Hello all! I apologize for the late post, but after a brief recess from touring and a long stay in Harrisonburg, we have not made time to make a blog post until now.
While this post is titled Harrisonburg, we actually started the Southeast leg of our tour in Richmond, Virginia. On Sunday the 3rd, we played during the morning service at First Mennonite Church in Richmond, followed by an afternoon concert. We stayed with John & Hazel Bowman, total strangers who took us into their beautiful home and made us feel welcomed.
Later that evening, we headed north over the mountain to Harrisonburg, where we still are! We have been staying with other Bowman's, Randy & Barbara, the whole time we've been here. Amidst our many performances in the area, we have really felt their love and support during our stay through games of dutch blitz, dinners together, and our personal favorite, nightly teatime.
To give you a peak into the variety of shows we've given during our time in Harrisonburg:
1. We sparked off our time here with a house concert at John & Sher Waidelich's, good friends from home who just moved to Harrisonburg recently.
2. On Tuesday, the 5th, we sang at EMU's seminary.
3. Wednesday, we played during EMU's chapel.
4. Thursday, we played an evening concert at Common Grounds. The campus coffee house was packed with EMU students, as well as a few adults who had heard of us through the grace of the grapevine.
5. For the "Commuter Friday" lunch, we played in the cafeteria at EMU. We then gave a house concert at Aaron Zimmerman's (a good friend from home) house. Also, we received a wonderful surprise from our mother as she joined us for the weekend!
6. Saturday the 9th we played a house concert at Lynette Mast's house, a beautiful venue that was overflowing with love.
7. Sunday, we played during the service at Community Mennonite Church. On Sunday evening, Barb & Randy hosted all the Archbold/Pettisville locals to a dinner with games, which was oh so fun :)
8. Tonight (Monday the 11th), we will play a house concert at Jim and Kathy Yoder's.
9. Tomorrow, we will play at a school where Kate Kauffman interns, Lacey Spring Elementary, and then switch gears in the evening to play at a retirement center, Sunnyside.
It is impossible to encapsulate into a few sentences all the welcoming gestures & love we have felt during our time here in Harrisonburg. It already feels like a home away from home, & we have so many people to thank for making it feel this way. Joshua would especially like to thank his many camp and church friends that live in this area for seeking out opportunities to reconnect.
While met with a bit of sickness and exhaustion because of all the work we are doing at this juncture, we continue to be juiced with love from all of the wonderful people in our lives. We hope to soak it all in and reflect some too as we continue with this tour.