December Schedule
Sunday, December 6: We have ministered at a jail the last couple years that is about an hour from us. We were there again today, as well as at the chaplain's church in the morning services. The inmates are always receptive and the place was packed today. Dad preached in the AM as well as the PM. We "practiced" our Christmas songs on the public today for the first time. Whew. Gotta love those Christmas songs...tortuous as they are. By the time you get them down well enough, the Season is over and it's time to move on.
Friday-Sunday, December 11-13: The three of us were asked to come to the Willow Grove Baptist Church in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, and hold a "Mini Music Seminar" for the church. Joanna headed up the choir clinics, Jessica spoke about the requirements for special music and the church musician, and Monica gave some vocal tips. This was a new adventure for us, but we had a lot of fun. Pastor Scott Blair and his family were very gracious, opening up their home to us for delicious meals, sharing their Christmas cookies and sweet spirits.
We started out Friday evening with a couple sessions, easing them into how to read parts from the hymnbook. They did very well, and the next day it was more sessions, especially with the instruments and choir songs. We even had a small jam session in the evening. Sunday we sang all day and enjoyed more time with the Blair family. We left after church Sunday night (with those delectable cookies in tow!) and made it home in one piece.
Thursday, December 17: The Faith Bapt. Church of Morgantown, West Virginia, was having their Super 60s Christmas Banquet tonight. We were asked to sing and bring a devotional. Dad & Mom came along for this evening. The White Elephant Gift Exchange turned out to be lots of fun tonight. We sang what meager Christmas songs we had and Dad brought the devotional.
Sunday, December 20: Our last official meeting for this year turned out to be quite the fiasco. We had had a tremendous storm the day before...leaving us with 14 inches of snow and no way to get to Victory BC in Homer City, PA. Pastor Alberding was very kind to allow us to wait it out and not come on Saturday. We did make it to the morning service, however...though we missed Sunday School.
We arrived about 11am, just as the morning service was supposed to be starting. We had tried to get the frogs out of our throats while we were still in the car, but our poor instruments were sadly struggling. We had to skip one song on the list after Dad so kindly introduced it...because the harp was sadly out of tune with our other instruments. Sigh.
After lunch with the Alberdings and our friend, Rachel Bourque, the three of us girls went to the nursing home to sing for the afternoon service. Even there we had some trouble as the piano was way out...way out of tune. We managed to bumble our way through. (Hopefully, most of those gathered were unaware of this.) We made it back to the church to rest a few minutes.
The evening service went a bit better than the previous ones. Dad preached for the pm service. Mom tried to work the P.A. system the church uses. It all went well--considering all that was to be considered. We said our goodbyes and squeezed back into the car for our 3 hour trip home.