SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION:
I have been really inspired lately and I think it may be an running theme in both of my blogs.But I want to share with you, (in case you haven't already seen it) an awesome video by our brethren Alex Boye'
My husband and I and some of our friends had an opportunity to attend a "Why I Believe" Fireside presented at the Washington DC Mormon Temple Visitors Center back in May.
What an unusual day it started out to be, but it was full of possibilities. I posed a wish, a desire to meet Brother Boye. We had all seen him perform with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in concert last year.
So a funny thing happened while we were waiting for the start of the concert. My husband and I picked up tickets early and we decided to take a walk in the Temple garden. They are so lovely, and the garden encircles the width of the Temple. As we walked along the path we said "hello" to a person we had never met. It was funny, he said "Hello, are you visiting here? I am. We told him that we were waiting for a concert to start. He was so personable, he immediately started to tell us about his day. He was from York, Pa. ( The Temple in Philadelphia is not completed yet). He came down here to do some Temple Work for his family. He said that he realized that he would need some help but he didn't know anyone, so while he was in the dressing room, he met a very nice "black man" with a peculiar accent. So he asked the man where he was from, the man said, "I was born in England", and he told him that he was a singer. So our new friend invited this man to help him with his Temple work, and they sat together, and afterwards, he said the man hugged him and told him his name, Alex Boye'. He asked us if we knew him?
(push play)
CALLING AMERICA: Alex Boye ( A Song of Patriotism and tapestry from an immigrant)So Alex sang this song for us that night. He shared the inspiration for this song as a part of his "Why I Believe" testimony.
He said that about 10 or 11 years ago,on Sept 11 2001, he was watching the news and saw the devastation that was happening here, in New York and in Washington DC and Pa. He said that everyone in England, stopped in their tracks and left their jobs and went home. He said that people stopped in the streets to pray and weep.
His reaction was: "What are they doing to my country!!!" He knew that one day he would come here to America, and he was inspired to write the bulk of that song at that time, but he couldn't finish it. Now fast forward, 11 years into the present. In Feb 2012, he was "naturalized" an American Citizen. After he received his certificate of Naturalization, he felt the words to the rest of the song come "flowing" out of his heart. So he sang it for us.
After the concert, we were told that Alex would be available to shake hands, meet and greet.
So my husband decided that I was going to meet him and have my picture taken. I am a very shy person, so my husband literally pushed me forward, while another friend dragged me along, LOL. I got to shake hands with him and have a 5 second conversation, but in that 5 seconds, I had the sense that he was a genuine son of God and a nice person.
