Wa

Sunday, August 23, 2009
Today we left our apartment early to attend a ward some distance from our usual ward. We walked two blocks to the bus stop, rode the bus for 3 miles, went below ground to the metro (three flights of stairs) and rode the subway for about 30 miles, and flagged a taxi to get us to the chapel. (He was somewhat lost, but finally got us there.) We did a dry run yesterday, so we could be on time for the meeting. Yesterday we missed our metro stop - went one stop too far. Glad we made the mistake yesterday. Today was no problem, even with the taxi driver being lost for a bit, we were 30 minutes ahead of the meeting time. The bishop and his councilors were just beginning their planning meeting and so we got to introduce ourselves to them. I wandered into the chapel, a large room with folding chairs all set up for the meeting. I could see no piano at first, then looked around the end of the stand, and there was a small electric piano tucked behind. I wondered if anyone would play it today. I looked around to see if it were plugged in. Nope! In fact when I pulled the chord up from the back of the piano, it had no plug at all, just two bare wires sticking out! I decided they must not have a pianist. Elder D, without knowing all this, offered my services, but I showed them the bare wires...magically while my back was turned - someone wired on a plug and it was ready to go. I lifted the lid - and oh my - the kids had probably been playing on it during the last quilting bee. I ducked into the ladies room, dampened some paper towels and frisked the keys - just like new. I turned on the piano and played some hymns for a prelude. The councilor conducting the meeting thanked me for playing and said how nice it was to have a prelude after so long not having anyone to play the piano. The hymns went well and I was happy to meet the hymn conductor after the meeting. But.... this is all an aside to why we were there.