Jaw dropping thriller.

I always love when I get to reflect on my mission. I know, that sounds silly...I should be doing it all the time. And people may get annoyed at someone who "always talks about their mission," but I will be the first to tell you that you shouldn't slam it until you've been through it. So, if you want to hear a cool mission story, keep reading. If not, well...too bad! Anyway, I'm extremely guilty of not giving myself enough time to really study and reflect. But thankfully, what I'm busy with also gives me some time to sit down and think about why I'm busy in the first place.

Today at rehearsal, we talked about why we perform. Why do I want to get on a stage with costumes that look like a kid threw up neon crayons on a piece of paper and pull facial expressions my face has never formed to yet? For the thrill. It's as simple as that. This thrill of performing is amazing. It rushes through me, and gives me confidence in a matter of seconds. It's something I can't describe. However, the "thrill" has changed the past couple of years that I was on leave. 

When I was in my last area, 5x5ing a potential investigator, (that sounds painful--but believe me it's not) Sister Steel and I came up on a woman sweeping her driveway. We could tell that she was stalling so we could come and talk to her, maybe because she was lonely. Her name was Shawntia; a single mother of three. Of course, we seized the moment. She quickly invited us up to her porch, and asked us what we had to say. We dove right in, and began to tell her the story of the Restoration, and how Christ's church was not lost, but back here on the earth. After awhile, she said to us, "you mean to say, that the same exact church that Christ founded back when He was here, is here again?! Are you serious??!!" You would think someone just told her she one a million bucks. You all know that point where you're so excited to tell someone something that you're to the point of laughing? Yep, that was us. As we continued to tell her more and more about how the Church came back to the earth, her jaw continued to slowly drop. I realized, that this is the "thrill" I was looking for my whole life.

Oh wait, it doesn't stop there. After we had finished teaching our lesson and set another appointment (of course, by leaving a cliff hanger so she'd let us come back for more) Shawntia asked us if we knew two guys who had the same name-tags on as us. We said yes, there were two other young men that were in the same city, but not in the same area. She was really confused, because just ten minutes prior to us walking up, she told us she saw these boys across the street wearing what we had, and felt something in her heart. She told us there was no way she was going to go talk to them, because she was so scared. But when she saw us walking up, with the same tags, she had to stall just for a minute. Let me translate that: she felt the spirit from 30 feet away after only a minute. You guys--it's really powerful. 

Now, I don't know what happened to her after I left New York. So why did I gain a bunch of weight, get yelled at and told I was stupid for 18 months straight? For the thrill. It's as simple as as that. This thrill of teaching the gospel is amazing. It rushes through me, and gives me confidence in a matter of seconds. It's something I can't describe.

Where does your "thrill" come from?

All I have to say about this is...little did we know. HOW GREAT IT IS.

10 Day Tour: Young Ambassadors

There aren't too many things more fun (and exhausting) than being on a bus for ten days with lots of extroverts. If you didn't catch it from Facebook/Instagram, I've been out of school the past week and on a long road trip touring with the YA's! 

This is how we looked 90% of the time...

And the other 10%...

We had so much fun. It was one of those weeks where I wanted time to stand still and 

just be "in college" for awhile. It went way too fast! So starting off...this is me and MegSack about 3 hours

into our journey. That's why we are so happy...

Our first night, we stayed with the guy who draws the Pickles comics, 

Brian Crane and his lovely wife. I KNOW, RIGHT?!

Another MegSack photo, making any other face but smiling! Our cheek muscles hurt.

Our first stop on the day tour to San Francisco, the City Hall! 

Just me and a big head. That's all.

Chinatown....yeah.

I practically went to China without going to China!

Whitney and I on the Pier looking out over Alcatraz.

...and Tanner bought us a bread alligator at the world-famous Boudin's! 

We try to be as mature as possible when we are taking pictures.

After a great FHE and fireside with the Singles Ward, the next day we woke up

and went to the Redwood Forest! 

With a performance every night except Sunday, it was great to come to our Host family

and be completely welcomed in! Those little kids in Santa Rosa are adorable.

And for more mirror reflection pictures, of course we watch The Bachelor when we

get ready for our shows! This was in San Jose:

And this was the stage in San Jose...SO FUN!

I guess you could call it a success when you make the front page of

a Napa Valley Newspaper.

And for our last show...a great dressing room shot. This was our favorite dressing room 

only because we had enough outlets for our curling irons.

Within these ten days, I hadn't heard of so many miracles since my mission. For real. We helped with some re-activating, with decision making about baptism, and lots (and lots) of introduction to the LDS church. We brought the Spirit in ways that I couldn't do on my own--even when I was a missionary. I heard the exact same things when I was wearing a nametag, which convinced me even more that what I'm doing right now is an extension of my mission. But this time, I get to SING! 

Music brings something to some people that is not explainable. And one of those people is me. It gives me strength to go on, but more importantly, enough confidence to know that I'm a daughter of God. I know for a fact I gave that confidence to one little girl that I met in Oakland, and that was enough for me.

It's amazing the money, the time, sweat (and tears) Heavenly Father will allow one person to go through to help another come back to Him.

Starting it off right.

We did it! Opening weekend is out of the way! But I do kinda feel like a traveling circus. Anyway, I honestly didn't think we'd make it two weeks ago...but, miracles happen, and the shows were FANTASTIC! Oh, I had so much fun. Really, they were such good shows. I'm so proud of our team.

This was on the way there--there's no way Megan and I had that much energy on the bus ride home. 

Megs and JBrom so happy we finally get to perform instead of rehearse!

Funniest game ever: noise cancelling headphones with blasting music...someone asks them a question and they respond based on what they think the question was. 10x more hilarious with MDT majors. (Music Dance Theatre)

When we got off the bus, we (literally) ran into the High School to do a workshop with the kids, then (literally) ran to mic check and get ready for the show!

Yeah...it definitely doesn't look like this at the end of the show. This picture shows the costumes for about five performers. We have twenty. So you can imagine when we run off stage, as we are catapulting costumes off our bodies, someone else is throwing on more costumes as we run on stage to look like that didn't happen. Then we're supposed to dance and sing like we aren't out of breath or something. Ha.

The only break I get during the show is during the guys' number...eight straight minutes of The Beatles! Just enough time to cool down before going back on stage for the rest of the show.

Me, Randy, Megs and Eliza stayed at the beautiful (very beautiful) home of King and Diane Hussein and had the opportunity to give a singing devotional for the Sunday School portion of church the next day!

All Young Ambassadors aside, this was my favorite picture from the week. Definitely. So jealous they were all hanging out without me in sunny Florida while I was freezing at a cool -9 degrees!

(I never thought I'd be that girl, but whatever, I don't even care anymore. HOLY COW MY BOYFRIEND IS A BABE! Oh wow. Sheesh. Whoo.)

Anyway, back to YA's. No more shows until after Christmas. But then it will really pick up! 10-day tour to Northern California, and then shows almost every weekend until we leave to Nauvoo! 

I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN. Pinch me.

Mid-Semester Activities.

I feel like I'm 75. (Not that that's a bad thing.)

I'm reaching for the Advil every five minutes and taking advantage of the time I have on the couch with my laptop in my lap. I didn't think it was possible to be as exhausted as a missionary again...but it is! 

I'll tell you a secret though: IT'S SO WORTH IT.

I have a built-in college family, and did I get to mention we get to sing and dance? I think that's what we'll be doing when we see Him again. We're just practicing for that moment. Let's see...

"Until all shall know me, who remain, even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and shall see eye to eye, and shall lift up their voice, and with the voice together sing this new song..." -Doctrine and Covenants 84:98

Yep, that sounds about right. Not that the BYU Young Ambassadors get a front row seat or anything...well that would be cool...but...yeah. As long as you're in your ward choir, I think you're set. (Joke.)

In other news, I just bought my plane tickets to Florida to see my man!

The whole "long distance" thing isn't ideal, but I figured that's what I'd get if I met someone on while on my internship in Washington, D.C. But, I do get a lot more done than I would if he was here all the time! It actually works out pretty nicely. Also, I can't get over how handsome he is. (He's even more sweet than he is good-looking!)

When he was here we got to hang out with the culprit who put us together...

...and since it's the middle of the semester--do lots of homework. 

Kasey would probably hate it if I posted the videos of the "Cowboy Christmas" station 

he was blasting while we were working.  

As for the rest of the semester, this is the view I have for about 20 hours a week...

Just singing, dancing, and even more Singin'...in the Rain! We open our show in less than two weeks and I have nightmares that I forgot to do homework/go to class/that I even registered for that class because it's so crazy. But I totally love the crazy. 

I guess I could put in a plug for our show to wrap things up:

November 14th, 7:00 pm at Orem High School

Adults $6, Seniors/Students $5, Elementary $3

November 15th, 7:30 (?) pm at Jackson Hole High School

Not sure about prices yet...I think they're back to the normal ones.

Let me know if you're coming and I'll find out!

Finally, all of this work is about to pay off!

I'll I'm praying for at this point is just not to crash on stage. It's pretty likely.

Senioritis is real.

This is definitely the longest I've gone...without writing here or in my journal! What in the world? I've relied on pictures and quick notes I jot down in my trusty app that will help me remember times or things people say that impact me. I'm used to writing down everything, so I hope I don't regret the time I haven't had to just...write.

As for a little update on my life, well--I am in the midst of midterms and...just about everything else. I had to let my job go for the rest of the semester because I just wasn't getting everything done. I've now got a perfect amount of time to get just a little ahead in my last year of schooling to keep myself sane. Side note: I try to get everything done before 9 pm because I have a very important FaceTime call until I go to bed. Also, (since I didn't grow up in the dance studio) I've had to spend a lot of extra time on my own learning choreography for--what, about 18 songs?--that need to be performance worthy in four weeks! We take fun breaks to make sure we don't go completely insane:

This is what we look like when Randy tells us to belt singing harmony
and do five chaines at the same time. Just kidding. It's only two. 

So with the rest of my time (hah) I actually go to class! But since I'm a senior, they aren't the normal classes. I'm producing the 12 o'clock noon news on Tuesday and Fridays for...dun dun dun...the number one rated student newscast in the Nation! It's my capstone at BYU, and it's always an adventure. 

Fridays is CoogTube...women tell all! No, I'm not a feminist.

It was cute that one time that I thought I had time to be in the BYU Republicans club. Although I haven't been to a real meeting yet, I've spent a few breaks in between classes helping out at the booth! So that counts, kinda? I think I'll have more time Winter semester. Cross your fingers.

This was a lot more awkward for the people walking by.

Last but not least, I definitely have time for some post-mission fun. The NYRM camaraderie is real and we'll almost drop anything we can to be with each other, even if it is just for a few minutes. I've found myself day dreaming lately of how I was in the beautiful fall colored leaves last year in New York, almost done with my service, which gave me a confidence about saying whatever I wanted, when I wanted. (Appropriately, of course.) Missionaries will know that once you've been out for so long, you just say anything. That hasn't changed, really. Anyway, I just love my NYRMies.

My nephew and brother with our gang symbol for the "Celestial District."

Well, I think that's about it. Our first performance is next week at Homecoming Spectacular! I can't even wait. Finally, all of this rehearsal will pay off. It's hard to perform in front of a huge mirror looking at yourself doing everything wrong! It will be fantastic to perform in front of an audience. Changes everything. Which reminds me...

ONE WEEK UNTIL MY MAN COMES. No, I'm not excited.  Just kidding! 

And like I said...Senior-itis is real, people. 

Dream Big.

You know that song by Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band? 

Seriously, when that song came out, I was what...in 7th grade or something? I l-i-t-e-r-a-l-l-y would sing my guts out to that song in my studio pretending I was in Young Ambassadors. 

And guess what. Ten years later...

I MADE IT!

...and my life is the craziest it's ever been.

Along with balancing my last year at BYU (including my broadcast producing capstone...takes up a heck-a-lot more time than I thought) a boyfriend and work, the BYU Young Ambassadors team has been the main focus of my year. Don't worry, we have about five weeks to learn our stuff for Homecoming Spectacular and our main show. This year, our show is called, "Heartsongs: Melodies of Love." You guessed it, it's all about love! It's a perfect date to bring your significant other to, or if you don't have one, they probably will become yours since you brought them to such a fantastic event. Just sayin'.

I just want to take a second and tell you how incredibly amazed I am at the talent that is in this group. How did I get in here?! Not only can they sing, they can dance...and do it at the SAME TIME. When you think about it, it really blows my mind. It is hard, guys. Ha.

I'm sure you want to see all of our hard work in action, right?

Buy tickets at www.byutickets.com! October 16th and 17th at the Marriott Center.

See you there!