Best. Day. Ever.

Today was a HUGE day for Ellis, a dream come true, really. He got to meet an apostle of our Church - Elder L. Tom Perry - for the very first time. Elder Perry came to our ward building today because he was in the area for something else and wanted to return to the Weston chapel where he attended church many years ago. It was exciting and created quite a stir for the entire ward, but not many people really comprehended what this day would be for Ellis. He has been idolizing the apostles and prophets for going on seven months now. He still watches his "Conference Show" every day. He still sings songs about the general authorities regularly. He has memorized the names of the First Presidency, Twelve Apostles, and nearly all members of the first and second quorums of the Seventy. For story time, he has been choosing the Ensign most of the time so we can "talk about those guys" and plan the trip to the Conference Center that we will surely make someday. Looking at a picture of the Conference Center filled with people, I asked Ellis where he was going to sit when we go to Conference. He's going to sit by Elder Gonzales. Yep, right there in those comfy-looking red chairs!

Anyway, so that is my boy and his ongoing apostle fetish. When we told him Elder Perry would be visiting OUR church on Sunday, he was thrilled. For two days he flung himself back into the game where everybody gets to be a general authority. Dad was Elder Bednar; Mom was Sister Wixom; Henry was Elder Hales; Grandpa was Elder Holland; even Sam got to be Elder Christofferson; and Ellis was -- of course -- Elder Perry. After spending the morning helping "Elder Perry" get ready for church, we finally arrived at the church parking lot, at which point the ecstatic Ellis exclaimed, "Now we get to see the REAL Elder Perry!" I couldn't get enough of Ellis as we walked into the building. His small footsteps were interrupted with irregular jumps and spasms of sheer excitement. He had the hugest smile on his face, and he kept stopping to clench and shake his fists and exclaim, "Yeah!!! Elder Perry!!!" When we got into the chapel and found a seat, he immediately looked at the men sitting on the stand and asked, "Which one's Elder Perry?" but Elder Perry wasn't there yet. We waited a few minutes and then saw him arrive. Ellis' gaze followed him all the way up to the stand (Is he shaking hands? Is he six foot three?), where he sat down just behind the podium, such that Ellis could only see the top of his head. Don't worry; Ellis could see fine as long as he could stand on our laps. So that's what Ellis did -- he stood up on one of our laps for the entire meeting and wouldn't come down. He was just absolutely beaming the whole time, watching and waiting for when Elder Perry would talk in the microphone. And finally he did, and it was a dream come true. Ellis gave a resounding "Amen." After the meeting, Henry and Ellis both got to shake hands with Elder Perry. Ben briefly explained how much Ellis adores him (how can one convey this in a few seconds?) and how he had been pretending to be Elder Perry all day, and Elder Perry was sweet and told Ellis to go and get ready to be a missionary!

We could have taken Ellis to Disneyland today and he couldn't possibly have been in a more euphoric state.

Now, let me delight you with a video presentation of Ellis, the Tabernacle Kid. For Ellis, any set of stairs can instantly become a set of choir seats, ready for a performance by the Tabernacle Kids. Really, his screechy singing voice is something you shouldn't miss:

Tabernacle Ellis from Jenn and Ben on Vimeo.