Tabernacle Choir Watch Party

Last Wednesday, we were heading to downtown Ft. Smith again...and one of Gary's favorite things happen--we got stopped by a train.  We only got stopped for a few minutes but it was a nice break in the day.

We were heading to the US Marshal Museum which has a beautiful location right on the Arkansas river.  We have crossed this bridge many times, but this was our first view from the shore side.

The US Marshal Museum has been on our list since we arrived to the area.  It is a museum dedicated to all of the US Marshals who have ever served in the US especially those who have lost their lives in protecting our country and our citizens.  We weren't there for the history, but for a special stake event to watch the Tabernacle Choir perform on their Hope Tour in Atlanta, Georgia.  All of the stakes in the south east area of the country were invited to do watch parties for their stake and for friends.

We got there early to help, but they had things well under control. Jena and I along with the YSA sister missionaries were the door greeters and it was great to see so many people I recognized from our time in Ft. Smith and to great them, including Evan, one of the young adults, who has drifted away for a bit.  His sister performs in the Tabernacle Choir and he didn't want to miss watching her perform (although he said later that he never actually saw her on scene.) That was a great treat for me because I wanted to see him before we left.

The building....we think that from the drone's view it probably makes a star which makes for an unusual profile from the ground level.

They have a large hall you can rent for gatherings which overlooks the river

The countdown to the actual concert...

During the concert, a tug boat actually went past on the river......

The other young adult table next to ours.....

The concert and the sunset...it was hard to know which to watch.  It was a great concert and I was so glad that we were able to share with with some of the stake members.  We had about 250 people there.

There was a star in the ceiling of the large hall, but at night it had lights that changed colors and this is actually the reflection of that feature in the windows.

And as we headed out after cleaning up, the YSA sisters invited us to Andy's because the stake president was treating all of the missionaries to ice cream! I think he was surprised when we showed up but he was happy to buy us ice cream, too, and we had a good conversation with him as well. He is a great stake president and we have loved our interactions with him.  It was a very sweet end to the concert evening. 

I sent Sister Ellis a photo from the choir concert because she is a music lover.  She called it "a great capstone" event to end our mission.  I liked that--at least one of the capstone moments from these ending weeks.