Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016 – Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School

This morning in sacrament meeting our attendance was down about 30% from previous weeks. All summer we’ve opened the curtains to the cultural hall and the chairs were usually full half way back to the stage. However, since several of the senior couples have gone home already and there aren’t many visitors, today we didn’t even have to open the curtain.  Maybe we’ll have more visitors next week for the Labor Day weekend, we’ll see.

Our Sunday school lesson this morning, like everywhere in the English speaking world, was Ch. 33 “A sure Foundation.”  We were treated to something very special today. In the teacher’s guide under “Preparation” #2, a, it says “Prepare to sing verses 1, 2, 3, and 7 of “How Firm a Foundation” with class members.” Our teacher this morning happened to be Sis. Jensen. For the past six months Sis. Jensen has been the director, music coordinator and dance choreographer for our production of “Sunset by the Mississippi.” Sis. Jensen knows her stuff, she’s great. 

Without rehearsing Sis. Jensen put together an impromptu production of all seven verses of that beautiful and beloved hymn “How Firm a Foundation.” The hymn used the entire congregation singing various parts. The production was punctuated with four solos by some of the best vocalists in the mission! The hymn, the music and the singing was so stirring and inspiring it gave me goose bumps.  At one point all of the YSSM’s (Young Single Sister Missionaries) stood and sang verse 3. Sis. Johnson and I didn’t know it in advance but by luck we had chosen to sit right in the middle of all those YSSM’s. Wow, it was like being in the middle of a choir of angels, magnificent!  Like I said, we were treated to something very special this morning in Sunday School. If we had rehearsed for a month we couldn’t have done it any better.