Serving Arizona Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
December 2020 – January 2021 Vol 46 • No 6 Est 1975
Photo by JimmyPaderta.com
By Merry Gordon
ANGElS we have heard ON HIGH!
Musical Missionaries Change Lives With Song
M
ost missionaries recall fond but typical memories of their service, like zone conferences or convert baptisms. But a group of missionaries from Arizona will take a unique memory home with them: recording sessions in a music studio. Brother Rick Dalton, the ward mission leader of the Kleinman Park Ward in the Mesa Alma Stake, has
been recording with his missionaries for years. With permission from the mission president, Dalton and his missionaries began recording songs in a friend’s studio. All but two or three of their recordings are original songs, and in Dalton’s words, “they were just inspired.” Dalton himself is a lifelong musician. At fifteen, he was playing drums
Sister Maycee Olsen, who wrote “Lifted,” performs in the studio.
in a teen nightclub in El Centro, California, and has been in a variety of bands since. “There’s been no period longer than twelve months where I wasn’t in a band,” Dalton laughs. “Classic bands, rock bands, blues and jazz bands, easy listening—you name it, I’ve played it.” Eventually, Dalton became a police officer and, when he retired, a high school teacher, giving guitar lessons
Photo by Rick Dalton
to “a lot of kids with talent,” he says. American Idol singer/songwriter alums Brooke White and Evie Clair were among some of his former students, he says. Dalton quickly discovered that his real love was for missionary work. “I have this thing,” he says. “I just love to serve and help missionaries.”
ArizonaBeehive.com •
Continued on pg. 3
• 1
