Change, Pt. 2

I am now coming up on the end of another semester here at USU, and I have been reflecting a lot on my time here.  I won't go into details here, if you want to hear the story, you should ask me sometime, but I was unknowingly led to come to school here.  While here, I have been slowly discovering why it is that I was supposed to come here.

I have really gone through some major changes in my life in the past two years.  I went physical changes last year, as I described in my post last year.  This year has been all about spiritual changes.  There was a time not to long ago when I almost had to start building my testimony again from the ground up.  Last year I continued on my building of my testimony, but it was really this school year when it all just finally clicked.  I became much more active in magnifying my membership in the church.

This semester, I finally decided to give Institute another try after a less than desirable experience at the CSI Institute.  It was by far the best decision that I made this last school year.  I kind of on a whim decided to give Institute Choir a try because I love music and I love singing.  In January the choir held a fireside, and it was at this fireside that my life really changed.  The hymn "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" has never been one of my favorites.  I never really disliked it, but something about it just kind of rubbed me the wrong way.  After circumstances of the fireside changed, we ended up singing this song first.  It is now one of my top 5 favorite hymns.  The spirit just hit that meeting so strongly during the song that it was just way too difficult to deny the power of the song.

Since this fireside, the rest of the semester was just quickly building up and strengthening my testimony.  By the middle of the semester, I felt ready to take on responsibilities and duties that I didn't feel ready for before.  As part of the choir I have had a ton of truly amazing opportunities, each one further building me up.  I made a lot of really good friends through the choir, and it kind of appears that I may be auditioning for the audition-only choir next semester.

My Book of Mormon class was also incredible.  It was not only amazing because of the things which I learned, but because Brother Salmond, especially in the first one or two months, came into class telling us that he just felt compelled to teach certain things that day.  Every time it seemed to be something almost written directly for me.  Incredible.

The main reason I post this is because a lot of these changes in my life have happened because of my family and friends who read this.  I just want to personally thank each of you for everything you've meant to me.  You are all a beacon to me, and I hope that you can continue to guide me on my way.

In recognition of these changes that I have made in my life, I actually gave my blog a title.  The description of my blog is from a song by Thurl Bailey called "I'm Not the Same".  It is almost an anthem of my life, especially this semester.

The Coolest Thing Ever

For  those who haven't heard either directly or throught the grapevine, I have been singing in the Institute choir here in Logan.  One of the many awesome opportunities that I have had because of this was last night.  I got to sing in the Priesthood choir at the Priesthood session of General Conference!  It was quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever done, although the Collective Soul concert comes close.  It is an extremely different viewpoint seeing that massive building from the front.  It was even awesome enough to negate the two rides to Salt Lake on school buses.  We sang three songs, "See the Mighty Priesthood", "Guide Me to Thee", and "For the Strength of the Hills".  I haven't been able to stop listening to them since they were up for download, I am currently listening and singing to them at the moment.  It just reminds me of being there so much.  My personal favorite was "Guide Me to Thee", although I am still kind of bummer we had to speed it up a bit.  It is pretty sad that it is over though now.  I am ready to do again already.  I would post pictures of myself from the broadcast, but I won't due to copyright issues.

Here is a pic of me right before leaving with a crazy glare on my glasses.
(You may be able to tell that we actually had a sunny day in Logan the day before.  I went to the USU practice and spent a bit too much time deciding to seek shelter in the tunnel.  It was a gorgeous day.  We got back from Salt Lake to snow.  Stupid weather.)

*Update*
The videos have been uploaded to youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm82BkM5EXQ&feature=feedlik
"See the Mighty Priesthood Gathered"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_ZunWsUwMA&feature=relmfu
"Guide Me to Thee"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfoD_l7Nn_I&feature=feedlik
"For the Strength of the Hills"

I'm sure my roommates are getting sick of hearing these songs by now.

On a somewhat related note, the Logan Institue Choir will be singing at a CES broadcast from here in the Spectrum on May 1.  We will be singing this song at it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsVgYHSmDu0
Watch for it on May 1 on byutv.