Wednesday, March 21, 2012

day three: iowa city

After a night with wonderful host families in Clinton, we came back to Zion Lutheran Church to perform a few songs at their 8:00 and 10:30 services. The choir performed Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wohnungen, Be Not Afraid, and Zion's Walls. Prepped with sack lunches, we hit the road toward Iowa City.

After about an hour's drive, we made it to Christ the King Lutheran for our first afternoon concert of the week. The church had cozy space for the sanctuary, ensuring the choir didn't have to work hard in order to be heard.

We found out the music director for the church who played a huge part in putting the details of our concert together, Kurt Juhl, was a Grand View alumni. It was great to know we have these connections to Grand View all over the place.

Since our concert was so early in the day, we got the chance to spend some extra time with our host families. Amanda Flattery, Danielle McKinney, and myself stayed with a family who used to own a camping site, and still live on the property. They dusted off the golf cart and let us take it for a spin around the grounds. The next day on the bus, everyone else had nothing but good things to say about the time spent with their families.

Rachel Dachenbach had a lovely time chatting with her host family, telling random stories and laughing.
"We had, in my opinion, the best host family we've ever had," Rachel said. "We only moved to get brownies and ice cream and iced tea."
Jay's host dad played the mandolin, banjo, and guitar.  The banjo belonged to his father in the 1920s, and he brought out a 1960s 4-string Gibson guitar, a rare find. His host dad admitted he hadn't played in a while, but as soon as he started playing, it was evident his talent still existed within. "It was just great to see a fellow musician," Jay said.

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