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.
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.
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