And a Happy Cotton-Pickin' New Year to All!

Our New Year's Eve celebration may have ended early, but it was GREAT while it lasted. There was entertainment at the Assembly Hall and in the lobby of our own workplace, the Joseph Smith building, from 5 o'clock on. The Mama's Boys were scheduled at 6:30, and we got there at 5 to be sure to get a good seat. We love those guys! I think Bob and I have both mentioned them before because we went to see them at a dinner theater in Pleasant Grove shortly after we arrived here. I'm going to try with all my might to embed a video so you can enjoy them as well -- hopefully with earphones or a good speaker system. It's a father and his sons (well, one is a nephew because one son is on a mission) and in one instance, a grandson who couldn't be more than 3, and they do the best blue-grass music I ever heard but they also sing beautifully and have some great arrangements of other kinds of music as well.

It's been a wonderful year. I can't even begin to count all the good things about it but I surely do appreciate them. This music kind of perfectly illustrates our mood right now -- upbeat.

* * * * * * * *

Guess what. I waited about 15 minutes while the video uploaded, only to get an error message that told me to contact somebody or other and give them a string of 25 or so numbers. Ain't gonna happen! You'll have to take my word for it that you would have loved them, and Amy would have wanted to adopt the fiddler. Oooh, I'm so frustrated!

Anyway . . . Happy New Year! We love you all and miss you and can't wait to see you!

(Hey, Amy -- how do I change the appearance of the blog? I can't figure it out with my own tiny little mind. We seem to be beyond Christmas, and even as we speak they are taking down all the Christmas trees and lights. So sad.)

"More"

I haven't posted for quite a while, but I think Bob's journal covers the ground better anyway. December was a wild month -- everything was "more." More socials; more luncheons and dinners; more shopping and cooking; more sweets and goodies; more rehearsals and performances; more wonderful concerts, both major and mini; more time with extended family; more correspondence with family and friends; a visit with dear friends who are just like family; more reasons to be happy and to love and enjoy one's co-workers. Also more sadness as we said goodbye to some friends who left the mission field and will be missed. And some major ambivalence about snow -- beautiful as it falls from the sky and piles up on trees and other objects, but much less beautiful as it turns to dirty brown slush and ice, making scootering impossible and walking downright tricky.

This was a very different Christmas for us, being away from our families for the first time ever. But it was a sweet morning, especially as we counted up all the blessings that have come to us through this mission. We have managed to contain our envy for those of our friends and associates who either had family come and stay here, or who went home for the week. We'll get our turn! It's very heart-warming to know that our families love and support us in what we're doing and are praying for us daily. And any time our spiritual batteries need re-charging we only have to walk a half a block down the hill to Temple Square, where the lights and the decorations are beautiful and everything is Christ-centered. How grateful we are to be spending this particular holiday in this particular place!

The Elijah Choir

Here's a link to what we were doing Monday morning at the crack of dawn. I know you won't have the patience to listen to the whole thing, but my arrangement of "What Child Is This?" with the new flute part I wrote just for the Elijah choir comes at 37:00 minutes. The program was in the Assembly Hall. I wish I could watch it with you and point out all the wonderful friends we have in the choir and tell you neat things about them. If I can get hold of one of the pictures Bob took at rehearsal I'll post that as well.Here's the link:

http://stream.lds.org/FCH/Family_History_Devotional_15Dec08_english300.asf

I hope it works, but you won't lose much if it doesn't. We're doing much the same concert the night after Christmas, but without the benefit of 40 of our singers, all of whom have said they would not be here for that performance. Ouch. But I don't blame them -- if I could get home, even for 24 hours, I would do it too.

The rest of the day (and week) was also packed. There was a Branch social and dinner in the evening for which Bob and I were in charge of entertainment, so we were pretty tired by the end of the day. Then on Tuesday at lunchtime we went over to the Church Office Building for another wonderful meal and another little devotional. Today I skipped the luncheon so I could eat with Bob, but still had to sing with a sextet. Then Bob and I took a very long lunch hour so we could finally get our Christmas cards mailed. I'm not worth much tonight, but at least I was able to get some downtime in the recliner and it sure felt good! One more early day this week, but a lot of the pressure is off now.

Sometimes I just have to laugh . . .

. . . at the contrast between my horrible little pictures (that I took in the freezing cold with my little bitty camera and my little bitty talent and my mittens on) and those that Bob took with his lovely big professional camera, also in the cold, with no mittens on and with a mighty talent to boot. I just had to laugh when I finally saw his gorgeous pictures and then looked at my own efforts. We're not even on the same planet. It's great to be married to such talent.

God "Rest" Ye Merry, Elders and Sisters

We haven't done much resting this last week, but we've sure been doing a lot of music in one form or another. In addition to the 3 early morning rehearsals plus one devotional per week, we've been involved in rehearsing and performing in several other things. We're singing in a small group, and I'm singing in a women's sextet next week at the branch Christmas party. Besides that, a different sextet sang for the New Missionary breakfast, and I also played my flute for that. And the branch choir sings twice a month, and we're gearing up for Dec. 21 at the moment.

And that's just the stuff we're performing. There's a whole lot of music going on all over the campus. From 1 every afternoon until about 9 in the evening there are groups performing in many of the buildings on the campus, all the way from the Church Office Bldg. and the Joseph Smith building, to the Visitor's Centers, to the library and the museum. So any time it gets quiet upstairs I just slip down to the lobby or the mezzanine and there will always be something going on.

We walked down Friday evening to look at the lights and could hardly see them for the crowds of people, mostly families, milling around. It was very cold, but very wonderful. I'll try to post a picture of my favorite scene -- the nativity scene in the middle of the reflecting pond, with the floating lights. There's something about it at night. I just love it and am always very moved by it.

The Tabernacle Choir is divine and they're doing all my favorite Christmas music. They use a lot of music by another great arranger (there is another great arranger besides Mack Wilberg, believe it or not). I always look forward to anything that has the name Arthur Harris on it -- he never disappoints. For this morning's broadcast in the Conference Center they had all the gorgeous decorations up and it was heavenly. We were sitting in the very tippy top row for the First Presidency Devotional tonight (every single seat in the house was full by the time the broadcast started. The picture is of the warmup before it started.

What a wonderful time of year this is. I never thought I could survive a Christmas away from family, but I'm managing okay so far. I have to fight the envy I feel for those missionaries who either go home or have families who come here, but I have to admit that being left to our own devices allows us to spend more time reflecting on how grateful we are for the "reason for the season." We are so grateful for our Savior and so anxious to do those things that he would have us do. I love my Savior, I love my companion, and I love my mission. I love my family so dearly and tenderly and wish only the best for them all and pray constantly for their welfare and well-being. I'm so proud of the kind of people they are. For all of those who support us and pray for us and wish us well, we thank you. We're doing fine and wouldn't be anywhere else -- at least at this moment!

'Tis the season!

Here are pictures of what we see every day, and what Bob has been up to in the library (I don't include my own research because it just doesn't seem to be happening for me). I love the pics of that lovely family and what they represent. Temple Square is absolutely beautiful. Bob hasn't begun to take pictures of the lighting yet, but it's spectacular. But I think my favorite sights are the biblical figures they have scattered around the Square; they're so reverent but so human, and bring me such peace. The Tab choir did all Christmas music for the broadcast this morning and I was in heaven -- my favorite music of all, and we'll get it all month long, not just from the Choir, but every day and every evening, in every venue on Temple Square, there are performances by some group or artist or other. I think every high school in the Wasatch valley has fielded a group, and there are several flute choirs, several mission choirs, some string groups, some Mexican groups, a bagpiper group -- a little bit of everything. Tomorrow afternoon at 3 I'm going to sneak down to the lobby and listen to a flute choir. What a great place to work!!

The shot of the microfilm is from an old German church record written in Latin. It's no wonder that Bob has to spend hours at a time when he looks at that particular microfilm. First he has to decipher it and then translate it.

And while I'm at it, I'll publish a picture of the continuing work they're doing across the street, with the helpful supervision of every staff member on the 3rd floor East in the Joseph Smith building. We're all doing a spectacular job. (Sorry about the photo placement. The pictures never go where I want them to and I don't know how to move them. But you get the drift.)

Hey -- I love you all!!!!!

Let's see . . . a title. Umm, how about "More thoughts on yet another Sabbath?"

Seems like I only have time to think "profound" thoughts on Sunday, and not much time then until after supper. It's fascinating to me how many different ways there are to pronounce things in English. Relief Society and Sunday School, although ostensibly taught by a teacher, tend to become group discussions. In our meetings this afternoon we heard the following accents, including the teacher (from Alabama) who has one of the deepest southern drawls I've ever heard: "Idaho Marmon," New Jersey, high English, low English, Scots, South American, Norwegian, Samoan, Hawaiian, Japanese, French, German, Australian, and New Zealand -- did I miss any? Probably! It's always interesting to hear, but still everyone's point of view remains the same. The Scots woman who spoke in sacrament meeting today and her Jewish/turned-Mormon husband spoke so very differently, both in style and approach, yet the solid core of the gospel was the same. The gentleman had a very interesting history -- there is not a trace of gentile blood anywhere in his ancestry, and he was riased in what is called a stetl (I think) and hadn't had much exposure to non-Jewish people until his family emigrated to England (which explains his very proper British accent). I wish he had been able to cover his whole conversion story because he had quite a spiritual experience as he was exposed to the gospel. He was very poised and proper, even when emotional, and a complete contrast to his darling little wife, who was as Scots as could be except that she was so cheerful and funny and uninhibited.

We've been following the home news -- so very glad that Greg and his family are safe in Anaheim, and that Amy and Matt now have the keys to their new home. All these happenings make me wish I could be there to share the various experiences with you. I'm always concerned about you all, but I don't obsessively worry as I have occasionally been prone to do. The reality of the Lord's blessings, that is to say my actual sure knowledge of them, allow me to feel substantial comfort regarding what's going on in my kids' lives. President Roberts promised us that our families would be blessed as we serve, and I feel very confident that they have been, even though I am well aware of the difficulties some of you have experienced since we left. Both my sweet husband and I have lived in the pit for a while (separately, needless to say), and are feeling unbelievably blessed and happy right now. I'm fairly convinced that there's nothing that can't be overcome, especially knowing what we know.

And along those same lines -- we just had a conversation with B0b's daughter in Texas, who has been supervising the repairmen in our home who are repairing the damage caused by a water leak. She had an opportunity to talk to one of them, who asked if he could possibly get a Book of Mormon somewhere. Christi knew right where to go for the sisters' stash of B of M's and DVD's, and fixed him right up. There were other things she mentioned which made us very grateful to be serving as we are, if it means blessings for our children.

She had other news as well -- the Frisco 4th ward is going to be split next Sunday. We'll be going home to a completely different ward, and will be cut separated from many friends, I'm sorry to say. We were sort of expecting it, but it was still jarring to hear. And exciting as well. But I fear that we will lose Bishop Platt and that will be very hard to bear. The only thing that could alleviate the angst would be if they let us be in the same ward with the Kovaches, but their ward isn't involved in the split, so I guess that's not going to happen for a while.

When I recover from the weekend I'll blog about it. In the meantime, love and kisses to all.

Thoughts on the Sabbath

I've been thinking about the Sabbath, and how our activities sometimes seem to belie the real meaning of the word, and yet at the same time prove its point. For active Mormons our "Day of Rest" can sometimes turn out to be the busiest day of the week. And yet there is a spiritual charge and renewal that comes from the sabbath day meetings that you can't find anywhere else. Today our day didn't have any "down time," or chance to rest until after we got home at 4:15. We were forced to stop while the pork roast did its thing in the oven. Our day started at 9 a.m., when we left for the tabernacle. That always, always sets us up for the entire rest of the day. It's like a preview peek into heaven, and today's broadcast was especially moving as it was celebrating Veteran's Day. We had time for a quick sandwich before going back to the JSMB for a sextet rehearsal, choir practice, and our 3-hour block of meetings. I got a new choir accompanist today and she gave the choir wings. We sang for sacrament meeting, and it was wonderful. The choir has grown so much bigger, and they've grown musically as well. It's such a privilege to stand as their conductor. They give me back so much. I will surely miss them when it's time to head back home. Fortunately, no matter where we are, the sabbath day stays the same and always gives back to us more than we invest in it. So even when it is sometimes exhausting, it's still a blessed day of rest.

A couple of links for you

Many thanks to my friend Linda Smith, who provided this link for me: http://www.simicommunitychristmas.com. I'm extremely interested in one of the performers in particular (Amy, natch!), and many who will be doing the various mini-concerts are friends and former colleagues of mine. It made me very nostalgic to read the bios and see the photos. Linda does amazing work and seems to thrive on having too much to do, as you can see by her blog: http://lamsingslink.blogspot.com. Frisco's was good last year, but I doubt if it could have come up to this standard. Go, Simi! I'm sorry to be missing out on all the fun, but we're in a good place to be in the audience for some beautiful Christmas concerts here, and I'm really looking forward to them.

I get so hungry for piano time that I snuck into the Training Zone this morning and played on their little upright piano for about an hour. Felt good!! I guess I'll be playing flute on a piece for the Elijah Choir Christmas concert, and I got to write it myself. It sounds pretty good over the arrangment I did for the Simi Valley Stake Choir a few years ago as part of a medley. So that will be my Christmas music jollies for this year. I can see by all the lights going up and being tested that it will be beautiful here during the Christmas season. Nevertheless, it will be our first holiday season without any family and will feel very strange indeed.

What an interesting day!

And what an interesting week, actually. Today may have been the highlight of the week, however, because after lunch we were invited to share an elevator car with none other than Russell M. Nelson, who is a perfectly lovely man. There was another familiar-looking gentleman with him, who was probably a GA, but whose name escapes me, along with their two wives. Of course, we are counselled to leave the GA's alone and not pester them, and I was hesitant to crowd in with my scooter anyway, but they insisted we come in, and he made very nice conversation with us until we got off, and thanked us for bringing our Texas smiles to the mission. We floated up to the 3rd floor.

It's been a week of reunions, of sorts. Two days ago we had lunch with Dick Bybee, an old friend from So Cal, who sang with us in both the Cambridge Singers and the So. Calif. Mormon Choir. He's living in Utah now and works at the COB 2 days a week. That was great! And today the Whites, the couple who trained us and whom we replaced, came up for a little visit and we all had lunch together and that was fun too.

As far as my job goes, I seem to spend as much time on music as on my regular duties, which duties tend to be "clumpy," meaning that I'll have a couple of extremely busy weeks and then a couple of weeks where I have nothing to do, so I spend a lot of time on my laptop. I'm doing so much in the way of transcription, transposing, and arranging that I almost feel as though they should give me the title Asst. Scribe of Music or something similar. It's nice to be useful, and I love doing it. I think it's really neat that after all my qualms about serving a mission, we should be sent to one where we both can use the talents we've been given to build the kingdom. It couldn't have worked out better. I love watching Bob at work -- today he took photos of 37 incoming missionaries as well as a group photo and it's pure enjoyment to watch him work with the people and get them to respond. He gets lovely shots and then makes them look even better afterwards. He'll be missed when he leaves.

We had a really good snowfall about 3 days ago but it's mostly gone now. The cold has stayed on, though, but so far we're handling it well. Bob is going to go to the DMV and pick up a Handicap placard for me so that on days when it is rainy or snowy we can use the garage at work. Doc Hansen gave us the form and it's all filled out and ready to turn in. Wish I could take it to Texas with me!

Life is good, and we're happy!!

I've been negligent

I can't believe I haven't posted any pictures of the destruction of the ZCMI complex. It's a subject of rapt interest in all the zones that have east-facing windows with a view of South Temple. I have a video, which I don't even know if I can embed here. The first part, of Dexter the T. Rex at work is pretty good, but then I began waving the camera around and talking to a friend, because I thought I had turned the camera off. So once the picture turns into the scooter handlebars you can quit watching. The other two are the way the place looked about the middle of last week, and the the way it looked after we came back from a day off. Dexter is really chewing up that building!

We had a lovely encounter earlier this week and it was a huge surprise and about as delightful as anything could possibly be. We bumped into Bob and Linda Little from Simi Valley, who had stopped off in SLC for some supplies before making a whirlwind visit to California and then returning to serve the remainder of their mission at the Nauvoo temple. They looked great and we were thrilled to see them. And then a couple days later I finally made contact with an old singing friend from California, Dick Bybee, who is working in the Church Office Building. He sang with me and my sons in both the Cambridge Singers and various church choirs. We're going to go to lunch next week and he can meet my dear husband. I'm looking forward to that!

As for the rest of the week -- we had 2 soup socials on Monday, when it was still quite warm outside, and we went to a concert at the tabernacle last night, when it was finally beginning to turn nippy. Today it rained, so perhaps winter is here to stay. I haven't had much to do at work and so have been getting a lot of music projects done. Most of it is for other people, but some of it is for me, me, me.

Here goes with the pictures. Wish me luck!

Sorry, but I can't get the video to load. Too bad. I keep hoping that Dexter doesn't find Wall-E.

Fall colors

I promised you fall color photos, but there wasn't room in the last post, so I'm doing them separately. Wish they were more spectacular.

Like a woman with pms needs chocolate . . .

. . . I need the Tabernacle choir broadcasts, preferably in the Tabernacle itself. The pics are from this morning's broadcast, and we had the added treat of being quite close to Pres. Monson, who snuck in at the end to present an award. In addition to the fantastic music, we enjoy watching the technical things happen, particularly the camera work. We love watching the big boom camera, because of the choreography the cameraman has to go through. The other pictures are just of the gorgeous autumn colors we are seeing right now. Most of the bright red is gone, and I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of it, but it's still pretty breathtaking to come out on our sidewalk and look across the street to the Conference Center. All the gardens have been uprooted and replanted with bulbs, pansies, poppies, and crocuses. I can't wait for tulip season!!

There must be news but I can't think of any right now. I've been having a battle with severe fatigue but I believe it's getting better. I feel like a terrible wimp sometimes. With Christmas coming up there's lots of music on the horizon and it makes me happy -- frustrated, because all of my flute and choir music is in the garage back in Texas -- but happy nevertheless.

Remember how when I was really involved in the Young Women's program all those activities (I'm soo not an activity person) made my ulcer bleed? Someone must have gotten wind of that and wants to bump me off, because Bob and I are on 2 planning committees for branch and mission activities. If I didn't know for a fact that the Lord loves me, I'd wonder if the Lord loved me. Well, yes, I know He loves me because he uncovered a photo of one of my ancestors (I sent it out to my family members) for me, and I've been in touch with the fellow who posted it. We'll be exchanging information; always an exciting prospect.

I never know where the photos are going to turn up on the blog. I don't seem to have any control over them. But wherever they wind up -- here they are, for your viewing pleasure.

Sorry! I forgot to post the pictures!

Life is just one party after another

We had another party yesterday morning. They added a lot of the Wasatch Front temples to the New.FamilySearch program -- a long awaited happening, hence the party. We were all invited out to the lobby of our floor for cinnamon rolls (second time this week!) and hot chocolate. The one picture is Elder Brinkerhof, of the World Wide Support Group, and Elder Redd, one of our favorite YMs. The other one is "Mean" Don Green, our favorite mail man.

They wanted to get as many bugs out of the new program as possible before bringing the Utah temples on board, because they knew what a big load they would be putting on the resources. It's amazing to hear the technological background of these fantastic programs they are developing, and the amount and kind of information that is and shortly will be available for everyone in the world to take advantage of. We feel very privileged to be a small part of this.

The weather is quite a bit warmer today and will continue balmy through the end of the week. I'm taking my sweetie out for "supper" tonight in honor of his birthday, but we've pretty much decided to skip the food and go straight for the ice cream. Leatherby's, here we come!

This is what the fuss was all about

Beautiful, isn't it? We took a bunch of pictures, but I'll just show you three -- the Young Missionaries getting the cart down the hall to our cubicle (16 cartons!); Bob and The Book; and our Mission President's wife, Sister Halverson, whom I dearly love. The labor pains were intense but the result was worth it.

Here's the evidence -

This is what we were looking at today from the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. I was out there resting between Relief Society and Sacrament meeting as I had to conduct the choir and was still feeling awful from this bug I've had. I must say that it looked beautiful coming down, but I was extremely grateful that it stopped before we had to leave for home.

We decided not to go to Gerry and Marilyn's as I not only don't want to expose them to a bug, but tomorow I have to get up extremely early and play the organ for the Devotional tomorrow morning. It will be nice, though, because the Women's Choir is singing one of my arrangements. So I'd better be good!

I admit it, I'm a wimp

Okay, so for the first time we have voluntarily made the decision not to go to the Tab Choir broadcast this morning (the other 2 times we missed were involuntary). Any why did we so choose, you ask? Because it's SNOWING! Urgh! October 12, 2008, still the hot season in California and Texas, we have snow falling. We have to go out once to go to church and that seems like about enough outings for me in my scooter. I think the wind chill puts about minus 79 degrees on my knees, or so it seems. Maybe I'll send my hunter-gatherer out to go kill a buffalo for me and then I'll be nice and warm. Actually, I don't know why I'm whining -- we're going to have a high of 43 today, not even freezing.

On a nicer note, the books will be shipped to our department tomorrow. I'll take a picture and post it. You won't be thrilled by it, but I will.

Speaking of books, I don't know if I've ever shared this nugget with my family: my darling cousin-by-marriage, who lives here in Utah, has written a book which has been accepted and is in the editing process. It's a novel, and she asked me if it was okay if she based her male romantic lead on . . . Deane! I tried to picture his reaction to news like that and could barely stop laughing long enough to give her my permission. I can't wait to read that book! While my family pulls themselves together I will explain to non-family readers that Deane, while I loved him dearly, was NOT a romantic character. 'Nuff said!

Sorry for the delay

I've been having password problems, although I think it was mostly my fault. Plus, I've been too busy and too tired to blog much. We just had a lovely weekend; not only was my daughter Debby here for a visit, but we attended our first live General Conference, and it was really wonderful. Bob, Deb, and I went to both of the morning sessions and Bob attended the Saturday priesthood session. We all tried valiantly to stay awake through the afternoon broadcasts, but didn't have much luck with that. During the evening priesthood session Debby and I went to the Joseph Smith building and looked at a beautiful exhibit of photographs depicting the life of Christ. They were stunning, and I am anxious to obtain a DVD of the making thereof, assuming one is even available. There is a web site about the display, called reflectionsofchrist.org.

I feel so amazed sometimes at the twists and turns my life has taken. I would never have predicted that I would willingly spend a whole year in Salt Lake City, nor would I have chosen to have the things happen in my life that led up to this situation. If the choices had been mine to make I'm sure I would have taken the easy road, and I shudder to think about what I would have missed out on. This has been a wonderful 4 months and the time has flown by. Literally, before we are ready for it we will have to be thinking about re-locating back home and while we really miss our home, our family, and our friends, it will be terribly difficult to leave behind the friends we've made here, whom we love dearly, and the work, which is so satisfying and -- let's be honest -- fun! There is a lot of laughter occuring constantly in the Admin. Zone, but I believe we are light-hearted rather than light-minded (there is a difference!), for we all take this work very seriously. But no one here takes him-or-herself seriously, which makes them all delightful to be around.

I haven't been doing much picture-taking lately, so I only have one to show you. We took this at Leatherby's, where Bob, Deb, and I went on Friday night with some friends from the mission. It illustrates my point perfectly:

Let the record show --

That today, the 24th of September, we approved the final proof copy of the Mission Memories book and left it with the printer. It's done! Out of our hands! In print! When we get the first bound copy I'll take a photo of it and post it so our adoring public can see what we've been up to in the Publications Department. No wonder we're so tired tonight. We went to a temple devotional after work and slept through the entire thing, like a couple of senior citizens. Sheesh.

Awww...

I opened my e-mail tonight and saw the following from a Flute List member:

Dear List: My flute choir is playing Nancy W. Wood's "Pedazitos" in concert this weekend, and in preparing the program I can't find her birthdate anywhere. I'm assuming she's currently amongst the living, and if anyone can help out I'd be grateful - perhaps she's even a List member? If we solve the mystery, perhaps Larry can add her to his composer page. Thanks, Rebecca Quigley

So, of course, I had to answer it, and now the entire flute world knows my real age. Of course, I have several different ages, so maybe they could average them out and arrive at something a little more kind: parts of my brain are very mature, around 45 I'd say, but parts are spiraling into senility, which is scary. But average in my gullibility factor, say around 10, and things look much nicer. My back and knees are around 110, but my elbows are easily 16 or 17, as long as you don't factor in the upper arm stuff sloshing around. Let's just stick to the elbows for this exercise (if Katisha can do it in the Mikado, so can I). My right eye is about 87, but my left eye is only about 45 or so. My hands look like the wicked witch in Snow White but my feet are in great shape! So that makes the average . . . mumble, mumble. . .
75 and 25 divided by . . . I'm just guessing about 30. In fact, that's an age I'd be happy to stick with. I wonder if I can convince anyone else.

In the real world, Bob came in for some lovely compliments on his camera work yesterday. We had our 4-month interview with our mission president, a very intimidating gentleman, and he said that there was a marked improvement in the photos since Bob has been taking them. He appreciates the way Bob understands light and uses it effectively. He's been taking such lovely exit shots of departing missionaries that he's gotten a lot of requests for copies from people who have said they've never liked any of the photos before now. It's very gratifying, needless to say! There's no doubt in my mind that he was called to be here. He's setting an awfully high standard for whoever follows.

Addendum to the addendum

I see that I never did post about my recordings. I guess I was thinking about my journal. Suffice it to say that I thought I had lost my recordings forever, including the one of Cameron singing "So Many Voices," and I was a little bummed about it. Okay . . . a LOT bummed. But now I am NOT bummed, and besides my husband just handed me a dish of ice cream. Life is good.

Happy Addendum!!

I found my recordings! They tried to outfox me, but I persevered and won. Ha! Now I have them safe and sound where I can always get at them -- not that I do, very often. But it's like looking at baby pictures -- you don't do it all the time, but you'd sure hate to lose any of them. I am aware that you were not all dying to hear that, but I needed to crow. Cock-a-doodle, etc. Have a happy day!

This 'n that

You may not see anything different, but I certainly do. Everything has changed on my little computer since I re-installed the OS. The only things I seem to have permanently lost (and I'm rather sad about it) are all my flute music recordings. I had them on my external hard drive and tried to import them, and they got lost in the ether somewhere. The other files are merely lost on my computer and I can usually find them in some illogical place or other, but at least they're there.

Hey, Frisco people -- do you recognize anyone in the above photo? Reading from left to right: Elder Zornes, Sister Zornes, Tessie Roberts (President Roberts's mother), and Arvilla Finlayson, formerly of the Frisco 5th Ward, and one of my old visiting teaching victims. We had them over for lunch today after the conference, along with my first trainer, Ann Bettinson, and her husband Neil. We had such a good time! These are all people that I love dearly and whose company I love being in. We now have it on good authority where Pres. Roberts gets his famous sense of humor from, and we have material that will take him a long time to live down. Of course, now the group has material on me that I will have to live down, because when we walked in the door after conference it was to discover that the oven, which I had carefully set to come on at 10:30, hadn't cooked the pork roast -- I had forgotten to set the oven temperature! So we did some quick micro-waving, and everything was delicious. But it was a little embarrassing.

I know Bob will talk about the multi-stake conference in his journal. It was wonderful. We had great seats, and the talks were wonderful. It's always so good to hear dear Pres. Monson speak. He can tell a joke with the best deadpan delivery I ever saw. We all loved him.

I have nothing particular to say, but it's nice to be back to normal on my computer, and I just plain wanted to send something. We've been following the train wreck news pretty closely because we both know exactly where it happened -- so close to Bob's old home -- and it's the commuter train that Deane and Debby used to take to work. Very, very sad.

Hey -- I love you all!! Every single one of you!

The computer problem wasn't our router at all. I don't know what Bob's problem was, but it seems to be fixed now. My little baby, on the other hand, is one sick puppy and I've spent the last few days trying to save all my Encore music files onto my external hard drive. Then tonight or tomorrow I say "Hail and farewell" to whatever is left on my sicko hard drive and re-install the guts back with my recovery disks, which will force me to re-purchase Encore (not cheap, but absolutely necessary to the quality of my life!). And then, Dear Readers, I can go back to blogging with a vengeance, and post photos (I believe I have most of them saved, thank goodness) and generally foist stuff upon you. Just hang in there, and keep on enjoying Bob's journal posts.

We're having a huge multi-stake conference this Sunday, with some 69 wards meeting in the Conference Center (ours is one of the lucky ones!) for a meeting presided over by President Monson. Everyone else is doing the broadcast thing in their respective meeting house. Then we're having company over for lunch -- our Texas stake president's mother, another Texas friend, and my old trainer and her husband. It should be great fun and a lovely Sunday.

Bob is very close to getting the Mission Memories books finished and ready to go to the printer for a galley copy. Which is why we're here 45 minutes after quitting time, and look to be staying for another 45 minutes or so. But we sure would like to finish this and take an afternoon, or even a whole day, off for Personal Research. Stay tuned!

We seem to be having a problem with our router/gateway or whatever it's called and have someone coming tomorrow night to fix them. We can get online without any trouble at the library or in the Starbucks parking lot. I'm without any urgent assignment right now, so will try to catch up and hopefully post some photos that I've been wanting to share. So here, in whatever order this screwy program decides to place them are: my branch choir, our trainers, Elder and Sister Tom and Tressa White, and shots of our cubicle.

A Testimony

Those in my family who happen not to be LDS may wish to skip this entry. I have to write it -- it's been bubbling up all day, and every time Bob and I discuss it we get weepy. It's about personal revelation, and it's very difficult to express in words.

Long years ago I read the following thought from Brother Robert Cundick, a former Tabernacle organist. I've forgotten his exact words by now, although I have the letter in my box of memorabilia. He said that good music can give one a personal revelation. I only had a slight inkling of what he meant back then -- I was young and I was new in the church; but as the years have gone by and I've had some extremely moving and memorable musical experiences I have come to truly believe this. This morning my sweet companion and I experienced together an exaltation that we haven't yet experienced here, although we've come close. The Tab choir was singing an arrangement of Gustav Holsts's "All Creatures of Our God and King," with an extended Alleluia section; not a fugue, but contrapuntal in nature, that kept building and building to a great and glorious climax. There was no message in the revelation beyond the fact that God does indeed live and that our life after this one will be glorious beyond expression. We felt that we were at the very gates of Heaven. It's a humbling and at the same time exalting feeling and the emotion we experienced cannot be expressed with mere words. We had only one hanky between us and we were both using it. We were very grateful to be alive today, and more than grateful to know that when we are no longer here in the flesh we will be even more alive in our next state, and involved in celestial music that we can only dream about now. I feel very tranquil, almost excited, about going on over. But please don't worry -- I'm not going to stop taking my vitamins. Life with my Bob is too lovely to give it up any time soon.

And on another musical note, our branch choir acquired some new singers today, and my 30 folders weren't quite enough to go around. Life doesn't get much better!

And on yet another musical note, tomorrow is our regular Monday morning mission devotional, and I get to play that beautiful organ for it. Although I'm not sure exactly how it came about because no one officially asked me, I seem to have become the default accompanist for the Women's Choir, so now I'm doing three things that I dearly love to do -- sing, conduct, and play. I won't even miss the flute at this rate. I'm still waiting to sacrifice for this mission. So far it's been pure joy. I will say, however, that although we enjoy our new assignments very much (or we will after this edition of the Mission Memories book is put to bed), we do miss working with the patrons and staff over in the Family History Library. We don't seem to have as much time now for personal research as we did, although we have made some progress. Bob's has been pretty awesome but mine rather less, but nonetheless real. Our function now seems to be to serve the missionaries rather than the patrons, which is fine and dandy but (being human) we'd like to do it All. So we get a little tickled when we're at the library doing research and a patron sees our badge and assumes that we're there to help. So we help, and we love it. Bob is proposing to go over there next time we have a lull in the office and put on an "Ask Me" badge and just help out. Tempting!

Pictures 'n stuff

Bob says that I ought to post some of the pictures of various activities we've been to. So I will, but by now you have learned the sad lesson that I'm not very good at this particular venture. But -- here goes:


I never know how these things are going to arrange themselves, and they keep moving around. The top two pics were taken at a bi-monthly "aloha" party they have to say hello to the new folks and goodbye to those who are leaving during the ensuing 2 months. I should explain some of the people: In the line dancing shot, the couple on the left end is a counselor in our mission presidency and his wife. Doesn't he look like a Marlboro Man? He actually is an old horse man. They're really great people and we enjoy them a lot. The other group of ladies were some of the ones that came into the mission the same time we did (our Group). I love those ladies!

The bottom ones were taken at a barbecue/picnic deep in City Creek Canyon and featured (besides delicious food) a bird show for entertainment. I always seem to be making a potluck dish to take somewhere on Monday night. Last Monday, this Monday, and next Monday we have 3 different socials, one for the branch, one for our group, and one for the zone we just left at the library. And after the last-mentioned potluck, we're meeting our own tiny little FHE group at Leatherby's, where they have killer ice cream dishes. Bob and I shared a "small" banana split last time that was so huge we had to bring half of it home. We're just partying fools here.

The top photo of Bob and I was uploaded last, but went in the top spot -- not my doing. Go figure. Now you know why we're having such a good time here! And in the idle hours we work at the Joseph Smith building with people we really enjoy, doing work we really like, and for the Lord, whom we love so dearly. It will be hard to come home.

After the Niagara dump, gentle rain and sunshine

It's been a lovely day. I love conducting this choir (the Ensign 3rd Branch Choir). We sang today after only 2 short rehearsals, along with a wonderful flutist from the area, and I was deeply satisfied. I checked with Bob to see if he was feeling the same things I was, because he also has a new assignment in which he can use the talents and skills he's been developing for years. I feel as though I'm just unfurling, or opening like a blossom, to warm rain and sunshine and comfort. We're both doing things we love. Not that we didn't love working in the library, but we were always just on the verge of our comfort zones, and trying mightily to remember everything we learned in training that would be helpful to a patron's particular problem. Now in this last week Bob has taken many pictures; group shots, mug shots, portrait shots, and scenery, and has been on PhotoShop a great deal of the time. I have finally gotten a regular assignment to practice on and play the beautiful organ in the chapel, have gotten a calling to conduct the branch choir. I quite often have time to work on my arrangements in the quiet spots at work, and a member of the mission presidency this week asked me to look at an original poem that meant a great deal to him with an eye toward composing music to go with it. And in addition I've always loved clerical-type work, and have lots of those kinds of jobs to do during the day. We love the couple who are training us and will hate to see them leave. Hope nobody slips us any Miracle-Gro in our lemonade -- we'll start fizzing like firecrackers.

Welcome news from the Outside World

I don't think I mentioned that we had the pleasure of seeing Bro. and Sister Mergill in the library not too long ago. That was delightful in itself, but I think they must have gone back to Texas and said something, because this week we've had some delightful e-mail letters from friends in the Frisco 4th ward, and they were very welcome and much appreciated! I've been keeping up with the local blogs as best I can and it makes me feel like I'm not so far away, but we were thrilled to receive the notes, as well as the ward directory -- with photos!! I've been mooning over it. Thanks so much to everyone.

I'm a little apprehensive about coming back -- not only will Amy and her family be gone but it sounds as though the ward will have changed drastically. That's a little worrisome to me -- I liked it fine the way it was. But growth is exciting too, so we will adjust. We're so glad that the Kovach family will still live close by.

We are loving our new assignments in the Administration Zone. We have the busiest printers in the zone in our cubicle, so we have members of the mission presidency as well as others popping in and out all day long. It's great. Bob has already taken the photos of the latest group of incoming missionaries and we both enjoyed that.

Not only is all well in Zion, but Zion is a lot of fun!!

A chance encounter and a zone transfer ... all in one day!

It certainly has been an interesting day! Started out with a general authority telling me to slow down on my scooter. (He was joking, or at least he was smiling). We had just crossed the street on No. Temple and were blocked by a large group of people who had apparently just left the temple. I was more or less stopped, trying to maneuver around and through them, and this very tall gentleman, with a big smile, said "Slow down on that thing." I just laughed because people are always telling me not to break speed limits, etc. I thought he looked familiar and thought he might be someone I had seen in Texas, but 2 seconds later it dawned on me it was L. Tom Perry. Fun!! We were told right off the bat when we came here that if we ever saw a General Authority walking across the plaza or Temple Square we were to leave them alone and not bother them, because they're very busy men and don't have time to spare. They didn't say anything about General Authorities harrassing me, however.

But here's the real meaty news of the day -- right after we got to work today we were asked to come in and speak with a member of the mission presidency, and Bob was called to be the mission photographer. So starting tomorrow we are back permanently on days, 8-4, with holidays off (the library staff isn't always that lucky), a beautiful and large cubicle with windows that look out on the gorgeous plaza, and lots to do. Bob's main assignment will be putting together the publication called "Mission Memories," and taking all the photos of the news missionaries. Mine will be keeping track of money and ordering badges, and I'm not sure what all else. We will train with the couple presently in this position until they leave at the end of August, and then we'll be on our own.

So even while we're rather sad about leaving our friends in the U.S./Canada Zone, we're very excited about this new assignment. Bob will be wonderful, and I'll have a good time. Two great new callings in just 4 days -- life doesn't get much better.

Win some, lose some . . .

Two things of note happened today; one was wonderful and the other was just absolutely awful. The wonderful one was that I was called to be the new branch choir director, and I'm pretty jazzed about that. I won't start until Aug. 10, and you can't tell anyone from the branch (like you would!) until after 1 o'clock Mountain Standard Time. That's the good news -- here's the bad. I had some free time at the library this afternoon so I checked my e-mail and discovered that I had invited a virus into my system and it took over my entire mail box and sent this horrible sales-pitch e-mail out to hundreds of people, some that I haven't corresponded with for years. I was mortified and have been trying to send out warnings to all, but I don't know if it's reaching everyone or not. So, if you got one please accept my most abject apologies. I would never send out something like that, but hopefully most of you already know that.

No wonder it's so hard to do research!

This little nugget of humor was in one of our training manuals:

"I am a census takers for the city of Bufflow. Our City has groan very fast in resent years, and now in 1865, it has become a hard and time consuming job to count all the peephill. There are not many that con do this werk, as it is nesessarie to have an ejucashun, wich a lot of pursons still do not have. Anuther atribeart needed for this job is god spelling, for meny of the pephill to be counted can hardle speek inglish, let alon spel there names!"

I can vouch for the above, having indexed over 20,000 names before I left for SLC and looking at censuses almost every day at the library, and I can assure you that when I run across a census with clear handwriting and good spelling I pray for that census taker to have a great reward.

Speaking of Greek (oh, we weren't?), I have pretty much conquered Irfanview and love it, and am now trying to make friends with Soundex. I may manage it -- I still have 10 months left to go. I just don't have the right atribearts for some of these challenges, but thank goodness I have god spelling going for me. And the peephill are great and very helpful.

All is well in Zion.

This 'n that

It's been an interesting week. We're adjusting to the late shift pretty well, but it's helped that we've been given the week off as far as early morning choir practice is concerned. We had 2 weeks in a row of 4 early rehearsals per week in preparation for the big Pioneer Day concert at the Devotional Monday morning. As it was the Walkers' last performance and everyone was bummed about that they gave us time off for good behavior. Monday we start in again, 3 days a week getting up at 4:45 a.m., but now we can come back home and take a nap before work. For those of you who happen to be my family, no, they didn't ask me to conduct a rehearsal -- everything was geared toward the big event on Monday. Easy come, easy go, I say. Instead I will be playing a piano solo in sacrament meeting this Sunday. With no piano to practice on and very little in the way of music. It should be a real wow. I don't think.

As far as working in the library, we're holding our own and learning a lot. I've found a few more names -- none in my direct line but some corollary lines, which was just as exciting. I've learned some nifty new web sites. It's amazing what's out there.

Our 3rd anniversary was spent working the late shift, so we just had lunch at J.B.'s and said "Happy Anniversary," and that was about it. We spent Pioneer Day in much the same quiet way and dared to eat breakfast at home instead of on a church lawn somewhere, and instead of walking down to South Temple to watch the parade turned on the TV. Then we went to the library and only worked a 4 hour shift (the library closed early today) but eschewed the fireworks tonight. So I guess we aren't really converted to Utah-ism yet. We really enjoy it when we get to relax at home. "This is the Place" for us. I will say, however, that being at the library is a very happy experience. Everyone in our zone is either nice or fun, and most of the time both at the same time. It's a great place to be. I can see us serving another mission here, after we've been home a while and taken care of some things. But I'll need a lot of family soak time before I leave again. I really get to missing our kids.

But today was the highlight of the week -- a real bonanza! This on top of listening to 2 hours of an institute class one of my sons is teaching on The Savior of the World: A phone call from a daughter, e-mails from a brother and a daughter, 2 notes with precious photos in them, and an envelope with a letter from another daughter and letters and pictures from grandsons, one of whom wrote "I love you" in "Chinees" letters. Life can hold no more joy than I had today.

For the Frisco/McKinney crowd

We had the pleasure today of running smack dab into the Copelands in the library today. "Pleasure" may be an understatement, as they were the folks who were kind enough to meet with us one evening and share their mission experiences with us, and get us in touch with the recuiter for the mission. We are so grateful for their encouragement. We see Sister Finlayson (also from Frisco 5th) nearly every day and she has invited us over for supper Sunday after church. The Copelands are nicely settled in Salt Lake and very anxious to get back to work in the library. I hope they wind up in U.S./Canada, but with all their experience they may become trainers. There is such a need for missionaries here in just about every zone.

And -- a propos of completely nothing at all -- I've been rather fascinated by the professional panhandlers here in Temple Square. I don't use the word "professional" lightly -- they have handlers/managers and make pretty good money from the tourists. The missionaries are all counseled to ignore them, as there is plenty of help available for them in the area; in fact I believe there is a special bishop called to take care of the needs of the indigent. But they aren't interested in that kind of help when they can make so much money off the tourists. We have the same 3 or 4 every single day, and I'm beginning to recognize them. It was very hard to ignore them at first but now that I know they have managers and nice houses, and one even has a boat or some such luxury, I'm finding it a lot easier. I guess they look on it as a career, just like banking or plumbing or something. Fascinating.

For Alex alums . . .

I'm sorry to keep harping on the MoTab broadcasts, but they are so incredible. This morning was another treat; however it was also great vindication for a director several of us have had the privilege of singing for: Alex Ruggieri. The choir did Tchnesnokov's "Now We Sing Thy Praise," in English. It was heavenly and made me weepy, but not nearly the way it did when we sang it in Russian for Alex. He felt all the Russian liturgical music so deeply and transmitted this love to the choir so well that it was often difficult to get through those pieces, and this one in particular. I wish I could remember the title in Russian -- all I remember is the "A-li (with a tilda, please) -lu-i-as" and the way they interwove and the way the bass section sounded. I can never thank him enough for those experiences. If you can find a re-broadcast I recommend it -- or, if you can cadge a recording from one of us (Greg, Cameron, Amy, Linda, or me), even better!

I keep remembering my setting apart blessing for the first mission Bob and I served in North Dallas. I remembering being told that I had a gift for loving and appreciating music and I was told that our Father in Heaven also loves music and that it brings him great joy when we produce it. That has stayed with me ever since, and has brought an additional measure of satisfaction to anything musical that I'm fortunate enough to be involved in.

I'm so grateful to be here.

We're Official! We're on the schedule . . .

. . . and we're working the night shift (1 to 9). We have Monday "off" but are working Saturday to compensate. When I say "off," I mean that we don't have to show up at the library unless we just really want to soak ourselves in it. What we get to do instead is get up at 4:45 (on our DAY OFF!) and attend choir practice, and sing for the 7:30 devotional, after which we get to come home and recover, and then trek back at 11:15 for another devotional for the Church Service Missionaries. Then we finally get the rest of Monday off and can get ready for a Branch picnic that evening.

I have to admit it's been fun working the floor this week, and we've actually been of help to more than one patron. There's still a lot I don't know, but I have enough to squeak by, and the Spirit of Elijah is alive and well and very active. One lady today came in with a name and a lot of frustration but found 127 (!) pages of information, and all I said was "what happens if you click on this heading?" I certainly didn't know what I was doing -- someone else was the co-pilot. We were both pretty thrilled, and it made my week. I'm even being helped with my fatigue factor, and even though we turn the lights off by 9:30 at the latest I'm still not getting more than about 4 hours of sleep a night. Maybe working the night shift for a few weeks will solve that particular problem.

We do love it here and we do enjoy what we're doing. But we also love and miss our family a terrific amount and think of you often and pray for you constantly. I'm so grateful that we've been promised blessings for our family members while we're serving here -- we feel deeply for your worries and frustrations but have confidence that everything will come out right. Amy and Matt might even get their furniture before August!! And also -- I don't know if anyone from the ward ever reads this, but I do miss my friends in the ward and particularly the Frisco 4th Ward Choir; an awesome group of people. However, we're making friends here that we truly love and will miss an awful lot when we go back home. But it's amazing who you meet in SLC -- yesterday (and again today) I ran into a lady I knew back in Simi Valley, Sister Bishara from the deaf ward. We hadn't had contact with each other for years and years, but there she is serving a mission in the FHL, I would imagine in the deaf zone. What a delight that was! I have yet to run into an unpleasant person here -- even the tourists are great. It's a lovely place to be.

I'll tell you a little secret and it isn't anything I ever thought I would say: sometimes I miss the babies crying in sacrament meeting. It's lovely that everyone in our branch is old and tired (and quiet) and you do feel the spirit a lot more during sacrament meeting, but on the 4th of July weekend we had a lot of visitors, and someone brought a baby to church, and it cried a little bit. I was delighted, and felt like I was back home. Occasionally we get a baby in the library and wish I could pick it up and cuddle it.

Life is so good!

Oh my --

I don't know how other missionaries feel, but I feel very inadequate right now. We've had our last day of training and I have a pile of material and lots of scribbled notes, but if someone asked me for my name, I feel as though I'd have to ask for help. And they're going to turn us loose on the library floor?! As tough as it was, I almost wish I could turn around and go back into training. We had our last class this afternoon, and got our schedule for the rest of the week. We're going to be doing a lot of shadowing and reverse shadowing, a kind of Siamese Twin patron assistance team. It should be very interesting, and probably rather scary.

On the bright side, I've been asked to conduct the Elijah Women's Chorus for one of their rehearsals. Our lovely director is leaving the mission on the 23rd and they're scraping around in the bottom of the barrel for a replacement. I don't think I'll be the replacement, but it will be fun to direct such a good choir, with such fabulous accompanists. I plan to have me a real good time before I fall off the podium into oblivion. Such chances don't come very often.

On a brighter note, it is incredibly beautiful here and I'm going to put in some photos to prove it. I don't know which ones they'll be yet, but chances are they'll be in the Plaza, around the Church Office Building, or Temple Square. Or, if Bob hasn't yet shown his gorgeous night shot of the valley from his brother-in-law's house, I might put that in. Enjoy!

* * * * * * * * *

Addendum: I obviously have a lot to learn about uploading photos. Sorry about the mish-mash! Just do the best you can with them.

Serious Deprivation (or is the word depravity?)

This is how sad things are when you don't have a piano available. We're not complaining -- we have adapted. I'm sorry the red lights in the keys don't show up. They really help me to know where to put my fingers. Pretty soon I'll be able to play a real tune.

Matt! This is for you!

Sorry about that last one. My pinkie twitched!

I finally saw the Monastery/Monk video (about tech support). I loved it. As soon as I can get it on my flash drive (the guy promised -- all I have to do is find him and hold him to it) I will put a link in the blog so you can all appreciated what the underpaid pre-medieval monks had to go through. So some of our classes are actually a lot of fun.

Hope everyone is having a pleasant 4th of July. We are.

Matt! This is for you!

Picture Niagara Falls . . .

. . . and picture yourself standing at the bottom of the torrent, trying to get a drink of water. That's what us poor trainees feel like as we finish our third week of training. There is so much information to give us, and it's coming at us so quickly, that we all feel half-drowned and not very knowledgeable. Fatigue is our watchword -- you can usually spot the trainees by their appearance (red eyes, lots of material, a sort of confused expression) -- or maybe that's just the poor Zorneses. In fact, Matt had a very good description of our early morning attitude. We keep plugging along with these two encouraging factors in mind: Our setting apart blessings, and the fact that every single person we've talked to has been through the same thing, with the same feelings. But they all "got it" and a lot of our trainers have been here a relatively short time. I should put in a third factor -- the Elijah Choirs; Men's, Women's and Mixed. It makes getting up at 4:45 a.m. worthwhile (I can't believe I just wrote that), and I mean that. So I know we'll make it, and we hope that by the end of our 4th and last week of training we'll know enough to be turned loose on the poor patrons. I know that a lot of the patrons know much, much more than I ever will, but there are constantly folks coming in who have never been to the Library before, nor have they ever done a lick of genealogy research. My comfort is that perhaps we can learn together, under the gun, as it were. As long as they don't want their lines traced back to Adam before the end of the shift. (That's a joke, I think.)

Does that sound whiney? I don't mean it to! We really are having a wonderful time and are so very glad to be here. It's beautiful here right now, and we have a great group. I'm even learning some of their names -- we've had to introduce ourselves about eleventy-eleven times, before every class and training exercise. We've begun saying "We are still Elder and Sister Zornes, from Dallas," and everyone sympathizes. Also this was a very good waker-upper: I had been feeling rather smug about my first four generations, and then I discovered how much wasn't done, how poorly it was sourced, and how much work there is still to do. I'm really glad I'm learning all this stuff -- it's been very helpful. Now if I could just learn the other 99.75 %!!

We've Got Your Bach

I'm still a little emotional as I write this, so I may not be too coherent. I used to wonder why this church, the one church actually presided over and directed by our Savior, has had such a lack of music worthy of its Eternal nature. There have, of course, been many very talented and capable members who have contributed enormously to our literature, but we have never had one with truly global stature, who whose works are going to be part of classical choral literature for many years to come. We have one now, Mack Wilberg, an awesome individual indeed. I have always loved his hymn arrangements, both LDS and early American, but I never realized the depth of the man until I heard a recording of his Requiem, and went straight to heaven.

We were unable to attend the broadcast this morning because Bob is fighting off a cold and hadn't had a comfortable or restful night. So to compensate I put on my headphones and put in a new CD we bought yesterday, the aforementioned Requiem, and was rewarded beyond words to express. If you don't have a good, even great, sound system you need to hear it on headphones, so it comes straight into your head. It's a personal revelation and speaks so strongly to your spirit that God lives and that he loves us.

The church finally has the composer and the music it deserves. This is a great time to be alive. (Note to Cameron: if B&N doesn't have it, I'll send you one.)

We're assigned!

We had our last bit of training today, followed by an inspiring "Go Forth" meeting, followed by a trip to the temple. That was followed by lunch in the cafeteria, wherein the mission presidency bussed our tables. Neat! I'm glad they didn't offer to wash our feet -- I felt funny enough giving them my dirty dishes and used napkin.

Our assignment is the stuff of Bob's fondest dreams -- we're assigned to the Family History Library, in the U.S./Canada reference zone. So now we go back into training for two more weeks, and I hope that I can learn enough to be able to help other people. Our trainers assure us that we can, and everyone who knows anything about that zone says that it's really wonderful and that we will love it. I'm including photos of our trainers, Sister Wallace (Bob's) and Sister Bettinson (mine). I've already uncovered some new information during training and I am pretty jazzed about being turned loose in the "candy store."

We got home early today, but will start in again on Monday with an early call for choir, so right now I am going to take a nap! How lovely to have an apartment with two matching recliners. The housing team was inspired, for sure.

The suspense builds . . .

. . . as we approach our final 2 1/2 days of training. Where will we be assigned? Our fellow trainees are beginning to cautiously ask one another, "Do you have any preference? Where do you think you may wind up?" Some are having to struggle to learn computer skills, and some are there mainly because their spouses are genealogy addicts and are having to learn research skills. Some have definite preferences, which I believe the presidency takes into consideration but doesn't let it take precedence over their own inspiration.

We've had over a week in the training center, have been taken on a tour of the Church History Library, an awesome place, and have experience in the big Family History Library, so by now I feel so strongly about the inspired guidance of this whole enterprise (and it's a huge and magnificent organization) that I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with whatever decision they make for me. I haven't stated that I had a preference, so it will be up to them. I suppose they get some input from my trainer, a patient and capable woman. They seem rather interested in Bob's professional photography career, but I don't have anything exceptional to offer. Of course, should they choose to put me in the Walker's office, where there are two computers and a midi keyboard -- hey! I'm all over it!

Friday is almost here . . . tick, tick, tick.

"Awe" is a very inadequate word

There are really no adequate words to describe the feeling one gets attending a Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast, or even just a rehearsal. The music is sublime and it covers the complete spectrum from playful to majestic, from tender and soft to overpoweringly loud. The spirit there is intense and we have yet to sit through a session without weeping. I've discovered another gifted arranger besides Mack Wilberg, and that is this morning's organist, Andrew Unsworth. Besides being a bionic organist (he played some exit music this morning that nearly blasted the pipes off the wall and was absolutely stunning), he performed this morning his own arrangement of one of my favorite folk tunes "Down by the Salley Gardens." If you can catch one of the re-broadcasts you'll sure be glad you did. The choir also did a Harry Belafonte number with a small combo (harmonica, guitar, and string bass) which was eventually joined by the orchestra. It was very touching, with the background of photos they shared -- a perfect Father's Day tribute. And the closer! -- the final chorus of Mendelssohn's "Elijah," And Then Shall Your Light Break Forth, with a 90 decibel AMEN at the end. I was six inches off my seat by that time, still weeping from the previous number and feeling absolutely exalted.

I think it must be a small foretaste of what it will be like to be in the presence of the Lord -- feelings of love, of gratitude, of awe at His power and strength, and of humble appreciation for His love.

I wish you all could have been there.

What a difference a week makes!

Okay -- a couple of weeks. I have to confess that I did not like Salt Lake City when we arrived here. In the first place, we were barely into the city limits when a rock kicked up from a truck tire near us and cracked our windshield. Also it was raining and rather cold and I think there was only a day or two where it was what you could call warm. The street in front of our apartment clear down to the south corner is a mess because of the new Church History Library they're building. The sidewalk on our side is torn up as well, from our apartment down to the corner. This necessitates two rather lengthy detours to walk to the Joseph Smith building, where we spend the bulk of our time until our training is over. But on our first walk over there we fell in love with the plaza. It's so gorgeous! And today we walked through Temple Square to get to the FH library and that is even more beautiful. I don't know who the master gardener is around here -- I've never seen anyone actually working -- but the flowers are exquisite and on a beautiful day like today it makes your heart sing.

We were worried about the apartment. It didn't look like much from the outside and I knew that we were going to be on the 3rd floor. But we love it, and it's very convenient. Very roomy and well laid out. And we can practice our instruments here! Also I can testify from cruel experience that the smoke alarms work. The unfortunate thing is that when they go off, they register at the fire station. Very embarrassing. At least I didn't set off the sprinkler system!

I was scared to death of beginning, not being terribly brave or confident either, and the training has been delightful and even fun. I have a lovely trainer, as does Bob, both very patient and knowledgeable women. I'm finally getting a handle on the computer programs the church deals with in family history and one of these days may even be capable enough to do it on my own.

I was afraid that I'd be without music for the whole time we're here, but I've played piano for the pre-class devotional a couple of times, will probably be playing for Relief Society, and we've been singing with both the big Elijah Choir and the men's and women's choruses. I'll be playing flute on one of the numbers for the women's choir. The directors are fabulous musicians and arrangers and marvellous choir directors and teachers. I hate to see them leave. I'll get plenty of music on this mission.

I thought I'd be among strangers, but I've already run into 2 women I knew before, one from California and one from Texas, and today in choir I sat next to a woman who recognized me from the Dallas Temple. One couple here was in a ward with some other friends of ours, so we have mutual acquaintances and we feel like friends already.

We thought there was no place to eat close to the JS building and instead there are so many choices for lunch that we have trouble making up our mind. Right across the street is not only the Deseret Book Store, but a food court as well -- with a Schlotzky's, one of our favorite places. We're trying not to get too big for our britches, but I dunno . . .

I'm beginning to love Salt Lake City.