Music (Tuesday, March 6, 2012)

Today I was preparing for the musical devotional this Sunday.  I am planning to share my testimony and music for a special evening church event.  I went through a few piano pieces and found four that would be perfect.  Without giving the titles, here are the genres:

• One classical piece by Clementi that I learned when I was 13.
• One modern piece by Jim Brickman
• An arrangement of one of my favorite church hymns
• A vocal/piano arrangement of a piece composed by Rob Gardner and is in "He is Jesus Christ"

I wanted to share how I had developed the gift of piano playing before I was baptized, and how I am now using my talents to help with church services.  I'm so thankful that I can worship God through music and that I can be an instrument (literally) to others by providing uplifting and Spiritual music for them.

Bluetooth

It's been about 4-5 years since I got a bluetooth earpiece for my cell phone.  Back then, the device was in it's infancy, and I wasn't all that impressed with it.

Fast forward to today.  My friend Eric uses it all the time.  I was hanging on to the ineffectiveness of my bluetooth experience that I never really wanted to get a new one, until now.  I bought one the other day, and in just two days, I've been overly impressed with the improvements of the bluetooth earpiece design.

I'm not really going to get into details.  I just want to thank the engineers for their advancement in their development.

I'm thankful for my new tool...the bluetooth earpiece.

Receiving Thanks

Today I was back at piano duties for church services.  I rotate with another lady every other month, although after speaking to her today, I will be playing for the next two months since she will be out of town in April.

After church service today, a note was passed to me while I was playing postlude music....and it just made my day.

I'm thankful that this lady took the time out to send me a personal thank you note to me.  Looks like they were visiting from Arkansas.  I'm fond of people from that state.

Such a little act of kindness, but what a powerful effect on me.  It makes me think about making sure that I tell people how much I appreciate them, daily.

Genealogy

I had a chance to volunteer for a Genealogy Conference today.  At first I thought I was going to just sit around a not do anything, but it ended up being that I was at the right place when there was some assistance.  Most of it was helping the attendees find their rooms, making photocopies for the teachers, and making the everyone feel welcomed.

One highlight is finding a guest teacher on the side of the church building trying to get in.  I just happen to be on that hallway to open the locked entry way.  She told me that she was a teacher for one of the workshops and wanted to know where to go.  I led her to the registration booth and jokingly said "I found this teacher on the side of the road...how can we help her find her room?"  She laughed at the joke and everyone carried on to assist her....all smiles and laughter.

I went to a couple of workshops and they were quite informative.  One class was about getting started with Genealogy, which I need to help further my research.  I only have up to my grandparents, with the rest of my lineage records in the Philippines.  The other class I went to discussed special objects and signs on tombstones.  The guest lecturers were very captivating and funny, the the information they gave was very revealing.  People really do go in depth on how to remember their loved ones.

Keeping a record of our ancestry is very fascinating.  I wish I had more passion about it.  In our generation, we have the technology to capture our lives in video and digital pictures, which makes it easier to pass along to the  future generation.  Comparing that  to the adventure to research our past, the records, pictures, diaries, etc., may be hard to come by.

And of course, there's a Spiritual side of genealogy work, which makes this very important.  I'm grateful for Genealogy research, and for the people who are passionate about this.  I hope to be that energetic someday.

Ballroom Dancing

One of my good friends told me that she was at a ballroom dance with her children.  How cute is that?  Back when I was at BYU, I took a few dance classes, which included social, ballroom, latin, folk, and Irish dances.  It's the thing to do, and I thoroughly enjoyed dancing.

I don't get to do it as much nowadays, but I do appreciate knowing what I know and that I can still dance a little when I get the opportunity.

Last week, after a business networking meeting, one of the business owners that owns a dance studio invited a few of us to go practice dance.  It was a lot of fun, although I forgot some of the advance steps.  My favorite is still the Cha-cha, although I did Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango, and a few other.  Quite a neat atmosphere.  I wish I had time to take dance lessons, but I don't, not right now.

Nevertheless, I'm glad that I enjoy this activity, and I hope to do it again more regularly.

Missionary Work

I'm thankful for missionary work.  Tonight, I met with a recent convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we exchanged our conversion stories.  One thing that I am amazed about her is that although she's been a convert for under a year, she is a missionary leader for her congregation, and she is not afraid to "open her mouth" to share the Gospel to anyone and everyone.  Wish I could be as bold and persistent.

During the discussion, I started to remember something we learned as a missionary, called the commitment pattern.  It's a teaching method used to guide the discussion so that the person that is learning about the Gospel could make a commitment to a certain principal, whether it would be to read the Scriptures, to pray, to obey God's commandments, to be baptized.  

I had to dig deep into my memory banks to recall the commitment pattern:

• Build relationships of Trust (BRT).
• Help others feel and recognize the Spirit.
• Present the message.
• Find out  their understanding.  
• Invite them to commit to the principle being taught.
• Follow Up on the commitment.
• Resolve any concerns.

Some people affectionately call it the Manipulation Pattern.  But in actuality, when done correctly, it allows the "investigator" to know the true Gospel principles that are being taught by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And when the confirmation comes from God, that's when the true conversion begins to take place.

I'm thankful that I served a two year full time mission for my church.  I was assigned in the Los Angeles, California area from June 1997 to June 1999.   I didn't realize how much I did and still rely on those experiences, in both my Spiritual and secular life.  

There's a neat story in of itself as to how I ended up deciding to go on a mission.  I'll save that for a rainy day.

Pep-Boys (part 2) - February 29

As I was driving down US-17 in Fleming Island, my "Check Engine" and "TCS" lights came on.  I decided to stop by the Pep-Boys to have it checked out.  There's a tool you can connect to your car that can read the error "codes".  Each shop has that electronic tool.  Pep-boys can read the codes for you at no cost.  I called the other shops and they charged anywhere from $60 to $85 to diagnoses the "Check Engine" light.

Ends up that my TCS, or Traction Control System, is malfunctioning.  That's the system that helps prevent my car from slipping the wheel on a wet road when starting from a stand-still.  More of a convenience instead of a necessity.  It has to be repaired by the dealership.  I'm not going any time soon.

But I am thankful that Pep-Boys read the error codes from my car at no cost.  Thanks :-)