Once in a lifetime

Allison was given the opportunity by our Bishop to be one of 10 girls from our ward to participate with other Young Women from Lehi in the choir for the General Young Women's broadcast on March 27, 2010. She had practices every Sunday evening for 3 hours for 6 weeks. She said the practices were amazing and that she was able to feel the spirit so much. Allison absolutely loved Sister Webb, a church general choir director for special events like this. She really connected with the girls, told them funny stories, was able to uplift them and encourage them to do their best unlike anyone else I've ever seen. Allison's favorite thing she learned from Sister Webb was a song that she sang to the girls each time in Hawaiian. The bolded line is the real meaning behind the hawaiian lei. Allison loved that. The english translation is as follows:

Come forward and appear you precious flowers arising in the calmness of this special day.

Each of you are taking up the challenge of not simply climpbing a high mountain, but you have chosen to climb the highest and most majestic mountain of all.

Dance forward you children of your Heavenly Father, for is it no so that you, our children, are so very precious.

In fact, you are the most precious adornement worn around the neck of your ancestors.

Come forward, come forward, for there are many roads for you to choose.

Be sure to follow the voice of the good shepherd, for He will always keep you protect you, and show you the way.

Practicing the week before at the conference Center:

The morning of the broadcast, she went up at 11:45 am on a bus with all the girls selected from our Stake. They practiced, had a private devotional with the General Young Woman’s president, they gave them all lunch, and were ready to go when the audience started coming around 5:30. Allison loved it when President Monson walked in and turned toward the choir and gave them a thumbs up!

I had one ticket so I was just going to go by myself. Then Nicole called and said that she, Mariah, and her mom had tickets too. It was fun to be able to go up and sit with them.

This YW conference was probably my favorite of all the ones I’ve ever heard. Pres. Uchtdorf spoke about how all stories all over the world begin with “Once upon time” as do our lives. But before you get to “….and they lived happily ever after” there are a lot of trials, obstacles, challenges, and adversities that have to be overcome before the end. Some may be wicked stepsisters, some may be a Beast in a castle, some may be sin, some may be loss of family, jobs, dreams, etc. but we can all reach our potential and live happily ever after and be the queens we were born to be. Isnt’ that such a great message? I think that applies to every aspect of our lives. It was just so good and the choir was spectacular. Allison wasn’t filmed for very much, but she did make it on camera for several short shots. We recorded it, but the TV doesn’t do it justice. I guess because when I was there live I not only heard it up close but could feel of the spirit that was in the meeting. I have seen Thomas S. Monson in person at other conferences a few times, but this time was different. As he was leaving and stopped to turn to the choir and then to the audience and waved goodbye, I just was flooded with such a deep love for him and was overcome with emotion. I guess it’s probably because this is the first time I’ve seen President Monson in person as the prophet and I received a personal witness of who he really is. It was a night that Allison nor I will ever forget!

Those that were not in attendance probably didn't realize that the choir sang the song during the video presentation that was shown. It was Allison's favorite song and her favorite part of the whole conference. If you do nothing else, please click here to watch the short clip of it. The choir begins singing at 3 min 45 seconds into it. If you missed it and would like to view the entire conference, please click here.

Click on the arrow above to see a short clip of Allison on TV. She is in a hot pink shirt in the middle right side of the screen.