NOTE: 2 NEW PICTURES! CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO VIEW THE PICTURE ALBUM.
Hello again everyone!
Last week has been quite interesting. Just a couple days ago we all
volunteered at the Phoenix Marathon. We spent the whole time pouring
water/Gatorade, and picking up trash. Not the most prestigious of jobs,
but it was actually kind of fun. We poured a lot of water/Gatorade and
picked up a lot of trash. We don't really go to such events to share the
gospel, but more to show our presence. You get a lot of people who
point and say, 'Look, the Elders!" And comments such as those.
We
also had Stake Conference in the Maricopa North Stake and it was very
good, except we chose to sit in the back chairs. A large family sat
right behind us with their many kids and so we didn't hear everything
from any of the speakers. They talked about the temple, service, and
keeping the Sabbath day holy.
Elder Enrique R. Falabella was the
visiting general authority, a native Spanish speaker. One thing he
taught quoting Marion G Romney of the 12 from several years ago was,
"All the easy things have been done, now all that is left is high
adventure." How true.
Elder Sands
BELOW IS A WRITE-UP BY THE MISSION ON THE ANNUAL MUSICAL FIRESIDE RECENTLY HELD:
On Sunday, Feb. 21 the Arizona Scottsdale Mission joined with the Mesa
Maricopa and Mesa Maricopa North Stakes to present our mission’s annual
musical fireside. The theme of the evening was Seek This Jesus – which
is an excerpt from Ether 12:41 “And now, I would commend you to seek
this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written.” This event
was first held last year in the Scottsdale North Stake and features the
best missionary talent combined with the best talent from the sponsoring
stakes and nearby churches of other denominations. This year the
program had choirs from 2 other churches, the Living Spirit Gospel Choir
and the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Mesa.
Under the
direction of Lori Woods and Dottie Layton, excellent musicians and choir
directors from the 2 stakes, the combined member-missionary choir
performed 2 spectacular numbers, This is the Christ (to open the
performance) and I Believe in Christ (to close the performance). From
all accounts the 80 singers became a physical and spiritual power that
spiritually lifted the entire 800 persons who gathered to view the
performance.
Under the direction of Elder Morgan, and the
supervising and arranging of Elder Johnson, the missionaries also
performed several other numbers. Elder Sands and Elder Thompson
performed a stunning version on organ and piano of For the Beauty of the
Earth. Elder Johnson joined with 3 others to form a string quartet and
played A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief with just the right amount of
tenderness and strength. The Missionary Choir performed Beautiful Savior
with Elder Sands on the piano and Elder Kirk Taylor – one of our
Service Missionaries on the organ (He also runs his own music school
here in the valley). They were perfectly led by Elder Morgan and sounded
angelic. A smaller subset of the choir then performed a perfect (I keep
using that term!) and demanding rendition of Savior, Redeemer of My
Soul – with Elder Johnson backing the group (literally) on violin.
Here is just one of the reactions from those who attended: “Another
highlight of the week was the Musical Fireside this past Sunday! It was
wonderful! We came with a less active and she burst into tears when the
Spanish Choir sang “Nearer My God to Thee”. She is from Texas and
Hispanic and she was raised speaking Spanish, but is also completely
fluent in English. Her family has been through a lot in the past year
with the sudden passing of her little brother. This event led to her
inactivity in the church, but she has recently been taking great strides
to come back. She came to church and the fireside yesterday. We are so
proud of her and all of her progress and can already see how much
happier she is.”
I thought we could never equal last year’s
performance – but I was wrong. This year’s performance combined members
and missionaries working together for His glory – it was by all measures
– a resounding success in inviting all to “seek this Jesus.”
