Monday, August 04, 2014

         Glade was just checking out the bruises on his knees from his fall the other day and discovered they were detectable, but not serious.  His knuckles are healing and there is no sign of injury to his head whatsoever.  He is blessed.

         FHE tonight included several Church video clips on Family History.  Of course, they were in Spanish so I didn’t get much from them; but Pres. Cazier is going to help us get started on some research Wednesday morning.  We gave him our seven-digit ID numbers (although most of them are letters not numbers) and names and numbers of our parents and grandparents so he can get a head start on how to help us.  We are excited—yes, WE—as in both of us J  We will probably be looking for lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles.     

         We were just sharing a hearty laugh together as we talked about the music here in this part of the world.  I am playing for about seven numbers for the recital on Sunday, and am playing for Sacrament Meeting, too.  The other ward—maybe I mentioned this already—has no one who can play, so they use a recording of the hymns on a CD for Sacrament Meeting.  They make do the best they can.

There was a reason for our mirth which I started out to describe.  When they sing without a keyboard, the chorister usually sings the first line of the song which reminds people of the tune and gives them a pitch.  Then everyone joins in from the beginning.  When an authority from Salt Lake visited our temple not too long ago, he suggested that the daily training meeting be started with a hymn.  So they have complied.  The problem is that there is no keyboard to provide accompaniment.  If one of the sisters leads and knows the hymn, she might sing a phrase and then they start together.  If one of the brothers leads, he just says “one, two, three” and then they all start to sing—each one with a starting pitch of his or her own choosing—and heartily.  Not meaning to be irreverent—but it is sometimes just hilarious and we can hardly sing for cringing and smiling at the way the hymn sounds.  Some have probably never heard or learned the hymns correctly, but they sing with all their hearts, just the same.  I hope it doesn’t sound like I am making fun of them—just observing their predicament and appreciating their efforts to raise their voices in song.  I would love to teach people to play, but that hasn’t been in the cards.  We love them to pieces for their heartfelt efforts!

We worked hard today and are ready for another week.  Glade went to the gym and it was my pleasure to exercise outside!  Glade also did 2½ hours of continuing education on his computer for his license renewal in October.  He probably won’t need it, but is going to be prepared—just in case.   Everything is clean and we are rested—sort of!  It was a great day!

Love and prayers to all of you.  Good night!