"It blows my mind," she says with a laugh. "I didn't ever think it would really happen. It's a dream to have Greg doing arrangements for me." Her voice coach at BYU, Dave Tinney, has also helped produce the CD.

From the first moment, says Sounds of Zion's Earl Madsen, "we loved what we heard. She went to Texas for a fireside, and we went, 'Wow! She's amazing!' Then, we went on to Kentucky, and we met Rebecca, the gospel singer, and Rebecca, the mariachi singer. She can do great things vocally, but what is so great is her ability to communicate in both languages."

"Her performances were incredible," said Hansen, "and the audience reaction was phenomenal. She's this quiet little person, with 24 haloes in her suitcase. Get her on stage, and the transformation is so emotional. She has single-handedly restored my faith in the younger generation."

"I am a shy person," admits Lopez, but she credits the power of music for her ability to communicate. "I think the most important thing in singing inspirational music is a connection to the spirit of the music. If you sing without that relationship, you can't get across the message."

Lopez just seems to have a natural connection to music, says Tinney. "It's all there. She puts it into cerebral terms."

She is also very excited to be involved with this multicultural project. On the CD, 12 songs are in English and six are in Spanish. "There is such a hunger for LDS music in Spanish." And, it is a definite sign of the times, she says. "There are now more Spanish-speaking church members than English-speaking ones."

Maybe someday Lopez will go back to the idea of being a music teacher. "I love directing choirs. That's one of my favorite things." But she's also experimenting with writing and arranging music and now sees a lot of possibilities out there. "A lot of things prepared me for where I am today. I just hope to continue growing."

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E-mail: carma@desnews.com