Return to Das Buch Mormon and to the Tabernacle. 30 October 2016

Having finished our intensive Book of Mormon challenge the mission now has the challenge to read the October conference talks three times in three months.  I will be glad to do that, but I will continue to read The Book of Mormon, but in German.  This morning I began with the Title page and the Introduction.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really do understand almost all of the words.  It was almost like meeting an old friend!

After two weeks of missing the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast in the Tabernacle, I stepped through the doorway to be greeted by the powerful "Gloria in Excelsis" from Mass in C Minor,  by Mozart, immediately bringing me to tears.  As I was again on my own I decided to go to the balconey and sit as far up as possible, right in the middle.  The first thing I noticed was that the seats were different than ones I had used before--my feet did not touch the floor!  The second thing I experienced was the vibration from the organ--I could feel it way up there, more than I had noticed on the ground floor, or in other spots in the balcony. I did enjoy that perspective, but for the actual broadcast I went back to my spot by the tympani.  Today I got a bonus as the chimes had been moved to that side of the stage, whereas other times they had been on the south side.  One interesting observation was seeing the cameraman up close and personal with the chimes!  I hope the orchestra keeps this configuration.

In the hour I had between the broadcast and going to choir I got 10 batches of Kentucky  Marriages arbitrated. I checked the arbitration results on batches I have indexed recently, and was pleased that even on the German ones I did pretty well.

Our fifth Sunday meeting featured a talk by President Cecil Samuelson, president of the Salt Lake Temple.  He has been a General Authority since the mid-90s, and he told some interesting details about temples around the world.

My Sweetheart and I both have early days tomorrow, so we did not talk as long as usual, but it is always a blessing to talk with him and pray with him.