New pictures of Elliot and other OKC missionaries

I ran across the blog of another missionary in the Oklahoma City mission, Elder Philip Woolley.  Elder Woolley is currently in Elk City.  That's in the same district as Clinton, where Elliot was assigned until today's tranfer to Noble-Purcell.  Elder Woolley was companions with Elder Phillips, who was Elliot's MTC companion.  I found a couple of pictures of Elliot from Elder Woolley's blog.  It's great to see some new pictures of Elliot and other OKC missionaries.  You can see them after the jump.

Oklahoma sports report (sort of)

It's a bit of a stretch to call this an Oklahoma sports report, since it doesn't involve any games played by teams based in Oklahoma, but there is a connection.  First, however, the bad news.

Five days have passed since the Cougars played the Florida Gators in the NCAA Tournament.  After 32 wins, a conference championship, and a trip to the sweet sixteen, the magic finally ended as the Cougars lost 83-74 in overtime.  Jimmer Fredette scored 32 points but was an uncharacteristic 3 of 15 from three-point land.  No other Cougar scored more than 9 points.  My philosophical side says it was a great season and the team was extremely fun to watch, but my other side imagines how great it would be to have made it to the final four and maybe even win the whole thing.  But only one team can win it all, and this year it will not be the Cougars.  So life is good.  And the awards keep rolling in.  The U.S. Basketball Writers Association selected Jimmer as the winner of the 2010-11 Oscar Robertson Trophy, annually presented to the National Player of the Year.  He was also selected to The Associated Press All-America team and the 2011 Lute Olson All-America team.  The list of personal honors for Jimmer goes on.  And in recognition of the team's dedication to academics, DegreeeSearch.org conducted its own postseason tournament for college basketball called the Student-Athlete Championship and declared BYU men’s basketball the champions.

So what's the Oklahoma connection?  BYU coach Dave Rose has decided not to pursue the head coaching job at the University of Oklahoma.  Great news for the Cougars; not such great news for the Sooners.

Elliot's March 28 email and pictures

Here's the latest message from Elliot, along with some pictures.  He's getting transferred to a new area (more on that later) as a senior companion.  You can see the pictures after the jump.

Hola!

So I'm getting transferred! I'm gonna head to the Noble-Purcell area as senior companion. It should be an interesting new challenge but I'm looking forward to it. My new companion will be Elder Endicott. My companion right now, Elder Stephen McCord Kimber, is going to be training out in Clinton, which would be a very exciting greenie area. I love Clinton. It's so fun and the members are way awesome, but a change of pace will be nice. Besides I hear the work is going really well in Noble! It'll be hard to head out I think, but it's fun to get into new areas.

We've been teaching a lot lately and having a lot of fun doing it. A lot of our investigators are progressing well, especially "Bob," who I told you about last week. Apparently he's about to go camping for a few weeks though, so that could make things interesting. One funny thing that happened this past week was that we went and taught a family in "The Flats," the allegedly ghetto part of town. There were like 7 kids all 10 and under while we were trying to teach, which was a little crazy. After a few minutes the kids got a hold of paper and markers and all started to draw. Next thing you know they had given us a total of 38 drawings which we then went and put on the wall of our apartment! It was so fun. And the lesson went really well too I would say. It was just so funny because they were drawing us, trying to draw crosses, and gave us at least 5 pictures that say "I love Jesus." It was awesome. I'm loving the work and those I'm working around so everything's going good!

I gotta be heading out here in a minute, but I'm gonna attach a few pictures first! I got a new roll developed.

I love you all and hope everything's great! Except that all of a sudden OK decided to get cold and stormy. Oh well.

Love,

Elder Elliot Adair

Lots of April festivals in Oklahoma

It must be festival season in Oklahoma.  As a recent news report put it, "April is festi-full" (clever, right?).  I don't know if Elliot can get to any of these events on his preparation day.  But if you're planning to be in Oklahoma in April, there are some great events you have to look forward to.

Check out the details after the jump.

Mormon Messages: "Mormon Temples: The Blessings of the Temple"

I have posted about temples several times on Elliot's blog (here, here, and here).  The Church has posted another great video about the blessings of the temple, narrated by Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  The video is based in part on Elder Nelson's address at the April 2001 General Conference, "Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings."  Elder Nelson explains:

The temple is the house of the Lord. The basis for every temple ordinance and covenant—the heart of the plan of salvation—is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Every activity, every lesson, all we do in the Church, point to the Lord and His holy house. Our efforts to proclaim the gospel, perfect the Saints, and redeem the dead all lead to the temple. Each holy temple stands as a symbol of our membership in the Church, as a sign of our faith in life after death, and as a sacred step toward eternal glory for us and our families.

Enjoy the video after the jump.

Oklahoma sports report

Time for an update on our favorite college basketball teams at tournament time.

The Cowboys saw their season come to a close Monday night when they lost 74-64 to the Washington State Cougars in the National Invitational Tournament.  Despite 17 points and 11 rebounds from senior forward Matt Pilgrim, the Cowboys came out on the short end of the score, as the Cougars limited OSU's leading scorer, Marshall Moses, to just two points.

The Cougars played the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday, March 19 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.  Gonzaga has family ties for Elliot, since his dad lived in Spokane for several years as a kid.  Elliot's uncle Don still lives there and does some work for Gonzaga.  And John Stockton, a Spokane native who played for Gonzaga and whose son David now plays for the Bulldogs, is a long-time favorite of Elliot's brother Keith.  But Elliot and his family bleed Cougar blue so there was no doubt about which team to support.  The game was reasonably close through the first half but the Cougars pullled away in the second half, winning by a final score of 89-67.  Jimmer Fredette had another spectucular game, scoring 34 points, including seven 3-pointers, some from the next area code.  (Jimmer is also a finalist for the 2011 Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Award.)  Noah Hartsock made all five of his shots, including three 3-pointers on his way to 13 points, and Jackson Emery tossed in 16 points.  Next up for the Cougars is the number two seed Florida Gators, Thursday evening in New Orleans.

And after the jump, you can watch a great video: "We Are BYU."

NBC News blog: "Quake gives new meaning to a young man's mission"

Thanks to Lisa Peacock for spotting this follow-up story about the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  (Lisa's son Justin is on a mission in Mexico.  He and Elliot, who were in the MTC at the same time, are pictured here, and you can find Justin's blog here.)  It's another NBC News report from Kari Huus, a senior reporter for msnbc.com.  She tells the story of Elder Patrick Hiltbrand, a missionary from Pocatello, Idaho, who is serving in Japan.  Elder Hiltbrand and his companion, Yuji Aiura, experienced the earthquake and tsunami up close and personal.

Dressed in the standard issue white-shirt-and-tie, he and his “companion” Yuji Aiura — Mormon missionaries always travel in pairs — had arrived by bicycle to a small restaurant in Tagajo, a river town about two miles from the ocean.

They were discussing the power of God with two local Japanese when the shaking began. They ignored it at first says Hiltbrand — there are so many small quakes in this region — but not for long.

The growing fury of the rumbling drove them to take shelter under a table. Then they decided to run outside.

“There was a loud bang and everything was moving in every direction,” Hiltbrand says. “Cars were rocking on the street.”

When it stopped, the two missionaries jumped on their bikes and rode to check on their apartment, then headed to the Mormon church in Tagajo, dodging newly created crevices and open manholes.

But the earthquake was just the beginning of their troubles.

Any illusion that the disaster was over quickly passed as traffic built—with cars heading inland toward Sendai. Then police and fire vehicle sirens began blaring tsunami warnings.

Hiltbrand and Aiura climbed to the second story of the church, a building that is raised 4 to 5 feet off the ground.

The watched out the window as the water level rose rapidly, aided by the river that wraps around the town—and sucked their bicycles into a torrent, along with cars and debris.

Water began pouring through the church’s mail slot in the door of the first floor.

“From the second floor it sounded like a waterfall,” said Hiltbrand. “I went downstairs, and as I watched it coming in … the glass on the door shattered and water came pouring in.”

When the water subsided, Elder Hiltbrand and Elder Aiura made their way to Sendai with the aid of a local church member, arriving some 24 hours after the earthquake.  We're glad to hear they came through unscathed and undaunted by the experience.

For his part, Hiltbrand is itching to get back to the disaster zone.

“I really want to be in Tagajo helping people,” he says. “I have many friends in Tagajo and I don’t know how they are. I don’t know how they will clean it all up and I want to help.”

Elliot's March 21 email

Here's the latest message from Elliot.

Hey family!

Thanks for the package! I love the shirt and the candy helps out a lot when it's 8 in the morning and you feel like taking a nap instead of studying and you need a little sugar.

That's exciting about CJ! [CJ Norris spoke in church yesterday before leaving on his mission to Boise, Idaho.] We're just pumping missionaries out of N1 now. That's great.

So we've had a very awesome week. We were in the City from Sunday until Friday at the Leadership Training Meeting and it's was incredible. I learned so much about how to recognize the Holy Ghost and how to become a better teacher. We got trained in 8 areas: The Doctrine of Christ, Teach People, Not Lessons, The Role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion, Revelation through Prayer, Revelation through Church Attendance, Revelation through The Book of Mormon, How to Begin Teaching, and We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up. These are specific areas the General Authorities have been putting an emphasis on to help us become better, more effective, and more powerful teachers. I learned a lot that I've already been able to put into practice with myself and with those whom I serve. I felt the Spirit a lot and learned one really great truth: I'm happiest on the mission when the Spirit's working through me or when It's teaching me.

We had 3 investigators at church on Sunday! My companion and I both gave talks and all four of us missionaries sang in Sacrament Meeting. It seemed that our investigators liked it well. One of them is named "Bob." "Bob" is awesome. We had probably the best lesson of my mission with him this past Saturday. He has a brother who's a Mormon which led him to seek out us missionaries. He saw his brother make this positive changes in his life and wanted to experience the same. He's been going through a terribly rough time. But what's amazing is these unprompted changes he's made in his life. We've hardly taught him yet, not even a full first lesson, but before we started to come over he decided to start to quit drinking and do other things like that. He said he was feeling good when he was reading the Book of Mormon and when we come by. I was able to testify that these things were happening because of the Holy Ghost. I bore testimony of the Holy Ghost and he told stories he had when he felt  good like he was. He even said that he was feeling all warm and good right then! There's no way that I could even describe the lesson or how strong the Spirit was there, but we invited him to be baptized and he said sure! He was stoked about going to church and even prayed at the end of the lesson without us asking him to. I didn't even feel like I was teaching, I just had the honor of being there for his conversion. 

Well I'm glad things are okay back home besides the rain! One more thing-

Go BYU!!!!!!

[Sports report to follow, but BYU advanced to the sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament with wins over Wofford and Gonzaga!]

Love,

Elder Elliot Adair

Mormon Messages: "Jarem Frye - Athlete, Amputee, Mormon"

There is little in his pre-mission life that Elliot loved more than his bike (pictured at right).  It's a single-speed/fixie that he preferred to ride without a brake.  He took it to BYU with him (which explains the snow in the picture) and rode all over campus and around Provo.  That's where he also had a close encounter with a Provo driver.  It's never fun to get a call from your son saying he just got hit by a car!  Fortunately, he was fine and the car suffered worse damage than either Elliot or his bike.

With Elliot's love of cycling, I'm sure he'd like to know Jarem Frye.  Jarem is featured in a Mormon Messages video (below) that describes how losing a leg at age 14 to bone cancer did not stop him from becoming a telemark skier, rock climber, wakeboarder, and mountain biker.  Jarem is also a return mssionary (he went to England), a husband and father, and the founder of his own prosthetics design and manufacture company.  I enjoyed Jarem's concluding comments on his Mormon.org profile:

I realized that my simple trust in the Savior had allowed the burdens of my illness to be lifted from me, and absolved in His atonement! It had never clicked for me before, that an infinite atonement could not only save me from sin, but also deliver me from sadness, despair, illness, and pain.

Since that time I have tried to remember that simple principle and apply the atonement of Christ in every part of my life. Every aspect of my life has been a blessing from God! I believe that He has endless blessings for all of us. Some are disguised as challenges and many are difficult to recognize as blessings, but with His help, and just a little bit of faith on our part, blessings we never would have imagined are available to us.

Enjoy Jarem's video after the jump.

NBC News blog: "In Japan, the Mormon network gathers the flock"

Kari Huus, a senior reporter for msnbc.com, posted a story on an NBC news blog this morning about the Church's efforts to reach out to missionaries and members in Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.  It's a very well-written report about how the Church can quickly and efficiently contact its missionaries and members in emergencies.  I recommend reading the entire story and have also excerpted some passages here.

Within 36 hours of the earthquake striking off the coast of Sendai on March 11, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that all 638 of its missionaries in the country -- 342 Americans, 216 Japanese and 80 from other nations – were safe.

Within a few days, the church also had accounted for all but about 1,000 of its 125,000 members in Japan.

“Whether it is Haiti or Japan,” said David Evans, a senior leader in the church who serves in the missionary department. “This is how it works everywhere.”

The story adds some insight into the challenge of ensuring the safety of all the missionaries in Japan, including the last four who had to walk out of the most devastated portions of Sendai:

The missionaries — young men and women who work in pairs – all have cell phones, but with cell networks down in most cases, they instead followed disaster plans that directed them to predetermined locations. Most of the young evangelists were accounted for within 18 hours. The last four, who had to walk out of one of the most devastated areas of Sendai to reach their assigned site, were contacted within 36 hours of the quake, church officials said.

Ms. Huus also commented on the Church's ability to reach members through home teaching:

Under what they call the “home teaching program” each church assigns a member four to 10 people to visit at least once each month, checking in on their physical and spiritual wellbeing. So essentially everyone checks in on others and is checked in on themself. That means when a disaster hits, church members know exactly where to look for the folks that are normally part of their rounds.

The story also notes that the Church's rescue efforts are not limited to missionaries and members:

The church has made substantial contributions to the Japanese Red Cross and is coordinating with other aid organizations to assess the need for food, housing and fuel in the disaster zone.

“We strive to help people whenever there is a disaster,” said [Steve] Allen [a public affairs officer with the church]. “Our desire to help is not based on religious affiliation or any other affiliation.”

It's comforting to know that the Church has the ability to respond so ably in these types of emergencies, especially for those of us with sons and daughters serving throughout the world.  Thanks to Ms. Huus and NBC News for a great report.

Oklahoma sports report

It's basketball tournament time.  While there are lots of teams still playing, we'll focus on the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Elliot's BYU Cougars.

The Cowboys are playing in the National Invitational Tournament.  On Tuesday, the Cowboys played the Harvard Crimson in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  Led by Marshall Moses with 18 points and 8 rebounds, the Cowboys beat the Crimson by a final score of 71-54.  OSU next travels to Pullman, Washington, where they will play the Washington State Cougars on Monday, March 21.

The Cougars qualified to play in the NCAA Tournament as the number 3 seed in the Southeast bracket.  Tonight they played the Wofford Terriers in Denver.  The game was close most of the way, but the Cougars eventually pulled away mid-way through the second half and held on for a 74-66 victory.  Jimmer Fredette led the way with 32 points and 8 assists, with strong support from Charles Abouo, Noah Hartsock, and Logan Magnusson, each with 10 points.  The Cougars play again on Saturday, March 19, when they will face the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Update on missionaries in Japan

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (pictured at right) spoke at a press conference yesterday to give an update on the status of missionaries and members of the Church in Japan.  He said that all missionaries are being evacuated from areas of greatest concern:

Given the radiation issue, we have taken the precaution of moving them out of the immediate area of concern in the Sendai and Tokyo missions. We are moving the missionaries as safely as we can, given the transportation and infrastructure being what they are. No one’s panicking. We’re doing this in a calm and reasonable and very optimistic way.

Around 200 missionaries are being evacuated to other missions north and south of Sendai but will remain in Japan.  “We are moving them to very safe distances. Whatever the government is saying, we are doubling, we are tripling, that distance.”

He also spoke about the local members of the Church.  Of the approximately 125,000 Japanese members, all are safe and accounted for except for members in three congregations.  “We know of no loss of life of a member of the Church yet. That doesn’t mean that we won’t learn of that, but we don’t know of any at this point and we’re very, very grateful for that.”

Click here for further updates.  Also, you can watch Elder Holland's full press release after the jump. 

Missionaries in Japan are safe and accounted for

Parents of Mormon missionaries send their sons and daughters off to places near and far throughout the world, trusting that they will be fine while they are gone.  But the world can be a scary, dangerous place.  We sent Elliot to Oklahoma knowing that it is one of the world's tornado hotbeds but we're confident that he'll return home safely in one piece.

As parents of a missionary, we sympathize with the parents of missionaries serving in Japan.  The earthquake has been devastating, far more so than anything we have experienced in earthquake-prone Southern California.  The first official report from the Church indicated that all missionaries in five out of six Japanese missions had been accounted for, but eight missionaries in the Sendai area could not be immediately contacted.  A day later, the Church reported that all the missionaries had been accounted for and were safe, thankfully.  The Church website includes an audio interview with Conan Grimes, a missionary serving in Japan with his wife, Cindy.

The latest report included a message from the First Presidency:

We express our love and support to the people of Japan as they deal with this terrible tragedy. Our prayers, and the prayers of millions of Latter-day Saints across the world, are with them as they begin to recover from this disaster.

The Church is still trying to contact a few members and is assessing damage to Church property.  It is also discussing with government and humanitarian organizations ways to provide assistance.  Check the Church newsroom for futher updates.

Elliot's March 14 email and pictures

Here's the latest message from Elliot.  Sounds like he had a much better week last week and will be busy in meetings all this week.  And he sent some pictures, which you can see after the jump.

Hello!

Well that's awesome that Kyle's heading to the MTC. [Kyle Hill of Newhall First Ward is going to Rome on his mission. He reports to the Missionary Training Center this week.] He'll have a blast and we'll have a crazy amount of missionaries out from our ward. Like 10? That's a lot.

I'm actually writing from Oklahoma City today. There's a Leadership Training Meeting all week from Tuesday to Friday. I'm not quite sure why I'm going, I'm still a junior companion, but President Taylor knows what he's doing! It's weird leaving the area alone for a whole week, I just hope the work doesn't slow down too much. I don't think it will, we already have like 6 appointments set up between next Friday and Saturday.

We had a really awesome week. We set really high goals for ourselves to get 3 lessons taught to investigators with a member present and 9 more lessons taught to investigators with 3 new investigators. These were really high goals, but we really wanted to push ourselves, especially since the week before was so slow. So we went out in faith knowing that the Lord could help us accomplish these goals. We ended up teaching 3 member present lessons, 9 others, and we got 4 new investigators. On Thursday we even taught a total of 7 lessons, the most I've ever taught in a single day. It really was incredible. We've gotten a lot of things going now in our area, so things are looking up! We also got to get out to Dill City, a very, very small town in our area which was fun. There was a Rambo street. Pictures are included [after the jump].

We have this one new investigator in particular that I'm excited about. He has family that's Mormon in Utah that have been encouraging him to start reading the Book of Mormon and going to church. He's going through a lot right now: a divorce, money problems, and just general problems. But he is very excited about coming to church and learning more. I think that often we have to be brought low in order to be brought higher. So I have very good hopes for him.

Everything is going okay here. I'm healthy, happy, and excited to play some basketball today! And I did find my blue shoes, so no worries. I'll pretty much be in meetings all week, but sometimes that's just what you gotta do!

Love yall!

Elder Elliot Adair

Mormon Messages: "Why Mormons Build Temples"

Some time ago I posted two entries about the Oklahoma City Temple (here and here; the Los Angeles Temple is pictured at right).  I recently ran across a video that provides insight into the purpose of temples.  It includes messages from Jeffrey R. Holland, Ann N. Madsen, Boyd K. Packer, and President Thomas S. Monson of the Church.  Also featured are Frank Moore Cross, Professor of Ancient History at Harvard, and Krister Stendahl, Dean of Divinity Emeritus at Harvard (deceased), who share their non-Mormon perspectives on the Church's construction of temples in modern times.  Enjoy the video after the jump.

Carl Bloch: "The Master's Hand"

On Sunday, our favorite dentist, Larry Amelang, who is responsible for Elliot's toothy smile, spoke in church and mentioned his recent visit to an art exhibit at BYU.  The exhibit displays the works of Carl Heinrich Bloch, a Danish artist from the 1800s.  BYU has created a website for the exhibit, which includes five large altarpieces, which you can see here; I have also included them after the jump (below).  BYU Magazine also featured an extensive article about Bloch.  From the article:

From the New Testament scenes, Bloch moved on to large-scale religious paintings, including altarpieces for eight Lutheran church buildings in Denmark and Sweden. In altarpieces such as Christ Blessing the Little Child, Christus Consolator, and Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda, Bloch highlighted the intimate, personal nature of Jesus’ ministry. By connecting the church altar to Christ’s focus on the one, says Gravgaard, Bloch’s paintings invite parishioners to contemplate their own relationship to the Savior as they approach the altar, which she describes as “the table from which we have our communion, where we take part in the meal together with Christ.”

If you happen to be in Provo before the exhibit closes on May 7, be sure to see the exhibit, but you must make reservations in advance.

"Abhorrence"

Can you spell abhorrence?  Parker Strubhar of Piedmont Middle School in Piedmont, Oklahoma, can, and he proved it Saturday when he won the Central Oklahoma Spelling Bee.  Parker, 14, was the big winner of a competition that started with 23,000 students from 225 schools across Oklahoma.  He claimed victory by correctly spelling abhorrence and now gets to travel to Washington, D.C., to represent Oklahoma in the Scripps National Spelling Bee on June 1-2, 2011.  Good luck, Parker!

And who knows, since Piedmont is in Elliot's mission, just outside Oklahoma City, Elliot and Parker may cross paths someday.

Elliot's March 7 email

Here's Elliot's latest email.

Hey!

Yeah I've been hearing quite a bit about college ball actually. All the members out here love it and one even bore his testimony about how good it is to stand up for morals like BYU. He's an awesome member too, Bro. Poteet. We're gonna go to his place after this and probably play some basketball! Speaking of which, somehow I lost my blue basketball shoes, but I'm holding out hope they'll show up either at his place or at the YMCA.

I had a really slow week this past week, not gonna lie. It seemed like absolutely no one was home all week long. It was tough because me and my companion had been really trying to focus in on the Spirit more to know what to do. I dunno, I think it was just one of those weeks. The Malibu even had to be taken in to get fixed, costing us another like 2 hours of work as we had to sit in the dealership. Our seemingly most promising investigator dropped us. But we had a few other things that seemed like they could move forward. Saturday finally came by and the one lesson I was most excited for (we were gonna teach a new investigator family in the church) fell through. We had even just cleaned up the church to make sure everything was in order. I'll admit, I could have just gone and slept all the rest of that day. But we just kept going. We tracted for a while, which even though we didn't have extreme success or anything, still felt better. When we finally had enough of knocking doors we tried a potential investigator we found the week before who seemed promising. We knocked and no one answered. I remember just thinking "What are we doing wrong?" But then someone opened the door as we were walking off. It was David's brother, Francisco. We taught him, thinking he was David for half of the lesson (lol) and it was going alright. I think we were both not in super great of spirits and we didn't really want to invite him to be baptized (we're supposed to invite everyone to be baptized first lesson unless the Spirit directs otherwise). But I finally just decided that I had to. I said (in Spanish), "When you come to know the Book of Mormon is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God?" He said "Yeah. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Otherwise, why would so many people believe in it?" Wow. I was so shocked. And I know I shouldn't have been. I should have had more faith. But it was just completely night and day difference from how our whole week had been. It was amazing. Then that night we got a referral for a guy who desperately wants to meet with us, and we have an appointment for tomorrow. It was just another example that we just need to keep moving forward. I really easily could have stopped after that appointment fell through on Saturday, but all the success we had that night and Sunday too would have been lost. We did have a pretty awesome day yesterday. We taught a total of 4 lessons. Just gotta keep on keeping on!

Anyway, I'm glad to hear everything's going well back at home! I've heard Five Guys is good, but In-N-Out is awesome. Although Braums out here in OK is something incredible too.

I love ya'll!

Love,

Elder Elliot Adair

Mormon Tabernacle Choir: "Called to Serve"

Today I found a video featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing "Called to Serve," a great missionary song.  It includes some footage of missionaries from all over and made me think of Elliot in rural western Oklahoma.  Enjoy the video.