A MEMORABLE DAY – March 15, 2013
by Merlin Compton
[On Facebook I promised I would write in more detail about this day, so here is what I promised. I have divided it in two sections. Section A is what happened at the Zoo and Section B is about the missionary concert that night. You can read one or both.]
A. The Zoo
Tina and I met Mariah and her six children and Tammy and Ladd today in Hogle Zoo. The weather was ideal and everybody was in good spirits. I was amazed at how well Mariah managed with her children, including six year old Tylee and four year old twins Trevan and Tosh. Talon (15), Tayson (12 in May) and Tessa (10 in July) are old enough to help with the three youngest, and they helped a lot. Mariah was like a Mother hen; she knew where everybody was and kept a constant eye out for Trevan and Tosh, who tended to wander and sometimes didn’t always want to do what they should–just full of energy, those two, and not really disobedient, but exploring the world in their own fashion. Mariah also brought snacks for everybody. How thoughtful! Tina helped with the twins also, carrying them around and helping them walk on the low wall.
[If you don’t care about tennis you can skip this paragraph.]I talked at length with Talon about his tennis. He is on the Payson High School team and plays doubles. When I was in Santaquin I used to practice my serve on the same courts where he now plays. He told me about playing on the team and how exciting that was. I never did play on a school team. We had a tennis team in high school but I wasn’t good enough to play on it. I gave Talon my standard advice. First, keep the ball in play and let your opponent make a mistake. More points are lost than won. Second, make sure you put the second serve in play with something on it. You can’t afford to lose a single point and you can’t make it so easy that your opponent can return it for a winner. Enough of tennis, but I must say that I enjoyed talking with Talon. As a grandpa I don’t get many opportunities to talk with my grandchildren.
I talked with Mariah about the young man, Cam Steel from Pleasant Grove, who is going to marry Marin, Mariah’s sister. Mariah said that they met on a blind date and that he plans to work on a Master’s degree. He works at UVU and comes from an LDS family. That is about as much as she knows about him.
Then she told me about Tayson. It seems that he has the indexing bug and loves to spend time processing names. She told me that when it is getting late he pleads with her to let him do indexing for an hour or so. She says that she always gives in. How could she deny his doing something like that? Later I found out that Talon also enjoys indexing, which is wonderful to hear.
I have been trying to ask myself why that time at Hogle Zoo was so special. First, I was able to be with two daughters, one son-in-law, one granddaughter and six great grandchildren, and in a situation where I could see them in an informal way-- see them as they really are. In my circumstances, living here in Salt Lake, my visits with them, except for those with Tammy, Ladd, and Tina, are very brief and formal. Even when we have reunions I find it difficult to talk with my grandchildren and get to know them. Now that Avon is no longer with me I find it more important than ever to be with family and do more than just give a few hugs. So it was a memorable day with loved ones. There are too few of them.
B. Concert at the Assembly Hall
Now to the concert in the Assembly Hall. First let me provide a few facts about this historic building. The year was 1880 and April Conference was held in the Assembly Hall under the direction of President John Taylor. The Temple would not be finished until 1893, thirteen years later. The Tabernacle had been finished in 1867 so why not hold the Conference there? Evidently the Church leaders wanted to draw attention to the dedication of the Assembly Hall.
The Conference in 1880 was held during the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Church and several special events took place during this Conference. First, the Pearl of Great Price was sustained as scripture and thus became part of the scriptural canon. Second, the Doctrine and Covenants, with some changes, was re-canonized and third, those who still owed money to the Perpetual Emigration Fund would have their debt reduced by half. What was going on in the world in 1880? Thomas Edison displayed his incandescent bulb for the first time, Gilbert and Sullivan presented "Pirates of Penzance" and Rodin finished his "Thinker." So it was a very eventful year within and outside of the Church.
As I entered the Assembly Hall on March 15, I was struck by the fact that everywhere I looked I saw lady missionaries holding flags. They filled the choir seats and were lined up on both sides of the hall. I marveled at how wholesome they looked, beautiful, happy and though modestly dressed, all in clothes that were bright and appealing. I learned that there were 191 of them in the hall, all smiling and delighted to be there. Each missionary held a flag, mostly of the United States but many of foreign countries. Of those who would perform I saw that there were thirty different countries represented and in the entire group there were fifty countries from which some of these missionaries came. Talk about a United Nations! Here are some of the unusual countries represented that night – Latvia, Russia, Tahiti, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tonga, Fiji, Taiwan, Bolivia, Finland, Honduras and Armenia.
Then they began to sing "Called to Serve" and those on the sides marched to the front waving their flags. When all were in front, all of them, including those in the choir seats, sang with gusto waving their flags wildly. What a sight! And what a feeling! Many a moist eye and many goose bumps. After the song ended, those not performing marched to the rear of the building and up the stairs to take their seats in the balcony.
As I contemplated the scene I began to wonder, where will they find 191 young men worthy to marry them? Where will they find young men dedicated to give a part of their lives to bring people to Christ the way these young ladies have done? Where will they find young men of high ideals who want to marry in the Temple and raise a family in the Gospel? Where will they find young men as pure and as spiritual as they are? Maybe returned missionaries will fit these qualifications. I firmly believe that in general women are more spiritual than men. I hope that the spirit will lead these wonderful young ladies, angels I call them, to men who will measure up to their character and their spiritual expectations.
What about the song they were singing, "Called To Serve"? Actually it has quite a history. In 1985 a meeting was being held in the Assembly Hall attended by all of the mission presidents in the Church and Area Representative and Regional Representatives. All of a sudden missionaries from the MTC marched into the Assembly Hall singing "Called to Serve" and waving flags of many different countries. The effect was electrifying. From an editorial in the Church News we read that, "the experience was so moving that tears were flowing and deep emotions were stirred." Everyone there agreed that it should be in the hymn book that was being prepared and so it was the last hymn approved for the 1985 hymn book. To recognize the lady missionaries the following verse was added:
Called to preach the gospel of all nations,
On the mount a banner is unfurled.
Sisters, couples, serving all together,
From all corners of the world.
As they performed I saw a young lady who looked very much like Jessica, Tim and Virginia’s daughter, and a violinist who reminded me of Avon. Here is an idea of some of the numbers they performed: Medley from "The Sound of Music," "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," "Volare," "I Am an Australian" (sung by four missionaries from Australia), New Zealand folk song, Hawaiian song, "Amazing Grace," and "Joy in the Morning." So there was a wide variety of music performed. Some of the songs were especially meaningful for me. In the medley of "The Sound of Music" was "My Favorite Things," a song that Avon and I sang many times in Heritage Place and one that Tammy, Tina, Avon and I sang in the sing-a-longs we held in Santaquin where Avon was living in an assisted living facility. That song Tammy put in a collection of songs we used for the sing-a-longs. Also in that collection is "Amazing Grace," one of our favorite songs. Countless times Avon and I sang that song together. The words in the Hawaiian song sounded like the Tahitian language my Mother and Father used to sing as I was growing up. They always used to say that the two languages had a lot in common.
As anyone can imagine I didn’t like that program to end. However, they sang two songs as an encore and it just so happened that they sang two of Avon’s favorite Primary songs. All through the evening I was thinking of how what transpired that evening related to me -- Avon as a missionary and a violinist, of Jessica as a missionary in Peru, of my parents serving a mission in Tahiti and of my precious memories of songs I sang with Avon and in the sing-a-longs.
What were the encore songs? "I Feel My Savior’s Love" and "My Heavenly Father Loves Me." More memories: Avon as the music director in Primary, and Avon and I singing all of the songs in the Primary song book together, from beginning to the end. Did we know all of them? No, but we would stumble our way through them anyway, even if we didn’t know them. Of course we would always sing Avon’s song, "The Nativity Song." I don’t think she fully appreciated that she had written the words for the song but she always liked to see her name at the end of the song along with the name of the lady who composed the music, Patricia Kelsey Graham. One other song we always sang was "I Wonder When He Comes Again," all about Jesus and little children which was one of Avon’s favorite themes. I knew that the song touched Avon very deeply so I memorized it and sang it for her when she was too tired to sing. In her last years, even when she wasn’t able to sing she would look at me and smile and hold my hand when I sang that song to her.
Musings? Random thoughts? I plead guilty. Memories, only memories I wanted to share, especially with my loved ones. A special day that I wanted to preserve in writing. Family, music, missionaries all wrapped up together. And love? Yes for all of those items, especially for missionaries, for Joseph Compton, who now serves as a missionary in California. Indeed a very special day that I didn’t want to end.
Picture of Elder Joseph Compton on the left
Merlin Compton
March 17, 2013
