Daily Tour Diary 7

Doug and Jill Furness

The 2015 Atlantic States Tour has now concluded day seven, and what a fantastic week it has been!  Now, we have a “day of rest” from our musical missionary duties, and have been provided a needed day to “rest”, or at least enjoy a change of “scenery.” Today is a sort of halftime to think of the wonderful times we have had so far this week, as we anticipate the great opportunities that await us going forward into the next seven days! 

When one thinks of New York City, thoughts may come to mind of:  extraordinarily tall buildings blocking the sunlight, bustling throngs of people filling congested sidewalks, and massive traffic jams caused by honking vehicles trying to inch their way forward. The “New York City experience” is that, but so much more as the members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir organization are absorbing. Imagine the delicious aromas of foods from all over the world enticing us to partake, or the countless Broadway plays beckoning us to enjoy, as well as the abundance of museums and historic sites that we have learned about in text books from our childhood. There is no better place to enjoy a day that was completely open for us to do whatever our hearts desired, as long as it was legal and was something we could tell our mothers about!

For Jill and me, being able to enjoy the spirit of our musical missionary callings together as husband and wife, in one of America’s great cities with some of the best people on the planet, is a blessing beyond compare! As J.S. Bach once said “The final aim and reason of all music is nothing other than the glorification of God and the refreshment of the spirit.” Jill and I have felt this glorification of God and the refreshment of our spirits as we have been a small part of the music of this tour, at the same time building deeper relationships with other members of this glorious organization!