A song and a prayer…..
Prayer first.
The faucet in our bathtub was leaking hot water at an alarming rate; I could almost see our water and natural gas bill climbing upward….so I shut off the hot water. No water, no leak, right?
The solution was great for keeping the utility bills in check but it was not so good for the three teens in the house that shower much more often than they clean their rooms.
After three days of cold showers, it was time to seek help. Darling Brother Jefferies is a gentleman in our neighborhood who also happens to be our home teacher. [In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, male members are assigned as home teachers to families within the congregation. Home teachers visit the homes of their assigned families about once a month to chat, give them a spiritual message and offer support and/or
assistance.] At the end of his visits, Brother Jefferies always instructs us to call him if we need anything. We needed
hot water and so I called.
Quickly he came….and quickly he went; the leak fixed and the hot water restored. Never has a repair job gone so smoothly. He had all the necessary tools with him and, serendipitously, just so happened to have a washer exactly
the size and type needed. It was miraculous. Really.
“You know,” he said as he left, his intent brown eyes testifying of his sincerity, “I am not so good at plumbing. I knelt and prayed before I left my house and asked my Father to help me do this.” In my heart’s eye I can see him humbly kneeling and petitioning Heavenly Father for the skill necessary to complete the task; I know he knelt and I know God helped….both of us. Ken Jefferies asked for a blessing for himself and the answer to his prayer blessed me. I love how God works.
I really do love how God works…and I have noticed that His works often require us to work.
I worked this week….at Ogden Preparatory Academy (OPA)….every day. Phew! Though I love my job, it was rough. I cannot work full time, serve the Lord as Primary President and visiting teacher, be a good neighbor to the many less fortunate people in my life, and function as a loving wife and wise mother. Nope, nope, nope. Can’t do it.
Fortunately I don’t have to. Monday school starts for the students at OPA, I will resume my work-every-other day schedule, and life will settle down to its almost-more-than-I-can-do pace.
Speaking of pace….four of us ran the “Focus Four” four mile race Saturday. Chick paced Miles and Miles won his age division (and a blue ribbon and $20) while Grace and I both earned 2nd in our age divisions. Actually, it could be said that I was last place in my category—there were only two women ages 40-49 in the race—but I prefer not to look at it that way.
It’s all about attitude, right? Attitude and work….and sometimes working on one’s attitude…which brings us to the song portion of the letter.
Last Sunday we began our song practices for the family choir that will be singing in General Conference. OH MY LANDS!
It was intense; “Breathe after “gladness”, “Don’t breathe between ‘ones’ and ‘know’”, “sing ‘proclaim’ as ‘proclaim-ma’”, “emphasize the words ‘blessed’ and ‘taught’ while singing softly the ‘and’ that connects them”, “pronounce His name ‘JE-sus’, not ‘Je-SUSSSSSS’”. We were given specific instructions for every phrase, sometimes every word.
I am not an experienced singer; nothing associated with music is instinctive or natural to me. It all seemed overwhelming.
Tears choked my throat and threatened to trickle down my cheeks. I had a powerful urge to quit, to get up and to walk out. But I couldn’t do that to my family; I couldn’t model “give up” behavior and I couldn’t let my weaknesses cheat them of
this incredible opportunity.
It will be intense. We must memorize seven songs (and the instructions on how to sing every phrase in every song). We
rehearse from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. every Sunday night through September 29. We have a dress rehearsal Saturday, September 28, 8:30-11:00 a.m. We are to arrive at the Conference Center Theater by 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, October
5th to prepare for the 2:00 p.m. session. Men will be wearing dark suits, white shirts, and conservative ties. Women will be wearing black skirts, closed toed, black shoes and solid, jewel colored, collared, ¾ sleeve blouses adorned by lipstick and blush but not perfume. Don’t know what ‘jewel-colored” is? Watch the afternoon session of the October 5 LDS General Conference to find out!
If you do watch the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference you may see us as the camera pans the choir.
We will be there and we will be singing songs that we have memorized because, between now and then, we will be working.
Hard. And we will be praying. Intensely. And then we will sing. Beautifully.
A song and a prayer………..and a lot of hard work.
Don’t you love how God works?
Love,
Teresa
Prayer first.
The faucet in our bathtub was leaking hot water at an alarming rate; I could almost see our water and natural gas bill climbing upward….so I shut off the hot water. No water, no leak, right?
The solution was great for keeping the utility bills in check but it was not so good for the three teens in the house that shower much more often than they clean their rooms.
After three days of cold showers, it was time to seek help. Darling Brother Jefferies is a gentleman in our neighborhood who also happens to be our home teacher. [In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, male members are assigned as home teachers to families within the congregation. Home teachers visit the homes of their assigned families about once a month to chat, give them a spiritual message and offer support and/or
assistance.] At the end of his visits, Brother Jefferies always instructs us to call him if we need anything. We needed
hot water and so I called.
Quickly he came….and quickly he went; the leak fixed and the hot water restored. Never has a repair job gone so smoothly. He had all the necessary tools with him and, serendipitously, just so happened to have a washer exactly
the size and type needed. It was miraculous. Really.
“You know,” he said as he left, his intent brown eyes testifying of his sincerity, “I am not so good at plumbing. I knelt and prayed before I left my house and asked my Father to help me do this.” In my heart’s eye I can see him humbly kneeling and petitioning Heavenly Father for the skill necessary to complete the task; I know he knelt and I know God helped….both of us. Ken Jefferies asked for a blessing for himself and the answer to his prayer blessed me. I love how God works.
I really do love how God works…and I have noticed that His works often require us to work.
I worked this week….at Ogden Preparatory Academy (OPA)….every day. Phew! Though I love my job, it was rough. I cannot work full time, serve the Lord as Primary President and visiting teacher, be a good neighbor to the many less fortunate people in my life, and function as a loving wife and wise mother. Nope, nope, nope. Can’t do it.
Fortunately I don’t have to. Monday school starts for the students at OPA, I will resume my work-every-other day schedule, and life will settle down to its almost-more-than-I-can-do pace.
Speaking of pace….four of us ran the “Focus Four” four mile race Saturday. Chick paced Miles and Miles won his age division (and a blue ribbon and $20) while Grace and I both earned 2nd in our age divisions. Actually, it could be said that I was last place in my category—there were only two women ages 40-49 in the race—but I prefer not to look at it that way.
It’s all about attitude, right? Attitude and work….and sometimes working on one’s attitude…which brings us to the song portion of the letter.
Last Sunday we began our song practices for the family choir that will be singing in General Conference. OH MY LANDS!
It was intense; “Breathe after “gladness”, “Don’t breathe between ‘ones’ and ‘know’”, “sing ‘proclaim’ as ‘proclaim-ma’”, “emphasize the words ‘blessed’ and ‘taught’ while singing softly the ‘and’ that connects them”, “pronounce His name ‘JE-sus’, not ‘Je-SUSSSSSS’”. We were given specific instructions for every phrase, sometimes every word.
I am not an experienced singer; nothing associated with music is instinctive or natural to me. It all seemed overwhelming.
Tears choked my throat and threatened to trickle down my cheeks. I had a powerful urge to quit, to get up and to walk out. But I couldn’t do that to my family; I couldn’t model “give up” behavior and I couldn’t let my weaknesses cheat them of
this incredible opportunity.
It will be intense. We must memorize seven songs (and the instructions on how to sing every phrase in every song). We
rehearse from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. every Sunday night through September 29. We have a dress rehearsal Saturday, September 28, 8:30-11:00 a.m. We are to arrive at the Conference Center Theater by 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, October
5th to prepare for the 2:00 p.m. session. Men will be wearing dark suits, white shirts, and conservative ties. Women will be wearing black skirts, closed toed, black shoes and solid, jewel colored, collared, ¾ sleeve blouses adorned by lipstick and blush but not perfume. Don’t know what ‘jewel-colored” is? Watch the afternoon session of the October 5 LDS General Conference to find out!
If you do watch the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference you may see us as the camera pans the choir.
We will be there and we will be singing songs that we have memorized because, between now and then, we will be working.
Hard. And we will be praying. Intensely. And then we will sing. Beautifully.
A song and a prayer………..and a lot of hard work.
Don’t you love how God works?
Love,
Teresa
My new corner in my new room in our new school.....
The tomatoes that are not yet in the food dryer
Green peppers that are in the freezer but not yet in bags.
Cucumbers that are in the frig
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The tomatoes that are in the food dryer
Blackberries that in bags in the freezer
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