It is common for members of the church to be asked to speak for 15 minutes during sacrament meeting shortly after they move to a new ward (a ward is like a congregation.) Tina and I were ready for this. We were asked to speak about honesty. I think the talks went fine, but as I spoke, I let on that I sing. The church loves music. [1] [2]

So I was asked to sing a solo today. I still get nervous about solos, but I think it went well anyway. I sang "I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked" [3], a poem by Daniel S. Twohig, set to music by Geoffrey O'Hara. I especially like the orchestration in this piece. Sue Rosenlof was very kind to accompany on the piano. I received many compliments, although members of the church are very forgiving of mistakes. I hope everyone paid more attention to the message than the messenger.

By the way, my first solo is a funny story. Toward the end of ninth grade, I sang Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love". I was so nervous (make that terrified) that in the weeks before the event, I bought a new set of clothes and skipped a lot of classes to install a custom sound system in the auditorium. The vice principal got on my case, thinking an honor student was turning bad! The night of the event, I sang as well as I could, but I thought I flopped. However, the next day I started to hear rumors that several girls suddenly wanted to date me. The vice principal eased up.