MTC Week #8 - Joys & Concerns

Feb 23, 2014 - During each Chorale rehearsal (Tues nights), Ryan Murphy pauses halfway through to give choir members opportunity to share "joys or concerns". It's a way for us all to get to know each other a little better and also a way for us to pray for one another, should a sorrow be shared. Not everyone participates (completely voluntary) and there are those who like to share something each week...but they are always fairly interesting and in some cases, very inspiring.

Siope

One of those inspiring ones came this past week as Siope Kinikini got up to share a "joy". He recounted an experience his mom had a few weeks ago as he was singing at his first Music and the Spoken Word program (along with the rest of us volunteers). Apparently the TV reception his mom gets in Tonga is very spotty and unreliable. So much so that she rarely tries watching anything. However, she had just arrived back from work and since she knew her son Siope would be singing, she turned on the TV to catch the program. To her sorrow, she couldn't get the antenna to pick up anything. She kept waiting and waiting and right as the program started, the reception became clear. With tears she watched the program and was even able to see her son as the camera zoomed in on Siope at one point in the program. Right as the program ended, the reception cut back out. A small miracle for a mom far away!

Another inspiring story was shared by my mother-in-law a few weeks back (I think she'd be OK if I shared this with you). I plan to share this one myself during choir one week as I'm sure others would love to hear it. I include it here straight from an email she sent:  

"As you know my father was the first person on my side of the family to join the Church.

 I'm not certain right now exactly when he was baptized, but I know it was around a year before my Mom and Dad were married.  His conversion to the Church though began years before then.

When Grandpa was younger he had a radio in his bedroom.  He often played the radio on Sunday.  One Sunday morning he was tuning his radio to a station and he came across the Tabernacle Choir singing so he left the dial there and listened to the program, which was Music and the Spoken Word. While he was listening, he suddenly had a warm feeling from the top of his head to the tip of his toes.   It left him with an indescribable joy.  Dad just thought this was all because they were a terrific choir.  He didn't think too much of it until he met my Mom and found out she belonged to the same Church.  It became apparent to him that the feeling he had all those years ago was the Holy Ghost witnessing the truthfulness of the gospel.   The feeling that he had those many years ago listening to the Choir helped him know that he should join the Church."

   

What a great story!

Anyway, there weren't a lot of additional things to report this week. Rehearsal itself on Tuesday was tiring but productive and the Thurs night school session was a revisiting of music theory. I quickly realized that all of the cramming I did for phase two of the audition (the music theory exam) has since left my brain and I was grateful for the refresher. Major, minor, triads, intervals, and lots of other fun stuff!

As an aside, they did say before rehearsal that the Tabernacle Choir was asked to sing the 2nd verse of It's A Small World for the Disney Company. Apparently Disney is going to film a bunch of notable choirs singing this song to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the song. The video will then be played at their various theme parks and venues. 

Have a great week. Look for those tiny miracles and keep a song in your heart! 

May God be with you....