About 6 months ago I got this great idea that our ward should combine with another ward and do "The Ten Virgins: A Musical Parable" for the Relief Society birthday party in March. I was the Relief Society counselor over the monthly meetings and I enjoy planning things, so I got the ball rolling. The other ward was great and really excited to combine with us because it means only half the work. We found 6 women in our ward and they found 5 women in their ward who would be willing to sing solos and act out parts (the 10 virgins and a narrator). I bought the script/performance CD/regular CD from Deseret Book and then made copies of what each character/sister needed so they could practice on their own. I found some women in our ward with decorating/artistic abilities who made a set for us. One woman's husband had a sound system that he set up and let us borrow. We had 3 Saturdays worth of rehearsals and the women found their own costumes.
In the middle of all of this, I was released and a new counselor was put in. I felt horrible telling her, "Okay, we have this HUGE production planned for a month away and you are in charge. Go to it!" So I stayed in charge of it and turned a lot of little details over to her (like finding everyone a lamp and ordering the cheesecake desserts).
Our dress rehearsal last Saturday went badly at first! The sound system kept acting up, everyone had a new suggestion to add to the production (which would have been nice but we couldn't even get through one rehearsal without women getting confused on the basic stuff), songs weren't ready, and I was panicked. But I knew it would all work out eventually. Our last run-through on Saturday went wonderfully and I felt good about it.
Tuesday morning I was supposed to drive to Payson for another doctor's appointment about my foot. But Monday morning I called to change it because it was snowy and I was afraid something would happen and I wouldn't get back for the performance on Tuesday evening. I am certainly glad I changed the appointment.
I spent Tuesday morning getting little things ready, setting up an outline of where I wanted chairs to be set up at the Church (some young men showed up to put up the chairs for us and to clean out the Primary room so we could put up the set), and finding little odds and ends people needed. I had the kids taken care of: Courtney would carpool to dance as usual, Ethan would go to piano and then carpool to soccer and Bryan would do the pick ups of the carpools for both kids. I was set. Then I had the feeling that I should put the music on my second Sansa mp3 player. The music was on my large Sansa mp3 player which we were going to hook into the sound system. We had practiced with it and I was all set to go. But I had a strong feeling that I needed to put the music on my second Sansa player (which is quite a bit smaller) just to have a back up. So I followed that feeling and it only took a few minutes.
When Ethan got off the bus he had a horrible ear ache/sore throat and I ended up in Urgent Care with him while other women (and young men and a counselor in the bishopric and a husband of a woman in the play) set up everything at the Church. Urgent Care was empty so we got right in and out. (He has an inner ear infection and it has moved to his ear canal so we have a Z-Pack prescription and ear drops but he will be fine.) Bryan met us in the parking lot and got Ethan's medicine while I took him home. Then Bryan arrived home and I went to the Church.
We had time to run through the play one more time before sisters began showing up. We didn't know how many to expect so we set up chairs for 98 women thinking that would be plenty. We haven't ever had over 40 women show up to a meeting before. Well, we ended up with standing room only, after bringing in more chairs (about 130 women attended!). It was amazing. We had women inviting their sisters and their in-active friends. It was great.
We dimmed the lights, turned on the spotlights, said the opening prayer and were ready to start. I sat down, punched the "play" button on my large Sansa and...."File Not Found" showed up. I tried the next file and still "File Not Found." I shut off the player and turned it back on and again "File Not Found." I quickly got up, ran to my bag in the kitchen, grabbed my smaller Sansa, turned it on, calmly plugged it in and it worked. The music began and we were off and running. Boy was I glad I had followed that prompting earlier in the day. Could you imagine the mess I would have been in? I am so grateful for little promptings!
The play went by so smoothly. The women did wonderfully and their voices were so beautiful. I was in awe of the talent these women have and the willingness to share it. Three of the women had never sung a solo before. It was great.
When it ended there were many sniffles and the Spirit was so strong. It took a while to clean up but, again, we had the husbands and counselor in the bishopric back to help us get it all back together. Women afterward were so complementary to how well it had gone.
I slept really well last night and feel so relieved that I can now turn the calling over to the new counselor and I can concentrate on what I need to. But it was fun to be a part of such a great experience.
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