Day 13 - Oakton UMC

 Monday morning we were able to take our time waking up at the hotel.  The youth and adults who were able to get up and out of their rooms in time enjoyed a nice breakfast.  Drew was especially excited to receive a pancake made just for him after he was notified that there were no more pancakes being made.

We all took delight that morning in not worrying about whether there would be water pressure in the shower or not!  Everyone finished packing and the group met in the lobby right before our noon checkout.   We soon met our bus driver, Ed, waiting outside and loaded up the bus.

While we were on the bus, Emily Crawford awarded the FFP button to Katie Moss.  She had smiled all through the rainy performances on Saturday and still had tons of energy for rehearsal so Emily thought she deserved it and everyone else agreed.

Next we headed to grab a bite to eat.  Since most of the group had their breakfast pretty late, Alexis decided that the group should go get some frozen yogurt at Josie’s while a few others had McDonalds.  After everyone finished eating, we headed to Oakton UMC.

 We arrived at the church a bit earlier than expected and it was raining really hard so we spent some down time on the bus.  Once we were able to contact someone to let us in the church, we started rehearsal immediately while the other adult staff waited for breaks in the rain to bring in the luggage.

The group rehearsed for quite some time to prepare for the first worship service of the tour.  Everyone worked together to make sure things were in order and then it was time for dinner.  Now this is a great way to welcome us...

We had a wonderful meal with some of the members of Oakton UMC and then changed into our concert attire.  We met for a short devotion in the choir room to focus before the concert.  Then we headed out into the sanctuary to begin mingling and getting to know the guests.  Devin and Alexis gave great testimonies about their experiences in the Dominican Republic and everyone seemed to really enjoy the service.

After the concert we were paired with our host families and went our separate ways, hoping to get some rest to continue for the next two weeks.