Day 18 - Zion UMC

The heat greeted us again this morning, with the heat index to reach somewhere between 105-109 degrees during the day.  Luckily, we were going to be spending much of the day in the air-conditioned bus.  Everyone had an extra half hour to sleep or prepare for the day before heading to the church.  Some took even longer than that but we were glad to see that everyone made it safely to Community UMC.

To help the whole group re-focus, Alexis led us in a devotion that prayed in colors.  The missionary in the D.R. had talked about seeing God Colors in people and now Alexis was asking us to pray in family groups by taking different writing utensils and drawing pictures of those people, places or things that we wanted to pray for.  Each picture was unique and only those who drew it would be able to understand the specific meanings.  Yet we could all see what each other had drawn and pray for those things even without knowing exactly what was depicted.

We said a prayer over the pictures and then made sure everything was packed on the bus before traveling toward Charlottesville.  On our way, Jay awarded Alexis with the FFP award. 

There was quite a bit of traffic on our route but Ed was able to take some detours to avoid most of it and keep us moving.  We stopped for lunch in Mechanicsville since Katie B. could tell us exactly where to go.  Everyone enjoyed lunch at Panera or Moe’s and then we continued on to Zion UMC in Charlottesville.

When we arrived, everyone quickly unloaded the bus and headed for our designated rooms.  We explored the facilities and gathered back in the fellowship hall for rehearsal.  Drew reminded the choir about maintaining the energy and keeping engaged throughout the service.

The rehearsal finished and we asked everyone to meet in the sanctuary for an annual Voices of Youth tradition.  It was time to reflect on our trip and tie on our remembrance string.  There was a slideshow of pictures from our trip playing while we talked as a group about what we wanted to remember.  Katie B. read through Philippians 1:3-11 and Jordan challenged the group to think of a specific person, place or thing they wanted to remember from the trip.  Each family group discussed this together and then Katie read the scripture again placing the name of her person in the scripture each time it said "you" to make it more specific.  The groups were given their strings and prayed over them, remembering their person or place that they had chosen.  The strings were tied onto our wrists and then burned to ensure they would stay put.

After the string ceremony, everyone washed up and gathered in the fellowship hall for dinner.  We were able to meet some of the members of Zion UMC as we enjoyed some pizza, veggies, salad, and dessert.

Like every night, it was time to go and change into our concert attire.  We met back in the sanctuary for devotions and then headed into the fellowship hall for the worship service.  Drew started us off with the songs in Spanish and everyone really seemed to get into it!

The whole choir did a good job adjusting to the different acoustics of the space and really listening to each other to blend well.   It was also great to hear the different perspectives of the twins, Caitlyn and Kelley, in giving their testimonies to the congregation.

 

Our dancers probably had the most room yet and were loving the performance space.

We were excited to see some alumni that came to join us for "In Remembrance" and "The Lord Bless You and Keep You".

Before heading home with our host families, we made sure to greet our alumni properly and get a few pictures with them.

We were off to get some rest and be back super early in the morning to participate in two worship services at Timberlake UMC in Lynchburg.

Day 17 - Community UMC

The whole group gathered back at Williamsburg UMC to load the bus, excited for our time at the beach later in the day.  We then moved into the chapel for a morning devotion led by Drew. 

After a time of morning worship, we all went to the bus and headed for the beach.  On the way there, Jenn awarded Jay with the FFP button for having such a great attitude even though he would be leaving the group soon to start school back in Georgia.  Luckily he arranged to return in order to join us for the last two concerts. 

When we arrived at the beach, everyone was given about 4 hours of free time to either enjoy the beach or visit the shops along the boardwalk.  We encouraged everyone to wear sunscreen and drink lots of water to make sure they would still be ready for the concert that night.  Each group went its own way and when it came time to meet up at the bus, everyone was on time!  We were excited to get back on the air conditioned bus and appreciated the cool ride due to the heat indexes ranging between 105-109 degrees.  On the way to the church, some of the youth presented Katie Baird with a birthday present. 

Katie happily accepted the gift even though the shirt had her least favorite animal on it (dolphin).  Not long into the ride we arrived at Community UMC.  Our friends, the Springsteads, met us at the church and helped make sure we got everything settled and prepared for the service that evening.  We had a short rehearsal and then had the readers and soloists practice their parts. 

Later we gathered in the fellowship hall for a dinner of barbecue and other fixings.  We were surprised with a visit by Voices alumni Katie Lape and Olivia Klaers.  Everyone finished their dinner, changed into their concert attire and then met for the pre-concert devotions in the chapel.

We mixed things up a little bit in the service with Jim playing the guitar.  There were some moving testimonies and it's always great to see congregations engaging the in Spanish hymns.  The service on Friday night had the most alumni yet with about 15 present.  They ranged from the beginning of Voices all the way to 2010.  It was great to see so many people there that had been impacted by the program.

After the service was over, Jenn paired everyone with their families.  We went our separate ways yet again with wonderful news, we didn't have to report back to church until 9 a.m.  Who knew an extra 30 minutes of sleep would excite people so much.

Day 16 - Williamsburg UMC

Everyone arrived back at the church ready to take part in our first in-state mission opportunity.  Before we could take off, though, the luggage crew loaded up the bus, others packed up the display and instruments and then we gathered in the choir room for our devotional.  Jenn talked about the Good Samaritan story and about how we need to look outside of ourselves in order to be true servants.  She played the song “My Own Little World” by Matthew West and asked us to reflect on the words.  We discussed how we might be better servants and then prayed before getting on the bus.  Neal awarded Jenn with the FFP button for her medical gifts to everyone during the trip.

As we travel, you never know what might happen on bus rides from one location to another...

Our mission opportunity for the day was singing at the Hermitage, a United Methodist assisted living facility.  We had a personal connection because Jim’s wife is one of the chaplains there.  The group went up to the chapel and prepared for a 10:30 performance for the residents.  We learned about the history of the home and the different level of residents that the Hermitage serves.

After many of the residents had taken their seats, we put on a mini-concert for them and had Chad briefly explain the mission portion of our trip.  At the end of the performance, we had the opportunity to go out and talk to the residents individually about the impact the Dominican Republic had on each of us.  One of the residents who said she loved music mentioned that she had never seen God’s light come through a performance as much as she had through our group.  It was truly a blessing to sing for this audience as they were extremely appreciative of the message and music we had to share with them.

The next part of the Heritage visit was to sing to some of the residents in the medical wing.  Since these individuals might not have been able to come to the earlier performance, we decided to bring the concert to them.  Some other residents who were on their way to lunch stopped by to listen as well.

 

Encouraged by our visit at the Hermitage, it was time to get on the bus and head for our next performance.  We stopped for lunch along the way and also received a brief tour of downtown Williamsburg, the home town of our bus driver.

We were greeted by the pastor and other staff as we made our way to the awesome youth area to drop off our luggage and then preceded on to rehearsal in the sanctuary.

After rehearsal, the youth and adults had the opportunity to go back to the youth area and enjoy the ping-pong table, foosball table, and air hockey table among other things.  Note:  Don't leave your computer with teenagers unattended for any period of time...

We had dinner together in the fellowship hall and then changed into our concert attire, sneaking in a game or two of ping-pong.  Then it was off to the chapel for our pre-concert devotion led by Devon’s family group.  Before our devotion time began, we had a special introduction…Neal’s girlfriend had come to say hello.  We made sure to introduce her to every member of the group and reassured her that if she forgot a name, she could always just look at our nametags. 

Once we re-focused, Devon’s group talked about the lyrics to “At the Table of Our God” and how we need to remember that when we try to carry out God’s will for this world, everyone should be equal.  All will be fed and all will be taken care of, according to their needs.

We said a prayer and then headed into the sanctuary for our meet and greet time.  After several days on the tour, we experienced a few hiccups in the service but were able to recover quickly.  Neal and Preston shared moving testimonies about the relationships they created in the Dominican Republic.  Earlier in the day we found out that they recently installed a new organ at the church and Drew decided to incorporate that into our performance on Thursday night with the Handel piece and a postlude.

Jenn paired everyone with their host families and then we were off to get some rest before heading to Virginia Beach the next morning.