Tour 2019 - Day 4 - Into Every Life a Little Rain Must Fall

Day 4 - June 20 

We woke up to another rainy morning. Actually, it was a downpour! But the tour must go on and our youth are resilient. They brought their luggage downstairs on time, ate breakfast quickly and were on the bus ready to leave by 8:30. The luggage crew were awesome. They braved the deluge, loading the entire mountain of luggage into the bus compartment in spite of getting soaked. 

Tom took the minivan  and drove to Cincinnati to pick up Charlie Bratburd, who was flying in late to join the tour. The rest of us took off for Lexington KY. Our morning Greeters were Connor Shifflett and Brienna Ryder.

I think they were still a little sleepy from having a late night but they made it through the hugging process in a good-natured manner. 

Our destination was the Keeneland Horse Racing Facility. Founded in 1936, Keeneland  has been on the National Historic Landmark list since 1986. The mission of the facility is to preserve the tradition of Thoroughbred horse racing. The 147 acre park includes a race track, farmland, the world's largest Thoroughbred auction house, a medical research facility and a large reference library. Scenes from the movies Seabiscuit and Secretariat were filmed there. Last night at the concert, Hannah Adkins showed me her engagement photos which were taken there at the facility. She couldn’t say enough good things about how beautiful it is there. We were a little concerned that the rain would prevent us from seeing it, but the downpour slowed down and turned into a drizzle. Everything was wet but we were able to get out and walk around for a short visit. Polly played My Old Kentucky Home over the loud speaker as we pulled up and were lucky enough to see a jockey exercising his horse around the racetrack. Everything was wet but we were able to get out and walk around for a short visit. Some kids walked down to the racetrack while others went to the gift shop to buy souvenirs. Before we knew it, our time was up and we were back on the bus. 

 Anna Dubé and Todd Johnson conducted our mid-morning greeting while we drove toward our next destination at Park UMC. The plan was to meet with Matthew and Nancy Sleeth. Dr. Sleeth is a Christian environmentalist who speaks to school groups and churches about the biblical mandate to care for the earth. He cares e making people aware of this subject. He wrote a book in 2006 called “Serve God, Save the Planet.” (Some of our adult Sunday School classes studied his book several years back as part of their curriculum.)  He also published a DVD series on Serving God, Saving the Planet. Coincidentally, Dr. Sleeth grew up in Woodfield, MD (just down the road from our church!) His parents also attended DUMC for awhile.  He told us that the big Willow Oak trees that are around Woodfield Elementary School today were planted by him!

  

We spent almost an hour listening to him share with us about his life and how he felt a calling to pursue his new career as an environmentalist. He also brought copies of his latest book, “Reforesting Faith: What Trees Teach Us About the Nature of God and His Love For Us.” He offered a copy of  the book to us at no cost. He finished the morning by talking about a new book he is currently working on and asked our youth for their input. I was personally touched by the gentle, caring nature of this man and I think others felt it too.  

Matthew and Nancy Sleeth generously provided pizza and drinks for our lunch. We had some free time left so we drove to a local mall and let the youth break up into groups to go shopping. They scattered like roaches! There was a variety of treasures that were bought on this shopping spree and when they returned to the bus they excitedly compared purchases. Some of the youth modeled their shirts, sweatshirts, caps and jackets for us in the aisles. We had a two-hour bus ride ahead of us so there was plenty of time to find fun things to do. Tom discovered via internet that June 20 is “West Virginia Day,” so he enlightened us with some fun facts about West Virginia. We also made two phone videos to brighten someone’s day. Lucas Martinho is in the hospital, so Beth Taylor went through the bus recording get-well wishes to him. She sent the video to his mom, who played it for Lucas. His Mom said it was the first time he had smiled in a long time. The other video we made was for Philip and Maxwell's Dad, who is having his last chemo treatment tomorrow. We expressed get- well wishes and ended with a unified yell of “Team Mike!” Please send your  prayers also for both of these individuals please! 

We also had fork stories. Today there were two contestants. There was a girls softball team staying in our hotel last night and when their coach saw all of our boys, he locked them in their rooms by putting tape on the doors. Philip said that his brother Maxwell/Jonathan? slid his snap chat information under the girls door. 

The other contestant came from Jonathan Works and Maxwell Donaldson, who had to share a bed last night in the hotel. Apparently Jonathan started cuddling with Max in his sleep and they were “spooning” all night long. Max tried pushing him away at first but finally just gave up. This story brought so many laughs that it won the coveted fork. However we all decided that it should have been a spork award instead. 

Before we knew it, we had arrived at Brandenburg UMC. 

Our contact for this church is Tiffany Putro. Tiffany and her sister Sabrina were members of the CWS years ago. Her last choir tour was in 2002 and she married in 2003. She was waiting outside for us, wearing one of her old tour shirts! She also helped to arrange lodging for us in host homes tonight. Every Thursday night, the members of BUMC serve a free meal to anyone in the community who wants to attend. They call it Love In Action. We were the lucky recipients tonight of that meal – baked BBQ chicken, cole slaw, baked beans and brownies. Some of our group mingled with local residents at the tables and had nice conversations with them. 

The concert was fabulous and the acoustics were great! Tonight was the last night of the church’s VBS program and the CWS were the culmination of VBS  entertainment for them. There were many children sitting in the pews listening intently to our youth. What good role models they made to the next generation! I could swear that our choir gets better and better every night! By the time the welcome Home concert arrives, they will be at their peak! Tonight, in addition to our already awesome group, we also had Charlie Bratburd and Doug Taylor adding to the voices. Polly invited Tiffany Putro  to sing two songs with us, and even our own Nalynn joined us for River in Judea. I saw Tiffany wiping away some memory tears while she was up there. I’m sure they were good memories. Polly presented her with a new tour shirt to add to her collection. It was very special, special night. 

After the concert we all were assigned to our host homes and left homes. I’m expecting some entertaining fork stories tomorrow. It always happens when we are in host homes.   I hope you are enjoying reading about our adventures this week. I wanted to make you feel that you are a small part of the fun. 

Peace to you! 

Sue Constantinides 

Click Here for Photos of Day 4

2019 Tour - Day 3 Heritage Museum and Berea KY

Day 3 – Wednesday, June 19 

Sunny Buck strikes again! It’s cloudy and rainy. We walked to breakfast in the rain.  We loaded the bus in the rain. By the time we were seated and ready to leave, most of us were damp and bedraggled. Philip Donaldson (and his crew) have done an amazing job every day loading and unloading our luggage, especially on this soggy, dreary day. I am impressed with the dedication and work ethic. It's a difficult and backbreaking job, especially since some of us ;) have over packed. But the bus is finally loaded and we take off. Just as Tom had told us previously, as soon as we left Buckhannon, the weather cleared and the rain stopped. It‘s kind of like a private West Virginia prank played on the people who visit Buckhannon! 

Our morning Greeters were Caleb Black and Anja Grossberger. It’s so nice to get an early hug to wake us up! Then came the exciting part of the morning. Fork Stories! We had several contestants today. David Hembrough started us off with a story that took place during yesterday’s free time after lunch. He and some friends had walked into the Shoe Carnival store to look around. Just for fun, David tried on a pair of sparkly stilettos that fit him perfectly. Troy dared him to walk around the store wearing them. They played a dare game called “What Are The Odds” and David lost, so he had to walk all around the store wearing stiletto heels with people staring at him. Even now, that image has not left my mind. 

Gregory Vanderham was next. He told a story of how he went into the Men's Room last night to take a shower. He hadn't heard the announcement that Beth Taylor had made on the bus about switching bathrooms because of logistics, so when he came out from his shower, the Men's Room sign was gone and in it's place was a Ladies Room sign. He was so confused and embarrassed!  The final contestant was Bryce Taylor and Cole Vlasic. They had decided during their free time yesterday to do a little “Father/Son” shopping (Bryce being the father.) They both went into Kohls and visited the luggage department. Bryce spotted a very large pink suitcase and wanted to see if Cole would fit inside. Cole agreed to do it only if Bryce would buy him a Yo-Kai backpack that he spotted on the Clearance rack. Bryce agreed and Cole climbed inside! Apparently he was completely zipped up inside except for a breathing space at the top. Cole was happy because he now had a new backpack, which he proudly displayed to all of us. This was the story that won the coveted fork! 

After all of the laughing from the fork stories , everyone settled down for an hour until we stopped for a  gas fill-up and took a break. Everyone returned to the bus carrying drinks and snacks to tide them over until lunch time. Since we always have new Greeters every time we get back on the bus, it was time for the “wheel” to choose a new set of kids: Angela Nardone and Connor Dennie.  

Next on the agenda were award presentations, given out by Helena Colborn from the Sunshine Committee.

She presented Ben Fritts the “On Top Of His Game” award for always being organized, on time and ready to go. The “Dynamic Duo” award was presented to Brienna Ryder and Admira  Ayeh-Datey for always making good choices and doing the right thing. Reid Taylor was given the “Best Troll Award” for always annoying Helena and distracting her during rehearsals. Finally, the “Living Incarnation of Careless Whisper” award was given to Joseph Worrell (Careless Whisper was a song originally recorded by George Michael, and Joseph's saxophone solo at the Nursing Facility last night touched everyone’s heart in the same way that song did.) The most hysterical award went to Cole Taylor. Apparently, when he came out of the river from swimming yesterday, he had tiny leeches all over his legs. His award was the “Tastiest Body to Leeches” award. For his  acceptance speech, he said, “What can I say? I have a tasty body.” 

After another hour of driving, we arrived at the Heritage Farm Museum in Huntington, WVA. This outdoor living history museum is owned by Laura and Audy Perry, college friends of Tom and Polly.

It started because of their love of collecting antiques, which grew into a collection so large that they decided to quit their jobs and open this village and farm museum. Geared toward families, the village takes you back in time to experience the life of the early settlers of Appalachia. Even the buildings in the village were brought in and refurbished to their original condition. The bus pulled up and our bursar, Julia Beall, gave everyone ten dollars for lunch. The youth broke up into groups and took off to explore the village. The village reminded me of Williamsburg in a way. It was like walking through an actual historical village, with costumed reenactors, shops, craft making, blacksmiths and live animals. For a history buff, it was awesome to walk around and look at all of the old artifacts on display. Our youth gathered back at 2:00 on the steps of an old church building within the village and sang a few songs for a grateful small crowd, and then it was time go.   

This final leg of this trip would be the longest yet, several hours long as we headed for Berea, Kentucky. Emma Baldridge and Gregory Vanderham started us off as Greeters. We crossed the state line into Kentucky right as they began, so it became a “Welcome to Kentucky!” greeting to everyone. Philip Donaldson gave us a few fun facts about Kentucky such as this one: Did you know that Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis and Jonathan Colborn were all born in Kentucky? That’s right, our own JC was born right here in Kentucky. He told me that even though he lives in MD and loves MD, there is a special feeling he gets when coming home to Kentucky. It will always be near and dear to his heart.  We had just enough time when we pulled up at the Holiday Inn to drop off our luggage, change into concert clothes and jump back on the bus. The good folks at Union Church had a pot luck dinner waiting for us and our youth were hungry! The pot luck was wonderful, with a smorgasbord of delicious home-made food. Salads, vegetables, side dishes and fried chicken were featured. One of the locals told me an interesting story about the fried chicken. I noticed that the succulent pile of chicken was in a box that said Lees but it looked just like the KFC chicken that we all love. She told me that Lee was a nephew of Colonel Sanders who used to work for him. They had a falling out and parted ways, but Lee knew all of the secrets of making chicken from working with the Colonel for so many years, so he opened up his own business. They are now in competition with one another. Family drama in the world of chicken! Who knew? 

The youth filed upstairs to the sanctuary to rehearse. The sanctuary was still decorated for Pentecost with beautiful red banners, which were hastily being taken down by the Pastor.

The church had high ceilings and a huge, beautiful wooden pipe organ. Steve was dwarfed by it. The acoustics sounded really good to me, especially in the way Polly arranged everyone on the steps. But the biggest  surprise of all was when I looked out into the congregation and saw familiar DUMC faces sitting in the pews! Hannah Adkins (Teri Adkins daughter and Sue Suddath’s granddaughter) and her fiancée were there. Charlotte Kibak and her family were there. Melissa Flowers was there. Walt and Peggy Edmonds were there. In addition, Tom Baldridge’s parents were there and Jonathan Colborn's brother and mother were there. What a warm feeling to know that so many people drove long distances to hear us perform! I think it boosted the confidence level of the youth also, because they gave a dynamite performance. I looked around the room and saw expressions of joy on the faces.  Every person watching was thrilled and there was a standing ovation at the end. In that moment I felt like I was the proud mother of every one of those youth. That’s the beauty of tour. It is so much more than a singing concert. It builds a family, in spite of all of our faults and shortcomings. It's what has kept  bringing me back as a parent chaperone for the past 15 years. It binds us together. It builds lasting friendships. It makes us laugh. It makes us grow. It touches the hearts of those who listen. It gives us strength. It gives us responsibilities. Most importantly, it draws us closer to God. That's what tour is all about. It is a life affirming experience. If your child is traveling with us right now, know that they will come back a better person because of it. And what more could we want for our children? 

Click Here to view Set Down Servant

~ Sue 

Click Here for Photos of Day 3