Then Sings My Soul

(The following email was was never received by us when Eden sent it Easter Week.  She resent it this week for all of us and you.) 

 A year ago, on Easter Sunday, I was in the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.  A year ago, on Easter Sunday, I decided to serve a mission.  I would have never guessed where I would be spending my next Easter or what I would be doing, but let me tell ya, God works in mysterious ways.  

Did you know that Jerusalem and Tijuana Mexico have the same latitude on the globe?  Well they are, and for this they have a lot of things that are similar.  The same climate, same amount of sun, even the same type of greenery and earthly terrain.  Its incredible.  From my first day here in Mexico I began to notice the similarities of the two places.  The city flows with the hills and valleys, creating mountains made of colorful houses.  There is garbage everywhere and rundown houses just like Jerusalem.  There are even women here that shave off and repaint on their eyebrows like the Palestinian women do. I LOVE IT!  

One of my worries about leaving on my mission was that I would forget a lot of my Jerusalem experiences, and I think knowing this, Heavenly Father sent me to a place that would remind me everyday of the incredible moments I had in Israel and at the same time, allow me to combine them with the incredible work of a mission.  And so this Easter has been a great combination of mission spirituality and Jerusalem memories.  The Saviors life, mission, and work.... and my job as a missionary to follow His footsteps and continue spreading the good word.

Now what did I actually do on Easter?  For those who know me well take a wild guess....  I sung of course! Ha ha.  We had un concierto de Pascua in the mission.   We have been practicing for it since January and I wish that I could send videos of it because it was AWESOME!  Unlike the typical missionary concert, only six missionaries in the entire Tijuana Mexico Mission participated.  Myself, Hna, Beaumont, and four other Elders.  Elder Crocket, Elder Perez, Elder Wood, and Elder Clingo.  We got together in January and began creating our own arrangements of hymns about Easter.  Now I dont want to brag or anything, but based on the outcome of some of our arrangements, we are musical geniuses.  

 Myself, Hna, Beaumont, and four other Elders. Elder Crocket, Elder Perez, Elder Wood, and Elder Clingo

We created a few group songs, as well as duets and solos.  We managed to convince the president to let Elder Clingo and I sing Savior Redeemer of My Soul even though it is in English.  That song has officially become the theme song of my mission.  I also sang Senor Mi Redentor or in English is Oh Lord My Redeemer.  A song that goes through the last moments of the Saviors life up to the resurrection.  A song that I first heard the Saturday before that Easter Sunday in Jerusalem and has always been dear to my heart since.

All of the songs were great and had incredible spiritual power combined with mini talks by President Carreon and his wife.  We held three concerts (which ate up all of our teaching time Saturday and Sunday... but I didnt mind.  Singing is one of my better teaching methods anyways).  One on Saturday in Ensenada.  They had rented out an outside theater for the concert and it felt legit!  The concert when along great even though the piano was a dinky little keyboard and afterwards the prez took us out for some of the best tacos Mexico has to offer.  I refuse to ever step inside a taco bell again.

Sunday there were two concerts here in Tijuana but more specifically in Otay y Florido.  Oh, and hears a fun fact for you.  I woke up that day with literally a snot ball in my throat and unable to breathe through my nose.  Thank you springtime allergies.  So to cut the story short, there wasnt anyone in the world praying as hard as I was that day.  Hoping that my throat would magically clear up and the concerts wouldnt be affected.  There were a couple bumpy parts during the concert in Otay, but an Easter miracle occurred in Florido.  My throat still felt horrible, but every time I got up to sing I could hit the notes.  

I have a strong testimony in the combination of the Spirit and Music.  It can work wonders.  We received many new references por medio de los concierts.  New investigatores, and a strengthening of testimonies for the members.  Lots of crying in general.  Easter is awesome.

PS the obispo de Florido recorded all of the songs in a very cool high tecky way and is going to make us all CD's!  

PPS President Carreon told me that I have the voice of a Disney Princess... no big deal.