Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

October 1st- October 8th

Theme of the Week: Environment
Ken, Sandra, Hannah- Foster
Alexandra (From Switzerland) Fiona (From Maine)

10-1-18 Monday

Travel Day!!! I felt like I was going to Disney when I left Bill and Esther this morning! We drove 10 hours from Stillwater, Oklahoma to Houston, Texas. I sat next to Uriel (From Mexico) on the bus. We shared testimonies on the way, and it was interesting to hear about his life living on the boarder between Mexico and Texas. We were very late because of Houston traffic. It's so nice to be in a big city with normal people again. I love it here. Our new host family is just wonderful. They have the whole southern accent, and incessantly say ya'll. They have a 23 year old daughter who is so fun to talk to. Their house is legitimately a mansion. I fell like I am in a movie and can't sit down on any of the furniture. I am amazed at the elegance of the house and decorations. It is so big that I get lost going from my own bedroom upstairs down to the kitchen. This week is going to be amazing. 

 

10-2-18 Tuesday
Today was the best day that I have had since I've traveled with Up with People. The bomb acoustic promo group had two performances at Texas Children's Hospital. We sang a set from our show in the waiting room to brighten spirits of families going through cancer. The mood of the hospital changed once music was in the building. I am really starting to realize how big of an effect music can have on people even in the hardest circumstances of life. Then we got to do crafts with children diagnosed with cancer or blood disorders in the waiting room as well. During this, I colored with a six-year old boy named Marciano, and he became my best friend. He made me actually like to spend time with kids because I connected to him to easily... Then his mom took him away to his appointment where he needed shots. Immediately, my heart was broken because I had forgotten that a wonderful kid who was full of energy, life, and positivity was going through a traumatic fight with cancer. Then we got a tour of the hospital where we saw a recording studio called Purple Songs Can Fly. A musician named Anita Kruse started this in the hospital for kids to record songs that they write. Here is an example... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeaFEqQStWs. Then we had the opportunity to visit individual rooms in the hospital and sing songs to children and their families. Each room was a totally different experience because every child had unique characteristics. The first was an 8-year old girl with a shaved head. Her mom also shaved her head in support of her daughter. She was shy at first and didn't want to sing, and then she told us to sing "This is Me" from The Greatest Showman. This girl opened up completely, and sang every word to that song with fire in her eyes and passion in her heart. I was blown away by how she embodied the meaning of that song. The next room had a 15-year old boy who was entrapped with video games. We sang pop songs to him, and it was a little awkward. We still brightened his day a little bit. In the next room, there was a Spanish speaking 3-year old. Rodrigo (From Mexico) came in and translated for us. We sang a disney song by request. Then we gave her a percussion shaker and we sang the wheels on the bus with a hip hop beat on the cajone! Her eyes lit up with excitement when she was playing. The last room that we went to was the most impactful for me. Her name was Abigail and she was 16-years old. Her entire family was in the room, and there was something different about her persona. When we asked her what songs she wanted us to sing, she asked us if we knew any Christian music. Almost the entirety of our group said no except Angelis and I. She asked us to sing "Oceans." Josh and Rodrigo are so talented that they just followed us and created a perfect accompaniment. We did a beautiful duet of the song, and her family started tearing up and taking videos of us. It felt so good to sing a worship song again and feel the presence of God. In that moment, I felt like I was back on the Sea of Galilee singing that song where Jesus walked on water. It's amazing to see where that song has traveled with me. Anyway, Abigail was so inspiring to me and I will never forget that experience. Then I was talking to the lady who was in charge about her job title in the hospital. She literally just finds local artists, musicians, and instrumentalist and coordinates ways for kids to experience a higher quality of life through art and music. That is the best job I could ever imagine. I left that place so impacted and it was the highlight of my entire journey so far!!!

10-3-18 Wednesday
Today, the acoustic promotion group went to St. Dominic Village, an Old Folks Home. This was another mountain top experience in Up with People. We did three performances in independent living, assisted living, and the nursing home. The old people had lost so much passion in their life by being alone in an Old Folks Home. When we performed for them, they smiled and had 15 minutes of enjoyment in their dull day. It was so sad to learn that when people age, their family stops visiting, and they experience extreme loneliness everyday. I loved the opportunity we had to bring brightness into their lives through music and simple conversation. In the afternoon, we got to visit individual rooms, and ask the elderly if they wanted to watch our performance. So many of them had such positive things to say about our group and life in general. Many of them remembered Up with People when it was popular in the past. I received so much joy from these old spirits, their life stories, and their encouraging words. This was such a good experience to have!

10-4-18 Thursday

Today was yet another unforgettable experience in Up with People. Michael Bowerman took Angelis and I to a recording studio in Houston. We sang the solo parts for the new opener of Live on Tour called Here and Now. They wrote this song 2 months ago, and they asked us to record it for the CD that is dropping around Christmas time! I recorded the viral hope moment in the beginning of the show, and the hope moment in the middle of the opener. It was unreal to record in such a nice studio with state of the art equipment. We did about 7 takes, and Michael will mix and master it into the final project. When Angelis did his part, Michael asked him to ad-lib in the end... he can riff like nobody I have ever met before. I was stunned at the things he could make up on the spot. He did about six takes of ad-libs, and each time was something totally different and spectacular!! It was amazing. The next step is to get Mariah and Nick to record back in Denver, and then we have the track of the first song in our Up with People show! So many people in the cast were very jealous of what we did today so I just tried to lay low with it all, but IT WAS SOOO COOOOLLLL! I feel honored to be asked to record it because people who sing this song in the show didn't even get to record it, and they asked Angelis and I to sing. Then Michael took us out to lunch, and we had a deep conversation about the challenges of our current vocal instructer, Ellen. When we got back we had our Mexican travel day information meeting. I am so excited to be immersed in Mexican culture in only 3 days! AHHHHH:) For dinner, Corinne (From Switzerland), Tylene (From Montana), Bela (From New York), and Lydia (From Finland) all came over. We had a total girls night, and even went for a late night swim. Today was such a good day!!!!

10-5-18 Friday
Show Day in Houston! This is the last show that we will do in the United States and we had a great audience in the house. There were so many family members of the cast, and so many alumni in Texas. In Mexico, our show will be 90 minutes with no intermission so we did many songs for the last time in the show. We won't do the unplugged medley until we go to Europe. It was one of our best shows so far! Then I started my assistantship after the show. I worked with Evelyn on the parent newsletter for the U.S. tour.

10-6-18 Saturday
The cast got to explore NASA! It was so cool to visit the place where famous space history is made. There was a bus tour about the training an astronaut goes through, along with exhibits of space shuttles. Then we went through the touristy museum. The humidity in Texas is UNREALLLLLL! You feel a wall of heat when you walk outside, and today I had the biggest heat stroke of my life. I have never been so hot in my life, and it brought me to the point of tears. I couldn't do any outdoor exhibits, so I chilled inside the museum for most of the day. It was a very cool opportunity to go to NASA in Houston!

10-7-18 Sunday
Host family day!! Sandra and Hanna took Alex and I to Galveston Island which is about an hour away from Houston. We went to the Gulf of Mexico on a pier that had roller coasters and rides. There was a ferris wheel at the end of the pier where we got to see the water from a birds eye view, and it was beautiful. Then we had lunch out there, and headed back to Houston. Sandra and Hanna took us to a restaurant called Houston's before they dropped us off at the airport. I had the most amazing salmon of my life, and they also ordered us two deserts. I felt spoiled. This host family was the best so far (not including Denver). I know that I could visit them anytime, or stay in their condo out in Montana! After we said goodbye, we got on a shuttle to the airport, and the contagious energy from the cast was exciting! We're going to MEXICO!!! We "slept" in the Houston Airport until three in the morning. Everyone was awake creating mischief in the waiting areas of checkin. Time went so fast, and before we knew it, we were weighing our luggage making sure it was under 50lbs...

 END OF USA TOUR!!!

Stillwater, Oklahoma

Stillwater, Oklahoma

September 24th- October 1st
Theme of the week: Hunger

Bill, Esther Clair ~ Maria (Grey Hound)

Jai Yu (China)

9-24-18 Monday

We drove three hours from Salina, Kansas to Stillwater, Oklahoma. It was a brief bus ride, and once we arrived in Oklahoma, we had a few hours for community discovery. I went to a thrift store, an art museum, and a coffee shop. Then Bill and Ester picked us up at our facility. They are an old couple in their 60's, and they don't have any kids. Their house is awesome, and our bedroom is luxurious. They are very kind, but a little quirky once again... It should be an interesting week.

9-25-18 Tuesday
Today I was the crew leader for a community action project with an organization called Our Daily Bread. This is a food bank that opened just a year ago, and the serve over 11,000 families in poverty every month. We stocked the shelves with food donations and made it look like a grocery store so that people shopping would have some dignity. They also get to choose what they want to grab in their carts to minimize food wastage. This community service day was my favorite so far because I could visibly see the impact that we were having on so many families. We set up all of the inventory for the week, and it was a lot of work. At the end of the day we got too see some of the people who came to get free food, and it was rewarding knowing that our hard work was helping so many people. This CA also ties into the theme of the week because it address the issue of hunger in society. The education team put together a simulation of high, middle, and low classes during dinner. The high class got a four course meal, chair, tables, servers, and special treatment. The middle class chairs, and some food. The low class had to watch everyone eat, and sit on the floor. They assigned what class everyone would be in, and I was placed in the lowest class. This simulation was very interesting because I have really never been the person with no privileges in my life, and being in that position opened my eyes to what other people face daily. On the way home, my host dad backed up into a car and dented it... then he just drove away and acted like nothing happened!!!!! OMG!!!! Hidde (From Netherlands), who is our PR apologized for putting me with my family. He knows the struggle of this week, and he truly feels bad, but they had a hard time finding host families.

9-26-18 Wednesday
Today I was a crew leader for an organization called WONDERtorium. It is a children's museum where kids can use there imagination and create. We volunteered by cleaning toys, sanitizing, vacuuming, and dusting fans. I got to work in the computer and transfer data from paper to an Excel spread sheet. Then we went out for lunch and got some Chinese food. At the end of the day, we learned the Mexican Medley, and prepared for our trip to Mexico in 2 weeks! Esther made a really great meal, and we had cookies with honey:) My eye has started to twitch again which means that I am very, very, very tired and dehydrated. It's just wonderful... also three people in our cast have lice, and it is spreading like wildfire because everyone is always so close to each other. Yay for life on the road.

9-27-18 Thursday
Today was my first time doing an acoustic promotion opportunity with Up with People. Ellen (From Belgium), Josh (From Philippines), Rodrigo (From Mexico), Angelis (From Bermuda), Leah (From Pennsylvania), Tyler (From Arizona), and I went to Oklahoma State University and performed an acoustic set from our show. Then I walked passed a dead squirrel, so Angelis and I decided to have a funeral for it. We sang church hymns, read verses, gave a eulogy, built a grave, and named him De Que. We had a private show later in the evening for students of the college. Unfortunately, it was not well attended, but we managed to have a good show anyways. Then we had to superstrike the stage. I was signed out for admissions and I got to interview some college kids. Then we went home pretty late and went straight to sleep.

9-28-18 Friday
I was a crew leader for a community service project called Karman's Korners. It is a resale store that sells donated clothes and items. All the proceeds go to cancer and hospice patients. I steamed donated clothes in the morning, and priced pillow cases after lunch. It was eye opening to see all the work that goes into processing donated items. I enjoyed volunteering there because all the staff members were very grateful for all the work we took off their hands. We got to walk around downtown and get some ice cream. We worked on the Mexican Medley when we got back to the church. After dinner, Jia Yu and I escaped our host family and went for a walk. On the way, we went to Lydia (From Finland), Isaac (From Colorado), and Andree (From Sweden) houses. Then we chatted with Esther a little when we got home.

9-29-18 Saturday
Two Shows Today!!! We had rehearsal all morning, and then a show at 2pm and at 7pm. Esther and Bill came to the show at two and afterwards asked me if I even sang in the show at all. OOOO I was so irritated. Then Walter came to see the shows and worked with me on some things. Two shows in one day makes you so exhausted that you feel sick. We had cast members dropping like flies... and each audience was so small. Corrine (From Switzerland) had a heat stroke and needed to sit out of the show. While strike was happening, I was signed out to watch a documentary about world hunger. I was so happy because I didn't have to exert more energy by taking the stage down, but I just got to rest. We got picked up at midnight, and Esther was complaining about how late it was and she rushed us out of the building. I finally went to bed around 1:30am.

9-30-18 Sunday
My host mom comes knocking on the door at 9:00am and rudely wakes Jia Yu and I up. She was all concerned about doing laundry, that it was urgent for us to wake up. We didn't have to leave for the day until 11:30!!!!! After two shows and going to bed at 1:30, I needed to sleep SOOOOO FREAKING BAD. She just comes in and starts hitting us to wake up, and she got ANGRY at us. I said we have all day long to do ONE load of laundry, but she insisted that we wake up just to do nothing. I have never encountered someone who was so inconsiderate like that. We went to lunch at Eskimo Joe's, and then we went to an Alpaca farm in Ripley Oklahoma. Jia Yu and I were invited to another host family's house for a party. We had many people from the cast there, and the party was in a barn! It was so much fun with great food too... But then, Esther comes to pick us up. When she saw all the people who were there, she didn't want to take us away from the fun. She made a huge scene in front of everyone in the barn that even the PR's were involved. It was such a bad situation, and we ended up leaving the party early. Thank God we are leaving for Texas tomorrow!