2005 Youth Music Mission Tour to Colorado - 5/31/05

What an exhausting and rewarding day! John B. and his breakfast crew started us off with a great breakfast this morning. (Yes, they actually cooked...pancakes, sausage, etc.) Some of the gang stayed at the church this morning and spent the day painting their fellowship hall. A few gallons of paint later and the place looks a bit brighter and has a touch of color added to it.

The rest of us went to Mt. Saint Vincent Home for Children and spent the day working on a couple of landscaping projects they needed done. About 85% of their landscape work (and a significant portion of their other duties) are all done by volunteers from the community and people like us who are there for mission. After a quick introduction and a brief tour, we got to work.

Our main goal for the day was to distribute gravel around a playground for preschool-aged children. The gravel had been delivered in three major piles on the playground and needed to be spread out. The fifteen of us that were there were given shovels, rakes, gloves, bottled water, sunscreen and a wheelbarrow and we went to work moving the 21 cubic yards of gravel. For those of you who are interested, that equates to about 20 tons of rock. We were done before lunch, which was fantastic, and since we finished so quickly, they let us pull weeds on the grounds for the remainder of our time there that afternoon.

In the evening, we had the wonderful opportunity to serve a meal at the New Genesis Shelter which is a transitional community for homeless men. Expecting a crowd of about 90 people from the shelter, we prepared seven trays of lasagna and served it with bread, some carrots (and ranch dressing), and ice-cold lemonade. Everyone there was very appreciative of our efforts and those that served were really moved by the experience.

With all that work today, we felt we earned a few hours at the Wheat Ridge Recreational Facility and the hot tub and pool never felt better. (Just having a shower would have been reward enough, but nobody was complaining.) After all of that and the evening devotional, we wearily turned in for some much-needed rest in preparation for another day of mission work tomorrow.

As always, we appreciate your continued prayers and support!

2005 Youth Music Mission Tour to Colorado - 5/30/05

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Our hosts here at Highland Park Pres. were kind enough to fix us a french toast breakfast this morning and we were thankful for a great meal. As part of our mission efforts, we then spent much of the morning cleaning up their fellowship hall and giving their windows some much needed attention.

Later that morning, we were privileged to have Lucille Reilly come and share some of her music with us. For those of you who don't know, Lucille is one of the foremost Dulcimer experts in the country and it was obvious after listening to her play for us. We were blessed to be able to share some of our music with her as well and she even played along with us during our time together making for a fantastic experience.

After a quick deli sandwich lunch, we headed off to Montview Manor - a 13-story retirement community in the heart of Denver. There, we performed a collection of six anthems and four instrumental pieces for a good-sized crowd of very appreciative senior citizens. They sang along with some of our Psalms and we were all moved by the Holy Spirit during the performance.

We finished the afternoon with another performance of our music at the Highland Park Presbyterian Church which was preceded by an ice cream social and a small art demonstration. A lasagna dinner followed eventually and the day slowly came to a close. Stay tuned for more tomorrow as we work at the Mt. Saint Vincent Home for Children and the New Genesis Project!

2005 Youth Music Mission Tour to Colorado - 5/31/05

What a busy day! We started off early this morning with breakfast at the most technologically advanced McDonalds I have ever seen! They had kiosks where you could order your food, an ATM and a DVD rental machine right there in the store! We all ate a good breakfast (except Meg G., who preferred a pair of cookies over a sausage biscuit) and it turns out we needed it.

Our next stop, and first major performance was at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church where an absolutely gorgeous sanctuary waited for us and we filled it with some of the finest sounds we could collectively muster. Our choir sang four anthems and a couple of hymns to great effect and our instrumentalists performed with equal enthusiasm and quality. The people of Montview Blvd were very appreciative and it was a blessing for everyone involved to have the opportunity to provide musical leadership for their congregation.

After lunch (another adventure for another time), we headed for some much needed R&R at the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center. Fully equipped with two indoor, heated pools, a water slide, a sauna, a pair of racquetball courts and a full gym (to name a few things), this facility provided us with an excellent chance to relax and enjoy the fellowship with each other. Just about everyone went on the water slide (even Tom!) and everyone had a great time.

We ended the day with a spaghetti dinner cooked here at the Highland Park Presbyterian Church and closed the evening with a devotional centered around the experience of the disciples on the Emmaus road.

2005 Youth Music Mission Tour to Colorado

A Message From The Director:

We're looking forward to a wonderful 2005 Youth Music Mission Tour to Colorado! We're combining worship/music, mission/outreach, spiritual growth and fun/fellowship. We invite you to join us on this mission tour through this web page.

For the music we'll be participating in several worship services (large and small churches, as well as a meditative Taizé service), and we will present musical programs for several senior-adult groups; additionally, we’ll have a session with an outstanding dulcimer player from Denver. Not only will the Celebration Singers be singing, we’ll also include instrumental music with the nine instrumentalists involved.

Our mission/outreach includes preparing meals for a men's homeless shelter, grounds work for a transitional housing development for the homeless, playground improvements for a home dealing with children who have emotional or developmental problems, and repairs and painting for a redevelopment church.

Fellowship is a natural outgrowth of all we’ll do during the week, but special emphasis on fun will be our time in Glenwood Springs: rafting, bicycling, rides, caverns, and the world's largest hot springs pool.

Throughout the entire trip, we focus on spiritual growth – recognizing the presence of God in our lives. One strand of scripture studies will focus on the passage from Matthew when the righteous ask the Lord when did they see the Lord in need and respond. The other series of studies focuses on the Emmaus Road experience of the disciples on Easter: so often, we don't recognize God in our lives and in our presence.

We invite you to keep this Mission Tour in your thoughts and prayers during the week May 28 through June 5 – praying for the safety, spiritual growth, musical and non-musical accomplishments and fun for the youth and adult leaders.

Tom Granum
Director of Music & Organist
First Presbyterian Church
Athens, Georgia