“Amor Eterno” via the BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers at St. John’s Methodist Church

This experience at the BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers concert impacted me so much. I’m amazed by the woman I met. I’m humbled to see the hand of God working in our lives.

BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers

I went to see the BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers on their Spring 2023 Tour which luckily stopped in Lubbock. St. John’s Methodist Church provided the venue. While looking for seats, my friend Becky spotted her dad who thought we could squeeze in by them on the short pew. Kelly and Cheyl Wing sat on the pew’s other end, saving seats for two more. I caught up with Cheryl until her two friends arrive. Cheryl introduced Loli as she sat next to me. We joked about being close friends after the concert because we sat squished together on the pew. Halfway through the concert, Sam Wing arrived and squished onto the pew too. Nine people sat on a six-person bench. We were cozy.

Kimberly Altamirano, an alto from The Woodlands, Texas, stood at the mic and began singing a song in Spanish that wasn’t on the program.

Since we sat squished together, I felt Loli’s reaction to the song. I watched as she leaned over and began to sob. I knew the song was beautiful but couldn’t understand the lyrics. Cheryl comforted Loli, and I asked Becky for a tissue because Becky is always prepared for situations like this. We sat squished together during her sacred moment.

During applause, a few songs later, Loli leaned over to me and told me her husband recently passed away and that song was really meaningful to her. During a later applause, she handed me her phone with an English version of the song’s lyrics.

I caught my breath as I read them, thinking about how deeply they applied to her.

Rocío Dúrcal – Amor Eterno (English Translation) Lyrics

[Verse 1] You are the sadness in my eyes
Which cry in silence for your love
I look in the mirror and see in my face
The time I have suffered for your goodbye

I force my thoughts to forget you
Then I’m always thinking of yesterday
I’d so much rather be asleep than awake
It hurts me that you’re not here

[Chorus] If it were possible
I would have so wanted you to live
For your loving eyes to never ever have closed
And to be looking at them

Eternal love
And unforgettable
Sooner or later, I will be with you to continue
Loving each other[Verse 2] I’ve suffered so much for your absence
That from that day to today, I’m not happy
And even though my conscience is calm
I know that I could have done more for youDark loneliness I am living
The same loneliness as your tomb
You are the love such that I have
The saddest memory of Acapulco[Chorus] If it were possible
I would have so wanted you to live
For your loving eyes to never ever have closed
And to be looking at them

Eternal love
And unforgettable
Sooner or later, I will be with you to continue
Loving each otherEternal love (Eternal)
Eternal (Eternal, eternal)
Eternal love (Eternal)

The Miracle Reviewed

When the concert ended, we sat in the moment. Loli showed me pictures of her husband and family. He died of brain cancer and had lived with it for 21 years. He’d been fine one Sunday and was gone the next Sunday. Loli’s mom passed away in January, too.

Loli said that the song is very popular in Mexico, and she recognized it immediately. Her soul knew the lyrics; she grieved again in that squished pew in St. John’s Methodist Church. I asked if the song brought pain or comfort. She said it brought so much comfort.

Jesus Christ promised “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18).

And I left absolutely amazed at the Divine intervention in our lives. An invitation issued and received. An unplanned song added to the BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers’ program. While the rest of us basked in the song’s beauty, one beautiful daughter of God felt Heaven’s love envelop her through Amor Eterno as she sat squished on a pew on a Wednesday night.