De Experiencias Extremas Sale la Profundidad

Belleza
Me rodeaba
A mi lado
y de arriba

Luz de vós
Y del cielo
Iluminando la senda
y el alma mía

Vós al lado mío
Bajo un lienzo divino
Pintado con luz
Luz quieta y viva

Paz, confianza, y gozo
Mentes libres
Corazones iluminados
Por belleza, por luz



El bosque asciende
Obstruye los rayos
Todo está oscuro
Mentes captivados
Temor, incertidumbre, oscuridad

Palabras y corazón
Buscan el cielo
Piden luz
Piden refugio

Luz del hombre
ilumina la senda
El alma se turbe
Busca la fe

Melodías divinas
Traen la luz
Luz de arriba
Llena el alma

Encubre la mente
Paz, confianza, gozo
Fe, esperanza
Me acerco a vós


Más cerca que nunca
Me aferro a vós
La senda está oscura
Pero iluminada a la vez

Te tirás por adelante
Te agarro y te abrazo
Miro los cielos
"Ten misericordia"

Sale la profundidad
Sentimientos jamás sentidos
Semillas brotadas
De lo extremo

Gozo extremo
Temor extremo
Paz extremo
Soledad extremo

Sí, temor de adentro
Pero fuerza a mi lado
Fuerza sacada solo por lo extremo
Fe otorgada sólo por creer

A little bit of Payson Goodness

Had a couple of awesome excursions up to Payson Lakes. Well, let's be honest, we tried three times, but the first time was a failure because we forgot that it costeded money. For all of your adventurous folk out there that want to go experience the Lakes at Payson: $7 per day. $5 is not enough. They do take checks. They'll tell you who to make the check out to. Just some advice from your friendly accountant.

Here to the left I think is a picture of Mt. Nebo (Ne-Bizzle as Matt and I call it). Pretty majestic don't you think? A little different from our Timp friend, and taller.

Thursday is probably one of the best days to go... or at least any day that's not Friday, Saturday, and especially not Sunday (for various reasons). In short, the NOT-Weekend.

You can visit the second lake if you like mud. I'd suggest bringing floaties of some sort so you don't have to wade through the mud... but at the same time it's pretty fun. The third lake is by far the best. I think it's the deepest and largest. When Matt and I were up there this past Thursday, we had the lake to ourselves except for a couple of fisherpeople. We took some inner tubes (Matt calls them drifters) and floated out in the middle of lake. Besides the occasional bubble skirting your leg, it was pretty peaceful I think the best part was just being able to leave everything else behind and not think about life, responsibilities, commitments, etc. We chatted about life, about politics, saw some ducks and other sea creatures (starfish, whales, etc.).

We met the "custodian" I guess you could call him of Payson Lakes. He is a really good man. As we talked to him, you could tell how much the place meant to him. He said, "I've got the best job in the world." He turned to the lake with his hands out and said, "Look what I get to come to everyday. It's incredible" (or something like that). He took his shovel and went off to clean up. He takes great care of it. I didn't see any trash as we walked around the place... and I'm rambling.

And now for some Spanish poetry about the lakes:
[coming soon...]

Different Choir, Same Experience

Tonight's concert was great. Good music, a great audience, great friends... This term has been very interesting to be in summer chorale. I absolutely loved the experience. I think what is amazing is to see the power of music come alive with different people and under different conductors. Each has their own view of music and how it ought to be communicated.

Dr. Broomhead's direction this term was quite inspirational. His style of teaching really helped us to feel comfortable and got us to internalize habits that are good for any singer to make a beautiful sound.

Sure, it was different than I was used and probably prefer, but the result was really moving. After finishing "Let Their Celestial Concerts All Unite" tonight, I felt a great sense of awe. The music really started setting into my soul and the intended feeling of that peace began to make more sense as we were all sounding praises to God.

Truly, music is a miracle. The voice is a miracle. Those who have paved the way to great music are inspired of God. That is becoming more and more evident to me. As one of my favorite songs expresses: "Words alone are vain and vacant..." I feel music to be an essential part of life.

Una Vista Nueva

Una vista nueva
Al principio me agarra la atención
Linda
Simple
Pura
No molestada

Empiezo en el camino
Camino
Una vista nueva

Que me interesa
Sigo caminando
Medito y luego anhelo otra
¿Hay más?
Camino y se me abre otra vista
y de pronto otra, y otra, y otra...

Hasta que no quiero caminar más
Estoy contento
Me siento, miro, admiro, me asombro
Qué vista...
Qué vista
Nueva
Linda
Simple
Pura

Moab

Every time I look at this picture I feel a bit of nostalgia for Moab. Yeah, it was just a few days that we were there, but I think I really got attached attached to this place. Jackie planned an amazing trip.

Friday
Got up around 6am after about maybe 3 hours of sleep. It was so hot that evening. I think it finally cooled off around 3am. I think just the whole experience of sleeping on solid rock was a little new for me. We pulled of some bacon and eggs for breakfast pretty easily, actually. It's amazing how inventive and creative you get when you have limited resources. I think we used some newspaper for our hot pads. Yeah, it worked just fine.

Driving into arches was pretty incredible. The rock formations were completely new to me... astounding, really.

Contemplation

Life, simply said, is joyous...
Triumph and failure
Hope and despair
Smiling and sobbing
Fresh and exhausted

It's amazing how in a day both darkest moments and greatest joys can be experienced. Light can penetrate the darkness that enshrouds us, and it will disperse if we look towards the light.