I got a 28 on the

ACT.

My prayers were answered. Perfectly what I needed. SVU is just waiting for the ACT to send them the stuff that actually confirms it, and then they can start considering immediately for the Marriott Scholarship because the scholarship awards night is next Wednesday. And Tashi made prom court! I'm so happy and proud for her! We have such a good prom court thus year. There are 5 girls and 5 boys at this point, and we just voted again today. The king and queen will announced at Prom on Saturday. Quentin is escorting Tashi, because he's on court too.

So life is looking good right now. I'm really excited for Prom!

Tomas Ambt Kofod

I met the man on the right. This is the best picture I could find on the internet. Isn't that sad? His name is Tomas Ambt Kofod. He portrayed Jesus in The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd, and Finding Faith in Christ. He's a Danish convert to the church. He came to visit Nauvoo for fun and then got stuck here when the volcanoes erupted and there were no flights home.

So he threw a spontaneous fireside in Nauvoo last Monday night. We went for family home evening. He told us about all the tiny little miracles that made it so he could have this part in the movie. If any one of the million miracles hadn't worked out, he wouldn't have been able to do it. He was a foreign exchange student and went to Bingham High School where my dad went. They graduated just a couple years apart from each other. And he's also really into musicals and sang "Bring Him Home" for us. It was perfect, because me and Tashi are obsessed with Les Mis right now. His two kids are adopted, which made Mia excited.

He was very spiritual and really sparkled. His point was that he didn't get the part because he was perfect. And just thinking about his own sins while portraying the atonement scene was enough to overwhelm him and bring him pain. It reminds him to repent. The fireside went later than planned and we had early morning seminary in the morning. Our seminary teacher, Jennifer was there and invited him to come to our seminary.

He came. At 6 in the morning. He didn't really talk any more about his experiences with the movie and just gave us a pep talk. He said he wishes sin was like a cold shower so we it wasn't tempting and we would never want to do it again. Sin is only appealing because it gratifies us. He talked a lot about repentance and staying away from sin. And how perfection is a process. His sense of humor was awesome. He really made us laugh.

Before I met him I heard that he was Danish and I also heard a cool story which is my favorite. He was offered to have a part in a play with nudity and was able to work it out with his director so that he wasn't nude onstage. And he also got offered a part in Rent, which has homosexuality in it. And he turned it down. He didn't want to turn down two jobs and it was really hard. But when Neil A. Andersen interviewed him, Tomas was honestly able to say to his face that he had never been nude onstage or portrayed homosexuality. He was blessed with portraying the part of the Savior right after for turning those bad parts down. I think that's an awesome blessing. It was cool to have that story confirmed and actually meet him in person. And it motivates me. Come to Nauvoo so you can meet cool church people! Haha jk

Branching Out

I took the ACT on the 10th. And the earliest I hear back is the 26th. I really really can't wait to hear. And I'm fervently praying I got a 28 or higher. So things could wrap up at the end of this month. And I need to let BYU know on May 1st. And I need to let my school counselor know all the scholarships I got from the college I'm planning on attending so he can announce it at Awards Night. Which is at the beginning of May too. Funny how things work out like that, right?

School is wrapping up for seniors but not quite. Me and Amber are trying to sing at Baccalaureate. And the senior girls in chorus just started practicing a song for graduation. I'm getting excited for prom. I still don't have a job right now, but I am secured a job at the Fudge Factory this summer. Now I'm just waiting to hear back from the Inn and Suites or NRI. We'll see how that goes.

I miss the sakura in Japan, but I don't mind this bright purple redwood that is here in the Midwest either. Because purple is my favorite color! It's been so warm and I'm mowing the grass. It feels so good to be outside!

I'm learning to play the piano better in Jazz Band. Which is making me branch out from my comfort zone. Lots of weird rhythms but I need to synch with everyone else in the jazz combo. I'm learning to solo - which is a huge step because I've always wanted to be a composer but I wasn't born with those creative juices. I'm loving this branching out so far. I'm learning a lot more than I usually am - just playing hymns or movie theme songs. Our Jazz Band went to competition on the 16th. We played 3 songs, and I played in 1 of those 3. We got the highest rating on all 3!

And Tomas Ambt Koford came to Nauvoo to visit and got trapped because of the volcanoes. That was an amazing experience. I will post about that soon. David Archuleta, President Monson, Elder Holland, and Tomas Kofod. What else could be better? Yet again, Nauvoo is the place to live. I'm afraid to leave and go to college and cool people still come to Nauvoo when I'm not there :(

This is where I'm at

So here's an update on my life. I got "best dressed" for my senior personality in the year book. Because our class is so small, everyone gets one, but not more than one. Which I think is a good idea, until they have to make a "most unique personality" category. I'm happy with what I got.

I'm done with all my local scholarships and turned them in on time. We'll see how that goes. I did not join track, or any other extra-curricular activity after the play. I've been applying for jobs. I applied to work at NRI during the summer, and I need to go apply at N Inn and Suites to be a housekeeper. My parents want me to earn several thousand dollars this summer. Yet again, we'll see how that goes. My parents are paying 0% for my college tuition and pocket money.

Which brings us to the point of even though I have a scholarship at SVU, I am still a few thousand dollars short. Which is why I'm hoping to get lots of local scholarships. And I'm retaking the ACT this Saturday, and I really need to get a 28. My highest right now is a 26, and this will be my 4th time taking it. So I've been studying my butt off. So say I do get a 28 ACT, I need to have a 3.80 GPA to be considered for a huge scholarship at SVU. And that scholarship isn't even a set amount. It's up to $15,000, and supersedes all other scholarships I've been awarded by them. Right now I have a 3.79 GPA, and I can only afford to get one or two B's this semester. Which doesn't seem like a big deal, but I have major senioritis, giving me no desire to do well in my classes.

So going to SVU feels rights, but I have a GPA, ACT score, local scholarships, and getting good jobs this summer ready to flip the scales on me. I have plenty for BYU or BYU-Idaho, but all the good classes are taken at BYU and I would be leaving very soon if I went there. But it's still very scary to decline BYU! And if I choose BYU-Idaho, I would get to wait til January to start my first semester. So I could go to school in June, August, or January. I need to have faith that all my financial needs will be met, especially if I feel like SVU is right, but my stress level is crazy right now.

I should be focusing on Prom and graduation, and seminary graduation. But just thinking about those makes me want to cry. I need a hug. So this is why I still don't have a definite college I can announce that I'm going to. Gah. I really don't want to be studying this hard at the end of my senior year when everything should be winding down.

On the happy side, I had a wonderfully relaxing spring vacation. I didn't have to work, I didn't have a school or church activity (besides Conference - but I didn't have to leave the house for that), and not too much homework. I got to hang out with friends, go watch Clash of the Titans with my daddy (which was very good by the way,) and watch conference. I loved conference. Elder Holland's talk was my favorite again. I tried to be unbiased when listening to all the talks and not favor him, but I still think his was the best. Maybe because it was one of the few talks that wasn't directed to parents and applied to my time of life in finding a true love. I liked the two talks that said giving up is not an option.

The Easter Bunny still visits me at age 18. And gives me candy. And the weather during spring break was wonderful - in the 70s and 80s the whole time! It sounds like Utah got snow for their break. I'm also very proud of myself because I made a huge mosaic poster for my Civil War class that was due the day back from break. It took me 13 hours. I took a painting and made it into a mosaic with little pieces of colored magazine paper. I need to get a picture of it.

I also saw the Princess and the Frog during break and loved it. And we got to have Easter Dinner with the Rodenbergs in Quincy, in their brand new house. I threw up all Easter night though. I never had a fever and jumped right back the next day so I guess it wasn't too bad. I do really hate throwing up though. And today is the 180th anniversary of the church being organized which I think is rather exciting. Me and Tash are working with the sister missionaries in our ward to teach discussions to a girl at our school - but life keeps throwing horrible things at her. I feel so bad and just thinking about it makes all my college/senior troubles seem like baby nuggets. I don't know what I would do without the gospel in hard times though.

Life is always a mixutre of good and bad I guess. Sorry if I sound like a schizophrenic person with thoughts all over the place. But this is where I am right now.