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

Juries and remembering my mom

Yay!! and I did well too.. I was SOO nervous, but the faculty seemed to be impressed that I memorized the piece and worked so hard. It's a LONG piece of music, and I've really made some improvements, especially since my recital last November. And even the past couple of weeks I made some real progress with my piece. It was Bach Suite 5 Prelude and Fugue - it's 4 pages long! But I love it. And I have had some great musical experiences with it too. And Rachael and I have been listening and helping each other with advices and such the past couple of days. She is a great example to me of working hard and also having the Spirit while playing. I like that I can think of the Savior when I play. Even in my jury I thought of Him there with me. I'm glad to know that He was there for me.
I've been thinking of my mom too the past few days. She used to play this one fugue by Bach and I was thinking about how she would play it. She always took the tempo down from how the "professionals" might play it, in general, so I brought my tempo down too. And it did make a difference! My mom's playing can always be defined as expressive, I was thinking about this, and I realized that education wise, I've come as far as she has, and maybe that means I'm just as good of a musician as she was in college. WOW! And that would be saying something. My mom is pretty amazing. And I'm expressive too, and I want to carry on that legacy, that memory and that spirit that my mom had when she played. A part of me still regrets not working as hard on the piano to be as good as she is, but I am grateful that I went on in music and I know she appreciates that. I guess I can just think, someday in Heaven we'll do chamber music like we used to, and now I have new skills so we'll be even better than before. Aahhh not crying.
Speaking of piano, yesterday I recorded that song that I wrote. I'm so excited! It turned out so nice, and I'm grateful for that! I can't wait for Annalaura and Ricky to hear it - since it's dedicated to both of them. I guess one of the great things about being a BA in music is that hopefully I will focus this next semester on composing ~ I'm signed up for semester II of Composition class, and I'm really looking forward to it. Maybe I'll compose a piece that I can perform in my recital! That would be awesome.
I love that I'm writing songs again. I blame it on Ricky, but I'm so glad he pushed me to write songs and he just loves them. I feel great about this new one because I know that a lot of people can relate to it. Plus the recording turned out so well! And writing songs and playing them always invites the Spirit. Always. It's a great experience and I would recommend it for anyone. And we're always self conscious about it but if you have someone who will appreciate it no matter what, that always helps. And those people are easier to find than we may think. We also have our Heavenly Father, who always wants to hear from us.
Well, I'm glad that I was able to write again. No work today! yay! but there is a training meeting thing that I have to go to in 45 minutes, then dinner with my friends from the internship class, and Debbie's coming too :) and then music practice at the Friday Night Activity. Then study (possibly lol) and then scripture study then talking to Ricky (I hardly talked to him at all last night) and then sleep. oh, how glorious sleep will be tonight, now that my juries are over! :)

Love,
Stephi

6 Days until the Semester's over
9 Days until I go home to see my family!
14 Days until Christmas!
15 Days until I see my sweetheart!

Gratitude List

Wow, I have just been so blessed this week it's just remarkable!
I am grateful to my Heavenly Father that:
I have my family and my fiance that love me no matter what and I love them so much.
We had a great concert this Sunday!
I bore my testimony - and cried. but the good kind of crying.
I paid my tithing and offerings!! What a blessing that is!
Emily's home!
I went to Sun-yi's baptism and I could feel the Spirit and I could think of people to share the gospel with - Rachael, Allison from work, and Sean.
The missionaries helped me make a goal to find someone for the missionaries to teach in 6 weeks. - well, I've only got 5 weeks now. At least I thought of those people.
This missionary mindedness just makes me so happy - I love how it makes me feel about my brothers and sisters - when I think of it that way, I just want to share the gospel with them.
I talked to Ricky's mom yesterday - wow I just love her so much! And she loves me. She's so encouraging, she says that I'll be a great member missionary and that we can work together when I'm visiting in Mexico. She also encourages me as a person.
I'm grateful that I was able to get a jury time that wasn't during work! *phew*
Bilingual club was cancelled today so I could have an extra hour or so to practice.
Lots of snow, but we're safe, and now Debbie's here! :)
This lady offered to give me a gorgeous wedding dress for free!!!! And Ricky likes it too! I'm so blessed.
I had a great chat with Sister McCullough
And I talked to Annalaura yesterday!! We are so alike, I look up to her so much.
I'm writing an awesome wedding song and it's going to be a wedding present for Annalaura.
I was able to do my laundry - random I know but I'm glad to have clean clothes again!
Wednesday deal at Papa Johns!! and if this nice lady didn't tell us we would've just left without buying anything because we're not rich.
Food delivery is amazing. I had Jimmy Johns delivered to me last night.
I've been studying already for exams! yay!!
I had a great discussion/performance with Rachael - my Bach was the best it's ever been!!
I survived on that day with 4 hours of sleep.. yay!
Debbie and Emily were there to comfort me when I was having a mood swing meltdown.
Ricky is at the fair today - I'm happy when he goes out and has fun. I know he misses me.
I caught the bus today when I thought I wasn't going to make it.
Ricky helped edit my Spanish paper! that is just so awesome and he corrected all my little errors.
I'm liking this snow.. well.. not the wind or driving on ice or the slush.. but I'm liking the snow a lot more than I thought I would! there's something about those first couple of weeks that gets me every time. I can't wait until Ricky see's it someday!
I'm graduating in April so I can move to Mexico in May! And at first I was nervous about making that decision but I felt a confirmation that I should and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father answers my concerns and my desires.
I just had my LAST SPANISH CLASS EVER!!! that's exciting.. finishing a major. no more Spanish ever again!! jk!!!!! I'm grateful that I have my own personal tutor every single day.
I'm grateful for the many many countless blessings, in little things like catching the bus and big things like a free dress, or things that I can't replace like my family and my fiance, for friends that encourage me, even for trials, for helping me become better, for Jesus Christ being there with me. There are so many things that I haven't written here. It's like, WOW, Heavenly Father really wants me to be happy and to know that He loves me. I'm so grateful for that and I just had to write it. I hope that I can show my gratitude to Him more every day.
Love,
Stephanie

2 Semanas until break!!!

I can't wait for this semester to be over.. but now is the time - I gotta figure out what I am going to do about my degree.. I'm meeting with Margaret Hamilton today, Fedotov discussed possibilities of graduating this summer... but I don't know if that's even possible. We're going to find out.

I'm still grateful though, really. But prayers are always welcome anyway!
Love,
Stephi