This is probably the coolest church service I've ever been a part of. It took place on May 17 at St. Mark's Missionary Church in Mishawaka. The pastor of youth ministries, Seth Bartlette, is the speaker. The string players are, from left to right, Meredith Saunders, me, Adrienne Searer, and Rachel Feichtner. I play in the third and fourth clip.


String Quartet at ST. Marks 1

String Quartet at St. Marks 2

String Quartet at St. Marks 3

String Quartet at St. Marks 4

Summer plans

May term is over (it went by so fast!) and summer is really here. I will be working with Wellspring Interfaith this summer as the music director for their six week summer children and youth camp. Basically, I will be meeting with each group of kids once a week and working on some kind of musical something that they can present to their parents at a family picnic in July. I've never done anything like this before, so I'm definitely going to be stretched. Right now, I'm brainstorming, trying to think of different musical things each age group could do.
I may also be teaching some music camps of my own during the last two weeks of July. That will just depend on the feedback I get from my ads.

Our little buddy

We found this guy during our break from class today. He has such an awesome face!

Princess soup and goose poo

Peter and I got to babysit his niece tonight. The older she gets, the more fun she is! After eating our "princess soup," which took about an hour because Peter was teaching her the difference between cursive and printed writing (yes, she's only 3, but she understood pretty much all of it), we played around the house for a bit before heading to the park. We took the scenic route and got to see lots of nature - geese, goslings, ducks, the river, a dead worm (it was fascinating), "goose poo," flowers, rocks, and leaves. We played on the playground for a while and got our feet really dirty. I can tell I'm getting older because the merry-go-round makes me much more dizzy and sick feeling than it did when I was a kid. While swinging, Peter tried to pass some of his knowledge about force, inertia, and momentum to the younger generation, but I don't know that it actually stuck. Maybe when she's a bit older. Upon returning to the house, we went promptly to the swingset in the backyard. Peter and I were pretty pooped, but apparently you have boundless energy when you're three.

Well, choir tour is over. It went very well and I actually enjoyed myself. I wasn't so sure if I would because I don't have as much ... personality as some of the people in choir. But, like I said, it was fun. I got to know some people better and talked to people I've hardly talked to before. I also participated in a euchre tournament which, although I don't like euchre that much, helped to pass the time on the bus. Every night, my choir roommate and I stayed with a different host family. All of our hosts were wonderful and extremely generous.

Right now, I'm in the middle of May term. I'm taking Physical World and enjoying it for the most part. It's hard to believe I only have a little over a week left! Instead of staying on campus and paying room and board, I decided to stay with Aunt Lucy and bike to school every day. So far, it is working fairly well.

Choir Tour

Choir tour begins tomorrow morning! It's hard to believe the time for tour is already here, but it is. Earlier today, we sang for the Adult Graduation. It was exciting to see some of my adult classmates graduating :) Tomorrow morning we will be singing Beulah Missionary Church in Goshen, IN. In the afternoon, we will be singing for the Student Graduation. However, because I'm playing for Marion High School's musical tomorrow, I won't be able to attend. I'm kind of sad about that, but at least I'm getting paid for the musical!


Below is our tour schedule:

Sunday, May 3 - Beulah Missionary Church, Goshen,IN - 10:00 a.m., Student graduation - 2:30 p.m.
Monday, May 4 - Middle River Friends Church, Carlisle, IA - 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 5 - First Missionary Church, Dodge City, KS - 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, May 6 - Dodge City High School - 9:30 a.m., Ross Elementary School - 10:30 a.m., Community Bible Fellowship, Medicine Lodge, KS - 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 7 - Medicine Lodge High School - 9:00 a.m., First Baptist Church, Kearney, NE - 7:00 p.m.
Friday, May 8 - LeGrand Friends Church, LeGrand, IA - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 9 - free day in Rock Island, IL
Sunday, May 10 - Groveland Missionary Church, Groveland, IL - 10:30 a.m.
Monday, May 11 - traveling back to Bethel