Category: 2015 Journal

So it’s time to wrap up the last bits of tour for the journal. I’m never sure who reads the posts done after tour is over, but it seems to be appropriate, if only to put some kind of wrapup on the blog for awhile.

The drive to Lenoir City was pretty uneventful, save for the last few miles after our dinner stop in Knoxville, when Bus 2 decided it was more interested in being a large doorstop than a bus. Andre was able to nurse it to the Lenoir City church with no loss of life, and only about 30 mins lost time. Cal had already scheduled a maintenance guy to meet him in Lenoir City to replace the power-steering pump on Bus 1, which had gone out sometime on the way down to Cincinnati, so they fixed bus 2 at the same time. It turned out to be a broken clamp on a turbocharger hose, that was allowing too much air when the turbo (essential for a diesel engine this size) kicked in. Lest you think that Cal has just been phoning it in for his 25 tours, he and the maintenance guy were up until 4am fixing both buses and testing them. Cal and I started with this group in the same year, so we’re both on 25 tours. Cal will probably retire before I do, but it will be hard to go on tour without him.

Our connection to Central UMC in Lenoir City is through Ric and Melissa Best. Ric Best was the long time band director at Lenoir City High School when I was growing up in Norris, and was at the University of Tennessee with my band director, Rick Hong. They worked on each others’ marching shows, and we always went to band camp together. Ric’s program grew to be one of the powerhouse programs in the East Tennessee area, rivaling some of the most successful Cobb County bands. Ric has been retired for several years now, but still judges marching band festivals nearly every weekend during marching season.

When Thomas first went to UT for band camp, he only knew one person in the band, Andrea Colombo (now Andrea Albritton), who was a Senior when Thomas was a Freshman at Wheeler High School. I called each evening to see how he was doing. The first couple of evenings he was walking around campus trying to figure out where his classes were, but the third night or so I called and he was obviously with someone else. It turned out that night he was hanging out with a new friend from the mellophone section. He said his friend’s name was Chris, and that his father was the band director at Lenoir City. I said, “well it’s been about a hundred years, but the band director at Lenoir City used to be Ric Best”, to which Thomas responded, “That’s him. Chris Best”. So Chris and Thomas and another bandmate named Nick Lefew became fast friends and college roommates, our families became friends also, and I finally was able to talk to Ric Best without him critiquing my marching (which needed a bunch of critiquing).

Central United Methodist Church is a beautiful facility. Micah Nicolaus, the Senior Pastor, and Trevor Smith, the Music Director, are both young and vibrant ministers, and you can see how their spirit radiates through that church. We were truly blessed by Micah’s sermon on Sunday morning, and the choir performed well also. It is great to share in ministry with friends. Lenoir City may become a pretty-regular last stop for us on tour, at least if I have my way.

So if you were at homecoming, you already know this, but in case you weren’t I’ll tell you that the homecoming concert was amazing! This is such a young group to be so musically strong. It’s amazing how the bar has risen over the years. Each group builds on the previous one, and the expectations in the choir just keep rising and rising. It’s like that old joke about the bumble-bee: Mechanically, the bumble-bee shouldn’t be able to fly. Fortunately, nobody ever told them, so they fly just fine. Nobody ever told these kids that they shouldn’t be able to sing as well as they do, or come together as a group as well as they do, or lead internally as well as they do. To be sure it’s work for us as counselors sometimes, and lots of work for Kim, but they do lead themselves a lot too. Nobody ever told them they couldn’t, so they just do it.

It was a great tour. The kids were pretty easy to deal with. There was some drama, but not too much. There was some illness and injury, but fortunately it all got managed. Bonnie Wohl’s fall at homecoming ended up requiring some stitches, and the illness David Lischer was fighting with the last couple of days turned out to be appendicitis. He had surgery last night and is doing well as of this writing. We’re grateful, as always, to our medical staff, who handle everything from routine bumps and bruises to ER visits with grace and efficiency.

So it’s time to put a wrap on this year’s tour journal. Thanks as always to all of you who faithfully support this choir with your time, talents and money. It has a great impact on your kids, and on the people they minister to at every stop. We are so blessed to be part of this ministry.

Until next year,

Jeff

On Thursday we left Hamilton and headed back to the states. We had no problem crossing the border either direction. We had a bit of time to kill on the way to Romeo so we stopped at a park next to Lake Huron to let the kids run around for awhile, incurring some non-life-threatening injuries in the process.

Romeo, MI is not a huge town, and it ended up taking longer than we had planned to get everyone through dinner, so we did our first quick setup of tour. The fact that we’ve gotten 8 days in without having to do a fire drill is some sort of record. No lives were lost and we started the performance only about 15 minutes late. All of our audiences have been great on this tour, and this one was no exception. They sang along and clapped and had a great time, along with the choir! Your kids have been doing a great job in ministry this year.

Michael Hebert’s willingness to cover a solo for an under-the-weather singer earned him a solo spot of his own. He’s now singing a couple verses of the Senior ensemble piece as a solo. Once again, no chance to rehearse it, and once again, he was great.

After the performance we had the annual God’s Light tour talent show, featuring a few serious acts, like Ariana singing a lovely solo and Bella Stoichev doing a dance number (Bella is a truly amazing dancer), and a bunch of less-than-serious acts. Decorum prohibits me from describing most of them. Pastor Lyle was there, so it couldn’t have been all that bad (or could it??).

Yesterday morning we went to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. That has always been one of my favorite tour stops. I highly recommend it if you ever get up this way. The rest of the day was taken up by riding the bus to Cincinnati, to perform at the Twin Towers assisted-living home. Twin Towers started as a United Methodist facility, and has been operating for well over 100 years. They were a great audience.

We have had visitors at some of our other stops but we  had several last night, including Terry’s aunt and uncle; Hayden Rhodes’ family; Kristin Chiddick  (formerly Kristin Taylor), who used to be a GL member; Sarah Herring, whose son, James, used to be a GL member. Two particularly special guests for Kim and I were Joe Galyon and Katie Pennell. Both went to Tennessee Tech with us. Joe directs the youth choir that is coming to SFUMC a couple of weeks after homecoming. Katie was Kim’s best friend from college, and her Mu Phi Epsilon big sister. It was great to see both of them, and I’m looking forward to seeing Joe again in a couple of weeks.

Last night we were in a hotel, so I finally got a real shower. You can only take so many sink baths before you start to feel like you’re camping out. Today we make the drive to Lenoir City, TN for our last night. While I’m ready to be home in my own bed again, it will be hard to finish tour this year. This has been a really great group, and I’ll certainly miss them, at least as soon as I get caught up on my sleep.

On Thursday morning we went back to Niagara Falls for a couple more hours. The weather was beautiful, so I was able to get some good pictures. I walked upstream a bit to take some pictures from above the falls. As I walking back, lo and behold, who should be walking the other direction but SFUMC’s own Wes Bunkley! A random meeting to be sure. He was in Toronto on business, but had flown into Buffalo rather than Toronto. He was driving by Niagara Falls on the way back to Buffalo and decided to stop to walk around. Small world.

In the afternoon on Thursday we went on the Whitewater Walk, which allows you to take an elevator down to a walkway along the Niagara River below the falls. There are some Class 6 rapids in that stretch. Class 6 rapids are considered to be unnavigable by even expert kayakers.

On Thursday we sang at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ontario. We sang there on our previous trip to Niagara Falls, 6 years ago. They were a very gracious audience, as they were in our previous visit. The pastor there is Dr. Philip Wilson, an excellent preacher who relates well to the kids. Madison Johnson, one of our 7th-graders, did a really good devotional on 1 Cor 13:4-7 (“love is gentle, love is kind ….”), and Pastor Philip followed that with a short lesson on how that passage is really speaking from the perspective of God saying, “MY love is gentle, MY love is kind …”. We even broke into small groups for a few minutes to discuss it further. Kudos to Madison for leading us into a great time of spiritual discussion.

Andrew Duggins was sick last night and had to sit out the performance, so Michael Hebert stepped in with only a quick piano run-through and sang his solo on the concert! Michael has worked hard in his years in God’s Light, and is well-liked by everybody, so it was a lot of fun to see him get a moment of recognition.

Now we’re headed to Romeo, MI.

On Monday we went back to Cooperstown, and then to Fly Creek cider mill. It’s the wrong time of year to press cider, but Fly Creek has all kinds of apple relishes and fudge and enough samples to be lunch if you want. It rained, of course, because it has rained practically every day we’ve been on tour.

On Monday night we sang at Church of the Resurrection in Fairport, NY. Brian Panosian’s sister, Kathy (I hope I’m spelling that right) is on staff there. They have hosted us once before, when the older Panosian kids were in God’s Light. Cara will age out before we come up here again, probably, but I’m sure we’ll keep coming here anyway because they’re always great hosts. Even though school isn’t out up here yet, they had a full house on a Monday night, and managed to rustle up enough people to host the entire choir in their homes. They’ve been a very enthusiastic audience both times we’ve stopped there, which makes the performances a lot of fun. The services have gone well so far.

Yesterday we made the trip from Fairport to Niagara Falls. Mercifully, the sun came out about the time that we got within sight of the Canadian border. We had no problem crossing the border.

When we got to the falls we made a quick lunch stop, then did the tour under the falls and the boat-ride (formerly known as the Maid of the Mist, but recently renamed to something I’ve forgotten). We had one more group activity planned but Kim elected to put that off until today as we were starting to fade a bit. We’re staying at the Marriott Gateway to the Falls, which overlooks the falls. As in, when you look out the window of our rooms, you’re overlooking the falls. I got up early this morning to watch the sunrise over the falls, which is probably the highlight of my trip so far.

The ladies stocking the breakfast stuff at the Hampton Inn on Monday morning wanted us to sing for them before we left, and so did the folks at Fly Creek, and of course they sang at the falls last night too. In other words, we’ve had about as many impromptu performances as we have had scheduled ones.

Last night I met two young ladies at the falls from a Reformed church in Kalamazoo, MI. They were really impressed with the choir and wanted to get us to come to their church. I think we have a stop for the next time we come up this way.

Today we head up to Hamilton, Ontario.

Today was a good one! We did the full performance at Mohawk Reformed Church this morning. The kids were awesome, and they were a very appreciative audience. The pastor and his wife have four daughters who were tremendous hosts, and kept us thoroughly entertained. They have a pet hedgehog that won the hearts of most of the girls when they brought it to the church late last night. The breakfast they gave us was amazing also. We’re always happiest when you feed us well.

We went to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown today. I recommend it if you have the opportunity. If you’re a baseball fan you can spend hours there. Even if you’re not, it’s still a lot of fun exploring the history of baseball as it’s wrapped around American history in general.

It was cold and wet so our outdoor performance at Lakefront park became an indoor performance at Christ Church, a beautiful little Episcopal church within sight of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. James Fenimore Cooper is buried there. Their sanctuary is in the traditional style, and the acoustics are amazing! Kim decided to have only Jan accompany the choir, so  Ed, Terry and I got to just listen. The bus drivers stayed to listen as well. We had a nice crowd, including one couple that were at the church this morning and drove down to Cooperstown to hear us again!

Tonight we’re in the Hampton Inn in Oneonta. All the boy’s rooms were pretty quiet when I checked them. I think we’ll probably all sleep well tonight. We get to sleep in tomorrow; the drive up to Fairport is only about three hours.

Well, it has been quite a while since I updated, and a lot has happened. First, we visited a store owned by Ms. Donna’s family. They gave us ice cream!!! We spent the next day in Hershey Park. There wasn’t as much chocolate as I was hoping for, but I got to go to a zoo!!! And more importantly, I didn’t have to ride a single roller coaster!!!!!!!! The people who do like roller coasters got their fill, though. Some of them had more loops than I could count.

After Hershey we hopped on the bus and took off for Mohawk New York. When we got here at midnight, we had to do one of God’s Light’s impressive “all hands on deck” unpacking maneuvers, because it was raining. Everyone pitched in and did a great job!!

Now, we are about to get ready for our concert. The pastor is letting us use the whole service!!

I started to update the website last night and then wound up in a long conversation with Terry and never finished it. Sorry about that.

Yesterday morning we left Bristol and headed up toward Hershey. Along the way we stopped at a beautiful little country store near Roanoke, that is owned by Donna Lyle’s family. They served us all ice cream and the choir sang a few songs in return. It was neat to meet so many new folks, and to see their support for our ministry.

After getting to Hershey and checking into the hotel, we headed to the park for a couple of hours last night. We got there about 7p as most of the people at the park were leaving, so we were able to get a lot of rides ridden in about 90 minutes. We came back to the park this morning and also had thin crowds for the first 90 mins or so. I think all of the kids got to ride all of the rides they wanted to. We left at about 2:30p when it was starting to get hot. All in all, the timing worked out well

I awoke from a nap on the way up from Hershey to find that we were only about 10 miles from the exit for Mahanoy City, PA. My grandmother and my mother were both raised in the house that my grandparents lived in, in Mahanoy City. We used to spend a couple of weeks up there every summer when I was a kid. I hadn’t seen the town since 1980 or 1981, when we moved my grandmother south to live with us. I made a quick phone call to Ken, who agreed to let me transfer to the van so he could run me down through town to take pictures. I really appreciate Ken for letting me highjack him for about 15 minutes, the guys on the van for putting up with the detour, and Andre, the driver of bus 2, for slowing down long enough for me to hop off the bus and run back to the van. (I don’t think he every actually stopped. Andre was career Air Force, and he gave me the military name for that maneuver, but I’ve forgotten it).

It stormed a bit while we were on the road to Mohawk, which slowed us down some. Kim had originally planned to leave Hershey a little bit earlier, but the pastor talked her out of it. He lives right next door to the church, so he said he’d just wait up for us so we could spend some more time in the park. How cool is that!? He and his four daughters met us at about 11:30p when we pulled up at the church. It was still threatening to rain some more, so everybody pitched in to help unload everything and move it into the church. The kids did a great job of working together. I think the younger two daughters are camped in the sanctuary with some of our girls tonight.

Tomorrow morning we’ll sing for their 10:30a service, and then pack up and head to Cooperstown.

I think Alexis has a post that she hasn’t finished yet, and Angie Ruffulo agreed to write something from the perspective of a tour novice. I’ll post whatever they give me as soon as I get it.

Last night we had our first concert, and I think Addie was right when she said it was, “The best first concert I have heard in a long time.” We definitely still have some kinks to work out, but it was a good start to a good tour. Arianna and Laura are the only 8th graders to have a solo in my entire time in choir, and they did an incredible job! Way to go girls! The church we stayed at was this wonderful little place on the border of Bristol Tennessee and Bristol Virginia, called St. Luke’s UMC. They made us dinner and breakfast!! Now, we are headed to Hershey Pennsylvania, land of chocolate. For people like me with many sweet teeth, I fully anticipate this to be the best stop of the tour!!

We’re at St. Luke United Methodist Church in Bristol, VA. The pastor here is Jeremy McMillan, who grew up in Smyrna and toured with God’s Light. It’s very cool to be able to come share in ministry with Jeremy’s church.

Kim grew up in Bristol and we were married at First Baptist Church of Bristol so it feels very like home when we’re back up this way. Okay, we’ve been to a few races too.

The service tonight went very well, particularly for a first service of tour. We don’t sing again until Sunday. Tomorrow we’re off to Hersheypark in the evening, and for a few hours on Saturday.