Tuesday morning we all gathered at the church around 8:30 a.m. with some being a bit later due to NOVA traffic. Our faithful bus crew loaded up the bus so we would be ready to hit the road right after morning devotions.
While on the bus, Katie awarded Drew with the FFP button for doing such a good job directing his first full Voices of Youth concert/worship service.
We decided to make a stop for lunch by a Target for those that needed to pick up some essentials. Let's just say that not everything purchased was necessary for survival but definitely made the bus ride a little more interesting.
Everyone found their own lunch in the shopping center and then we got back on the bus and headed to Ebenezer UMC in Stafford, VA. When we arrived, we were all pleasantly surprised to find such a beautiful church.
We quickly unloaded and received a brief tour of the church, which we later found out has the second largest congregation in the conference. Here are some pictures of the church so you can experience it too!
The group went into the sanctuary and began rehearsing to prepare for the service. These first few days of the tour are usually filled with long afternoon rehearsals but all the youth worked hard and were ready for dinner when 5:30 rolled around.
We had a wonderful potluck dinner where we were introduced to the host families. Everyone seemed excited to be there and we got to meet some interesting people. Then the group changed into their concert attire and met in the chapel for the pre-service worship.
Concert time arrived and we listened to some powerful testimonies as well as enjoyed the congregational singing. We were excited to learn after the service that several youth from the area might be interested in traveling with the group next year!
After the concert we were paired with our host families and made our way to their homes for some much needed rest, hoping to re-charge and come back tomorrow at full strength.
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