She was very friendly and down-to-earth, as were all of her family that were in attendance. Gladys attended the baptism along with one or two of the Pips. The two Elders that taught her, me and my comp, and a small handful of family and a few ward members. He was a member for around three years before his sister, Kenya, decided to take the discussions and get baptised.Īttendance wise, it was a small baptism. He deliberately kept it quiet because he wanted his family to see that he only changed for the better. Jimmy Newman (Gladys' oldest son) was the first one in the family to join TSCC. So, we hung out together a lot and we sometimes went on splits when they were teaching her. ![]() The two missionaries that taught and baptised Kenya (Gladys' daughter) lived in our area and (their area was next to ours). I served as a missionary in Las Vegas in 1990. ![]() Here's some somewhat first-hand info IIRC. I wanted it to go straight to Church headquarters because I didn’t want my choir members getting big-headed,” Gladys laughs. “After we won the Grammy, I had the opportunity to present it to President Hinckley. And adding African influence to ‘Come, Come, Ye Saints’ was my way of honoring the wonderful pioneers of Africa.” She agreed, and the Saints Unified Voices was born. Soon Gladys was asked to organize a choir for a stake missionary fireside. She wanted to include music in her presentation, so she organized a small ensemble of young women to sing with her. The idea to create a choir first came to Gladys when she was invited to speak at the 2002 Women’s Conference at BYU. To transform to the European way is one of the greatest obstacles to coming to this church.” African Americans need fire in our bones-music that puts us on our feet or on our knees. “The culture has been so European for so long, the music reflects it, the way Mormons react to things is very reserved. “We were the only African American people in our ward for years,” Gladys says. "However, being a black Southern convert had its challenges, especially when it came to Church culture. “Now it’s time for people of color to come to His church. If she sings in a church, be prepared for more-nonsense, despite the show. A couple even was denied addmittance on account of their wardrobe, probably by some pompous ars boy that thought he was at church. They didn't seem like traditional Mormons. The performance was Mormon-twisted from beginning to end. First she buried hers and then he got up there and joked and told the story of how they met and then what the "church" is to him. and points out how you can get a cheap BoM & more info if you sign up by filling out the brochure-form or going to n or something though there were a few nice all encompassing choir numbers (they made it clear there were various beliefs there) and a few light hearted parts, the climax must have been when she, then her husband got up there and started testing the minions. Long story short, it was an attempt at mormon-overwhelmed: choir comes out and starts singing and then she and husband and gang come out from the back of the gym and march proudly up the isle to the stage Mormon prayer SP mentions church, diversity or something, etc. ![]() ![]() I grabbed her and said goodnight to sister mishie as we went inside, and said, yea, they are just like that. When I got back to my date for the show, a sister missionary had all gotten up in her business and started preaching the gospel. We walked up to the doors to enter the church (and observed many pair of sister and brother missionaries congregated outside, and in) when I realized I had to run back to the car. I wish I could have brought many ex & non Mormon friends for the would-be spectacle, er, show, and test-a-monkey meeting. I should have known it was a "proselytizing moment" but didn't think anything of it and asked a friend to go (I got two tickets), since she had listened to her growing up and had heard Gladys had become Mormon and is also black, and she was interested. She came through town recently (southern US) and members were passing around tickets.
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