Appendix VII
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Concert Choir Tour to the Balkan States and Greece
Report By
Sharon Wilkins
Spring semester was a time of intense preparation for the Concert Choir. To fulfill the plan for touring the Balkan States and Greece at times seemed like an impossible dream. Lindsey Robison, our tour manager, worked tirelessly to save a dollar everywhere he could to make the best tour possible and stay within budget. He and his connections were invaluable in bringing all the details to completion. On May 8, the $89,000 had been raised, final exams, Baccalaureate, Graduation and moving out of the dorms was finished and the four vans and an SUV headed for Woodstock, Il. where the Choir would officially begin our summer tour.
The Sunday morning service was eagerly anticipated by the choir and the church as well. When the announcement was made to the church that the choir would be there on Mothers’ Day, there was spontaneous applause and cheers. Host families immediately requested multiple students to house for the night before our departure. This was our official commissioning service to launch us into our five- country missions trip. The church gave us a very generous offering, prepared and served lunch for us, and transported us to the airport in their over-the-road bus.
Arriving in Warsaw, Poland on Monday morning, we had our first glimpse of Europe by having a tour of historic sites, mostly dealing with WWII and the Jewish Holocaust. For most of the students, this was their first trip outside the United States, and their first introduction to the reality that had here-to-fore existed only in history books.
We continued on to Budapest, Hungary where we were met by Paul Gracza, our American Assemblies missionary. We were also met by our spirit-filled Austrian bus driver, who would be with us until we went to Bulgaria. That this bus and driver would not be what we are accustomed to was validated by the bold HALLELUJAH on the front and the back of the bus.
On Tuesday evening, after touring beautiful Budapest, we met with students from the Hungarian Bible School for a cookout at their lovely facility. Friendships were immediately made between the Evangel students and their Hungarian counterparts. Later that evening, the students enjoyed an illuminations boat tour on the beautiful Danube River. Our Hungarian visit was completed the next evening with a concert in nearby Kecskemet, where there is a new church plant. The entire city was invited to a concert site known to everyone in the Zoltan Kodaly institute. Kodaly is a renowned music educator whose methods are used worldwide, and are studied in music education classes at Evangel. The crowd expressed genuine enthusiasm and interest in all aspects of the music and testimonies given by the students. The choir was treated to Hungarian pizza after the concert. Who would ever have thought that pizza with ground chicken livers would be delicious!
Every concert was distinctly different. Our first concert in Romania was in the delightful city, Cluge-Napoca. Two totally different Pentecostal churches were together for the concert. The people from the host church believed that the women should be covered from head to toe and sit on their own side of the church, opposite the men. The other church sat together and looked like any Assemblies church in the States. One church was responsive, the other, stoic and expressionless. That distinction only lasted for a few songs. The Holy Spirit, through the yielded voices of the Concert Choir, broke the icey demeanor of the most defensive, and soon smiles and tears could be seen on the faces of people, regardless of their style or predisposition. Power-point translation of the lyrics of our songs helped communicate the message. Bobby Cunningham, missionary’s son from Bucharest, gave a brief message at the end of the service. Following the service, there was a very extended period of mutually expressed love and fellowship. Some of the college-aged students took a group of our students to a coffee shop for more sharing time.
The next day was one of contradiction. It was great in that many students were impacted and changed. It was deplorable because of the living conditions that we saw many of our human family enduring. Some students went to a baby orphanage, some went to a pediatric tuberculosis hospital, and about twenty students went to a gypsy camp where there is ongoing ministry, education, and limited medical treatment as an extension of the Yielded Vessels ministry. We had responded to specific requests for clothing, diapers, and health and first- aid items for these various places of meeting human need. Convoy of Hope provided us with the much-needed supplies that we packed into several large action-packers. Even our Congo drums were filled with baby clothes!
To be God’s hand extended to “the least of these” was more than any of us was prepared for. Upon arrival at the gypsy camp, we could hear children singing at the top of their lungs. We sang and did motions with them on “Our God Is an Awesome God”. We prayed with them individually and exchanged hugs and expressions of love. The odor of these people was unforgettable, but so was their response to hugs and expressions of God’s amazing love. One student was so impacted that he asked the Concert Choir to provide a house for a gypsy family. The ministry in Cluge is attempting to build 120 very meager houses that are built on a concrete slab, and are fully enclosed with heating capacity for cooking and exhaust. Compared to the worst kind of shelter, built only from materials found in the city dump, these small one-room houses look like mansions. Protection from the rats and lung diseases caused by no exhaust potential, as well as protection from the harsh winters make these small homes a tremendous blessing to the families that receive them. The students, who in addition to paying tuition, raised $2300.00 to go on the trip, as well as food and expense money, responded to the challenge and exceeded the amount needed to provide a home for a gypsy family! God’s answer to the students’ sacrifice was that many meals were unexpectedly provided. No one missed a meal by necessity, and no one was hungry! It was an affirmation of God’s endless provision and constant faithfulness.
From Cluge-Napoca, the choir joined with Evangel Alumni Rick and Jan Cunningham in Bucharest where they are missionaries. Their son, Bobby is a member of the Concert Choir. The students had the opportunity to stay with host families and learn more about the Romanian culture. We toured the beautiful city and learned about the tragic history and the struggle of the Romanian people for freedom from 25 years of a Communist dictator. The contrast of Communism and our Democratic form of government was reality.
On Sunday, the choir sang three complete concerts, in three totally different church settings. The first service was in a more traditional Pentecostal church. Many of the women had their heads covered, and there was some separation of men and women. There were also many who didn’t have the traditional look. Women could speak, but not behind the pulpit. The large church was totally packed, with people literally hanging over the wrap-around balcony. We concluded that fire codes that exist in this country are obviously non-existent there. After spontaneous applause following the first two songs, the pastor suggested that reverent response was more appropriate, to which a woman responded “We should be on our knees instead”. There was thunderous applause at the end, however. We left before the sermon to go to the International Church where the service was in progress. Again, a nearly packed large auditorium became our concert site. A Nigerian man was tremendously blessed by “Betelehemu”. He moved around through members of the choir expressing his gratitude for giving him a “taste of home”. He had married a Romanian woman and had not been able to return to Nigeria for many years. His wife said that God brought a choir from America to bring him Nigerian music.
We went to a mid-afternoon lunch at a favorite restaurant of the Cunninghams. We were introduced to bear, wild boar, wild goat and deer meats with potatoes, vegetables, and soup. It was delicious! While at the meal, Rick received a phone call from the pastor at the first church where we had ministered. A woman who had created quite a disturbance was under tremendous conviction and had gotten saved after the service. She was sitting on the front row, where I sat while students were giving testimonies. She had gestured a very harsh “hand to the face” toward me while Jenny Bittinger was giving her testimony. I didn’t know if it was significant, so I just ignored it. While the choir sang “It is Well With My Soul”, I heard a lot of noise and commotion in the back with stomping feet and yelling. I thought it might be an unruly child, and I guess, in a way, it was. The lady had known the Lord, but had back-slidden and was under tremendous conviction. We found out that she was shouting in Romanian, the most crude form of “shut your mouth”. I then understood the gesture she had given me earlier. Once in the foyer, she threw her purse down the stairs and fell prostrate on her face on the floor. Wow! All of that was going on while we were singing “It Is Well” and “Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace.” I don’t know if she understood all the words, but the Holy Spirit definitely worked through the music and testimonies to draw her back to Himself!
The Sunday evening service was so packed that the pastor asked some of the regular people to leave so that all the visitors who were waiting outside could get in. I literally had to crawl over people to give pitches on the keyboard. Nate had to share the bench with the audience for the accompanied pieces. There were at least two-hundred people more than the capacity of this large church. This, our third concert of the day, was requested to be two hours long. The response was resoundingly enthusiastic! Five people were saved that night, and many others lingered for prayer after the two-hour service. Others couldn’t seem to break away from the fellowship with the anointed young people who had brought them into the presence of God through their gift of song. It was an exhausting day for everyone, but I didn’t see even one student give in to his/her own weariness. They kept on giving!
On Monday night our concert was in a concert hall that normally would have been expensive to rent. However, a Baptist group has an ongoing contract for the hall and invited us to be the feature for that night. A rainstorm prevented the hall from being completely packed, but there was a good crowd considering the inability to get taxis in the stormy weather. The concert was taped, including interviews with the director and testimonies from some of the students for use on television. The emcee is a media person who interviewed John Ashcroft in 1993, and values that tape. He had researched Evangel University on the web site. He was very impressed, and told the audience about the school, and of course, our relationship to John Ashcroft. He also expressed the hope that John would be the U.S. President someday. Once again after the concert, the people, young and old alike, lingered for fellowship with our students until the lights were literally turned off
Tuesday, May18, represented a challenge that was really foreign to us. We prayed for an easy border crossing into Bulgaria. To cross the bridge between the two countries could cost as much as $600.00. Rick Cunningham recalled the border crossing taking 6 hours. A second driver, Philip, had joined us in Cluge. He proved to be invaluable to us as we left Romania. Every few feet we had to stop and pay another fee for things such as departure fee, entry fee, road tax, bridge tax to both countries, environment tax, and sanitation tax before we drove through a muddy extended puddle. It only cost about $450.00 to cross the bridge into Bulgaria, including the money that had to be paid under-the-table just for the agent who was the collector. What a frustrating process!
We had to bid farewell to Josef and Philip and our Austrian bus on the Bulgarian side of the border. Our contact from Sofia, Szravda was waiting for us with a new bus and driver. Our trip to Sofia was beautiful!
Our arrival at the hotel was very interesting. A high school graduation party was being held at our hotel. It was a big social event complete with formals, band, and emcee. The party extended well into the night and could be felt and heard up to fifth floor. Ironically, there was another graduation ball the next night. Seeing the equivalent of our proms in Bulgaria was an interesting education in social similarities and differences. The concert in Sofia was not as well attended as our other concerts, but the audience was just as enthusiastic and appreciative as all the others. A Nazarene missionary from Mid-America Nazarene University and his parents from Texas were in the audience. Our Assemblies missionaries, the Beery family had to leave early because of the restlessness of their three young children. I was disappointed to not be able to visit after the service.
Thursday, May 20, we went high into the unbelievably beautiful Bulgarian mountains to see the ancient Rila Monastery. We had lunch at a resort in this mountain community. These Bulgarian Alps have become the most popular ski area for the English, and will host the winter Olympics in 2014, I believe. This day presented another border challenge. The Bulgarian bus would not cross the free zone to Greece, and the Greek bus would not cross over to Bulgaria. Consequently, we had to unload the bus and carry/pull all the luggage and action-packers across the approximately 2/3 of a mile in the heat of the day under the hot sun. The students were unbelievable! Everyone pulled and carried together in record time, and did so without one word of complaint! Lindsey was once again overwhelmed by the work ethic and positive attitudes of the students. He told them that in a conversation with his wife the night before, he had told her that he could see why I brag on these kids all the time. He said that they really are as amazing as I say they are. And that is probably an under-statement!
The students were very excited to be in Greece. Socrates, our Greek coordinator, met us with cold drinks, snacks, and candy bars. Since the bus companies had gone on strike the day before, we were fortunate for the contacts that Socrates has to secure a private bus company and driver, and on our budget. Our tour guide, Costas was extremely knowledgeable as well as being a born-again Christian. He talked about the geographical and historical areas of Greece on our way to Kavala. The lack of ugly gray buildings, characteristic of Communist countries made the trip more uplifting. Kavala is an absolutely beautiful city on the sea. The students thoroughly enjoyed walking along the shore, out on the pier, and up to a castle. Many of them got up early and watched the sunrise on the pier.
Touring Philippi on Friday, May 21, was just an all day series of wows. Our tour guide required us to bring our Bibles on the tour. We stopped and read scripture at several strategic places. The Word came alive in these ancient ruins. We sat on the bank of the river where Paul supposedly met Lydia and had our devotions. What a moment!
Our evening concert in Drama was our first experience with the lack of time consciousness that permeates Greece. Our 8:30 concert started at 8:50, and a 1hour and 30 minutes concert was requested. Our concert was held in a music academy concert hall. Public announcements for a Christian concert had never been allowed before ours. Philemon, our teacher and arts advocate coordinator had managed to break this barrier. A nearly full concert hall was an encouragement to Philemon. The response was enthusiastic and extended. We sang an encore after a local pastor delivered a brief message. Philemon’s mother and father served the choir homemade Greek pizza and soda after the concert. It was delicious! Our drive into Kavala was breathtakingly beautiful with the lights of the hills reflecting on the water.
Saturday, May 22, we toured Thessaloniki. Again, we had our devotions on this historic site. Our evening concert was held in the largest Evangelical church in this ancient city. Our contact man was again named Philemon. This church was filled with people who appeared to be a very professional class of people. They seemed to love every song we sang even more than the one before. There was a very loudly voiced ‘Praise the Lord”, after Jenny Bittinger’s testimony. We sold many tapes after the concert, and probably could have sold many more CD’s, if we hadn’t already sold out of them. The people and the students enjoyed a very extended time of social interaction. Most of the people spoke enough English to be able to converse easily. One man, who was educated at the University of Massachusetts, was the first man in Greece to have a degree in Landscaping Engineering. He has written 57 books. His wife of 50 years had been the organist at this church for 40 years. He has taught at both the University of Thessoloniki and the University of Athens. He addressed the whole choir and told them that they are “better than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir”. His daughter is a high school music teacher and duplicated some of our music for her choir.
Sunday, May 23, we drove the seven-hour trip into Athens. We went to the Union Bible Society to freshen up and get ready for our concert. We were surprised with a wonderful Greek lasagna dinner. Socrates offered to do laundry for the students, to which many of them took advantage. Costas, our tour guide, shared his testimony about his coming to the Lord. We began to realize the power of the Greek Orthodox Church. Costas was hunted by his own father for seven years after he refused to recant his faith in Christ. His father wanted to cleanse his family of this traitor of the faith and of his country. After a series of seemingly unfortunate circumstances, he returned home to care for his ailing father who could no longer speak or live without supervision. During a period of hospitalization, Costas was able to lead his father to the Lord. His speech returned as well as his health. He now attends the Evangelical church in their town with Costas, his wife, and only twenty other people.
Our service was held at the largest Evangelical church in Athens. The church is under renovation for use in some of the ceremonies during the Olympics. The very old church had great acoustics, and was an ideal place for a concert. Again, our 8:00 concert started about 8:30. I had thought that Sunday might be more punctual, but as we were told repeatedly, “this is Greece”. After numerous encores from the near-capacity crowd, we again enjoyed the fellowship of believers and a delicious lunch including baklava. Leaving the church, we could see the ancient Roman columns across the street.
Monday was a much-needed and much-deserved day off. The one-hour trip out of Athens to Camp Suonion was worth the time. This camp by the sea was breathtakingly beautiful! Some of the students arose early to see the sunrise. Students were given the choice to catch a ferry to one of the Greek islands, go to the beach, or go into the quaint town of Levrio, or to just spend time at the camp. Those going to the island rented mo-peds, peddle-boats, or just stayed on the beach and in the ocean. All the students had a great day! Meals were unexpectedly provided, including sack lunches, while we stayed at this church retreat center. This was a wonderful blessing! Sophia, the cook and manager of the camp fell in love with the students, who had been courteous, friendly and helpful. She cried as she waved good-by to us when our bus pulled out of the parking lot on the last day.
May 25 was spent in Corinth. Again, we were overwhelmed by the Biblically historic significance of this beautiful area. We learned about the cultural and moral conditions of Corinth during the time of Paul, which explained much of what he wrote from there. We were also reminded that he had not wanted to go to Corinth, but was obedient. Corinth, because of the Corinth Canal, formerly the Isthmus Canal, was the gateway to that area of the world. It was a center of commerce and wealth. The many people passing through Corinth became the network for carrying the Gospel to all the accessible nations of that time.
Many students climbed to the top of the acropolis and castle during our long lunch break at the top of the mountain range that overlooked the Corinth valley and the sea. This was much more than a Kodak moment. Only the human eye could really capture the depth and scope of the incredible beauty.
Wednesday, May 26, was our day to tour Athens. In addition to the 2004 Olympic area, we saw the Olympic flame at the site of previous games that would begin its worldwide journey the next day. We could see why there are doubts about the completion of the project by August. Socrates assured us that the Greeks would have it done. Again, we read scripture at Mars Hill and took a group picture. We (yes even I) walked to the top of the Acropolis to see the Parthenon and Athens. The view was really impossible to describe.
Returning to the parking lot, we saw that all the bays under the bus were open, which, of course, caused us some alarm. Apparently, the bus strike had been settled and the bus company with whom we had our original contract came to re-claim its business. So, in the middle of the afternoon, we had to unload the independent bus and reload the new bus. The students took it in stride and accomplished the move quickly. We went to the Assemblies Church where our Wednesday evening service would be held, and unloaded carry-on luggage and concert equipment about two blocks from the facility. Students were given maps and allowed free time to shop before the service. Everyone found bargains, except on Olympics memorabilia. Anything having the Olympics logo on it was very expensive. Of course, we all had to have something commemorating our being in Athens in 2004.
Meeting with Jean and Sandy Morgan before the service, I found out the difficulty they face against the strength of the Orthodox Church almost on a daily basis. The concert posters were torn down almost as soon as they were hung. This concert was a beginning of intense college ministry leading up to and including the Olympics. Again, the concert began at least twenty minutes late. It was not particularly well-attended, but those who were there were enthusiastic, responsive and involved. The International Church, pastored by Ray Beam from Maryland, made up most of the audience. One of the students had observed that in addition to taking the gospel to the world, the world was also coming to us. A man from Nigeria corrected my pronunciation of the “Yoruban” language. I struggle to get it right from the many versions that I have heard. Lindsey Robison watched this man while we sang “Betelehemu”. He sang every word with us and moved with exhilaration throughout the entire piece. After we finished, he jumped to his feet and applauded and cheered wildly. I quickly moved up the aisle to shake his hand, and much to my surprise, he picked me up and began dancing around. Of course, everyone thoroughly enjoyed this little surprise. Sandy took a picture that I am eager to see. After the concert, there were several who came forward for prayer. One of those was a man from Iraq who had escaped and wanted prayer for his family who is still there. An Israeli man wanted prayer for his walking trip that was starting the next day. He would be pulling a cross over many countries. Another couple from Brazil also came forward. These requests were very different from those the students normally encounter in such a situation. I witnessed some of the students’ prayers, and it was gratifying to know that the Holy Spirit was enabling them to pray beyond their own maturity and experience levels with meaningful words and genuine heartfelt conviction.
The church surprised us with a lasagna meal. This was another example of God’s provision. Sandy talked to us about her work with Lydia’s House, and showed us the magazine for which she is the editor. She encouraged our students to consider missions work in Greece. They will be going on furlough next year to be the missionary in residence at Vanguard University. Jean was wearing a Vanguard t-shirt and made a point of telling me that it was no coincidence that he wore it on the night Evangel was there. Interesting. Ray Beam is also leaving Greece at the end of the summer and will not return. It seems unusual to me that the Athens ministry will be in the hands of young MAPS workers for the next year.
We returned to the Bible Union, a very large retreat center where Socrates works. Baklava and ice cream were provided. Students had the opportunity to shower, get on the inter-net, or play games for an hour until we had to leave for the airport. We got to the airport at 1:45 for our 4:20 flight. Amazingly, the time went pretty fast. Playing a few hands of Rook helped.
We arrived in Warsaw at 7:30, and boarded a bus for Krakow. We got settled into our beautiful and immaculate hotel about 12:30. Some of the students rested, but many of them went immediately to the historic and “old Europe” square. This square is complete with horse-drawn carriages, dozens of out-door cafes and restaurants, open vendors of everything from postcards to gorgeous fresh flowers, and music everywhere. The evening was free, and the students enjoyed this break from the grueling schedule of the past week.
After breakfast at the hotel, Lindsey, Nate and I took all the concert clothes to the Friday evening concert site. Piotr Sulkowski had arranged for our concert in this old, but renovated theatre in the old Jewish Quarter. Kurt Hobbs, a recently appointed Assemblies missionary, went with us and helped us transport all our equipment in his Speed-the-Light mini-van. He told me that he was going to pick up Anthony and Betty Palma at the train station. They came from Warsaw to hear the choir. I knew it would be great to see them at our concert. Kurt and his wife are in language school, and they will work in Krakow with Chi Alpha. The choir students, having been given maps and addresses, met at 4:30 to go to a Jewish restaurant. Messiah Project furnished the dinner. Another blessing! Dressing at the concert-site was a bit of a challenge, as was our set-up. Again, the students just went with the flow and cooperated with whatever they were asked to do. Just before the concert, a director of a women’s choir from Norway came to the front and introduced herself to me. Her entire choir had come to our concert. I invited them to sing two pieces in the middle of our program, and they gladly accepted. It was a pleasure to hear them. They were really quite good. There were some students from the Northwest United States in the audience. They were on a short-term missions assignment, and had passed handbills out that were advertising our concert. They were enthusiastically responsive, as was everyone in the nearly packed theatre. After two encores, I left the stage, and instructed the students to follow me. No one wanted to leave though, and people stayed and socialized with us until the lights were turned off. Ironically, two of the students from the U.S. who had attended a state university, recognized Anthony Palma’s name when I introduced him in our concert. He is the author of a textbook that these students had studied in their state school. We were reminded again what a small world we live in.
Saturday was our last complete day in Europe. It seemed impossible that three-weeks had passed, but realizing all that we had done and seen, it seemed impossible that we could have had so many experiences in only three weeks. All of the students chose to go to Auschwitz except one. Christy Aldrich had gone there on a previous Messiah Project trip, and this concentration camp is not someplace one desires to go to more than once. I also did not go because I have gone there before, as well as several other concentration camps. This was an unbelievable experience for our students and they were definitely impacted by seeing the reality of evil.
I exchanged the tape and CD money at a bank, in preparation for our return to dollars and cents currency. Last minute gift buying and a special purchase for Dennis and Tina Whaley occupied part of my partially free day.
Lindsey and I went to DaPietro Restaurant to turn in our individual orders for the meal we would be having on our last evening. Phil and I provided this meal for the students in one of our favorite restaurants in Krakow. We had our own very quaint and beautiful room. The students dressed up for our special dinner, and tour awards were given during our three-hour meal. Our waiters and waitresses really enjoyed watching and being a part of our very fun evening. I asked them if they had ever seen people have so much fun and make as much noise with the absence of alcohol. They and the manager agreed that they had not seen people have this much fun without being drunk. This was really pretty typical of the love and laughter that the students had shared, non-stop for three- weeks. What a testimony of the unity that should be present with spirit-filled believers.
Leaving at 5:30 Sunday morning didn’t allow for much sleep before beginning our long trip home. Upon loading the bus, Jon Culbertson discovered the absence of his passport. When we got to the Warsaw airport, Lindsey immediately went to the Lot office to work on getting Jon’s ticket changed. He also met our missionary and made arrangements for him to follow through with getting Jon’s passport and return him to the airport. Bobby Cunningham had already arranged for our Warsaw Assemblies missionary to pick him up and bring him back on Monday for his flight back to Bucharest. The missionary took both boys and assured us that he would help Jon by taking him to the American Embassy on Tuesday, after Memorial Day. We had required the students to have copies of their passports, which Lindsey had carried with all the tour papers. Jon had that copy to begin the process of getting a new passport. As it turned out, A MAPS group was working with the missionary, and Jon helped with that project for two days. Knowing what a great worker he is, I am sure he was a blessing to this group of much older men. His passport was found in one of the restaurants in Krakow. It was tough to leave him, but I knew he was in good hands.
We were on the plane for eleven hours! Storms in Chicago prevented us from leaving Warsaw on time. It was a long flight, but enjoyable because of our great students’ ability to have fun no matter what the circumstances.
Touching down in Chicago was a chance to enumerate all the things we had missed and would be glad to enjoy again. Some of these were signs that we could read, customs agents who spoke English, soft toilet paper, and cold water fountains that were safe to drink from.
Sharon Meyer’s mother was waiting for us and directed us to the bus from Woodstock Assembly. After approximately one hour, the students were matched with host families who had housed us on Mother’s Day, and now, Memorial Day week-end. This church commissioned us, and I’m sure, prayed for us, and they were the first people to hear our tour stories. What a blessing these generous people had been to us! Phil Wilkins and Steve Clark (Chris Clarks’ father) were waiting with the vans at the church, ready to drive us to Springfield on Monday. After being awake for over twenty-five hours, with only three hours of sleep in forty-eight, my American shower and bed felt great!
We arrived in Springfield about 7:30. It seemed impossible that we really were back on the Evangel campus. This was the most beautiful and welcome sight we could recall at that moment!
The students who took the “Paul in Greece” class had to go to school the next day. Dr. Mittlestadt reported that they were pretty tired, but very inspired by what they had experienced.
On Thursday night, the students had a picture party at the Clarks. We relived with disbelief that this wonderful tour had really happened. But, we had pictures to prove it! Having just gotten into Springfield that day, Jon Culbertson even made it to the party. It was good to see him, but since he is going into the Marines in July, we also realized that we will not see him for a long time. It was a sad good-by.
In my attempt to be inclusive and capture the spirit of our tour, this report has turned into a short book. There is no way to completely describe or portray the educational and spiritual value of this tour to our students. During the twenty-three day tour, we had 13 concerts, 10 long travel days, and experienced five languages, monies, and cultures. We witnessed God’s protection, His provision, and His amazing love both for the people and from the people in our concerts. Every concert was received with standing ovations and multiple encores. Extended prayer time and enthusiastic fellowship following the concerts was the norm. The students were loved everywhere they went. They were exemplary representatives of Evangel University and the United States of America!