what a sunday mass!

sunday mass today was quite interesting. firstly, well, the altar server installation. there were 24 of them. kinda a lot. khoo must be proud. anyway, cos of that, many of the guys were missing from choir. and so suddenly, in the middle of mass, when the altos decided to sit with the sops, there was suddenly an empty row in the middle of the choir. which is why i made the remaining guys move forward. it created a, kinda like a sound gap. and they're far away enough from the mike as it is already. if there's room, why not move forward.

then, there was this group of philippinos who came in during the entrance hymn, dressed totally in white. definitely very attention grabbing. i could see majority of the choir turning to look at them. me included. it's an interesting sight in our church i tell you. i think they were on a 'pilgrimage' or something cos after mass, they went round the church to the statues and prayed and took photos. and then, the offertery rites went a whole lot faster than i remember. *smacks myself* shouldn't have repeated the first verse of the "lord make us ready". still haven't gotten the hang of judging the timing.

haha! guess what? some things that made me very happy doing the choir today. despite me thinking that i malu-ated myself as usual, 3 people came after mass to tell us that we sounded great. among these was a couple visiting from canada. (hmm...sudden thought, maybe sylvia sent them) anyway, they actually CLAPPED for us after the rec. woah. WOAH. never in a million years did i think that there would actually be people applauding for us like that at an ordinary mass. it's really good encouragement to do better next time.

and then, there was this lady at the thanksgiving hymn time. we sang "god is dwelling in my heart". and i was just looking round, seeing if congregation is singing along, cos it seemed quieter than usual. and i saw her. she was kneeling down but her hands were lifted up, like in those praise and worship sessions, singing gustily. i don't know. seeing her singing like that was so... uplifting. thinking that, hey, despite me thinking that the hymns i planned are so sucky, there is someone somewhere who can connect with it, that it means something to that person. sweet. i really hope that the choir can continue to really touch people like that.