Yesterday was filled with lots of excitement, exhaustion, and, of course, performances. We woke up early, got dressed in our black rugby shirts, and performed for the chapel service at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. We might have ben tired, but that didn’t stop us from giving an energetically moving show for the students. There was even some time afterwards to talk with some students and let them know about what Goshen College has to offer.
But we weren’t there for long, and we loaded up the buses to head out for Philadelphia. After a short lunch break, we arrived at Philadelphia Mennonite High School for an afternoon performance. Despite feeling a little sluggish, we were greeted by much enthusiasm from the students, and we proceeded to sing our hearts out for them. They especially liked our performance of Betelehemu, and some of them were dancing and clapping along with us. It didn’t seem like our concert would end; the students kept cheering and asking us to sing more for them. Truly, they energized us, and we were very happy with getting the chance to perform for them.
However, our day still wasn’t over; there was one final concert to give at West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship in the evening. We arrived to set up and tweak the details of the night concert. Then, we went downstairs to eat our dinner, consisting of haystacks and water. Needless to say, we all ate our fill and had the chance to converse and unwind a little before giving our third performance of the day. The sanctuary had a very small crowd, but it gave our concert a more personal, intimate feeling which had not been the case the previous night. Our audience was very moved by our concert, and we felt like the performance was possibly the best of the day.
Following the concert, there was a reception in the fellowship hall (with cookies!) and we met our host families there. I was paired with Ben Breckbill, Andy Brubaker, and Grant Bachman, and our host parents had provided us with plenty of room to sleep. At their house, we stayed up to talk with them about our lives, Goshen College, and pretty much whatever we wanted to share. The night ended with sleep (but not before watching some of the Olympics) and we rested as much as we could for our long trip to Virginia. That’s all I have to say, so keep looking for more from our tour. We’ll keep you posted.