New and Exciting!

This week we started to attend our meetings in a brand new building. This is the second ward meetinghouse in Star. I am rather fond of it because while I was working for my previous employer, I designed the plumbing and HVAC (heating, ventilating and air-conditioning) systems. I am the engineer of record for this design and I got to take several tours of the building while it was under construction. I have always wanted to know what goes on inside the guts of a church building, and now I have a little more understanding than I did before. I think the construction went very smoothly; I had very few questions to answer from the contractors. That means either one of two things - my design was exceptionally clear and easy to interpret from the design documents; or the contractor didn't really care what I showed on the drawings and did it the way he wanted to. I tend to think it is the latter, since I observed the construction progress and the contractor pretty much installed it the way it was drawn.

It is neat to have a brand new building where you can be the first one to crack open the hymnbook and enjoy that new book smell. When we first moved to Star way back in 2000, our first Sunday was also the first Sunday that the "old" Star building was used too, so I guess we have a track record now with new buildings in Star, Idaho.

In preparation for the new building, one Sunday Kristin showed me an announcement in the bulletin. It said there would be training for the new organ on a certain day and that all who were interested were invited to attend. I have played the piano since I was 8 years old. I have never really played on the organ before, but it is one of my favorite instruments to listen to. I thought that I would go to the training and see what it was all about. I don't really want to be called as the ward organist right now as I am having waaay too much fun with my 11-year old scouts, but I wanted to know more about the organ.

At the training, one of the 3 organists from our ward was there. She said "I didn't know you played the organ!" and I had to tell her that I never had, but was interested to know what they were all about. We sat through the training in which one of the local music shop owners gave the pointers on how to set up and play the organ. I was soaking it up like a sponge! Everything was so exciting - I have always been amazed at all the sounds the organ can produce, so it was very enlightening for me to now see how to make them. If there is one gripe I have with the "standard" ward organist, it is that it seems to me that they like to play it safe - all the hymns are rendered with pretty much the same registration settings. It reminded me of a time late on my mission where the wife of the Bishop in the Pittsfield Ward was converted as an adult and she was the organist. She played all sorts of different ways and with different sounds - it was quite refreshing, added to my enjoyment of the music and helped me feel the Spirit more as I sang.

So when all was said and done for the evening, Sister Wood asked me if I wanted to learn how to play. I said "ABSOLUTELY!" She told me that she thought it would be a good idea for me to practice and then play prelude and postlude music for Sacrament meeting on a Sunday when I was ready. I agreed and she let me borrow one of her prelude music books.

Since Kristin is in the Relief Society presidency, she was issued keys for the new building in advance of our Sunday meeting time. I asked her if I could borrow the key to get in and practice on the organ. Kristin hates the organ, so I know she thought I was knocked in the head when I wanted to go play it. Well, I love it! It is so fun to play the organ. I do not know how to play the foot pedals yet, but I know that will come in time. I have been looking up anything I can find on the Internet to feed my desire to know more about how to play it. My first time at the organ during church will be on March 6th. I am practicing hard. Hopefully I will do a good job.