Sunday morning came bright and early. Too bright and early. In fact, it wasn’t even bright, since alarms had to be set before the crack of dawn to get ready, eat breakfast, and be at the church for our call time of 7:30.
Once on the bus, we took roll call and confirmed that everyone was, in fact, alive! It is, however, debatable whether we were awake, alert, or enthusiastic.
The bus ride to Berean Dunkard Brethren Church was a quiet one as some members worked at waking up and others worked at intently studying the insides of their eyelids. Once we arrived, we spent a lovely half hour flatting our rep in the sanctuary! Every song, that is, except for the one that we usually flat. That one we sharped—of course. After all, we are nothing if not professionals. 😉
After our “Sunday morning foibles of flatting,” as Dave called them, we retired to a Sunday school room for a time of prayer and meditation before our performance. We finished with a few minutes to spare, and several people went outside to soak up the sunshine for a bit before it was “go time”. Then suddenly, and with little warning, it WAS “go time”! As we hastily scrambled to line up, it was discovered that one bass was still outside – having more or less fallen asleep standing up! With muffled laughter and much rapid footwork, we somehow managed to get ourselves sorted while walking down the aisle, and we all arrived at the front of the church in time and in correct order.
After a lovely last program, we had a tasty lunch provided by members of the church before climbing back onto the bus for our ride to Elnora. Once there, we put the inside of the bus back to rights and cleaned it inside and out before heading to Julian and Ruthie’s house for a lovely supper! A few people had to leave earlier in the evening, but many of us stayed until the wee hours of the morning chatting, singing, laughing, and avoiding goodbyes long past when we should have been asleep. Eventually, though, sense had to prevail, and we started the sad business of last hugs, parting comments, and goodbyes.
It is always a bittersweet thing for another year of Tehillah to be over, but as we finish, we are blessed to remember the many wonderful things that God has given us. He has given us the gift of music, the gift of wonderful friendships, and most of all the message and gift of salvation that we have the privilege to be able to spread through each tour.
Thank you to all of you for your support in listening to our music, traveling to our concerts, supporting us through prayers and donations, and reading our blog posts. 😊 Until next year!
– Written by Brooke Wenger