Another Long Day

We started the day by arising early to attend the Ward Council meeting in the Bradenton Ward.  Our apartment is about midway between the Bradenton and Sarasota buildings, and it takes us about 25 minutes to get to either one.  The Bradenton Ward is on the 9 am block, so their ward council meeting began at 7:30.  I was feeling that we had gone the extra mile to get up so early, but a high councilor who lives in Venice (30 minutes south of us) was in attendance beginning with their 6:30 am bishopric meeting.

The ward has some interesting demographics.  The bishop's father is the ward clerk (and a former bishop) and his wife is the daughter of the ward mission leader.  We met a sister whose 17 grandchildren all live in the ward.  There didn't seem to be many young families.

After their meetings ended, we raced back to our apartment for a quick lunch.  We then drove to Siesta Key (about 30 minutes) for the choir concert.  The St. Boniface Church building is good sized, but it was filled.  They had sound connected in an overflow room for those who didn't fit into the main chapel.  For the performance, they augmented the choirs with a brass ensemble and bell choir along with the church organ.  I am biased, but I thought our choir did well.  They had full-time missionaries from the Sarasota Zone serving as ushers.  When I visited with them afterwards, they commented that they could understand the words that our choir was singing.  All-in-all, it was a good experience, and I'm glad that we participated.  However, I told Renee that she should not take my participation as a sign that she should volunteer me to sing in any choirs in the future.

One of the songs that the combined choirs sang was The King of Love My Shepherd Is which was written specifically for this choir concert by Bro. Murphy.  This was the first time it had been performed in public.  It is a lovely piece, and I hope we did it well enough for him.

The senior Wilson's with Bro. Ryan Murphy, Associate Director of the Tabernacle Choir