The switch to virtual sacrament meetings via zoom enabled us to join in worship again with many friends in Vietnam as their sacrament services were 12 hours in advance of ours. That was sweet.
Moving to virtual teaching in pathology sparked a major foray into video production of short and some longer teaching videos on pathology topics. While initiated for our own program residents, it is now evident that the value to both trainees and public far beyond our program is not insignificant. And that has led to the consideration of how the cumulative efforts of many peers in doing the same might be turned to solve a major public health problem looming down the road as cancer incidence in the developing world accelerates, even as we curtail infectious and communicable disease (or think we have.) Most of these video releases have been announced via our Facebook group devoted to promoting pathology development in Vietnam and other developing countries, an effort that was an early launch when we began giving lectures at the Vietnamese National Cancer Institute. (For the curious, here are the links to the channel https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCSlhvdzIe8AXLKb-dWO8jhg/videos/upload?filter=%5B%5D&sort=%7B%22columnType%22%3A%22date%22%2C%22sortOrder%22%3A%22DESCENDING%22%7D
and the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/568498066621912 )
We have been able to give equal time and attention to our missionaries as they approach marriage. Our commitment and mantra to "Do it right from the beginning" that we taught and emphasized over and over again when speaking about how we build branches seems even more apt as we contemplate their looming task of building a family founded on the gospel. But sweet Zoom sessions with as many as will accept have made the relationships richer and compensated for our inability to witness sealing ceremonies or participate in celebrations.
We have seen our hearts stretched as we have ministered to others within our own ward and stake. While often the 80/20 rule means that a Relief Society president will spend the bulk of her time attending to problems among an often recalcitrant 20% of her sisters, the efforts over the first 10 months of her service have seen several reasons to rejoice, both in terms of training and modeling offered to her counselors (several have already gone on to other callings better prepared) and in the signs of progress among the sisters in struggles. Hooray for small victories!
We have missed singing, or at least I have, even though my voice is showing its age. While listening to others raise a joyful noise is good, and we can resonate inside with their efforts, there is something wonderful about exulting or mourning or praising in one's own voice, and in harmonizing and synchronizing with others, whether for a funeral, or wedding or just a weekly worship service. And that brings me to the backdrop for this year's Christmas carol. It expresses this need to sing when the news is as good as Christmas is to me, and I hope to you. I'm not a composer with accomplishments or much in the way of training. But once I started this and the words were beginning, the mournful beginning in a minor key had to be resolved with a change in mode to major as the good news of Christ's birth and His plan is affirmed. Perhaps you will hear the quote or allusion in the first line to the tune for "There is a balm in Gilead" (not done consciously I will add) which likewise comforts with His message.
May you be well and whole. May music of praise and thanksgiving and joy fill your heart in this most different of years. And may a COVID Christmas come to mean more than loneliness or isolation as you come to see what God has done in your life this year.
