the meeting was used for two confirmations one of which was for a young man in a wheel chair with cerebral palsy. 

         Sundays are great and Glade and I had a nice “walk and talk” this afternoon and made it back just as the wind carried in a rainstorm.  It feels wonderful to get outside to breath in fresh air and see the world.

         Good night, Everyone, and have a great week!  --Sending love and prayers your way--