So there was a lot going on today (Tuesday). We woke up in Montreal and rode on the bus for awhile. It wasn’t until we crossed the boarder that the kids started to wake up. The boarder crossing agent walked down the aisle very seriously and looked at everyone’s passport and made sure it was them. From what I understand the kids were perfectly silent and maybe a little nervous, the mentors (over 18) were brought inside the station. When the boarder patrol agent came to Scott Miller he broke character and said, “What did you do to your hair?!?!” the bus broke into laughter. I love boarder patrol agents with a sense of humor.

After that awakening we came to the Good News Garage in Burlington, VT where the choir had the opportunity to wash and detail some cars that will be donated to people who really need them in order to keep a job and/or get to school! Hopefully I’ll be able to get a senior to post about this experience soon. CLICK HERE to read a blog post by Carmen George, the Marketing and Development Manager at the Good News Garage! She wrote an article about our visit.

Some of the choir also had the opportunity to help out at Bike Recycle Vermont. This provides donated bicycles to low-income people as a means of transportation and it is in the same building as the GNG.

While all this was going on, the puppet team walked only a couple blocks away and visited Puppets in Education, where the puppet team received some tips on how to make their puppets more animated. I don’t know much about what else went on during this time but I will try and get a senior puppet to blog about it soon.

After eating lunch at the GNG, we boarded the bus and van and headed to Rock Point where we are staying for the night. It is incredibly beautiful here… like… really REALLY beautiful! You will definitely want to click the links to the facebook photo albums below to check out the pictures. We spent a good amount of time hiking around the waterfront… cliffs and rock beaches too! Of course a good majority of the kids decided to go swimming in the freezing cold water and proceeded to become acquainted with the local Northern Pike population. Let’s just say that it is breeding season for these magnificent fish and they are very protective this time of year. Don’t worry… nobody lost a toe… completely.

After we basked in the wonder of God’s creation we again boarded the bus and headed to the house of a member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Jericho, VT (where we performed a concert later in the evening) for a home-cooked backyard BBQ! It was incredibly generous of them to cook for all of us and we had a wonderful time hanging out in their back-yard and trying to keep their dog Katy from eating food off of our plates… we failed a little on that one. The kids really enjoyed their hospitality and we couldn’t thank them enough.

It was also good to see some of our kids go over and talk with Jim, our bus driver. He has a bad back and is in constant pain and he admittedly hasn’t been himself lately. So although he is quiet and reserved, once the kids get to know him… he is very funny and entertaining. He told our kids that he enjoys that us chaperones allow them to have fun on the bus in the way that we do… dancing and singing up and down the aisle for I Want My Stuff Back and just the usual “bus fun”. He says he’s had other high school groups whose chaperones make them sit still all the time and they never seem to have any fun. I’m glad that he likes that and doesn’t find it annoying. haha.

Finally we performed our concert for the good people of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Jericho, VT. It was very cool to be in this church once again. Lynn, Dan and I had been here back in 2002 during Dan and my junior year of high school for what was then called Choir Tour. I talked with Mrs. Dillon who’s husband helped Lynn with a lot of the organization of this day. The Dillon’s lived in Naperville, IL (our home) between 1998-2000 and attended Our Saviour’s during that time! She was very excited about her church from Illinois visiting her church in Vermont!

I am still working on getting some videos edited. They are kinda time consuming and seeing as how it’s already 1:56am on Wednesday morning and I have to be up at the crack of dawn to start the 8hr drive to Rochester, NY… I think I will go get some sleep now.

Below are two links to the most recent facebook photo albums.

Facebook Photo Album: Ministry Tour 2010 – Part 5

Facebook Photo Album: Ministry Tour 2010 – Part 6

It’s an honor to have been selected as the first senior to make a blog post. Tour has been pretty great so far. It’s cool to do an international trip, but not have to worry about going overseas. We’re just leaving Montreal, where French is the dominant language. Montreal was an interesting place; the Basilique Notre-Dame was spectacular! The concerts have been great, we sang at a small church after the Basilique, and in my opinion, it was one of our best yet. After singing at the big fancy cathedral, it was nice to be in a smaller venue. I got to do the second solo in He Never Failed Me Yet which I really enjoyed (the one about the fiiiiery furnace). Those puppets were great. Jon Meyer’s fuzzy head was sticking up above the curtain for a while. Everyone on this trip is so fun and unique. I’m really enjoying myself. See you guys for the homecoming concert, that’s all.

Daniel Reishus

out

Hey this is Julia Wallace! And of course I can’t help but say, “HI MOM!!!!!” and everyone else. The trip has been amazing so far. Today we went to the Basilique Notre-Dame. This Gothic style cathedral was built in the eighteen hundreds and is amazing! The church is made of stone and reminded me of Gothic cathedrals that we studied in history class. We walked into the sanctuary and my mouth dropped. The room is decorated in beautiful wood work and Byzantine inspired designs. Along the edges, there were paintings, confessionals and hundreds of candles. The pews were everywhere, even on two balconies above the main floor. I heard a tour guide say that this cathedral can seat 3000 to 3200 people. I can’t imagine that building when it is full. Above the front entrance was the organ. The front was beautifully designed but didn’t even begin to show how many pipes were hidden behind the wall. Their organ has 7000 pipes! Even John Beed was amazed. But the most breath taking aspect of the main sanctuary was the altar. The large circular altar is decorated with statues, wood work and dramatic lighting. The statues on the left and right are St. Peter and St. Paul and the four apostles. In the center is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and above that the coronation of Mary. On the right side of these statues are the bloody sacrifices from the old testament and on the left, the non bloody sacrifices of the new testament. It was amazing while we were singing towards the very end, a woman came up to Mrs. Panosh and asked her something, then left and came back with a ceramic hippo. Mrs. P told us that this woman’s friend had just passed away from breast cancer and that she had wanted to come back to Montreal before she died but hadn’t made it. Eight of her friends had brought her ashes to Montreal and she placed the hippo [in which her ashes were kept] in front of us on the floor and Lindsay Heckes suggested that we sing Amazing Grace. The woman’s friends cried and it was a very powerful moment. They said later that they could feel their friends’ presence. After singing we also visited a beautiful chapel located behind the sanctuary. My thoughts were, well if one sanctuary wasn’t enough… The experience was great and I hope to go back again. Enjoy the pictures!!!

- Julia Wallace

Note from Graham:

There are many more pictures in the latest facebook photo album Ministry Tour 2010 – Part 4.