Welcome back to the blog for your daily dose of touring info.
Tuesday began as all days should: with a chance to sleep in. After converging at the bus, we completed the short drive to Iowa City to visit Encounter Cafe.
The cafe is a lovely place -- a delight to both the eyes and the tongue. The fine folks of Iowa City know this. Many of them were enjoying brunch as we entered.
After singing for a few minutes, we flooded the order line and joined said clientèle in feasting.
As the distance to our evening venue was short, we were able to enjoy a very relaxed travel day. One of our stops was at The World's Largest Truck Stop. (Yes, dear reader, this writer joins you in wondering how one measures these things.) Surprisingly, it was very large. Even impressive.
After lunch, Jordan hosted a art, history, and culture quiz show. Prizes: leftover Lay's potato chips. It was great fun.
Our evening concert was hosted at Arthur Mennonite Church. With some help from Jesse and Alfred the Alligator, we warmed up in the acoustically-friendly sanctuary (which we love). After our kind hosts fed us, it was time to don our concert attire and focused minds.
The program flew by. One of the highlights was again having a balcony available for a split-choir rendition of Spaséñiye, Sodélal (Salvation Is Created). It was a good concert.
Afterward, I enjoyed meeting some members of our audience, including a couple who had encountered Laudate's music on Spotify. They had traveled ninety miles to hear us. Even better, they were delightful individuals. Beautiful people who have lived full lives of service in varied parts of the world.
One of the gifts of traveling and meeting new people (something I tend to "shy" away from) is the unexpected connections one finds. The shared love of beauty; the shared love of God. The reminders that one is not alone.
Karl Zimmerman
Tomorrow evening the concert in Chambersburg will be live streamed. Follow the link below to our Youtube channel if you wish to join us virtually for this concert.