Sending the Elders Off

Today the upbeat “Called to Serve” seems to be the current missionary favorite for those soon to enter the mission field. To be honest, my wife says it’s her least liked hymn as she has sat in the MTC in Provo listening to this popular melody just moments before hugging two of her children goodbye for a few years. Fortunately, she did not have to endure it a third time, as our youngest by passed the Provo MTC for the Argentine MTC. It did cross my mind to sing it out loud in the Salt Lake airport as we were saying good bye to him, but then reality set in and had second thoughts as I envisioned myself walking from Salt Lake City to our home in Orem. No, I didn't want to ruffle Kate’s feathers.

Back in pioneer times, what was the favorite hymn that the Pitts Brass Band traditionally sent missionaries off into their fields of labor?

       a.      God be With You Till We Meet Again

       b.      Ye Elders of Israel

       c.       I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go

       d.      The Spirit of God

Yesterday’s answers:

1.      C.   Oh Thou, in Whose Presence My Soul Takes Delight

Nearly Everything Imaginable, Walker, Ronald W., Doris R. Dant ed., (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1999), 140.

2.      A.   The Spirit of God—Sung at all temple dedications.

Nearly Everything Imaginable, Walker, Ronald W., Doris R. Dant ed., (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1999), 141.

3.      C.   The Spirit of God—Sung at all temple dedications.

Nearly Everything Imaginable, Walker, Ronald W., Doris R. Dant ed., (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1999), 141.

4.      D.   Praise to the Man—W. W. Phelps  2^nd verse “Long shall his blood, which was shed by assassins,/ stain Illinois while the earth lauds his fame.”  Changed in 1929

Nearly Everything Imaginable, Walker, Ronald W., Doris R. Dant ed., (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1999), 143.

5.      B.   Come, Come Ye Saints—“All is Well” Protestant New Church Hymnal

Nearly Everything Imaginable, Walker, Ronald W., Doris R. Dant ed., (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1999), 143.