Homecoming Tomorrow Yippee!

As Saturday turns to Sunday I am so excited about tomorrow's homecoming because I know I am going to see God tomorrow oh I mean today! I will keep this short, which is unusual I know, but just a quick note to say come back to the blog I will post some pictures tomorrow. The best is yet to come in more ways than the blog!
Love,
Ms. Mary Lynn

We are MADE TO WORSHIP…and never forget that we must STAND AND SHOUT, WHERE (ever) JESUS IS!

So I am on the bus in Richmond, Virginia…beginning the 12 hour bus ride home. Oh my goodness, what a ride this past week has been. This is my 6th and final choir tour that I have been on since the 7th grade. For the first time ever, I’m not ready to go home just yet. I feel like I still need this time to grow in my faith with God and just be at rest. However, I know that the “seeds we’ve sown” this week will be used for His works. I cannot believe that we have done so many of the things we have done this week. The services were SO powerful. Whenever we sang, I honestly felt like I was at Storehouse or at Wednesday Night Fathom, just worshipping my incredible, wonderful God! But, I realized that I do not give my God even a fourth of the worship, praise, and attention that He deserves. Yet, he still blesses me endlessly. What an amazing God!

Washington D.C. was our “main destination,” along with Baltimore, Maryland. D.C. has always been a love of mine. I love the city, and adore the history that comes with it. However, singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was incredible! It was such an unforgettable memory, and I will always cherish it. Visiting the Holocaust Museum provided me with an opportunity to be still, even in this crazy week. The memorials are always my favorite, because they honor all of the hard work that many people have produced to not only create our freedom, but to also protect it. Although we were only in Baltimore for a total of 7 hours, we were able to get a nice taste of the city at the Inner Harbor! And of course, the elderly at the retirement home in Virginia were lights of God during our concert. Their smiles, their tears, their laughs, and their memories helped bridge the gap between the old and the young. What an awesome opportunity we had!!

So, let me do a little bit of math here…I’ve been in the CHRIST Choir for 3 years. On each tour, we sing an average of 7 times, plus the 2 times we sing at the homecoming concert. That’s 27 concert performances that I have done! And believe it or not, but I remember each one. As a senior, it’s a bittersweet day…my last day of CHRIST Choir Tour…ever. Miss Susan and Miss Resha, words cannot express how thankful I am that God placed both of you in my life. Your love of God and music has inspired me in ways that you two cannot imagine. Thank you for all you do, and I know that God will continue to bless you both! Miss Susan: from Forever Polyester to Oz and to the Beatles, thank you for blessing me with ensemble opportunities, they have been so much fun! Thank you for your incredible leadership. I will dearly miss you next year! And Miss Resha: While it is incredibly sad that you were not able to join us on our last tour, I’m so thankful for all the memories we’ve shared with you, and I can’t wait to see you Sunday!

Here’s one last thing to remember…

God has created us, and we are MADE TO WORSHIP…and never forget that we must STAND AND SHOUT, WHERE (ever) JESUS IS!

God Bless!
Liesel Burks

The Prayer Team and other good stuff

Here I am sitting on the bus getting ready to go home. What a Choir Tour it has been. I’ve been part of this choir for three years now and choir tour is always an incredible way to end the year. Being it is my senior year and my last tour this marks my last official event as part of the Asbury Youth group. That’s both sad and exciting but there is no better way to top it off than with choir tour. It’s been both a very quick yet dense choir tour marked with various memorable moments and glimpses of God doing large ministry. I know that God has chosen all 128+ of us specifically for this trip with a different reason behind it and I feel honored that He would use us as His hands and feet as He has done this week. We went from performing at fellow Methodist churches, shouting on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, worshiping with seniors at the retirement center, to sharing the word with a group of kids at the children’s home. At all of these places we sang God’s word in song form and shared His love with His children as He shared his love with us. Like I already said, it has been quite a week.
I’ve had the blessing this week of being a member of the 12 person prayer team. As soon as we arrived at a place where we would sing, the prayer team would gather up and pray together for the performance, the choir, the audience, and most importantly for God’s will. A group from the choir has been meeting since January to pray for God’s preparation in this trip and this group was merely a branch from that group. God began to show us the fruits of the prayer team before the trip embarked and this made us all the more excited. Mrs. Myrick was the best team leader we could have asked for on the prayer team as she kept us engaged with various forms of prayer: journaling, prayer walking, praying scripture, visualizing, repetition, name calling, and group prayer. It was a great way to get focused for the next performance and really invest ourselves in what we were doing. God’s word says that when two or more gather in his name that he is there and will hear us. This was the foundation for our prayer and we have security in knowing that he answered us in both ways seen and unseen.
It was also great to know that we were not the only ones praying whenever several members of the choir had time they would also gather to pray for the performance and other requests as well. It truly believe that prayer is powerful and because of the prayers of various people before and during the trip God prepared the places we were to go to be fertile soil for the word that he put in our musical to share with them.
More than ministry, this trip was sooo fun! We got to gallivant around Washington D.C, our nation’s capital, and see the millions of memorials, museums, and several landmarks that make this city special. We also didn’t just get to sing to the kids at the children’s home we got to play and spend time with them too. More than ministry, it was just plain fun. Finally yesterday we were at Kings Dominion. An awesome amusement park! There were like a million awesome roller coasters that by the time the day was over my head was spinning. Finally we got the top of the trip with the ever so famous Talent Night! A series of both impressive and hilarious acts that make you forget how late in the night it was. My personal favorites being the Jackson 5, Miss Universe Pageant, and the Chaperone Skit.
I just want to thank Mrs. Susan for being the best choir director anyone could ask for. You have been a blessing on my life and soo many others in this choir. Also, thank you to EVERYONE who either chaperoned on this trip, helped with the choir, or did something for desert night out. It blows my mind to think of everyone that has done something with this choir that is not actually in the choir. This is very cliché but Choir tour would not be the same success without what you do. Thank you for putting up with the teenagers of 2009 and for your patience and love for us. I’ve been so blessed and don’t want to leave this behind.

Thanks, David Olsen

The End of Tour 2009

With all things you do there has to be a beginning and an end. Well, we’re on the bus now driving home. I truly wish I could make this tour last longer, because I love our music and our choir! J But I’m excited for the ministry that God has planned for me when I get back. Just because tour is ending doesn’t mean the mission is ending. The mission is every day, being the best Christian witness you can be.
Looking back on the tour, I really had a great time. This is my 5th tour, and God still surprised me in many ways like He does on every tour. My favorite mission opportunity would be working in the warehouse sorting through moldy potatoes and rutabagas. I also had the opportunity to be blessed by someone else’s life at the Children’s home. He witnessed to us about how he came to God, when we had come to witness to him. God works in funny ways!
I loved the retirement home, seeing the joy on the citizens’ faces, and talking with them. One lady told me that they always hear about the bad youth of our generation and how much it means to the citizens to see so many youth singing for Jesus. I felt the spirit the most when we circled around the residents and sang hymns to/with them. On Amazing Grace I felt the most joy on this tour.
Now of course there was a fun day, in which we had very little work: King’s Dominion and Talent Night! Woot! I had fun going on roller coasters, and felt great about singing to park goers. Talent Night was amazingly fun with NYSTINK, The Jackson5, Becca, and so many other great acts. I had the opportunity to play the keyboard (something I was told I wouldn’t be able to do) and play a piece that I had written. Thank you Jesus for that opportunity.
Riding home now, I have come to realize that although tour is over, the ministry continues. Now we go into the real world, and God will test our strength and our faith. I can’t wait to see God’s plans for all of us.
God Bless, xoxo
AAA

To be continued....

OK, well here I go. We are sadly coming to the end of Choir tour 2009. I don’t really want it to be over yet. This choir has done so much for me this whole year. I really love to sing. And when I sing I try to sing my heart out. This year has been tough for me. I made some dumb mistakes over the summer with summer assignments. I lied to my parents and it threw up in my face. DUH, what else happens when you lie? Well, my parents eventually found out and it just HAD to be the week before B2SR-08, so of course my parents didn’t allow for me to go. It hurt me so bad. I watched the buses drive off from my bedroom window. At first I just kept saying, “O, no, God won’t let my parents not let me go.” I kept thinking that Friday that when I got home my dad would be there waiting to tell me I could go. Of course, that didn’t happen. I had really messed up. I started the class off with a terrible grade and I lost all the trust I had worked hard to earn for 16 years. For a very long time I did not feel loved by everyone. I grew bitter in my heart. But my release was always singing. I would listen to my iPod to be continued…..

My heart has been touched in many more ways than one

It is Friday morning at 1:19 and in less than 7 hours we will all be on buses preparing for our long trek back to the South—home. In order to begin, I think that you all must understand that this was my first Church trip. I did not know what to expect, yet as I look back I know that I was hoping for something life-changing. Sure enough, I got it. So many awe-striking things occurred this past week that it still boggles my mind and maybe that is because I have not yet fully comprehended everything that has occurred. Regardless, I am going to blog because Mrs. Mary Lynn has entrusted me with her computer over night and I intend to take full advantage.
PS: Mrs. Mary Lynn thank you for making me PIMP (Pee in my pants) You are a remarkable woman who knows how to be the life of a party.
Mrs. LuAnn. You crack me up in the best ways possible. I love spending time with you. You are someone I look up to and admire greatly. I hope one day I can be half of the women that you two are.
This week has been filled with one amazing adventure after the other and my heart has been touched in many more ways than one. I would like to thank every single person who had anything remotely to do with this trip because every single person made this trip just a little bit more incredible. I do not doubt one bit that God was at work this week because I felt Him every step of the way.
Sarah Hernandez

The Last Night Hanging with the "Girls"

The Last Night.
It was a dark and stormy night in the dark abyss. Mrs. Cruisan appeared from the elevator furtively and observed six bad girls sitting in the hall. The very first sentence she heard uttered was, “There is a difference between naked and nekkid.” Upon hearing this, the thought ran through her mind that this conversation was not one to be spoken on a church trip. The ironic thing is that these very words were spoken by Mrs. Fernigan, a church staff member. Mrs. Cruisan decided that she would wait and let the conversation continue and see where this was going.
“Well what is the difference in naked and nekkid?” questioned Hannie with an unsure tone.
“Well when someone is naked they are just naked but when someone is nekked that means that they are nekkid and up to no good,” replied Mrs. Fernigan.

-Mrs. Mary Lynn peeing on Mrs. Lu Ann from coughing and laughing
-“Are you gonna eat this or are you gonna marry it?”
-have a coke and a smile, take a break
-devil vs. angel= lu ann vs. mary lynn
-pip! Lol, omg

*Edited by Ms. Mary Lynn because remember I am the “Angel”

This year's choir tour has been better than I could have imagined. After hearing stories from previous years, I was excited to be a part of something bigger than me.
Emily Gaines