We left campus at around 1 pm and were driven to Riley’s hometown of Bolton by Riley’s parents and friend. We set up sound and practiced for about an hour before dinner. This was our first time singing as eight people, since four of our members weren’t able to make it for spring break. We were all pretty nervous about putting up as good a show as we would have if we were full house, and by the time we finished our run-through our confidence levels were considerably higher.
Members of Riley’s church, Katie and Ann Marie made us a wonderful dinner- vegetarian chili, (you’re welcome Barry), salad, fruit salad, buns and butter, gluten-free chocolate-chip cookies (you’re welcome Michaye), ice-cream… SO MUCH FOOD. We had a wonderful dinner with the Senior Pastor, Pastor Smith, and felt so blest to be given such a warm welcome to the Trinity Church community.
Right after eating a humongous dinner, we had soundcheck! We ran through the songs one more time, calmed out nerves, prayed and asked God to bless the work of our hands and do His will through us. For the freshmen in the group, this was our first spring break performance, and for me, this was my first time soloing altogether. I was a huge bundle of nerves.
Concert time. We had a really good turnout- about half the church was occupied- and it was humbling to see that people were willing to let us minister to them in our own way. It was my first time singing as a soloist with an audience, and I was Really Nervous. I knew the words to the songs pretty well, but somehow during the practice runs I would always forget some of the words so I came up with a Plan:
During concert when it was my time to solo, I grabbed the mike, looked out at the audience, and waited for my mouth to run dry and my voice to go all shaky as it usually does when I’m nervous. As I looked out at all the smiling, curious faces in front of me, I just opened my mouth and began talking and didn’t stop till I finished the song. Somehow, I made it through, and without having to sneak a peek at my palm, too.
A snippet of Riley’s amazing solo:
And finally, here’s a picture of Barry’s hair in a hair tie, for kicks and giggles, and also because we need more pictures in this post anyways.
One day down, six more to go.