"Will You Marry Me?"

What a week it has been! I guess I'll start with Monday; I wore heels around campus for the first time. I wasn't feeling well so I tried to stay in one place for a little while. Fortunately, Brother Brower didn't make me sing in Master Class because I was so ill. But, for the most part, Monday wasn't a bad day. Tuesday was much better! The General Conference choir sang in devotional! It was a blast! After devotional, as I walked to my next class, a few girls came up to me and asked if I just sang in the choir. I nodded and told them that I did. They freaked out and started asking about conference, things like what session we were singing in, they were excited that they would get to see me on screen again--note I didn't know these girls--and it was just a little silly. It's happened to me several times since then. Apparently, I'm a celebrity now on campus.

Wednesday was busy, as always, but it was an amazing day! I went into Men's choir because we're singing "Savior of the World" and General Conference together. I figured it would help if I went in, by myself, and practiced without hearing my part being sung around me. Brother Brower, the conductor, talked about "Savior of the World" and the background behind it. The first thing he asked us was who the composer was. I honestly had never looked before, so I turned to the front and to my surprise there was no name. I looked up as Brother Brower continued, he said: "If you notice there aren't any names for the music or the lyrics. The only name on the score is our Lord and Savior's name. We also don't call this a performance, but a presentation. Because we aren't performing, but presenting the audience with a testimony and account about our Savior's birth, life, and death." He continued and he spoke about the process that this work went through. A lot of different composers, directors, actors, etc. came together to write the music and put this together. When they started rehearsing it, the Twelve (12) Apostles came and watched. They would write notes and give it to the director at the end of every rehearsal. They still do that in every rehearsal today. Every performance is different in the Conference center. Even the music is constantly changing. It was amazing to hear Brother Brower talk about this. Brother Brower continued and asked the choir to sing "in the light of Christ", and as we sang things like "Come deliever us" and "Come Lord Jesus to the wedding [wounded, etc.]" the spirit was so incredibly strong! My testimony and life has already been changed as we've started singing about the birth, life, and death of our Lord and Saviour! I'm very excited to have the opportunity to share the testimony I have, and am gaining, with 15,000 people (I'm praying we sell out on tickets).

On Friday, when I went into Men's choir, I witnessed a proposal. For their warm-up they sang a song, that they weren't supposed to sing again, called "August". As they sang, there was a young man (who is in Men's Choir) and his girlfriend. As the song progressed, he pulled her out into the front of the room and got down on one knee. After the men finished he asked Sarah, his girlfriend, if she would marry him. She said yes and the entire Recital Hall broke out into applause! As the applause and cheering died down, Brother Brower said: "Well Sarah, I know you probably wanted this to be a little more private. But, look you now have 60 best men!" As they walked out, Brother Brower started laughing; "My wife would have killed me if I did that." It was a cool moment to see, but also a rather funny one too.