domingo - 14 de junio

Today was Stake Conference and we were excited to attend to see if it was any different from those at home. Nope, didn't appear to be. There was a men's choir that sounded wonderful, ushers, flower arrangements, and chairs in the cultural hall back to the stage. . . just like home. We wondered why we would have expected anything different. Besides, it was going to be a satellite broadcast from Salt Lake. We were hoping it would be piped to a room where we could listen to it in English. They do that for General Conference, but we didn't know how they would handle this broadcast.

When we got there, everyone was assembled together and the large screen was pulled down at the front of the chapel, so we knew we were all going to view it together. Okay, we were just hoping. The conference was for 70 stakes in Argentina. In Salt Lake, it was in a room with a podium, and just the four speakers sitting on a bench behind. It must have been some sort of an assembly room, probably for conferences such as this.

The opening exercises were conducted by the Stake Presidency with sustainings and stake business as usual. Then 15 minutes later the broadcast started. The first two speakers spoke in Spanish. One was from the Quorum of Seventy and the other was from the General Sunday School Presidency. Then Elder L. Tom Perry spoke, and he had a translator. He would say a paragraph of his talk and then pause, and the interpreter would translate it in Spanish.

The next speaker was President Eyring, and I was so excited to hear him but didn't see his interpreter come forward. Well, they turned his voice off and dubbed over the top of it in Spanish. Ahhhhhh, how disappointing. But, it was good for the members to hear from the General Authorities. The missionaries try to bring investigators to conference too.

We sat in the cultural hall with some other Elders, and it was amazing to me how many people walked in and out throughout the meeting. Would that many people have to use the restroom? Maybe that happens at home too, but we never see it because we go early enough to be up front in the chapel.

We came home and had left over spaghetti from the lunch I fed the elders yesterday. That was good and easy for a Sunday meal.

We were also looking forward to this evening as there was going to be a violin concert at our church. Right after conference, men were picking up the benches (they are not secured to the floor) and moving them around to make a stage for the performer. The city officials of San Fernando contract with different artists in order to have cultural events for the public. They have used our church for some of these performances. The Stake Presidency like it because it is a way of getting non members inside the church. Some people have never been inside a Mormon church before, so it lets people see what it looks like and perhaps it will spark their interest as to what the religion that meets here is all about.

They needed to use the entrance to our office area that goes into the church to bring equipment in, so Rich needed to be there to open the gate and doors. So we decided to attend the concert, and we were so glad we did.

There were cameras stationed around the chapel to record it and show it on the big screen, so those sitting farther back could see the performer better. We met some of the family of my friend, Elida Norton, from our ward. She was the one who has a birthday the same as mine and invited us to dinner. Well, one of her daughters was there and she invited us to come up front and sit with them. So we went, and had choice seats to the side of the small stage area. It was great.

The performer was an 18 year old boy (turning 19 in Sept) named Xavier Inchausti. He was unbelievable!! He started taking piano lesson very young. His father wanted him to be a wonderful pianist, so he enrolled him with accomplished instructors and paid lots of money for his training. Then, at around age 8, he told his father he wanted to play the violin instead of the piano. The father was probably disappointed at first because of all he had invested in his piano training, but then his talent on the violin took off from there.

There was no accompaniment to his playing. . . . just the violin sonatas. He played 6 of them. We sat in awe of his talent and ability. How could he memorize all of that music? Incredible! And the pieces were long.

A few of our ward members were there, and Sister Argyle and her daughter came. The chapel wasn't packed, but a fair amount of people attended. There were no babies or small children, so it was silent and there was nothing to distract the musician.

We had to stay around to lock up our office area after the clean up, so while Rich was wandering around the halls, he met the artist and luckily had his camera with him. Someone snapped a picture for him. He is tall, huh! What a talented young man. I can't even imagine how many hours a day he practices.

This is at intermission. We found it interesting that at conference today, most of the people there were of the lamanite culture and background. And at this concert, the people looked like the Argentines with a European background.

It was a wonderful sabbath day. We were uplifted in both a spiritual and cultural way.