Wow, what a day! This morning I was woken up to the wonderful smell of my gracious host family’s breakfast, (which of course, was nothing short of fantastic), and after me and fellow chorus member Zach Yordy got ready, we joined the rest of the chorus for an 11am service at Hayattsville Mennonite. We kicked the tour off proper with a surprisingly energetic morning performance, and had a fantastic pot-luck dinner to follow.
After all this hard work, we all took a well deserved break, but of course our work was not yet done for the day! We boarded the bus after throwing around footballs, frisbees, and snowballs (yes, snowballs and tuxes!) and headed into downtown Washington D.C.! We got the exciting opportunity to sing at a catholic mass in our nation’s capital at the National Shrine. The chorus performed 3 pieces in the beautiful and ornate Crypt Church for a 4:30 mass, and the small group, Concordia also performed a piece. The event was nothing less than stellar, and everybody was in awe of the beautiful acoustics. We also had the opportunity to perform a few selections in the upper, main cathedral as well, which is an experience I don’t think that a single member of the chorus will ever forget. Everything about the experience was amazing, and it was such an honor to sing at one of the most important cathedrals in the world!
Following that, we were able to (finally) change out of our tuxes and go into our street. At this point, (much to the dismay of our director!) we were given the opportunity to explore our nation’s capital, and do a bit of sight-seeing. Unfortunately, many of the museums were closed at this point, but we still got to visit the monuments and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the city. Even though I have been to the city before, many of the chorus members had not, and this was a great opportunity for all of us. It was a bit disappointing we didn’t have more time to spend, but work has to be done, and there isn’t any time to waste in our busy schedule.
We got back with our host families for another night, and I’ll just say this: from what I’ve heard from many people, the hosts have just set the par exceptionally high! Everybody is thrilled, and I heard many stories about the fantastic experiences many of us have had with our families. I’d love to give a shout out to my own personal host family, and just say that you guys are absolutely amazing! I’ve met perhaps two of the most amazing kids in the world, and it’s been a real blessing to stay here.
Just to summarize, things have been good, and here’s to things continuing that way!