Governor Herbert Inauguration

Today we participated in the Inauguration ceremonies for Governor Gary Herbert.

We sang one of my favorite hymn arrangements, "They The Builders of the Nation." The arrangement is thrilling and really makes me think of the Pioneers.

The choir was positioned behind the audience. The front stage was straight in front of us on the other staircase of the Capital building. The audience was in the middle of the two stair cases. I stood on the stairs, third from the top. A great place to stand.

During the program I saw Sean Reyes, who was elected as the District Attorney on the front stage. In the audience I saw BYU Football coach, Kalani Sitake. I was in the back. I felt the Polynesian connection between all of us. It made me realize just how far Polynesians have come from the time I was young. Now, the community is being represented in different areas: politics (Reyes), sports (Sitake) and in missionary work (me). My have things changed.

I feel in many ways we are reaping the blessings of our own Pacific Islander pioneer heritage. It was blessing to be there and perform with my choir family. I love these people.

We ended the ceremony by singing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and to sing it in that space was an amazing experience. I have found that the choir sings in such odd and yet remarkable places that the training Mack and Ryan give us have proven helpful to adjust our sound to the environments. I feel like we are now like choral ninjas. Hahaha.

It was a great experience even though we had to stand during the entire program. That was a long time to stand still. I think we are the MVP's of the mannequin challenge.