Alright, so this week was busy. Monday- spent the day with a friend and her boy while jon taught in Illinois (the friend lives about an hour away from us and Illinois but it was oh the way from Jon's job in Illinois to Fort Wayne). We got to Fort Wayne late Monday night (we were staying with a host family for Jon's audition/interview process). Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were similar. George and I drove around town looking at apartments when he wasn't sleeping and we occasionally hung out with jon. They did a recital that we went to and a tour. I know they were trying to sell us on the city and it worked. Parts of it are growing but there's the historic section as well. They have a great library with kids section- the second best genealogical library (next to salt lake). They have an awesome baseball stadium (though it's a minor league team, but that also means cheaper tickets). Johnny appleseed was buried there and they have a park for that. They have an interactive botanical garden with stuff for kids. They're currently making enclosed pedestrian walkways throughout downtown so you don't have to go outside during winter. They have a really good zoo (as of next summer, they will be the only zoo in the US with Tasmanian devils). And they have a lot of music stuff. There's a sales company for musical instruments that people travel to (they sell everything but they're best known for their guitars ). The church also seems strong there. There's two wards in town but 3 others close by that claim parts of Fort Wayne.
Jon was definitely the best tenor, but we still have to see what they decide. Everybody loved George and our host family would love to have us move there. Jon's dream is to perform. And his patriarchal blessing says he will be placed in front of large audiences. Performing though is not great for family life here in the states (Europe, you can actually get hired by a company and not have to move or leave for months at a time for rehearsals). Anyways, so he's been getting his doctorate to teach (more stable) and planned to perform on the side. This company would allow him to perform full time. They want singers with a classical background who can sing opera, but they want to do everything (from classical/opera to jazz to pop to Broadway to kids ). They aren't asking for a long commitment but they're hoping people will join the group setting it as a possible career. So we don't have to commit to more than a year but if it's working out we can stay for longer. They hope to expand more on the future and Jon already mentioned that if they pick him and want to expand further he's sure there would be a market for it in California/Utah and he'd be willing to start it up ;-) . But if this works, we're looking to stay in Fort Wayne for a few years. They won't expand nationally until they know it's working with hiring full time vocal artists and performing regionally.
Because there's a possibility of long term, Friday I showed jon my top 3 apartment complexes but we also met up with two realtors. The market is really good there and the town is growing. Buying would mean lower monthly payments (than renting) and since it's growing, it should be easy to sell when we move. We aren't completely sure yet but we've been praying to know what's right.
Oh George and I went to the zoo in Fort Wayne. They had lots of monkeys and lots of babies. George got really excited with the monkeys, giraffes and the lion, which was shooting really close to the glass.
Sunday was the Indianapolis indiana temple dedication. Jon sang in the choir for the cornerstone ceremony. George and I got to go. Eyring and Ballard came. Then we drove home and Jon attended a broadcast at 12 and I went at 3 (George wasn't allowed to the actual dedication part ). Eyring said he liked the detail inside and that he's never felt so much detail drawing his eyes up before as a symbol of where we're going. One person mentioned how temples are a war memorial and we remember the war in heaven, the battle at Gethsemane and the cross where Christ won the battle over death, the ongoing war between Satan and the righteous. It was an interesting take on temples.
Eyring told a story of his ancestors in Nauvoo. How when the persecution got bad Brigham Young said they were to leave the temple and leave the city. The story goes that Brigham left the city. Eyring chuckled as he said his ancestors were disobedient but they loved the temple. In the end, Brigham was inspired to return and they did work in the temple before leaving. A story was told of a family traveling from Southern Mexico to Arizona to receive their endowments and be sealed. Their bus broke down. They had a very unique and rare radiator that broke. They all prayed and they found (in the middle of the Sonoran desert ) off the road, the exact radiator they would need, just propped there. Anyways, it was a really good experience.
