Hospitality

I have been blown away with the hospitality I have been shown over the last five days. Choir tour is always a hard time for me. I love singing in choir, but I don't like listening to choir music as much, unless it is a really talented group or it's a song that I have sung. Since I don't especially enjoy sitting through a concert, choir tour has always been hard for me, because the majority of the time, I know the audience is not enjoying it. Few people enjoy listening to choir music anymore, and I often don't understand the point of tour. Going into it, I was not excited. I wanted to stay at school and go home when everyone else did. I did not want to give up some of my spring break to sing for people that didn't want to hear it. The first stop on tour verified exactly what I was thinking. The students at the school didn't care. They were texting, whispering, giggling.... why were we even there? The first two days were hard, until we met the congregation from New Hope Community Church. Their church was the first black church I have ever been to, and they are the most incredible and Christ focused congregation I have ever met. They were so welcoming, and so gracious. They made us dinner, took us to their homes, the woman my group stayed with kept us up telling us her incredible story, and her family has a struggled in it that I completely identified with. We really connected thought this hardship we have both faced, and it was nice to have someone empathize with my situation and actually know exactly what I am talking about, and likewise for her. That morning when we went to their church, they would come up and hug us and tell us how excited they were to hear us, even though they heard the whole concert the night before. They were praising God through our song, and it was incredible to see people respond to us some much. There were tears, "Amen!" and "Praise Jesus!" coming from everywhere... it was incredible how much they love God. Afterwards, we met a ton of people, one lady let me hold her baby, they made us lunch and then made sack lunches for the road. When we left, the whole congregation came out and waved at the bus. We were SO incredibly blessed by them. I don't think I have ever felt so proud to be a part of the Simpson University Chorale, and to see that there really is a purpose for us going on tour. It is to reach out to a church like New Hope, and to feel their overwhelming love and appreciation for us. We may have gone there to be a blessing, but we were definitely the ones being blessed.