The Goodins got their visas and are by now in Vanuatu! It was great to see their excitement and imagine our own when those visas do come — any week now!
We did something different today. It was so worth the change in our normal Sunday morning routine to go to the Music and The Spoken Word concert on Temple Square. (Pretty easy when it’s only a block from our apartment!)
The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra did a special Thanksgiving program with some old favorites, including Alleluia Fanfare/Praise to The Lord, The Almighty, Simple Gifts (featuring the Bells at Temple Square!) and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It was glorious, and a great reminder of the blessings we have and enjoy daily. Quoting announcer Lloyd D. Newell, “one of the greatest blessings [God] offers is the peace and perspective that fill our souls when we live in thanksgiving each day.” I think we’ll just go ahead and make this a Thanksgiving Week!
I found it quite a contrast from yesterday’s outing to the Clark Planetarium (a brisk but nice 6-block walk). After getting our tickets we had some time before the IMAX show began, so we looked at some of their exhibits before settling into our seats to watch the Mountain Adventure: Out of Bounds 3D extravaganza. The music for this tribute to the outdoors began very loud — too loud for comfort. It was nowhere near the soul-feeding music we heard today.
The show featured an Olympic gold medalist snowboarder (Torah Bright) and a couple others tackling some very formidable mountains. We got both the observing of extreme adrenaline rush seeking and the raising of climate change impact awareness!
We’ll never snowboard down an “exceedingly high mountain” or see a Polar Bear in the Arctic. Likewise we’ll never sing with the Tabernacle Choir or play with the orchestra or the bell ringers. But it’s fun to watch people do what they love, especially when they’re very good at it. And we do know the joy of blending our voices with others in choirs singing praises to our God. It feeds our souls to produce as well as consume good music!
I also noticed on our hike yesterday the contrast between the painful part where we left the trail and the better part where we stayed on it. We were on a section of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail we hadn’t been on before, but upon encountering a confusing fork we went the wrong way (the signage leaves something to be desired). This way looked like it might reconnect with the main trail further up, and since we started uphill on a sort-of trail and didn’t feel like backtracking, we endured some tough, steep terrain, complete with slippery grass and rocks. Getting back to the real trail was a relief and a joy!
Everything depends on pressing forward on the covenant path, and because there are many off-ramps there are on-ramps to get back on. This trail of faith, repentance, commitment and recommitment via baptism and the sacrament, and receiving the Holy Ghost — and enduring to the end in this “overarching spiritual quest” — is the one we want to walk in.
We capped our week with this evening’s dinner and subsequent gospel discussion at the home of President and Sister Holmes. A wonderful spirit was there as many members of the Discovery Zone revealed through their gracious words how firmly committed they are to following the Savior, empowered by His grace through the “guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”
After all,
[The Savior] marked the path and led the way,
And every point defines
To light and life and endless day
Where God’s full presence shines.
Have a great week, and a wonderful Thanksgiving!
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