Posted by Erinlizabeth
So I may have just met David Archuleta. That’s right. Second runner up on American Idol. He just happened to be in town doing a concert last night and one of his band members happens to have a sister in our stake… so last night at 11:00 they called our stake leaders to see if David could come do a fireside at our stake center! It had to be last minute and kept very hush hush so as to avoid a mob scene I guess… It was supposed to be only youth, but dad was an usher and got us in. 
When we pulled into the parking lot, dad waved us over to a reserved spot. I guess they decided they didn’t need it. And then an SUV pulled in right next to us. Carrying David and his family! So we saw him from a few feet away!
The fireside was good. David said that he’s not good at speaking and tends to ramble.Well, at least he knows himself well. He does indeed ramble. But he did tell some pretty good stories with good messages. He talked about how he managed to find time every day during American Idol to read the scriptures and that is what helped his to keep his standards even though he wasn’t able to go to church during the competition.
Then he talked about how he decided to audition in the first place. He had always loved to sing, but had never done anything serious with it. But he did like to watch American Idol. He knew auditions were starting for season 7 and he kept having a feeling that he should audition. It wasn’t really realistic though, considering that he’d never been a professional performer before. And he didn’t want to lose his summer job to go to San Diego to audition. The feeling kept coming so he decided to pray about it and got a very strong feeling that he should go. So he did. And obviously made it a lot farther than he ever dreamed. He talked about how we just don’t know what God has planned for us. Someone asked if he was going to serve a mission. He said he always wanted to, but he’d always asked Heavenly Father how he was going to be able to because before American Idol, he couldn’t speak in front of people. So he didn’t know how he was going to teach the gospel. Well, he probably won’t be able to serve a normal mission now because he’s too famous all over the world. But he is serving a mission through his music. He said throughout the competition he tried to pick songs that really meant something to him. He said he felt the spirit as he sang a lot of the songs and he knows other people did too because they’ve come up and asked him why they felt the way they did when he sang. Cool.
Anyway, moral of the story is that he seems like he’s still a very down-to-earth kid considering all he’s gone through. Oh, and he sang three songs and his voice is just as good in person as it was on TV. He deserved 2nd place. AND, he stayed to shake hands with everyone! So I got to shake his hand. I’m so special. Hee hee hee. So go buy his CD. He’s actually worth supporting! That’s a nice change.
I agree with you Erinlizabeth, David is certainly worth supporting. Thanks for sharing your great story!
marc(Quote)
What a special experience you’ve had! Thank you so much for sharing!
daizdfan/mary(Quote)
Thank you for sharing what the Fireside experience is like. We want to be respectful of David and his faith and give him privacy…but it is inspiring to hear what he had to say and that he gains strength and purpose from his faith.
Judith(Quote)
I am always happy to read stories like this. Many thanks to those who share them with us! Judith, I love your comment and agree with it completely.
B in Wisconsin(Quote)