We had a wonderful baptismal service today for a very intelligent and inquisitive woman, someone we’re all very proud of and excited to see join the Church. The service was really uplifting for me. Part of the joy of the event came from the marvelous musical missionaries of the Appleton, Wisconsin Stake. Four sets of Elders serving in four local wards bring amazing musical talents that came together today to offer one of the best musical moments of any baptismal service ever. Several are serious musicians. One of them, Elder Hofer, is planning on an advanced degree in violin performance. He and the other elders sang and performed a stirring arrangement of “How Great Thou Art” using violin, guitar, piano, and mandolin (yes, the mandolin! and it really fit in nicely).

The Bishop and I were so impressed that we made plans to have a ward fireside featuring this musical missionary group next Saturday night at 6:00 PM in the Neenah building. We had to act fast and book them before transfers occur in a couple weeks, possibly moving some of this group to remote parts of the mission. The fireside will be a tribute to mothers (maybe we can get that out of our system on Saturday night and focus more on the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Mothers’ Day? – just a thought! no offense to all you moms) and a missionary event, with other wards in the area invited to attend, if they wish. We’ve already got Stake approval for the activity and have communicated with the other units in the area. Hey, you’re all invited. Come on over!

Oh, about that baptismal font. Not as bad as I thought. I was there at 6:00 AM to fill it, and was largely done by about 8:10 AM in time for our 9 AM service. Not too bad. Of course, I did mess with the hydraulics to adjust a strange Bell and Gossett “circuit setter” contraption in both lines that was restricting water flow. I changed it to allow a higher flow rate and the water heater kept up fine. Maybe I’ve just voided the warranty on the whole building, don’t know. Anyone know what those devices are for? Wait, was that a tremor I felt? Why is the floor here starting to buckle? Oh no, its—
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