One Bad Note

Dear Everyone,

We are working a bit harder this week to contact new people. I hope that we can work out our differences as well (my companion and I, that is). The goal is always better unity. And after typing that it seems really profound to me. Ponder that phrase a bit sometime this week, if you have the time.

Anyway the work is going well here in Planeta Rica. We went to a neighborhood I'd never seen before and contacted there yesterday. We'll see how they turn out, some of them were just afraid to say no flat out. People are funny sometimes, they don't really know what they want. Leonardo is doing better and even came to church yesterday, but got kind of bored and left after the second hour. We started teaching a friend of some members and she has a lot of support from the members, so much so that I hope she makes the right decision for the right reasons.

So about the title, we were singing a hymn in sacrament yesterday, and since it's a small branch we sing a capella. As such, it isn't surprising that it's a bit out of tune. However, something caught my attention as we were singing. There was one note in the melody that everyone sang wrong. It didn't sound wrong, and even sounded quite fine given the circumstances. Only someone who knows how to read music and/or knows the melody to the hymns would be able to distinguish the error. I started thinking how it was that they learned the melodies to these hymns in the first place. The only thing I could think of would be following the lead of someone who knows. So the only explanation for the "one bad note" is that the person who first taught this hymn to them taught them slightly wrong. 

This story isn't about the people singing the hymn today, it's not about music, it's about leaders and followers. We should be examples of the believers, teaching by example as perfect as we can make it. And when it is our turn to follow, we must have faith and also study and learn so that we can know for ourselves that what we are doing is correct. Sing with all your heart, don't worry about singing the hymns wrong, but when it's your turn to be an example of a disciple of Christ, do the best you can and Christ will make it sufficient. I don't know if any of this makes sense to you, but it helped me to learn a bit.

Love you all,

Elder King