The first night that we were in Provo after our long flight we went to the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City where I had been invited to sing with the world renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir as they rehearsed for their Sunday broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. This great privilege had been been arranged by my hostesses closest friend Carol, pictured here on my left. with my hostess Susan on my right.
Despite a heavy head-cold, I still managed to sing several of the numbers with the 360-strong choir, and what a marvellous experience it was. I was positioned in the 'sick-bay' section along with a handful of other men, in order that I was not able to pass around my germs!
On the following Sunday morning we were in our seats in the Tabernacle for the recording of the programme. Music and the Spoken Word is the longest running broadcast in the world, the having been broadcast for 82 years, originally on the radio but now also on television, and to more than 2000 sites. The whole scene in the Tabernacle was magical, the lighting displays being wonderful and the singing something heavenly. Along with various other special guests, I was introduced to the audience prior to the start of the broadcast. All in all it was a humbling experience, and one that I will never forget.
We went to the Tabernacle along with our hosts and a large group of students from the Welsh class at Brigham Young University, pictured here. The prime reason for the trip was to enable me to speak to the students, who are translating some of my hymns into Welsh as part of their work for the current semester.
On the last evening, the little Welsh Choir sang a selection of my hymns which they had translated into Welsh.
A nice surprise was when Jessica Anderson, the Choir Director, sang my hymn He's Always With Me as a solo. She had commented to me how much she liked the hymn, but kept the fact that she was going to sing it as a solo a dark secret!
One of our trips was to the ski resort of Sundance, owned by Robert Redford. It is a beautiful place and we thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Here are a few pictures of it.
And here is a photograph of us with our gracious hosts, Bob and Susan. We arrived as strangers and left as friends. What more can I say?
I'll post some more pictures tomorrow of other places that we experienced on this memorable trip. The friendliness of everyone we met enabled us both to have a relaxing and enjoyable time. I felt that I could have stayed for ever!
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