David Archuleta - Be Still My Soul

David Archuleta performed at a fireside in Utah on Sunday, June 1st, 2008. David took some time out of his busy schedule while he was visiting his home to put on this fireside for troubled youth. The following letter gives some background on the video.

Hey there,

I just wanted to pass on a cool experience I had last night.

Yesterday I got a phone call at about 3:18 pm from the Archuleta’s. I was asked if I would be available to play for David for a fireside that he was speaking in the next couple of hours. Brett Hales, a friend of the Archuleta’s, was asked to speak on trials and how to overcome them. Brett has M.S. and was on a feeding tube less than six months ago and could have been counting his final days, but miraculously now is up and about and doing pretty darn good. He decided to bring David along to share.

So, I cancelled everything from my busy Sunday evening, loaded up the kids, and went to this fireside, which was held at a school for troubled youth. It is a 10 month in-house program that helps these kids ‘right the ship’. What was interesting about all of this: most of them had never seen David sing because they don’t watch T.V. there. This was their first experience of hearing him.

David sang “Angels” and “Be Still My Soul” and did an incredible job of telling of his experience on American Idol. I was fortunate to accompany David on both songs. The piano that they had there was not amazing, but it worked out. Be Still My Soul is an arrangement that I did for David a while back. I have included a link for you to listen to this performance. When he sang it, you could just feel the Spirit come over the room. The directors of the school were in tears, because they said these kids don’t feel this way very often. It is hard for them to feel the Spirit or recognize it because of their current state and their attitudes. But, it was more than evident that they did. You could see it in their eyes and I can only pray that they find the desire to have it in their lives even more.

David was also so good to stay and talk to everyone who wanted to. He signed autographs, took pictures, and just gave words of encouragement for almost an hour and a half. It was so awesome to see his willingness to share.

Anyhow, Enjoy!

Richard