Flashback...

Well, exams are finally over and while I have a lot of packing and cleaning to do, I thought I'd take advantage of the momentary lull to do a little update.  Yes, Michelle, this is for you. :)

First, massive kudos and thanks off to Kyooyoo for letting me borrow Babar tomorrow morning.  My brilliant, well-laid plans for obtaining a car by the end of the semester have been freakishly abrupted week after week, so that I am still without car and need to move my things into a storage unit tomorrow before midnight, at which point I will board a bus with the rest of the BYU-Idaho symphony band to get on our way toward the deep South for a two week tour.  So really, Kyoo, you are a lifesaver.  And I know you read this. :)

So, yes, we're heading on tour!!  We leave soon, but I'm not sure it has really sunk in yet.  Exams will do that to you.  I'm not even sure today in Thursday; I lost all sense of time last week.  We're going to Dallas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama.  I think we have 16 concerts total over the tour, but we also have a lot of service opportunities, and I am really glad for that.  In our tour preparation, they have emphasized that yes, we need to prepare our music and be ready to perform the best we can, but we also need to remember that it's not about the music so much as it is about the lives we can touch.  I'm hoping to have some missionary experiences while I'm out there; they don't come as often in Rexburg as one might hope.  We also have some service projects and stuff, so I'm sure it will be fun.  Sadly, this may prevent me from being able to update my little blog over the next little while, but you can expect some massive bloggage (that doesn't sound like a comfortable word...tehe ) when I return.  I just hope that my hair doesn't frizz and my face break out from the humidity.  If that is the case, then the post will be delayed slightly to allow for photoshopping.  Haha.

Anyway, on to the topic of choice... and the reason for the title...

We got our Temple Celebration DVDs Tuesday in class.  For those unfamiliar, the symphony band played the program music in the Rexburg Temple cultural celebration in February.  The celebration was the night before the dedication, and the main theme outlined the history of the Saints in the area.  It was really cool to learn about the early settlers and the struggles they went through to establish this valley, and then see a fruition of their works materialized as the temple was dedicated.  I remember feeling so incredibly grateful and almost undeserving as I reflected on all they went through, and that I have many of the blessings of their efforts.  They laid the foundation for what we now enjoy.

Playing in that concert was one of the most fulfilling musical experiences I have ever had.  I felt as though it (the celebration as a whole) was a simple and pure (but very heartfelt) expression of the joy that we all feel in having a temple in Rexburg.  And as I watched some of the scenes in the DVD (I have yet to watch it all the way through; I'll have to wait until I have a large chunk of time available), I feel that joy again.  Like an outwelling (is that a word?) of love and bliss.  I get all choked up and cry a little when I watch it.  It's hard to describe, I guess.  Maybe those who were also in it know what I mean by that.  But I feel so glad to have been able to be a part of it, and so glad that we have a temple here (oh, if anyone knows how I can upload an mp3 to my blog, please let me know, and I will put some tracks on so you can hear it!).  I have been working in the office at the temple this semester, and it has become one of the best parts of my week, but also being able to attend pretty much whenever I want/can is amazing.  I feel a difference when I can attend often.  As though the peace that is there stays with me throughout the week, and I have started to notice and miss it when I am not able to go that often.  Anyway, I have started to ramble, and I don't know that I can really find the right words to describe what I am trying to say anyway.  Maybe that's what music is for; it fills the gaps words leave behind so our souls can express themselves more fully.  If I had my horn with me now, I would make it soar....