This past Monday, my younger sister left the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT, where she had been since July 23 to serve in the West Indies Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was very excited, and I am very happy and excited for her as well. She is going to be a great missionary!
In May of this year, I had gone back to Guatemala to visit some of the people I served. I was there for a couple of weeks, and one Sunday night, I called my family on Google Hangouts. On this call, my sister humbly and sweetly asked if I would prepare an organ solo to play at her farewell meeting. I told her to pick a hymn, and that I would arrange it and play it.
She ended up telling me to pick the hymn, so I picked my favorite missionary hymn, I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go. It really speaks to my soul and I love it, and it's very much about missionary work. I started arranging it soon after I returned from my trip.
About the same time, I was called as assistant ward clerk in my YSA ward, and therefore received a key to the LDS Church's Multi-Stake Building in Provo, UT, which is about a block from my apartment. There is a beautiful digital organ in this building, and I now had access (and permission) to practice in the building. I'll probably do a post on this organ later, even though it's a digital organ, because it's my primary practice instrument and hands-down the best digital organ I have ever played.
Despite breaking my toe, I was able to arrange the hymn for her farewell, and perfect it before the day I would play it. I went through several registrations and iterations of the piece before finally arriving at what it now is. I got the organist from the building where I would be playing to lend me her keys, and I got everything arranged for the smaller Allen organ in my parents' chapel. I played the piece that day in Sacrament Meeting, and, as a surprise, I made a recording of the piece on the organ in the Multi-Stake Building, so she can listen to it her entire mission.
This was a sacred experience for me, and a way I was able to put my heart into my music, and give my sister something nobody else really could. It remains one of my favorite hymns, and when I need to feel the presence of the Holy Ghost, I will go to the Multi-Stake Building and play this piece. It never fails in calming me and helping me to see things clearly.
Below is the recording I made on the 3-maunal Johannus Monarke digital organ at the Provo Multi-Stake Building. It's not perfect, and the microphone I used wasn't designed for organ recording, but it's all there. For those interested in such things, I have not yet transcribed this to sheet music. I play it solely from memory.
Here's the recording. It's on YouTube, but it's just an audio recording:
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