Thursday, 6/2. "The End of the Road...Almost" or "Pivot"

 I've been missing something for the whole trip. Waiting. Watching. Hoping. On Thursday morning, it finally happened.

That's a waffle. Sure, the picture is turned on its side, but I don't care. It's a waffle and it's yummy. And do you know what makes it taste even better? Several singers and a couple of chaperones actually forced me to the front of the line to get it. They're the best. The people, not the waffle. Well, also the waffle.

There usually isn't a lot to say about the last day of tour, and this really wasn't an exception, but there were a few things worth mentioning.

Covid struck again. Our final concert, set for Thursday morning in Memphis, was cancelled due to Covid. That left us with a little time, so Lori found a place that would be super fun for us.

You guys, that is an old-school putt putt place. Like, legit putt-putt. 3 courses of solid sides with geometric obstacles and an 18th hole that swallows your ball forever. It's the putt putt of the 80's, and they very fittingly played 80's music over the speakers. It's like I walked back in time to Super Saturdays of my youth when we'd go to putt putt for unlimited video games and mini golf.

After putt putt, we headed toward Atlanta. We stopped for lunch at Olive Branch, which is one of the places I typically stop with my family on our pilgrimages to the mother land (Arkansas).

The schedule change put us behind schedule but a bit. I had originally planned to drive straight from lunch to Atlanta without a stop, but it became clear we would need one stop to gather some snacks (since we would be around 10:00pm arriving) and also to use the bathroom. So we had to stop at...we had to stop at...

...so we had to stop at Buc-ee's. I hate Buc-ee's. I was traumatized by it on the children's music mission trip. And honestly I don't see the appeal, as you can see from my face here:

I didn't mention it before, but we picked up a hitchhiker in Memphis. It was Lisa (my wife)! She was returning from the mother land, so she got on the bus. She's such a loving person that she helped me take a picture with the Buc-ee statue. And so loving that she didn't warn me Nick had snuck up behind me. The picture below is not a dramatization. She hit the button at just the right moment to capture my terror. More trauma associated with Buc-ee's. More reason never to return. Except for the bathrooms, which really are the best I've ever seen on the road. Without exception and by a large margin.

Leading us to our final group photo...

I don't know if you've come into Atlanta on I-20 heading East, but there's a moment I really enjoy every time I do it. It's a lousy picture here because of glare and such, but...

...over the hill and around the bend, and you see the city in the distance. You're almost home.

We arrived shortly after 10pm, cleared the bus, and sent everyone home. A few families lingered for conversation for a bit, but then they left, and tour was over...almost. We still have our homecoming on Sunday morning...8am and 11am services with a brief appearance at the 10:45 service as well!

This music mission required almost Stretch Armstrong flexibility. We would pivot, and then we would pivot again, and then we would pivot again. Covid kept us on our toes throughout. But it did not prevent us from doing what we set out to do a week ago. We spread the love of God to many, both in song and in conversation. We got to know each other better and grew closer as a group, or really as a family.

We created memories, and the memories will weave the fabric of our history. And our shared history will hold us together. Thanks for a great Music Mission, guys.

Love in Christ,

John

Wednesday, 6/1. "Impromptu Concert" or "Why Do They Call That a Museum?"

I didn't really do this on purpose, and I'm not sure why I haven't done this before, but for whatever reason our days have started a little later on this trip. I'm not complaining. I've been doing this a long time, and late nights/early mornings have always been a part of it. Still are, but 30 extra minutes in the morning really makes a difference. An hour is a gift direct from God.

We started out by going to Our Lady of Life for a morning concert. There were a few interesting things about this one. 

After Nick conducted, I introduced him to the room. Here's a great picture of me trying to make a joke about his age and the audience's dreams of becoming a conductor that didn't land well. By "didn't land well," I mean "didn't actually make any sense to anyone in the room other than me."

The layout of the room was pretty cool! It had two levels. You may notice from this picture that it's just like church...nobody sits in the front row. But after you notice that, maybe you'll see that the youth really spread out and make sure everyone has at least one (usually more than one) quality visit.

This is Fran. She approached us and said that she's a retired music teacher (K-8). She's also an organist at the St. Louis Fox theater (their only female organist). And she plays the piano, which she demonstrated for us...and then invited us to sing along! We sang "How Great Thou Art," "Amazing Grace," and "Old Rugged Cross." She used every key on the piano, and it was a joy to sing with her.

I also ran into this kind soul. This is Teresa, and she's Terese's mom (Terese is in Chancel Choir). I thanked her for lending us such a talented soprano and invited her to sing with us. She said she does sing but politely declined to sing with us, opting instead to listen to the concert. She's delightful though!

You know, I get so focused while I'm conducting that sometimes I don't look very closely at what Leanne is doing. Apparently during one of our songs she let Sir Trots-a-Lot handle the accompaniment. He's very good. He is not as good as Leanne.

You may not know how important lid position is on a piano. Some pianos have multiple sticks to set different heights. Sometimes all you need is to prop it open a little bit, so you find something around to prop it open. I was going to use a coke can that I found, but Leanne, well, let's just say no self-respecting pianist is going to let someone put anything liquid inside a piano. Ever. And especially not a sugary drink. So she went and found a book. Full disclosure: I have nieces and nephews, making me Uncle John. I'd like to introduce you to my book:

After the concert we changed to get ready to go to the City Museum. Grace and Elena argued over who could wear the tshirt, but eventually the compromised and just both wore the same shirt.

We planned to eat lunch at the City Museum and also to play there. It's not what you're thinking when you think of a museum. It's...truly bizarre. Lots of tunnels and chutes and passageways. Places to get stuck in. Unfortunately I had to carry the "football" (my backpack which has all our tour things in it), so I didn't get to really explore (and the time I did wound up lowering myself through a very small tunnel pulling two backpacks behind me as I went...making simultaneously thankful that nobody was there to see it and a little bummed nobody was there to see it. I also climbed through the highest part of the outside part of the museum.

I'm not going to put a comment on each picture. I'm just going to lay down a bunch of pics and let you try to figure out what this place is all about.

After the City Museum, we headed for Memphis. Our original plan was to check in to the hotel, change for senior dinner, and then go to senior dinner. All was going well. Then we got to the hotel.

"I'm here with the Youth Music Mission large group."

"What group?"

[Digs into notebook and finds contract.] "This group."

"Let me call the sales manager."

The next several minutes are something of a blur to me, but the end result is we went to senior dinner while they sorted out what they were going to do. This is why I always carry the contracts with me. I've never had to use them until yesterday.

Senior dinner was great. It was Central BBQ (because Memphis). We had our own room. We ate together and handed out awards. We celebrated our seniors. We laughed and cheered.

What we did not do was take pictures. I thought about it when we were walking out, and all the chaperones said, "I was so in the moment I didn't take any." So I'm really sorry about that. You'll just have to take my word for it. It was awesome. I will tell you the aware recipients though:

Attendance, 80%: Lucy Cowden, Wesley Cowden, Caitlyn Bemiss, Sadie McMillen, Grace Smith, Annie Wahlen

Attendance, 90%: Carter Loughran, Cole Jones

Attendance, PERFECT 100%: Oliver Loughran

Mr. Congeniality: Cole Jones

Spirit Award: Sir Trots-a-Lot

Chaperone Award: Chase Malemezian, Mariann Kersh

Director's Award: Carter Loughran, Will Merrill

Amazing Bus Driver: Will Overman

Graduating Seniors: Annie Wahlen, Grace Smith, Josie Byrne, Owen King

When we got back to the hotel, they had figured out how to find enough rooms for us to be in, though it wasn't ideal.

We did a brief devotional and took some time to write postcard to invite folks to be a part of the youth choir, after which the girls headed to one of their rooms to take a picture that is apparently a longstanding tradition.

I'm a little surprised the guys haven't come up with some kind of a parody of this tradition...a picture they take every year. Maybe they'll come up with something next year.

Taped 'em in and went to bed while visions of waffle danced in my head. I hope the waffle maker works better than the reservation system!

Tuesday, 5/31. "Hitting Our Stride" or "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

Tuesday was our final full day in Saint Louis. We'll sing one more concert here and then head to Memphis today. As you may have come to expect, it was packed with awesome from beginning to end (mental image: opening a box that came in the mail from my grandmother at Christmas time in the 80's, but instead of all the packing peanuts it was awesome gifts surrounded by awesome nuggets). [Editor's Note: John's head is a strange place.]

We started our day singing at the Veteran's Home in Saint Louis.

The residents at the Veteran's Home are disabled veterans, mostly older. Not a huge audience, but a great one (we were competing with a trip to the casino, and it's hard to compete with the allure of putting all your money on 36 red?).

You may notice in that picture there's a big projection screen TV in that room. It was on CNN the whole time (muted). It was fortunate that the screen was not where the youth could see it, though I'll admit I was distracted at times. Note to self: look into saving 15% or more on my car insurance. And also consumer confidence is currently low, while the confidence of the commentators is high.

Also, in all the concerts I've done in places like this, this concert was probably the very best one. Really solid singing. We have certainly hit our stride with the concert music (though I'm less optimistic about the next concert following a rather noisy/shouty baseball game).

We've also hit our stride with the mission part of the tour. We didn't have a long time for devotional last night, but one of my rooms mentioned this guy:

I don't have permission to share his name, but he competes in throwing the javelin. This is why the visiting often winds up being the youths' favorite part of tour: they discover the joy of listening to other people and learning what makes them unique. I've been doing this for nearly 20 years now, and each time we do this I am reminded that mission work is deeply impactful for everyone involved. It's almost a cliche at this point, but we gain as much from it as we give, if not more.

After the concert we stopped by the Galleria to eat lunch. I know it was noon on a weekday, but malls are dying.

Our second concert of the day was at the St. Louis Arc. It's a home (actually a collection of homes) for people with disabilities. We sang in a central gym, and they brought residents in from the surrounding houses. I asked my contact, Ann, to tell the singers who we would be singing for and to give the singers some advice for how to interact with them.

We especially enjoyed how engaged this audience was with us. They applauded energetically when we finished each song, and in several songs they started clapping along with us. It was just a lot of good energy flowing around the room.

And of course we visited as well. I had to pry many of the youth away when it was time to go.

After a quick trip to the hotel to change, we walked to Busch Stadium for a Cardinals game. This next part is going to be choppy, but a number of cool things happened...

First, the view from our seats:

Candlesticks make good gifts...

If the WHOLE CHOIR yells loudly enough, eventually they'll throw you a ball...

And if you make a big enough scene, they'll put your group on the jumbotron. (Wesley says we are famous now that we have been on TV)...

FREE BASEBALL! We got an extra inning, and the home team won!

It's a great looking group...

We had to walk a bit to get to the bus to take us back to the hotel. Michael led us, and so we'd be able to see where he was going, he held up Sir Trots-a-lot. You may have seen a comment or two from him. He's our mascot. His social media is fairly tightly controlled, but I understand he has an instagram account.

The youth are having a great time on the trip (see evidence below). All phases. Singing is going well. Visiting is going well. Funning is going well. As usual, we have to adjust here and there along the way, and things don't always go quite the way we imagined. But we're glad to be here, and we're looking forward to what tomorrow holds.