Fish Out of Water

You know how sometimes you have those weeks that push you completely out of your comfort zone? 

This past week was one of those.

found on Pinterest from Pixar Post

Definitely a week of fish out of water experiences, although maybe not as thrilling as Dory & Nemo & Marlin's. 

It was also one of the craziest I've had in a while: two performances, my big certification exam, and a weekend-long interview for a graduate school. I also finished it off by attending another church's worship services for a class.

The shows were fabulous. I love performing with my team, I love dancing, and I love meeting people afterward. In this case, I also met two very special people before the show even started. I was leading the warm-up in the backstage area when security showed up with Elder D. Todd Christofferson and his wife! Of course, we all started fangirling pretty hard and stopped the warm-up so that we could all shake his hand and meet him. And then he stayed for the show. What? Pretty cool.

I also met a little girl after our last show that was initially very shy around the three guys I was with, but warmed right up to me. She even invited me to her house and told me we could dance together. Definitely one of my favorite meet-and-greet moments.

In the middle of all of this performing craziness, I took the Board of Certification exam for athletic training (fingers crossed that I passed!) and then left for a weekend interview at one of the graduate schools I applied to. I was definitely a fish out of water there. After meeting everyone, I definitely did not feel qualified, and it was a very different atmosphere than I am usually in. Hopefully though, I rocked my interviews, and I think I find out this week (gah!) if I'm accepted and get an assistantship. 

I ended the crazy, fish-out-of-water-y week by visiting the Adventure Church in American Fork. Continue imagining this fish out of water. It was a very different experience, but I loved the music. Picture a drum set, a keyboard, a base guitar, an electric guitar or two, an acoustic guitar, and several vocalists. Not what you would typically think a church service would include, but I'm here to tell you that it was beautiful and I totally felt the Spirit. Everyone there came specifically to worship God, and some of them physically manifested their worship and love of God. 

I loved how God-centered it was. I feel like I sometimes lose focus of God and Jesus Christ and pay more attention to all the things I should be doing without thinking about why I'm doing them. It was a beautiful reminder, and I highly recommend taking on a similar experience. I think that learning about other religions and ways that people worship is very eye-opening and enlightening. Everyone has their own way of "loving on God," as one of the worship team members said today, and I love it.

found on Pinterest from instagram.com

Happy Sunday!