DAY 8 –TOUR WAS GREAT!

Today is Homeward Bound Day. A mixture of feelings are very evident. Everyone is tired and can’t wait to go home and see their families, but the bonding of new friends and experiences is strong. We hate to see it end. Back at the church, everyone meets in the sanctuary and we gather together in the choir loft to have a serious talk. What have we learned this week and how have we witnessed? The answers were thoughtful and honest from many of the different youth. We have grown into a family of friends, accepting of one another and growing stronger in our faith. We discovered that no matter what denomination church we visited, we felt welcomed and accepted. We realized that we are all one in God and we can be ourselves. We realized that the songs we sang touched the hearts of many people and brought them hope. As the youth shared, there were tears and hugs. Tom asked the kids to form a Sharing Circle and hold hands. We went around the circle and asked each person to share one thing that they were thankful for this week. The answers were all different yet sincere as the spirit of gratitude filled the air. We are blessed.

As we loaded the bus we felt closer than ever to one another. Madison Bowe and Ben Con were chosen as our morning Greeters and we headed to the Krispy Kreme Donut Factory in Greensboro. Deborah Bowe’s parents, Janet and Mike Dawson, were treating everyone on the bus to donuts! This factory was the first ever Krispy Kreme store that opened in the Piedmont area (which includes Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point.)  Deborah confessed that years ago, she used to skip her high school classes to come to this factory to get donuts! As we went inside and donned our Krispy Kreme paper hats, there was a glass wall where we were able to see the donuts being made on the assembly line. A spontaneous “WitnesSing” broke out right in the donut shop. Everyone sang, “Ain’t Got Time To Die.” Even the adults were singing along!

Back on the bus, we began the long drive back to Maryland. Tom had another set of “Lost and Found” items that we have been accumulating throughout the week. I would like to thank Wendy Hembrough for the fabulous “dot” system she used to identify her boy’s clothing. We found a lot of those dots this week! Calista Kibak and Ryan Celli were chosen as our second set of Greeters – a first time tour participant and a veteran participant greeting together. Then it was time for fork stories. Autumn and Helena had a story about last night’s house. There was creepy clown doll (creepy dolls have happened a lot on this tour) that mysteriously disappeared from its shelf during the night and was gone in the morning. Plus the connecting bathroom had no door! The Taylor boys told of a fabulous house they stayed in that had a swimming pool, a hot tub and a bedroom with a tent in it and inside of the tent was a mattress on the floor. It was called Camp Meemaw and tall friends should Stay Out! Trent told a story about the ride to his host home. William had to sit in the front seat with all of the backpacks and 5 others had to cram in the back seat. They all ended up doing the “Cupid Shuffle” in the car. Cecelia Hembrough won the prized fork by describing an adorable little old woman who lived alone with her cat. She was trying to get back into the dating scene and was considering getting a dog so she could take him for walks to look for a man. She asked the girls if she could “friend” them on Facebook.  (Connie Morella added a fun fact to add to this story by telling about her first choir tour. She made friends with one of her hosts and they have been Facebook friends ever since!)

Connie Morella gave out more Superlative Awards. “Most Creative Outfits” went to Rhodesia Roberts. She is always stylish and “put together.” David Hembrough received “Biggest Romantic.”  The next award had to do with “passing the torch” to someone who would be taking Connie’s place next year as “Tour Mom” to the younger, new kids: Jessie Marshall. Steve Kalnoske generously purchased double disk Harry Potter movies to watch on our long ride home. We started with “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” (Some were watching but others couldn’t keep their eyes open and fell asleep.)

We stopped for lunch in another strip mall area that had several restaurant choices that we could walk to. Back on the bus after lunch again, the youth presented our bus driver Paul with an award of his own – “Most Dedicated Bus Driver” (because he never failed us yet) and a signed “WitnesSing” poster with everyone’s names on it. Paul told the kids that he has been so touched this week by all of them and especially their concerts. He will try to make the Welcome Home concert but he has a job and doesn’t know if he will make it back in time. Either way, all of us wanted him to know how much we have appreciated his dedication to our group. We hope we will be able to get him as our driver again in the future!

Zack Callis (who is a lifeguard at Plantations pool) gave us his last Zack Fact for the pool party tomorrow night: No chicken fighting, no running, be kind to your lifeguards and listen to them, give them food because they love it, and you ARE allowed to jump in with your clothes on.

Connie gave out the next set of her Superlative awards. Cole Taylor won “Pickiest Eater Award.” Charlotte Bowe won “Being Fairly Loud.” Cecelia Hembrough won “Most Chill” and Bryce Taylor won “Softest Skin Award.” Deborah Bowe won “Best Mama” and Sue Con won “Best (late night) Blogger.” Steve Kalnoske won “Best Black Market Blogger.” Rachel Burns won “Silent but Deadly.” Quil Kibak won an award for his own original catch phrase: “Bruh!” After the awards, everyone settled in for the second movie, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” While the movie was going on, Reid Taylor pulled a molar from his mouth. That’s the second tooth lost on this trip! There was also an exciting game of Hearts taking place (everyone’s favorite card game.)

As we neared closer to home on Route 270, Zack and Scott gave out the final Superlative awards. Friendly Jonathan Works received “Most Talkative.” Ryan Celli received “Better Late Than Never.” Mattie Marshall won “Realest Comments.” Lydia Turner-Little won the “Stinkin’ Cute Award” and Ben Con won the “Bojangle Connoisseur” award. Madison Bowe was awarded “Always Being There When Needed” and Austin Mollard won “Yes, I Can Sleep even when Steve is Playing Loudly on the Organ” award. Emma Baldridge awarded herself the “Being Cool” award. I think you can see from the awards this week that each person has their own special personality and yet the kids can appreciate and have fun with each other’s uniqueness. Choir Tour has a way of making this special bonding happen. It also makes lasting friendships.

As I finish this last blog post from our 2015 choir tour experience, I am reminded of something Steve Kalnoske shared with the youth earlier in the week during a rehearsal. “Don’t take this experience for granted,” he told them. This is special. You will remember it for the rest of your lives. You have been shaped by this experience without even realizing it. You have touched people’s hearts through your words and your actions. God has drawn you closer to him and you have shared His love with others. The words from the songs you have sung have entered your hearts and planted seeds that will grow. You have been a witness.

Click Here for Pictures of Day 8

DAY 7 – Closer to Heaven

We have been very fortunate that Hampton Inn has allowed the use of their lobby area to our group for two nights. We were able to spread out among all of the tables and have food set out for the kids, as well as lego-building stations and card tables. The manager of the hotel emailed Beth Taylor and told her that he had only good reports about our group. They were not disruptive, they were polite and they went back to their rooms at the curfew time when they were told. Good witnessing kids!  The hotel also provided a wonderful buffet breakfast for everyone -  eggs, home fries, sausage, cereal, fresh fruit, yogurt, muffins, bagels, juice and a hot drink area. Many thanks to Kelly Bratburd for procuring this great hotel for us!

In addition to having fun and witnessing, we were able to complete a small service project for our VBS program. We collected a gallon bag of the unused mini-bottles of shampoo, lotion and soaps from each room and plan on donating them to Cathy Scarbrough for her “care package” Vacation Bible School activity. I expect we will see a big smile on her face when we return.

Speaking of witnessing, I haven’t mentioned the depth of the witnessing you will see during our Homecoming concert. Between songs at each of our concerts, our youth have been voluntarily   giving a testimony about how they have witnessed God at work in their lives. I can’t begin to tell you how many people have approached me after the concerts and told me how moved they were by these testimonies. It is unusual to see a youth willing to stand up and testify for their faith. Many of these people had never seen it happen before and it touched them deeply. You will be too.

After departure it was time for sharing and stories on the bus.  Sean Carrier and Julia Beall were chosen as our morning Greeters. They were looking a bit reluctant in the beginning but ended up doing a great job. Surprisingly, there were no fork stories today! I guess no doorknobs were broken or bugs were invading any rooms. However, “Thing 2” had struck again. Bethany, Polly, Emma Annie, Celia and Zack all found a “Thing 2” craft doll in their belongings. That “Thing 2” is a sly one!

Before we knew it, the bus had arrived at Duke University. Polly’s brother Chip Edmonds attended Seminary school at Duke and was able to connect us with our host. We were met by Wes Brown, Associate Dean of the Divinity school. Duke University is a huge campus but we were heading to one specific area where the Divinity school was located. The Divinity School has 14,000 students in it alone! The direction we walked took us through some of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen. There were fountains and pools, lush greenery and beautiful flowers. The path meandered past tall trees that looked very old. I was told that the gardens had a 50 year celebration last year, which would explain why the plants looked so established. The University Chapel is under construction and renovation at the moment, so we walked past it and headed to Goodson Chapel instead. Many services and concerts are held there throughout the year.

Here’s a bit of personal trivia knowledge with a connection to Duke and one of our tour chaperones. Did you know that Deborah Bowe was married at York Chapel (which is now part of the library) on the Duke campus in 1989? Her husband Mark was a graduate student at Duke. We took some photos of her and her girls under the same archways where her wedding photos were taken!

 Once inside Goodson Chapel, we were introduced to Dr. Lester Ruth. He is a Methodist scholar, a Professor of Worship at the Divinity School, and president of the International Charles Wesley Society. Anything we wanted to know about Charles Wesley, he was able to answer. Dr. Ruth knew that the theme of our tour was “I’ll be a Witness,” so he wanted to talk to us about what it means to be a witness. He pointed out that we can’t be a witness to others until WE have been witnessed to in our own hearts. Once we realize that God gave himself and his love to ME, it is almost unfathomable to comprehend. If I caused his pain, suffering and death, how can I fathom His amazing love? No measuring tool could ever measure the depth of God’s love for us and for all of humanity. It extends everywhere. Dr. Ruth had the kids open the hymnal to the song “And Can It Be That I Should Gain,” written by Charles Wesley. This hymn was written with those exact thoughts in mind. Read the words and soak in the meaning until it fills your heart. As a group, we all sang the hymn together. Steve accompanied us on the piano and I could feel my heart stirring as we sang out the words written by Charles Wesley in 1739, so long ago and yet still witnessing to our hearts today.

We left the chapel and walked to the book store, where kids had some time to buy Duke souvenirs if they wanted. Lunch was in the Divinity Café. There was a buffet and the youth had the options to choose whatever they wanted to eat. As we finished eating Polly decided to have a “flash mob” and we started singing “Ain’t Got Time to Die,” as Duke students were curiously peeking in the doorway and smiling at us. Cross that off my bucket list now!

Our final visit on campus was the Cameron Indoor Stadium and museum. As we walked over there, I couldn’t help but admire the beautiful campus, with its old stone buildings and even older trees and shrubs. It really is a beautiful college. We walked through the museum, chock full of information about all of the Duke teams and their awards.  The kids were also able to go into the stadium and sit in the seats where the games are played. By the time we walked back through the gardens to the bus, the temperature had soared and we couldn’t wait to get back into the air conditioning. We had a quick greeting by Jordan Anderson and Rhodesia Roberts and then we were off to Greensboro.

Our evening concert was at First Presbyterian Church. This was by far the largest church we have been in yet. It was massive. There were some friendly faces in the audience once again, which makes it so nice for the performers to see people they know. Lisa and Doug Marshall were there. Ben Con had college friends in attendance as well as his UNCG trombone professor. Deborah Bowe’s parents, who live in Greensboro, were also there. Her parents, who have been reading the blog every day, thanked us for keeping them updated about the tour. Her Dad jokingly said that his fear is that the girls who stay in his house tonight will end up winning a fork and he will be on the blog tomorrow. J

As usual, the kids were great even though the acoustics in the church were not the best. Everyone is pretty tired. It has been a full week and tonight is our last concert away from home. We can’t wait until we perform in front of the home audience. It is always our best concert! I’m sure there will be a day of sleeping on the bus and catching up on our rest. See you at 5:00 at DUMC! 

Click Here to See Pictures from Day 7

DAY 6 – PERFECTING THE MIX

It was a slow moving morning. Youth were dragging themselves into the breakfast room, almost sleep walking. We are paying the price for staying up too late and having fun. One room of young boys completely slept through their alarm and had to ride in the van to the church. Others were yawning and looking bleary-eyed. Some boys forgot to comb their hair. Others had to run back to their room to get things that were forgotten. On the bus, Tom reminded everyone that they would be sitting in the front of the congregation, where everyone can see them. “Friends don’t let friends fall asleep” is our motto this morning. He told a story from a choir tour years ago about a boy who had stayed up half the night talking (and who will remain unnamed) and fell asleep during the pastor’s sermon. That is bad enough on its own, but the CWS were sitting on elevated pews right behind the pastor and the service was being televised! The boy fell into such a deep sleep that his head fell back and his mouth was hanging open. Everyone in the congregation saw him. (Ryan Celli has the video as proof.) We did not want another repeat of that episode. It was suggested to pat the sunburn of anyone who was starting to fall asleep!

Edenton United Methodist Church of Raleigh was founded in 1811 and is a beautiful brick building with a steeple that reaches high into the sky. The sanctuary is large and spacious with beautiful stained glass windows. Near the entrance, my eye was drawn to a beautiful framed picture. The entire piece was created by traditional Jewish paper cutting and was mounted in front of colored mirrors, allowing the observer to see themselves through the images and text. In the center was the burning bush with a dove above and the hands of God below. It was surrounded by Jewish and English text. It was magnificent. One of the verses said, “Surely God is in this place and I did not know.” It made me think about this week and all of the places we have visited. God was with us underground in the mine. He was with us as we walked the paths through the woods. He was with us as we sang to the fishermen on the beach. He was with us as we sang at the Governors Palace. He was with us in the Catholic church, the Baptist church and the Methodist church. If our youth did not know it before, I hope they know now that God has been with us every step of this tour. The picture in front of me spoke all of those thoughts to my mind and made me feel so blessed.

 Our group participated in both services. They sang, “He Never Failed Me Yet,” “One Faith, One Hope, One Lord” and “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.” It was beautiful and I only saw one or two heads starting to nod.  There were some familiar faces in the audience too. Mr. Dennie arrived to pick up Connor, who had to leave early. Liz and Dean Elliott also had to take Katie home early. We will miss both of them. The Bratburd family was there, Doug and Lisa Marshall were there and Audrey Weeks (also now known as Mrs. Bullock) was there with her husband. She was beaming as she told us that she is expecting a baby in October! Meg Kalnoske and baby Maya also arrived at the church! Of course she received much love from the girls in the choir room. She has started walking and is so adorable as she takes her wobbly first steps.

Back on the bus, we headed toward Crabtree Valley Mall for lunch. Our first Greeters of the morning had been Charlotte Bowe and Matthew Baldridge. Now that we were re-boarding, the second set of Greeters were chosen: Helena Colborn and William Baldridge. Tom gave us a bit of trivia by informing us that at 12:38 today it will be the longest day of the year; otherwise known as the summer solstice. David Hembrough came forward and told us that an exciting thing had happened at the church this morning. He lost a tooth! Everyone applauded for him.

Connie Morella gave out another set of superlative awards. “Most athletic” went to Annie Elliott.  Bethany Maczka won the “Best Hugs” award. Julia Beall won “The Rock of the Alto Section” award and Jack Hembrough won “Class Clown.” Polly and Tom were awarded the OTP (One True Pairing.)  Lucas Sicard received “Avid Bottlecap Collector.”  William Baldridge received “Best Hairline.” Sean Carrier received “Most Active.” An award for wearing muscle shirts went to Jordan Anderson. It took me awhile to realize that “Suns Out, Guns Out” referred to muscles, not weapons.

There were three fork stories tonight. Annie, the “Tasmanian Devil” had a story that involved a broken hook and window. Don’t worry. She fixed it. Nuff said. Mama Bowe fell asleep in the lobby last night and was awakened by a bewildered bus driver at 5 a.m. The fork prize went to Cecelia Hembrough. She was leaning over the bathtub to turn on the water. Unfortunately, her roommate had accidentally left the shower nozzle turned on and a blast of cold water shot out, soaking her head. Brrrrr!

When we arrived at the mall, everyone broke into groups and scattered. We had several hours to get lunch and shop. I saw many souvenir bags as kids loaded back onto the bus.

Our evening concert was at Croasdaile Village retirement community. The chapel was small and cozy with a very warm feel to it. A dinner of subs and chips was served and the kids had a short rehearsal before the concert.  Our host explained to the group that even though these residents were senior citizens, they had led a very active life at one time and contributed to society in many productive ways, with many holding very important jobs.  She encouraged the kids to smile, talk to the residents and treat them respectfully. The kids did a great job interacting and talking to them. During the concert, faces were smiling, toes were tapping and it was obvious how much they were enjoying it. One elderly lady told Callista that she now knows what angels look and sound like. Another lady said that she used to sing the same songs when she was in her choir at church years ago. Another lady said that we were the best choir she had ever heard in all of her 80 years of life. High praise and high compliments. We were so proud of everyone. We were joined by two alumni during our closing song, “River in Judea.” Audrey Weeks came back to hear tonight’s concert and Laura Kassler  (Gaines) also joined us. Laura used to go on choir tours years ago with Taylor’s dad, Nathan Cappeluti  and with Lucas’s dad, Ben Sicard. She told us about some fine memories of choir tours years ago.

On the way home, our third set of Greeters for the evening was Autumn Johnson and Taylor Cappeluti. The kids were so pumped up from the evening concert that there was a spontaneous dance party on the bus. Fun, fun, fun!  Back at the hotel, the kids had some time to swim, go to the workout room, play cards and eat snacks before curfew time. We have another busy day tomorrow and hopefully they will be well rested. Sweet dreams and be proud of your witnessing!

 Click Here for Pictures from Day 6