On May 5th, 2011 our Stake President received an invitation from the General Music Committee to participate in a Primary choir at the Saturday afternoon session of general conference on October 1st. Shortly after that letter was received I was in a meeting with the Pleasant View South Stake primary presidency when I heard a soft knock at the door and in walked President Brent Keller. I could tell something was up and that he was very anxious to talk. He handed me a piece of paper with the familiar letterhead from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. I was so excited as I read that our stake had been asked to be the host stake in helping to prepare 364 children to sing in General conference!!

It has been an incredible journey and one that I knew I needed to journal the details of this experience! The last few weeks I have been super emotional and I have felt an increase of the spirit in a way that I don't have the words to describe. It has been quite the process getting to this point, but everyone involved has felt the hand of our Heavenly Father every step of the way.

The choir consists of 6 Stakes from Pleasant View and North Ogden. Each stake will be represented with children ranging from 9 - 11 years old. The process of choosing the children who will participate was done on the ward level and each ward handled things under the direction of the Bishop and Primary President. Each ward was given the number of children who would be able to participate after prorating each ward and the number of children in their ward that were 9, 10 and 11 years old. The children were then called in with their parents and asked if they would be willing to accept the dedicated schedule along with the calling to participate in a General Conference Primary Choir. The bishops explained that they would need to attend several practices that involved many hours of practice and preparation. If they missed one practice, they would not be able to sing on the day of the performance. This direction was given by the church music committee and we were also told that we should not have any alternates because other Stakes had done that in the past and the alternates were not able to sing after going to all of the practices. To my knowledge we will have a full house next Saturday with all the choir seat full! The children/parents have also been responsible for following the outline given them by way of dress. The dress and grooming has been set out by the General Music Committee coordinators. Julie Henley who is the first counselor in the PV South Stake has done a fabulous job checking every single child and working to help the parents track down shirts etc...A dress coordinator has been called from each Stake to help each of the children in their stake with their wardrobe.

The girls are wearing collard jewel colored tops with black skirts and tan colored nylons, and the boys will be wearing long sleeved white shirts and missionary appropriate ties and dark slacks. The shirts that the girls are wearing must have buttons that match the color of their shirt. This has been tricky for many of the girls because most of the shirts come with white buttons. Mothers have either used fingernail polish or sharpies or they have put on new buttons to match the shirts. All of the children have gone through three different wardrobe checks to make sure that they look sharp. I have come learned that some cultures find certain clothing and even the layering of clothing offensive, and we are a world wide church and not in the business to offend! The boys have to wear their hair in a conservative manner with no spiking etc... The girls have to have their hair pulled out of their faces and their hair style should not fall over their shoulders. One pair of small non-shiny earrings and one small wrist watch is permitted. Both boys and girls must have black Sunday shoes on. Since we are the host stake, the High Counselor member Brother Denise Holiday who is assigned to the Primary, has been assigned to help us with many of the details. He has had facial hair for the past 30 years. His wife and children haven't seen a clean shaved face in all of those years. He decided he would shave his face so that he would set the example for the children and look like a missionary. We have 30 children in the choir with medical needs. All 30 children have been properly placed in isle seats and medical personal will be on hand if there are any problems. If a child has to leave for any reason during the performance, they are not allowed to come back to finish. All food allergies have been recorded because the church will be providing a snack for each child as well as buses to transport the children next Saturday. They will be leaving Pleasant View at 9:45 a.m.

Since I knew I would have to be gone for some of the practices because I would be with Melissa and family while she had Paige, our Stake Music Specialist, Karin Larsen, has been the one that has really followed through every step of the way. She has been incredible and has received inspiration that is beyond the ability of one person. I have been in awe of her inspiration and the direction she has received as well as the many many hours she has dedicated to this opportunity.

As a stake we have been privileged to work with Sister Diane Bastian of the General Music Committee along with Sister Crocket who oversees General Conference music and Sister Walkin's who will be leading the children. Sister Crocket's son is the lead singer for VoiceMale who is currently in competition in the NBC TV show "Sing-off." She has been traveling back and forth to California while the planning has been going on for General Conference. Sister Walkin's voice sounds like butter as she speaks to the children. She has a gift and has been able to teach and talk to these children in an incredible way to help them prepare for this experience.

We had been asked to submit a seating chart to Salt Lake by Thursday of last week. We decided to put a wrist band on each of the children colored coded according to their Stake. Once the appropriate wrist band was placed on a child, we wrote their names on the band and the color of their shirt. They were then placed according to height and shirt color in the pews in our chapel. An envelope was taped to the end of each pew. At the end of the practice two weeks ago, before the children were excused, we placed a number on each wrist band to know where they were sitting, and then cut off the wrist band. The picture above shows the wrist bands tape to the wall before we had to take them down and translate our chapel seating chart to that of the conference schedule. Height, shirt color, medical needs, all had to be taken into consideration as well as wiggly children and where to place them. Seven hours later and a team of woman working, the task was complete, and submitted to Salt Lake. A special thanks for Karin Larsen and Julie Henley for their hard work as well as their brains!! Another thanks for all of those that have worked on security and registration check in as well as dress and all of the other details involved!

Last Saturday, we left for the conference center at 7:15 a.m. The time we were given inside the conference center was 8:30 - 11:00. It was a beautiful scene as 364 children were dressed and ready to practice. Invited to come along were their parents, siblings, grandparents and Stake and Ward primary people. I wish I could write and express the feelings I had as I watched this site, but I can't. However, I can tell you that I couldn't stop crying.

This group of gorgeous children are my neighbors. I know and love each one of these children. The blond girl bending down in front is Sammi Minnoch. She lives across the street from me. She has always been a good friend of mine. She always greets me with a big "MARGIE". Yesterday was no different. When she said that Tim responded "What am I...chopped liver?" So yesterday afternoon she brought over some peaches from their peach tree. The card read...

"Margie and Tim (aka chopped liver) I herd you like peches" It was adorable.

As we entered the conference center, the children's eyes were as wide as the smiles on their faces. All of the children were placed in their appropriate seats with a few adjustments that had to be made. Sister Walkin's began by doing some stretching exercises for the children. She magically had all of their attention as she directed them in every way. She introduced to the children and parents to Brother Robinson who is the director of music and cultural arts for the church. He spoke to the children and told them that over 7 million people will be watching them. He explained that of that 7 million, half of those do not speak English. That it was up to the children to be able to bear their testimonies to all of the people of the world through their smiles. and the light in their eyes. The children proceeded to practice all of their songs. The General Primary Presidency was in attendance listening and watching the children. At 10:00 a.m. each member of the General Primary Presidency briefly spoke to the children. Sister Wixom told the children that while the were singing she had her hand over her chest because she was afraid it was going to jump right out of her body if she didn't hold it in. They showed the children where they would be singing and that they would be cheering for them even though they would have to stay in their seats and act lady like. Many of these children have brothers and sisters who are serving full time missions as well as other family members throughout the world.

Sister Walkin's then told the children that she was going to practice the congregational hymn with them. In her beautiful speaking voice she said, "look at my baton, this baton is made out of the wood that has been taken from church history sites where the Prophet Joseph Smith lived". She then proceeded to lead both the children and audience members with that baton as we sang "Praise to the Man". (Watch for that baton at conference) I didn't see a dry eye in the audience. Many of the children have told me that is their favorite song. It was fantastic!! I too felt like I better grab my heart to keep it inside my chest too.

Finally on a personal note, one of the songs the children will be singing is "I hope they call me on a mission". It was so overwhelming to watch these young children sing that song. As I sat there I was remind of a story that Sean told me after he returned home from his mission. Just days before he came home, his last companion Elder Ricks, had brought a primary CD with him on his mission. Sean had not heard primary music for two years. They were driving together when Elder Rick's put in the primary CD. The song "I hope they call me on a mission" began to play. Sean said that he couldn't help himself and he burst into tears as he reflected on singing that song as a young primary boy and then realized he HAD grown a foot or two and NOW his mission was coming to a close. As those children sang that song, I knew that Olivia, my Chinese daughter that Sean baptised while in Australia would be thousands of miles away watching "my" primary children who had practice that same song in the same building that Sean sang that song professing to the Lord that he hoped he would go on a mission some day. This experience has gone full circle for me. Each week on Sean's mission Tim would close his letters with a quote that from the Prophet Joseph ..."Shall we not go on in so great of cause!!!"

I invited and hope that all of you, my close family and friends will join with me in watching general conference and cheering for these precious children. They sound like angels and I feel confident that angels will be with them as they pronounce their testimony throughout the world.