Showing Up

Most of you don't know I play the piano. Truth be told, I don't know I play the piano. I used to, but I haven't played for years. Before I left for my mission, I kept getting promptings that I should practice the piano. They went unheeded--too many more obvious things that needed doing.

Ecuador is a small country with a small economy. The families struggle to make ends meet. So do the schools. There is no music or art training to speak of. It's too expensive. Therefore, there are very few people who play the piano, or any instrument for that matter. Most don't know how to read music. But they do love to sing.

This is how I found myself mentally prepared to play the piano for any stake conference I might be called upon to do so. You see, it's all about showing up. In the Lord's eyes, it doesn't really matter how well you can perform, because it's not about the performance, and it's most certainly not about you. It is all about the Spirit. And music invites the Spirit. But quality music doesn't happen unless someone shows up to play. And if no one shows up to stake conference to play and I am there, I will play.

When Sister Sloan left to attend her son's wedding, there was only one person left in most zone conferences who could play the piano, and that was me. I brought my hymnal and brought my simplified version (think second-year piano book) as well, just in case. Guess what? Latins LOVE to sing the rousing hymns (High on a Mountaintop, Angels We Have Heard on High, Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel) and none of those are in the simplified version. So I launched into the accompaniment as boisterously as they sang. I made mistakes; they made mistakes. A good time was had by all. And the Spirit attended.

For me, playing the piano is just like speaking Spanish. If I stop to think about it, I can't do it. If I put my trust in the Lord, and pretend like I know how, it flows. The Spirit is powerful in ways we don't even begin to understand. And the Lord uses the weak and the simple to do His work, if they just show up.