Looking to the Past: Sunday through the Camera with Ruth

Apologies for running behind on the blog posts, everyone. I am trying! I am!

Soooooo...Sunday! I woke up, showered, ate breakfast, got dressed, and went to church with Grandma and Grandpa, the Hughes, Joseph and Kirsti and a very handsome young fella in the cutest Sunday vest and suit you ever saw. We had trouble keeping all the ladies off him all day!

Church at the Presbyterian building was beautiful. The program was interesting and I enjoyed looking over Grandpa's shoulder at a printed copy of the sermon, which was about "True Wealth." The stand-out of the program was the music, which was amazing. A red-haired young man in one of those flowing black-and-white choir robes sang many parts of the program, and his voice was really beautiful. I got chills every time he sang, and even had the tune accompanying the phrase “You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you” in my head all week. Too bad we can't recruit him for our choir :)

Unfortunately, the handsome young midget in our midst did not appreciate the quality of the program, and preferred to spend the majority of the time in a well-equipped playroom next door.

Afterwards, we had a break for refreshments and socializing, and then went to Sunday School. Daniel and I attended Grandpa and Aunt Shelly's class, which turned out to be 10 or so people sitting in a small classroom watching a lecture (produced by the same company which brought Potato Thompson and Frank Cardulla to my attention) on Gnosticism. I felt like I should have had my laptop out, taking notes to keep me awake. I especially struggled when they turned the lights off! What bits I heard of the lecture were interesting, but alas, I can't remember a thing.

After S.S., Aunt Shelly drove us to our church at 11. I wasn't sure I was going to make another 3 hours without falling asleep/getting grumpy/eating something. Sacrament meeting was hard, but it was a ward mainly of children, so the antics of youngsters both in the congregation and at the pulpit (it was fast and testimony meeting, and we got a slough of kids saying things like "I love my brother even though he is mean to me" and "I'm thankful for Jothef Smiff") helped a lot. Daniel bore a strong, powerful testimony, which he received many compliments on later, but it was also delivered in a very loud voice that distracted me from his message. Oh well, apparently the Spirit can speak in more ways than in a still, small voice!

After sacrament meeting, a nice lady who used to live in Orem, Utah (Daniel had mentioned that we were from there) came up and helped me find Gospel Doctrine - aka Sunday School – and Relief Society - aka Girl's Hour. Gospel Doctrine was on the Kirtland/Far West days of the Saints, and I enjoyed the history lesson. I was just beginning to get homesick for our Nauvoo Trip when the bell rang. Relief Society went by really fast, thankfully and surprisingly. I can’t recall the exact topic of the lesson, but it had to do with looking to the past and the Pride Cycle, and I remember our teacher got flustered at one point and mixed up the order of the Pride Cycle, putting "Calamities" BEFORE “Wickedness." Yeah, right!

After church, I was very excited to get home ("Grandma and Grandpa's home" - doing okay, Tar Heel?) and take off my horrible high heels and lie around the house (yes, it is lie and not lay. I was paying attention in usage class!). I ate lunch, practiced the piano piece for choir, read more in Fablehaven number 3, and probably fell asleep before it was time for dinner, which was vegetables from the garden and yogurt with fruit (which Aunt Shelly said she got from Mom!). There was something good for dessert, though I can’t remember what…possibly zucchini bread with chocolate chips in it… hmmmm.