Missionaries sing national anthem at NBA game in San Antonio

Loyal ones, too.

"No, I don't think I'll be converting into a Spurs fan," jokingly added fellow missionary, Elder Jake Isaac, of Spanish Fork, Utah. "I'll stay where I am."

The choir, led by a missionary director, received tickets to the Jazz-Spurs game (and permission to attend). The missionaries had the opportunity to sit courtside and watch the teams warm up.

Though their team went on to lose 111-102, the Jazz fans really enjoyed that pre-tipoff part.

Isaac said he got butterflies in his stomach being that close to Jeff Hornacek, a former Jazz great who is now an assistant coach with Utah.

Elder Sam Lake, of Taylorsville, Utah, was equally thrilled.

"It was crazy. Watching Jeff Hornacek feeding them balls, I was like, 'Oh, man, I remember this guy. I watched him when I was a kid,'" Lake said. "It's pretty intense. I never thought I would do this, that's for sure."

In one of the towns Isaac served in, the LDS family history center was one of the most popular topics people commented on and expressed interest about in relation to the church.

"Even though they weren't members of the LDS Church," Isaac said, "they used the family history center at the church, a lot of the people that we knocked into. It's pretty common."

But an experience like this — to sing the national anthem at an NBA game as a missionary, with your favorite team in the arena, and getting to watch and meet former well-known players?

Not so common.

"It's pretty much every missionary's dream just to break away from the pattern for a little bit," Lake admitted. "It's pretty cool."

But even with their NBA team in town — or teams (seems Treasure now likes the Spurs, too) — the missionaries had their priorities straight.

With a smile, Lake added: "I've got lots of pass-along cards to hand out."

Not to mention a pretty good missionary tale to tell.

Email: jody@desnews.com

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