Gratitude List, and Life

HIII!!! Wow, I haven't written in here in FOREVER!

The Lord still wanted us to stick to our original plan of getting married in Mexico and living there. And it felt so right to do that. It's what we wanted. I'm so excited to be back there with Ricky and his family and with my Queretaro friends, my Queretaro! But it will be so hard to leave everyone here in Kzoo!! Exactly 2 weeks from today, I'm going to Grand Rapids to spend a week with my family, and then, on May 7th, I'm leaving for Mexico! We won't be able to come back until about Christmas time. Luckily, I magically got $400 of certificates from Continental, and we're going to use those to come back together.. somehow, we have to magically save up another $800 to do that, but the Lord has been taking such good care of us. I know He'll help.

I wanted to write a gratitude list - so many great things have been happening.

I am grateful to my Heavenly Father that:

-Ricky and I have been together 11 1/2 months. The best almost-year of my life.
I love that sweet, honest, handsome, spiritual, hardworking, and caring young man with all my heart. We've grown so much, each of us personally, and in our relationship.
"True love we're absolutely giddy about." Elder Holland

-I have had this year here in Michigan with my family and friends here, to learn and grow and spend time with them.
-I have the BEST roommie (sorry to all you other roommies out there, but it's true). And I'm so happy for her. She just got a job, she got into her summer class, and an awesome calling in the RS pres- you go girl! and we did Yoga together last night! fun!
-Debbie did my taxes for me - I'm going to miss her so much! Thank goodness for skype!
-I'm grateful that I didn't get my summer class - It looks like I'm going to graduate in December instead, which is probably better because then it defers my loans! I can save up money.
-I have been finding ways to make money. I have orchestra gigs, babysitting gigs, tax returns, and my dad gave me $20. yay.
-I FINISHED MY RECITAL!!! I CAN BREATHE NOW! lol and go to institute! I TOTALLY ROCKED IT TOO!!! yaaaaaaayy!! Also, so many of my friends and colleagues were there. The biggest surprises were that my grandma and aunt and cousins were there! and my brother was able to come - he plays the cello so he has always looked up to me as a musician so it was so cool that I could play for him. Also, my best friend from high school, Amanda, was there! she ran off right afterwards but I smiled at her from the stage. That was cool.
- The most important thing was that I felt good about my playing. I prayed before I went out on stage. I have really learned a lot in the past 4 years, and even this past year my playing has matured so much. I have to keep it up, and it's looking good for my chances of that in Queretaro. There are 2 orchestras, and just a couple hours away, I can take lessons from Gela.
-I got my endowments! I love the temple, I love the garments. It was such a good experience. And Ricky and I found some temple work that we can do when I get down there! family file, yes!
-Conference was incredible!!! It was everything we needed and more. And the best part is that we have it, to remind us of the changes and goals that we are making because of its teachings.
-I had dinner with Sister Staples! I love and admire that woman so much! She gave me advice and listened to me, fed me AMAZING healthy food and gave me gifts! Debbie and I are going to babysit for her so that she can have some time with her hubby - who's Bishop! I'm so glad that we can serve someone who spends her life serving others, including me in many of those countless occasions.
-Today, I get to spend time serving another wonderful woman in my life, Rudi Betzold. She just had a baby, and I'm going to go clean and hang out with her and Lila. Hopefully my experience last year with Ethan will come in handy!
-Sister Doot and other sisters in the branch are planning a shower for me! And everyone is helping and doing everything (weird for me) and they are totally okay with giving me money and gift cards since I'm leaving and don't have room for presents - especially after the ones that Sister Staples gave me! (but I totally love them - you should see how well I used her graduation presents!) :) The truth is, we just really need money. We have to pay fees and bills and to alter the dress and get a photographer. That's the ONE thing I'm spending money on, if nothing else. That's one of the trickiest things though. But I'm going to ask my friends in Mexico if they know someone good and also inexpensive.
- I actually have time to work on homework! I turned in my paper and still got an 80 - without the re-write! I'm still going to do it though. Those tests are killers. Clare gave me her textbook to borrow in my physics class so hopefully I can have a better grade in that too.
- wow, there are so many other things to be grateful for, like my talk, the Spirit, the Atonement, our learning, growing, plans, prayer, and peace from Heavenly Father that this transition, with all of its changes, is what He wants and to know that He loves us and guides us every step of the way, when we ask for Him to be with us.

I know so many of you are also going through big transitions too - whether it be with school, marriage, children, work, or just learning something new. May God bless you in all that you do.

Love,
Stephanie

Never Lose Sight: Rachael, Southwest, Confirmations, Practicing, Endowments, etc.

Well, I haven't posted on here in a while, I've been doing a lot of writing in my other blog, a lot of things have been just for me lately. This is mostly for me too, but hopefully you can get some updates as well.
Well, as you may know, Ricky and I are planning on getting a fiancé visa for him to come here, and we plan to get married in the Detroit temple where all of my family will be. Just pray that Heavenly Father will show us His will in the timing and that we can feel His hand in our lives. We already do, but sometimes not right away. I am so grateful for our Heavenly Father's love for us, His children.
Well, in just 2 short weeks I'll be back in Mexico again! So soon!!! I always get a little nervous before the trip, I want to make the most out of my time with my sweetheart. And in this trip I will be going to the Mexico City temple to receive my endowments, and Ricky and his parents will be there. I'm grateful that my Heavenly Father has prepared me for that special time.
Okay, so this post is a little quick, skipping from topic to topic, but I'm in the middle of some good practicing and should go back soon. Speaking of which, I wanted to write that I was grateful for the masterclass today and our great professors. I was inspired and did some good ol' scale practice just now that improved my intonation already I think! I should practice scales more, and not just D major, the other scales too, because it will help with shifting, which isn't exactly my forte. Fedotov and Debra (the lady who gave the master class - and I think she was my favorite of all the guest artists that have come during my time at western) said that I should practice from different points of view, not to "perform" every time I practice. To take away vibrato, Fedotov said to take away the emotion, get the notes and bow distribution down. Use emotion to make the decisions, but then practice the mechanics apart from that until I get them under my fingers and then to add emotion later. But what about the inspiration that I got from practicing and playing? Well, I think that I can still have that, but that sometimes I have to focus on the technical stuff, of course! Heavenly Father understands that!
That sortof leads me into the next thing I wanted to write about, which is my experiences with Rachael. Every time we go on a roadtrip together, even 45 minutes, she asks me questions about the church.And you know what's silly? I haven't given her a Book of Mormon yet!! AahHhh!! I guess I gave her a Bible at one point, but I need to give her a BOM and the Finding Faith in Christ video that I have been wanting to give her since November! Well, I'm excited because she was like, well, what's in the Book of Mormon? And I was like, well, I'll get you one! Easy as that! I hope that she is open minded because the gospel would help her in so many ways. She already has a lot of faith in God and in prayer and she is such a devoted and hardworking person, and she has a passion for learning and doing her best. I think that if she had the gospel as a part of her life, she would be not only greatly blessed, but she would be a great example to others as well. Pray for my friend Rachael. I am grateful that she has an interest in the gospel and that Heavenly Father has given me an opportunity to bless her life.
The next thing that I wanted to write about is about confirmations. For me, I received more than just one confirmation about Ricardo, and I still do receive them. An example is from today, and I just wanted to say how grateful I am that my Heavenly Father encourages me. I love Him and I love my Ricky so much, he is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Well, it's time to go. I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Love,
Stephi

Jamilyn captured a lot of my sentiments concerning the Orchestra tour that we went on, so I'm sorry Jamilyn, but I'm quoting you! Those of you who know her blog should go and read the whole thing.

"Yesterday, the Western Michigan University Symphony Orchestra went "on tour." We filled two tour busses and drove north for 2.5-ish hours to a little place called...

Hart, Michigan. A place that some native Michiganders haven't even heard of...

Not exactly the most exciting place for an Orchestra Tour. I gotta admit, I was having kind of a negative attitude about it. We'd be gone from 9 am to midnight, in the middle of nowhere, doing dumb kiddie concerts and losing good practice time."

As for me, that week was super rough because of the composition project I had been working on all week, an exam in Physics the day before, and, then the day after the tour, I had a big exam in Dr. Steel's Non-Western Music Class that I was sure I was going to fail due to the whole day being taken up in Hart. Let's just say that even though I knew we needed the practice, my attitude wasn't the best either.

"But before we played the first educational concert of the day, the principal explained to us a little bit about Hart. There is a 20% unemployment rate. These kids go to a school where most of the art and music programs have been cut completely. Only one student in the entire school studies a string instrument. Most of them have never seen a live orchestra performance before, and might not ever get the chance again. Talk about humbling!

And then the students started pouring into the auditorium. Adorable little 1-4 graders, excited and curious. The looks on their faces as they learned and listened about how a symphony is put together were priceless. They were completely captivated by Shostakovich! They clapped, they laughed, and one lucky kid even got to come up and conduct us.

We gave a concert for the middle schoolers too. And again for the adults who fund the educational music series. They loved us. They fed us well."

They gave us a standing ovation at the end, far more than what our audience today gave us. And the kids, they were so cute!! And Uch and Brian Mast kept them entertained and they just ate it up. During the reception the funders were asking us questions about music, and about ourselves. They appreciated us! It felt like we were doing service for them by coming and playing. Essentially we were. We were getting funding for it, but at the same time, it took a lot of sacrifice to go there and play for them and miss sleep and homework and practice time. The rewards were worth it.

"Moral of the story: It's not where you serve, but HOW that makes the biggest difference. We brightened the day of a downtrodden community, just by bringing them our music.

And that's good for the heart."

Thanks for sharing that on your blog, Jami!

I love my eternal companion he's amazing

Im so excited because i talked to President Johnson and he agreed that I should get my endowments over spring break! Im so grateful! Will set sealing date tmrow