Choir Recording in Action!!!

I have a bunch of old posts that I never actually, well, posted. So before the year ends out, there will be a slew of delightful pictures and stories that helped make the last four months as great as they were.... or maybe just show how I like to do lots of things!

It's been an interesting process being involved with the New Life Worship recording that happened a couple of months ago.  I didn't realize that in the final, professional project, most of the vocals and instrumentals are re-recorded, and the ad-libs, and audience applause and reactions are among the only few things kept.  This meant 9 1/2 hours spaced out over three nights for the choir to come in and record.

We all wore radio headsets tuned to a station which they played the music so we could sing along. We did full passes of unison on the melody, and then did just the section with parts. They even told us for the night of the actual recording that the "choir" wouldn't get picked up in the mics because those microphones were picking up the room noise... but here, it was all us!

I think I enjoy choir not because we actually act like a choir, or that we get many opportunities to learn our parts (cause we don't), but that it's a great community to be a part of within a large church structure.  I may even continue to be involved after our required time is over, just to be with some really awesome people.  Although I probably shouldn't go just cause there's a really cute guy there.... cause that's a lot of it....:o)

Sometimes when you find that you have candy corn in your bag...it leads to mischief and kodak moments! We had a good time, finally learned parts to the new songs, and know that our hard work will help the finished product be even more amazing!

Home for the Holidays

I.love.home. I actually was a mess at the airport last Thursday having had little sleep all week in anticipation of seeing family after a long four months.  I made quite good friends with my seatmates on the flight, Brian, a construction worker residing in Denver but originally from Chester on the Eastern Shore, headed home to help his dad lay flooring down, and Nick, a Nasa scientist from Annapolis who spends his spare time racing 30 ft sailboats headed back from yet another business trip.  True to my character, by mid flight we had our laptops out sharing pictures and stories to pass the time.  And even truer to form we did at one point get asked to quiet down by a flight attendant...:o)

But home has been so good. Nate, our two and a half year old gem, is so big now, and wasted no time in showing me all his trains and pulling out our guitars. He's gotten pretty smart, hogging all the picks, and when I ask for one, calmly informing me I can "use my hands."  The kid uses huge words, like "favorite" and "exciting".... he's a lot of fun with his stories and ideas.  And it's good to be back with the rest of the family, I love the whole family around the table having dinner and talking about their days.

I'm slowly working my way around to see friends, mentors, and other deeper acquaintances. It just took a few days for the shock of being back on the East Coast to wear off and for the realization that I am not here long to set in.  And more family comes in the early hours of Friday morning...it will be so good to see Jacob! And because my brother and family will be here through Tuesday morning there will be a plethora of opportunities to play with the nephews together.

I'm trying to enjoy each moment as it comes, share my stories, hear what's been going on since I left, get into D.C. and use public transportation a bit, and get myself pumped to head back west for five months.  I think it may be easier this next go round. First because I know what to expect and second because with a couple of visits from home, it won't feel like I'm completely disconnected for as long. And God is faithful, he's brought me this far, and the water's only set to get deeper. I hope you are enjoying your time with family and friends and that you have a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Intensives

Today is oh so nice, I'm only five days from flying home for Christmas, and I've decided to take it easy, rest, and complete all the little projects I have in mind that have been waiting for me to sit still long enough to complete them.  We are in a period of classes called Intensives, the three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It's where all the odds and ends have been thrown, topics and activities that wouldn't fit into our normal 10 week modules.  Mostly speeches, sound training, and recording our audio snippets for the website. The only bad part is that it leads to a lot of sitting around, days of not having much to do, because with 60 of us, we have to rotate through some of the sound and recording classes.

Two major projects were assigned, an eight minute speech, and a garage band recording.  I nailed the speech on the first day, giving a Spy Museum like intro, and talking about my desire to have a script which has led me into these tour guiding experiences, but that God has given us a script, and I referenced 2 Corinthians 5, how we have been given the "ministry of reconciliation", called to be "Christ's ambassadors" and even quoted the amazing Trevor Hudson in "the invitation of the gospel is to come alive."  God is welling this desire in me to speak, ....in his words? "I'm giving you a voice, be ready."  What could that even mean?!?!?!

The garage band recording, which all my pictures come from, was my weaker element, having never used the program combined with little knowledge of recording itself.  So yesterday I spent the day with fellow students to get my project done with help and encouragement.  And to stay out of any realm of competition (we all try not to compete, but we all desire to do our best and be creative), :o) I avoided the realm of realistic music and recorded "Wheels on the Bus", a christmas present for my nephews.  I even had Adam and his 4 year old son, Josh, sing verses to add some variety within the track.  They will all be receiving cookies for their help!  And I'm quite excited to play my project in the midst of really awesome worship tunes and original songs.

But I am also really excited to go home!!! To play with Nate and Jacob, chat with the grandparents, bother Becky while she's watching TV, spend time with Mom and Dad....cuddle with Mitch. On a sidenote, I'm watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and am in awe of Harrison Ford, such a good looking stud in his younger days....

Salt Lake City!

Downtown Salt Lake City

Joy of all joys, we found super cheap flights to Salt Lake City, and thought to ourselves... "why not?" Four of us flew out of Denver last wednesday and spent 48 hours exploring the downtown area, the museums, libraries, state capitol, and of course the Mormon Mecca, Temple Square.

Salt Lake City is a really easy city to only spend a little amount of time in. We got a hotel downtown for a good price, shuttled to and from the airport and found our way around on foot and on free transportation within the main downtown area. Everything we went to was free to the public, so we got by with only paying for lunches and dinner...super sweet!

I had a crash course education in being around a city that is more than half mormon, and where everything has been influenced by the mormons....you'll see beehives everywhere and that is from their view of hard work, everyone working together to produce good results...like honey. In most conversations we had to clarify our religious intent within the first couple of minutes, most members of the LDS were surprised that we weren't members, commenting on how much we gave off the Spirit, and nonmembers were able to shift things into more historical perspectives without worry of bringing offense.

My heart goes out to members of LDS. To live so closely to the gospel of grace and freedom, but to be bound by an empty message of faith based on works and rewards. I heard it said more than once, "we are learning to live happier, better lives."  And to live with the belief that the church died with Jesus and the apostles and only became restored through the restoration of twelve appointed apostles and a prophet, denies the power of the resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit...what was pentecost all about if not to give the presence of the Spirit to all believers, regardless of apostleship?

We must have talked to every team serving missions in temple square and for the most part, I loved it.  It was most interesting to listen and pick up on the training they've been given, key words, gentle and welcoming attitudes, starting with the same words you start with, lots of agreeing, smiling, head nodding, and passive questioning....we can learn a lot from them on sharing faith and beliefs. 

State Capitol

My favorite line of questioning of the weekend came from a girl serving at the Beehive house. She was the only one brave enough to question our beliefs and pose thoughts meant to open a debate.  We kept our answers pretty neutral, way more interested in seeing a house built in the 1800's then debating, but then she pulled out the "I think it's hard to decide something isn't true when you haven't read it." To which Crystal, one of my travelmates said, "Well, I have read the Book of Mormon, most of my friends growing up were Mormon." And this poor girl serving missions couldn't understand and responded, "You read it...prayed about it....and still got no???" Crystal just smiled and said, "yep."... I love her!!! The conversation didn't continue much after that.

Apparently you read the book of mormon, pray sincerely about it, feel a burning sensation in your heart and that in and of itself tells you the book is the real truth. Now don't get me wrong, I know some fantastic families back home that are LDS, excellent neighbors and great at showing compassion and care, but I'm having a lot of difficulty with just how different their beliefs have strayed from Christianity.  I love Jesus, he is more than a prophet, more than just a human son, more than just someone to look at to learn how to live better.  He is fully human, fully God, through his death and resurrection, the full restoration of people back to God was made possible. I'll pass on ruling a planet and having spirit children when I die... I just want Jesus.

Keys on Main

And the weekend wasn't entirely spent in culture shock, we went Friday night to a dueling piano bar where we sang along to songs like Don't Stop Believing and my favorite... You Give Love a Bad Name. Our tour up at the State Capitol gave us a ton of history and time spent playing at the library made me want to live downtown just so I could go there! We got back in to Denver Saturday night, back to the grind singing with choir Sunday morning. It was my first spontaneous fly and explore trip, but I'll be keeping my eye out for more!

A Dress Up Party!!!

These pictures are from a while back....but I love these people way too much to not share! Beautiful Amy Pontius turned 25, and to celebrate has a high class evening planned out... good food, good people, good times.

Since the party happened after Amy's actual birthday, even in the absence of a cake we realized the necessity of singing happy birthday, so with coordinated efforts on lightswitches (I myself picked one that didn't do anything!), and a few lit candles, we made it happen!

This is Julie, the same gal that I bravely called (one of those friend of a friend things) and met for coffee my first week in the Springs.  She wasn't kidding when she first remarked to our mutual friend concerning me, "she just needs to get in with the right crowd, we get her in." She welcomed me with open arms and I've hung around ever since.

An unplanned polka dot club!

Only out west can a skull and antlers fit into the party decor!

So most of the boys didn't realize it was a dress up party until Josh showed up looking nice, which he would have done anyways, but since most of them live there, it was an easy walk into the bedroom, change, and back out again! I love a chance to wear heels and a dress!