DAY 4 – WE WANT TO SEE MORE!

This morning at 7:30 a.m. everyone arrived back at the church. It’s very unusual for us to have breakfast as a group, but our hosts, with their wonderful southern hospitality, offered to serve us breakfast! It rarely happens that a host church serves us BOTH dinner and breakfast too! We were grateful and honored by their generosity. One gentleman who was cooking in the kitchen was celebrating his birthday today, so our youth sang “Happy Birthday” to him as a thank you. A generous buffet was set out consisting of pancakes, sausage, bacon, cut up fresh fruit and juice. Polly was asked by a member if we would sing Randall Thompson’s “Alleluia” before we left. Their choir director had been trying to convince the choir to sing that exact same song, but they always viewed it as too complicated. She wanted to show them that if a youth choir could sing it, they could too! Polly obliged by pulling the music folders out of the van and had the youth sing the song right around the breakfast tables. The lady recorded them to show at their next choir rehearsal! Another “WitnesSing” opportunity!

Today was our long bus ride, a six hour drive to Charlotte, NC. Polly gave the kids a quiz to see if they remembered their history tour at Tryon Palace two days ago. There was a painting of Queen Carlotta hanging on the wall and our tour guide had told us that the city of Charlotte was named after Queen Carlotta. She was also originally from Macklinberg (hence the name Macklinberg County.) A few of the kids actually remembered!

A quick reminder about “graciousness” was also in order when a few kids were overheard grumbling about having to eat fried chicken for two days in a row. It brought back memories of a tour from long ago when ham was served at almost every meal. No matter how many times it was served, everyone was expected to smile graciously and say thank you. We had the kids practice saying “thank you” as a group, especially to Mama Bowe who had sent the sun burned children to their host homes last night with their own personal tiny packs of aloe gel to apply to their skin before going to bed!

Our morning Greeters were Katie Elliott and Connor Dennie. Once again I was able to formally meet someone I didn’t know before, thanks to our greeting session. Awesome!  We were given another Brutally Honest Zack Fact by our one and only Zack Callis. Did you know that lifeguards don’t really want to go into the water to save you? They would much rather hand out band-aids for scraped knees and such. So don’t put yourself in a situation where you are drowning and they have to save you!  We also had an ice cream report from last night (since we couldn’t do our normal breakfast report. We all ate the same thing!) Many of the hosts took our youth out for ice cream. A popular location was “The Happy Cow,” located down by the riverfront. Popular flavors purchased included Brownie Batter, Chocolate Extreme, Salted Caramel and Cookie Dough. A refreshing way to beat the heat!Katie Elliott reported that there is an elusive “Thing 2” (remember the Dr. Seuss story?) running around leaving notes in people’s suitcases. She found one in the bottom of her suitcase this morning. It said that he was so happy that she is on tour this year and that she is a sweet girl. No one knows who this mysterious Thing 2 is, but whoever it is, I like him (or her!)

Since Tom Baldridge and Ben Con were driving the instrument van today, Connie Morella graciously took over as our mistress of ceremonies for the morning and “owned” the microphone. The first thing on the agenda was fork stories! Thomas Hulcher told a story of how he and Ben Con were walking up the stairs to the second floor of their host home. A cat was lounging on the second floor railing, watching them. As the boys got nearer, the cat became frightened and spun around on the railing, losing its balance and crashing through potted trees and plants as it fell down to the first floor, while the daughter was screaming. (Luckily, the cat promptly got up and ran behind the piano.)  Matthew Baldridge told a story how he and David Hembrough were riding an elevator to the upper level in their host home (it must have been a huge home!) David decided to see if the elevator would still move if the doors were forced open. (He found out that it wouldn’t.) Then the elevator stopped and they were stuck! All’s well that ends well because they got out and made it to the bus this morning.

In spite of the fabulous previous stories, the winner of today’s fork story went to Bethany Maczka. She went into the bathroom in her host home and was stuck in there when the door would not open. Even her host could not get the door open! As a comfort to Bethany, she yelled through the door not to worry, they would get her out even if they had to chop or burn the door down. Did I say comforting? It took three people to get her out, but again, all’s well that ends well. Plus she won a fork!

Our faithful Connie Morella had more superlative awards to pass out. Scott Hembrough won the “Build the Hype” award, although I’m not really sure what that means. Keely Bautista won the “Best Laugh” award. The final award of the morning went to the “Future Dream Team,” a group of youth who Connie guarantees will keep the meaning and dream of choir tour alive: Jack Hembrough, Bryce Taylor, Helena Colborn, Annie Elliott, and Charlotte Bowe.

Around noon we stopped in Raleigh for lunch. There were a few lunch options for the youth to choose from, including Subway and Cook-Out, a southern chain that is famous for their creamy milk shakes. Once again, the heat was oppressive and we worked up a healthy sweat just walking from the bus to the restaurants.

After returning to the bus, Connie chose our afternoon Greeters – Zach Callis and Maddy Marshall. It took a while for them to greet everyone on the bus but they did a good job. Zach surprised Connie with a special decorated spoon in honor of her microphone skills.   Everyone was ready for a nap after that and there was a lot of snoozing taking place for several hours. Some kids stretched out right on the floor! It was a quiet afternoon ride, except for a few things that mysteriously started falling out of the overhead compartments. Paul was hit with a bag of apples (luckily they were sliced and not whole or we would have had to get a new bus driver!)  Polly was hit in the head with a falling roll of paper towels and Jonathan Colborn had a backpack fall on him. Maybe our bus is haunted!

As we neared Charlotte, Connie woke everyone up to pass out more superlative awards. Julia Bratburd won “Most Likely to Appear on Broadway.” Reid Taylor won the “Longest Napper” award because he apparently is always asleep on the bus. The “True Tour Squad” award (given to three buddies who can always be found together): Julia Beall, Maddy Marshall and Lydia Little-Turner. The final award went to “The ORIGINAL Dream Team” (of choir tour): Jessie Marshall, Bethany Maczka, Julia Bratburd, Connie Morella, Austin Mollard, Quil Kibak, Madison Bowe and Micah Tsoi (even though he isn’t here on this trip.)

Walking through the bus and checking on the kids made me realize that six hours on a bus is plenty of time for kids to find things to do to entertain themselves. Some girls had cornered Scott Hembrough and started applying make up to his face. Being the good sport that he is, he allowed it to happen. By the time I saw him, he looked like a flawless skin Chanel model. Jonathan Works and Emma Baldridge were also applying make up to Julia Bratburd, who by the way, always looks like a model.

When we arrived at Park Road Baptist church, we had just enough time for a short rehearsal before we were invited to the Fellowship Hall for a dinner of spaghetti casserole, salad and cupcakes for dessert. Then it was time to change and get ready for the concert. As I was sitting there in the waiting room, who should walk through the door but Nathan and Tanya Cappeluti, Taylor’s parents! They had driven all the way down from Maryland on their motorcycle and got here just in time for the concert. (They said “it only rained for an hour”)  You could have knocked me over with a feather  I was so surprised! And have I mentioned our bus driver, Paul? He has faithfully attended every single concert, which is NOT a usual thing for bus drivers to do. In fact, he had parked the bus at his hotel and then got a ride back to the church using UBER! That’s how moved he has been watching our kids sing. If you see him at the Welcome Home concert, shake his hand!

We were a little concerned during the first half of the concert. Everyone seemed so formal and there was no clapping. I guess we had gotten used to a boisterous audience in other places. But by the second half, they had relaxed and began to freely give applause. They couldn’t believe the size of our youth choir and they loved the variety of songs. During our last song, “Till We Meet Again,” Nathan Cappeluti was invited up to sing with the choir (after all, he is a CWS alumnus!) It is such a perfect ending song for our concert and I never tire of hearing it. Steve was invited to play some improvisation while the choir and audience left to greet one another and match up with host homes.

I would like to leave you with a thought from a sign that I saw during dinner tonight. It was hanging in their fellowship hall and it touched me when I saw it as being so appropriate for how I have been feeling all throughout this tour.

 It said:  There is no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. III John 1:4.  Thank you for the gift of your children on this tour.

 Click Here for Pictures from Day 4

  

DAY THREE- NEW THINGS TO SEE!

Today was Hat Day! Kids were showing up at the First Baptist Church this morning wearing all kinds of hats- baseball hats, shark hats, beach hats. But Reid Taylor was in a panic. He couldn’t find his fedora hat. He searched the bus, the church and his host home but no one could find it. After a brainstorming process that helped him retrace his steps, he remembered setting it down at Tryon Palace yesterday. Beth promptly called the Palace, which was not open to the public yet. They kindly unlocked the doors and let Reid search the grounds and he found it! You’ve never seen such a happy smile as he ran back to the bus wearing his hat and being welcomed with hearty applause from the entire bus! This is just one example of how friendly and welcoming the people of North Carolina have been to us. Another example was when a church member handed Tom a bag of goodies before we left. It was filled with homemade sweet potato/ham biscuits! Zach Callis volunteered to try the first one and let us know how it tasted. (Remember how we learned yesterday that he is brutally honest?) He gave his approval with a positive critique of having a cinnamon and a slightly sweet flavor. That was good enough for us!

We left the church with many praises ringing in our ears. My hostess told me that she had seen many youth choirs over her 85 years of life but that ours was the best she had ever heard. She also said that she really loved how the kids were smiling and seemed to be enjoying themselves as they sang. (We’ve been talking to them about smiling and not looking like they are emitionless. I guess it worked!) High praise indeed!

Back on the bus we resumed our daily traditions. The Greeters for the morning were Austin Mollard and Rachel Burns. I had never met Rachel before so I was happy that I was able to meet her. This is the whole purpose of having Greeters. It gives us a chance to meet everyone on the bus and know their names. Such a clever tradition!

The breakfast reports were quite interesting and varied. Scott and David Hembrough had a hearty “Hungry Farmer” breakfast from the Baker’s Kitchen restaurant. Julia Bratburd and Madison Bowe had homemade quiche with blackberries and grits. Jack Hembrough and Jordan Anderson went to Bojangles and had chicken tenders and sausage biscuits. However, the breakfast winners went to the Baldridge family and Steve Kalnoske, who were placed in a Bed and Breakfast for the evening. They had a menu with over 20 items to choose from! Some of their breakfast items included Shrimp and Grits with homemade cornbread, Eggplant Frittata and Stuffed French Toast with caramelized apples and crème brulee. I’m getting hungry just writing this!

We had two great fork stories today. Keely Bautista told a story of how there was a creepy clown doll sitting on the mantle of her host home staring down on her bed. Then she saw a framed photo of a man holding a baby who looked just like Tom Baldridge! Tom joked that he had a twin brother who lived in New Bern and how it must have been him.  The fork prize of the day however went to Jonathan Works with Bryce Taylor and Quil Kibak, who told a story about a water bug in the house and a baby bat crawling on the floor. (I saw the photo that they took of the bat. It did NOT look like a baby!)  After Jonathan freaked out about the water bug, Quil and Bryce continued to prank him all evening by saying they saw more water bugs. The story was hilarious. Their prize fork appropriately had bugs on it also.

Zach Callis, who also happens to be a lifeguard (like our tall friend Thomas Hulcher), gave us tips for the day on applying sunscreen (30 minutes before you go into the water) and signs of heat exhaustion (dry tongue, clammy skin, dizziness, etc.) Mama Bowe told the kids that she would be standing guard at the door of the bus and that she would not let anyone off who hadn’t applied sunscreen or had a completely filled water bottle in their hands. They know that she means it too. Don’t mess with Mama Bowe!

We knew we were nearing Atlantic Beach when we crossed the bridge over the InterCoastal Waterway that connects Morehead City with the ocean. It was a beautiful sunny day with warm breezes and equally warm water. We headed for a section of the beach that had a lifeguard protected swim area. Between four life guards, 2 CWS lifeguards, a patrolling helicopter, nearby boats, 5 adults standing guard and even a family of porpoises patrolling the outer perimeter, I felt the group was very well watched over. Most of the kids spent their time jumping over the gentle crashing waves or playing Frisbee in the water. Others collected shells and made sand decorations. The ones who tired of swimming came up to the beach and played soccer or softball. It was a perfect morning.

While everyone was playing in the water, Beth Taylor and Jonathan Colburn were nice enough to drive to the grocery store to pick up lunch food. At 12:30, the kids walked down to the covered pavilions where a lunch spread was waiting for them to make their own sandwiches: ham and turkey, slices of cheese, lettuce, pickles, chips, grapes and leftover birthday cake for dessert. The kids had to sing for their food though. Another opportunity had arisen for a “WitnesSING.” In the pavilion next to ours were a group of men from the “Holy Mackerel Fishing Club” associated with the local Catholic Church. They were having a fishing contest that day. Beth had made friends with them while she was setting up the food and they said they would love to hear our kids sing. So right there around the pavilion, our entire group sang (appropriately)“Witness.” Before the men had even finished clapping, the kids were diving into the food!

The last stop before our evening concert was at Fort Macon. During the 18^th and 19^th centuries, the danger of naval attack along the North Carolina coast was constant. Fort Macon was built as a defense after the War of 1812 and was completed in 1834. It is built partially underground but visitors can also walk on the top grassy area for a beautiful 360 degree view of the water and surrounding vistas. The fort was used during the civil war, where 400 union soldiers were housed, and also during World War II, where a small group of soldiers set up anti-aircraft weapons on the beach to protect themselves from a possible German invasion. It is a massive fort with 5 sides and is made of brick and stone. Inside are 26 rooms called casements that are enclosed by outer walls that are about 4 feet thick. Visitors can view a re-creation of the living conditions of a typical soldier during both of those wars. Most of our youth were too hot and tired after their morning at the beach to do much exploration of the fort, but they were summoned by Polly via text message to meet her inside.  They had another “WitnesSING” opportunity in one of the underground casements to sing “Ain’t Got Time To Die.” Visitors flocked to the room to listen to our kids sing. Our theme, “I’ll be a Witness” is ringing true on this trip!

 We arrived at the First United Methodist Church in Morehead City in time to cool off, rehearse and head to dinner. The wonderful members of the church had prepared fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad, hush puppies and iced tea for our dinner. The worship space in the church is small but beautiful, with a lovely large stained glass window above the altar of the sanctuary and plush red carpeting throughout the space that contrasted perfectly with the clean white walls. I noticed that some of the sunburned faces of our youth were almost as red as the carpeting. The kids were exhausted from their day at the beach but they were real troopers and gave it their best effort. Polly dedicated the song “One Faith, One Hope, One Lord” to the people of Charleston who just experienced a tragedy yesterday. She beautifully expressed the hope that one day we can all unite in the same love that is spoken of in the song. It was very moving.

 When it came time for Steve Kalnoske to do his hymn improvisation, he jokingly thanked the person who had decided to place the organ and piano on the opposite side of chancel from each other for all of the exercise he was getting. That brought a nice chuckle from the audience but then they were brought to an awed appreciation of his amazing talent as he wowed them with his improv.

The Latin translation of our ending song “Omnia Sol” had a double meaning for us after spending the day basking in the sun at the beach. I hope it is as meaningful to you:

The sun warms everything

Even while I am far away

Love me faithfully

And know that I am faithful.

 Click Here for Pictures from Day 3

DAY TWO- FOLLOWING THROUGH!

(I need to start my post today with a correction about yesterday’s post. We are NOT on a ten day tour! I must have been over zealous in my excitement yesterday. I’ll blame it on the heat.)

Everyone met up this morning on time and ready for our next adventure. Some were bleary eyed and tired, some were cheerful and happy (thank you Connie Morella!) and some had been up for hours (Ben Con and Annie Elliott had gotten up at the crack of dawn to go running!) As we drove toward North Carolina, a breakfast report was shared (cereal for some, a fruit and egg feast for others.)  David Hembrough told a fork story about a creepy home he stayed in, complete with a “Chuckie” type doll. The lights were mysteriously going off by themselves and the boys thought the house was haunted. (The host  finally told them that the lights were on a timer!) Great story, but the winner of the fork went to Cecelia Hembrough and Torie Brooks after telling us about the elusive bug in their room. Appropriately, their prize fork had stickers of bugs all over it. Katie Elliott, who also turned 12 years old today, was called to the front so that everyone could sing Happy Birthday to her. She and Reid were both presented with birthday gifts – mini fans to keep them cool in this oppressive heat. I had a feeling they were about to become very popular once the breezes from those fans started up during our trek into town. Connie Morella commanded the microphone as she gave out a few awards. This tradition was started on last year’s tour when kids were given awards for things they did each day.  (Think of it as a daily superlative award.) These awards were based on what Connie had “witnessed” (get it?) Zach Callis received an award for being brutally honest. Sydney Fennington received the Bright Ray of Sunshine Award and Austin Mollard received the Most Likely to Survive the Apocalypse award (in other words, he is prepared for any situation.)  Because of the long amount of time we were on the bus, it was decided to have two sets of Greeters today. The honor went to Lydia Turner-Little with David Hembrough in the morning, and later it was Julia Bratburd with Cole Taylor. Two awesome sets of Greeters! The rest of the bus trip to NC consisted of a Scooby Doo movie and napping. The bus was noticeably quieter than it was yesterday!

We arrived at New Bern, NC around lunchtime.  I admired how beautiful the town looked next to the river with all of the white sailboats contrasting the beautiful blue water. I discovered that New Bern sits next to the Neuse and Trent Rivers. It was named after its sister city in Bern, Switzerland and was founded in 1710 by Swiss and German immigrants. New Bern is the second oldest European colonial town in North Carolina. Many of its buildings date back to the 18^th century. We were all dropped off in the center of town and had an hour on our own to walk around and buy lunch. I noticed that everywhere we went we saw statues of bears outside of the shops. I was told that Bern means “bear” in the Swiss language and that a few years ago the town had celebrated its 300 year anniversary. Artists were commissioned to decorate the town with all sorts of bears. It was truly a unique experience to see all of the different artistic styles of these mascot animals.

After lunch, we walked a few blocks to see Tryon Palace. The palace was used to house the British Colonial government in 1770, but after the revolution it became the State Capital building. It burned to the ground in 1798 but was reconstructed again during the 1950’s. We received a tour of the house, the scullery kitchen and the stables, as well as a brief history lesson. Visitors were invited to stroll freely through the gardens in the back also. Most of our youth opted out of that because of the heat. It was a sweltering 91 degrees and the gardens were in the direct  sun. Instead, many of them went to the air conditioned gift shop where I saw some bags of candy being purchased. Our youth also performed another “WitnesSING” song on the front grounds of the palace!  It was a joy to watch them.

Dinner was served by our hosts at the First Baptist Church. This is the church where Lydia Turner-Little’s grandparents attend. Everyone was welcoming and friendly. They had a real southern dinner prepared for us – fried chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese, green beans, rolls, watermelon and ice cream.  We were told that New Bern is the birthplace of Pepsi Cola, so of course there were bottles of Pepsi on every table. The CWS surprised Katie Elliott with a birthday cake, complete with 12 candles. It only took three breaths to blow all of them out!

As the youth were changing for the concert, a thunderstorm rolled in.  Tom went outside and saw a full rainbow filling the sky. It seemed to come right down into the church, as if First Baptist was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! (Check out our amazing photo he caught!) It seemed like a sign from heaven that God was blessing our concert.

It was decided that the concert would be performed wearing their red tour shirts tonight. As we listened to them sing and were bathed in the sea of red colors, everyone was moved. I thought of the blood of Jesus and how he has blessed all of these young people. Equally, the audience was blessed listening to their angelic voices. There was enthusiastic clapping and even cheering!  When Polly asked for audience participation, there was loud, joyful singing! Lydia’s grandfather Craig Little was invited to join the CWS during “We Shall Rise,” eliciting a wonderful response as he added his powerful voice to the bass section.  “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord” became a reality for everyone who was in attendance. Get ready to be blessed at the Welcome Home concert!

Click Here for Pictures of Day 2