.hugs.

I can always rely on my mom's hugs to make feel better

 when I come home crying, feeling overwhelmed. 

.my.life.

With the concert coming up, all I can think about is my history with dance. 

Dance has made me who I am today.

Dance has changed my life.

And in many ways, dance has saved my life.

I love looking down at my keys and seeing the key to the studio.

That's my key to another home. 

My key to happiness.

My key to peace.

My key to my quiet place.

My key to my life.

.beyond.measure.

The love I have for this group is well....'Beyond Measure'.

Being apart of something like this is a dream of mine.

I feel like I have known these people for the longest time. 

Feeling like I belong somewhere is worth while.

Being with these people doing what we love feels right.

Ladies and gents...BYU brings to you their first coed acapella group...

'BEYOND MEASURE'

.dreams.come.true.

After not making it past the first cut at BYU Young Ambassador auditions, I was mad. I felt stuck. Stuck with nowhere to go. For those of you who know me will know that performing is my life. It's what I live for. It's my passion. I then made a promise to myself that I will audition again and again. A few weeks later I felt like I needed to text my friend Laina asking about Noteworthy auditions. **Noteworthy is an all girl acapella group at BYU.** Auditions weren't until fall so that gave me 4 months to prepare. A few minutes after this conversation she sent me a picture of a flyer advertising a new acapella group that was forming at BYU. A coed group. Auditions? 6 days. As soon as I received that picture I jumped on my laptop looking for song ideas for my audition. Every day after that I practiced and practiced. A few days before the audition I got the flu followed by a sinus infection. (my life!!!!!!) The day before the audition I woke up with no voice. I panicked. I did everything I could to get my voice back. Voice rest. Nasty drinks. Steamy showers. I auditioned the next day and did surprisingly well considering the fact that I had no voice. I got a phone call that night asking to come to call backs. I cried. CALL BACKS! 2 words I wanted to hear! 

Call backs came and I found myself discouraged. I walked into the room and found more people there than anticipated. I panicked. Then I heard some of the girls sing. I panicked...again. I had no voice. And with no voice came no confidence. "Well..I'm screwed!" I said to myself. My mom then texted me at the perfect moment. "You will be great. You are great! Lets have a joint prayer right now. Love you!" Man my mom is good! I then knew that I needed to say a prayer. I paced around in the back of the room while others were singing. It was a very simple yet important prayer. I sang and gave it my all. Still, not much of a voice to show. I found myself starting to get a little emotional. Tearing up inside. I wanted to leave. But I knew that this was my chance. That I needed to be there. So I stayed and finished my call back. 

Leaving the call back was discouraging and heart breaking. I didn't think I had any chance. I found myself giving up and accepting the fact that I was "stuck". Later that evening, I was with my sister Jessica and I looked at my phone and had a missed call and voicemail. Long story short, I was asked to go back to the audition room the next morning for a meeting with the 2013-2014 BYU Coed Acapella Group. I made it! I couldn't believe it. I immediately said a prayer of thanks to my Heavenly Father. I finally feel apart of something. I am truly blessed. This is a dream of mine. This is silly but after watching the movie Pitch Perfect, I had this dream to be apart of a group like that. Now I am. It has all happened so fast. I love it.

.healing.power.

I had an eye-opening conversation with my sister, Jessica, the other day and there were things that were said that I will never forget. Our conversation involved so many topics but a topic that really hit home for me was the topic of missionary work. A few months ago I started and finished my mission papers. All that was left was my interview with my stake president and bam. They were done. However, I never had that interview. I needed to take a step back and figure out WHY I, Anna Marliyn Pinnock, was wanting to serve a mission. I needed to figure out WHY I was wanting to put my life on hold for 18 months to serve my Heavenly Father. I found myself confused and discouraged. I decided to take time to figure this out. Mission papers were put on hold. This was one of the hardest decisions I had made in a really long time. But I knew it was what I needed to do. I then auditioned to be a young performing missionary in Nauvoo. After receiving an email saying I hadn't made it, I called my mom in tears. I was scared to tell her I didn't make it. My biggest fear in life is disappointing people and putting my mission papers on hold and then not making this audition was a huge disappointment to me and I would hate to disappoint my own mother. After telling her the news, she immediately comforted me and told me she loved me and was proud of me. Her next comment came as a shock to me. "Let's look into India. Let's get you over there this summer!"....India...of course! My next course of action was applying, getting accepted, interviewing and preparing. It felt like preparing for a mission almost. 

Now this is where my conversation with Jess comes in. There are still times I feel like I have disappointed people by choosing to not continue on with my mission papers. I told Jessica that I still feel like I have disappointed loved ones by choosing India over a mission. I said, "I know that I won't be PREACHING and TEACHING the gospel to children of God." Jessica then said something that really hit home for me.... she said, "Ya, but Annie, you will be HEALING the souls of children of God."...wow. Wow. HEALING the souls of children of God. This really put it into perspective for me. 

When Christ walked this earth, he taught and taught and taught. He shared the gospel and taught people gospel principles. Not only did Christ teach, but he HEALED. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to HEAL. Will I make the lepers clean as Christ did? Will I be able to make their sores go away? No. BUT. I will HEAL their hearts and souls. Thank you Jessica for helping my focus on my current mission in life. 

Healing the souls of the children of God.

.india.

As most of you know, I have the amazing opportunity to go to India this summer. Last week we had a huge training day and that is where it really hit me. THIS. IS. HAPPENING. There is no turning back. Heck! I don't want to turn back! As I sat there in the training course, I couldn't help but think about how blessed I am to have this incredible opportunity to go to India and do something I have always wanted to do. For THREE months. When I tell people I am going to India for a humanitarian trip they usually assume I am going for 2 weeks or so. 95% of the time I need to correct them and tell them about this whole 3 month "schpeal". And 95% of the time the reaction is "3 months?! Seriously?! That's a long time!"...or..."3 months?! Good for you!" Yes 3 months is a long time and yes I am extremely terrified. Anxious really. However, the feelings of excitement overpower the anxiety I get from this trip. 

I cannot wait. 

holy.smokes.

Holy smokes is right. It's been almost a month since I last posted and I am so upset with myself. Something exciting or funny will happen and I think "k gotta go home and blog about this one!" The result is usually either falling asleep before I get the chance or having the desire to watch a movie instead. So many things have been going on that need to be shared! Posts on these amazing things coming soon!