Wednesday

 

    Last Wednesday was a busy day for me.  C and I got up early and went to the food shelf  (Storehouse) run by our church to volunteer. People who need food work with their bishops to transmit an order to the Storehouse. Those who live in the area come and fill their own order. Those who live out of town have their order  brought to them. Volunteers pick the items needed and package them in bins which are driven in a refrigerated truck to those outside the metro area. 

    I've helped at the storehouse before and am always amazed by how organized and efficient it is. The first things we do is pack the dry goods and paper products. Then we pick produce after that we pick dairy. The dry goods get packed into get packed into green bins and those things needing refrigeration are packed in blue. The bags are marked with the name of the town and a designation of who it goes to. No names are used to protect privacy.

    The bins are stacked on top of each other until there are three. Then a volunteer takes the bins away and prepares them to be loaded on the truck. 

    Once we finish with those products we pack the meat part of the order. Meat items are put in a plastic bag and then a paper bag marked with the proper designation. The bags go into a large cooler to keep the items from thawing during shipping.

    C worked in the warehouse keeping the shelves of product stocked. With so many volunteers and service missionaries that work at the storehouse we were done just before lunch tine. C took some time to talk to a few men who were friends of his. 

    We had lunch with a couple friends who also volunteered that day. 

    After lunch we went to do a few errands. Once we got home, C took a nap and I practiced the dulcimer. We had been asked to come to a youth activity that evening. One of the youth leaders had asked us bring our instruments and talk about them. They also wanted us to play a song. Most of the kids had heard me play the dulcimer during Sacrament meeting on holidays. I wanted to play something that did not sound like a hymn. I had a hornpipe that I wanted to play. It is fun but also challenging. I had not been able to play it without making a mistake. I tired a few other songs, but I just kept coming back to the hornpipe. Maybe I could just play a portion.

    I was a little nervous about going to this. I'm usually awkward around kids of any age. I hoped that my Toastmasters skills would prevent me from looking like too much of an idiot.

    When it got close to time to go, C started the car so it would be warm when we loaded the instruments. Cold is not good for wood instruments. I packed the dulcimer and stand along with all my hammers so I could demonstrate how different hammers make different sounds. I wanted them to be able to try them out and hear the difference.

        Once we got to church and unpacked, I noticed that many of the kids had brought their own instruments. There was a couple small drum sets, a xylophone, two cellos, a violin and viola. The Bishop brought a ukulele, another youth leader brought a flute, another girl brought a recorder and two older girls brought  trumpets  Each of them talked briefly about their instrument, what they liked about it and what they didn't. Then they played something even if it was just a scale. C brought his banjo and talked about it. Then I talked about the dulcimer. 

    When everyone had a chance to talk the youth were encouraged to get a closer look at the instruments and play them if the owner was all right with that. A few came up and tried the dulcimer.

    It was a lot of fun. More than I expected. I was not awkward and I think the kids had fun too.

    It was a good day.