In Indiana and Illinois

Hello Everyone,

Monday, I enjoyed spending my day off with my amazing college friend Elizabeth. She gave me a tour of Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne. We had a fun time catching up. Monday evening, the whole team met up with Ua, who was our on the road staff person and helped us during training. We met him at a Christian open mic night. It was really fun. Ua and Luke played some of Ua's songs together. We also got to watch others perform. Unfortunately, the roads were slick as we traveled back to our host homes, but we stayed safe.

Tuesday, we traveled to St. John, Indiana, where Adrienne's grandparents are. We stopped by her grandparents' house for awhile before having a family night program at their church. The program went really well even though we hadn't had one for awhile.

Wednesday, we drove to Tracy Methodist Church in Hamlet, Indiana. We met together as a team for awhile before being part of an amazing potluck. It was probably the best potluck I've been to--and it wasn't even Lutherans! We really enjoyed talking to people during the meal. Afterwards, we introduced ourselves and the audience asked us some questions about what we like about Christmas and what we do as a team. One audience member asked us to sing, so even though we weren't warmed up, we sang a song for them. In the midst of our songs, we heard bells ringing, so we stopped and began to sing "Jingle Bells" instead because Santa Clause was arriving. This was a really great Santa Clause! He was really entertaining for the adults and the kids loved him. Santa answered the kids questions using well known Christmas movies with Santa in them. We took a team photo with Santa and I got to sit on his lap. Maybe my Christmas wish will come true!!

Thursday, we spent some time talking about excellent communication and effective processes so we can improve our work and relationships as a team. It was somewhat challenging, but I think it helped to get some feelings out. After that, we drove past Chicago to Oak Park, Illinois. We got there early so we worked on writing our van song for midwinter training. Dan, the vehicle man, asks all of the teams to perform a song for everyone at midwinter training and the top few get a prize. We are very hopeful. After midwinter training is over, I will post the song on this blog.

Friday, we will go to Fairchild, Wisconsin. On Saturday, we will be in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. Midwinter training begins on Sunday!! It is so hard to believe that our fall tour is almost over. It went really fast. I have mixed feelings about midwinter training. We will be with all of the teams, when I would prefer to be with just the international teams. During midwinter training, we will record four of our songs, do our program for all of the other teams, reconnect with other teams, and share stories about our fall tour. The first few days of it will take place in the Twin Cities, but we will go to Luther Point for most of it.

Peace,

Tiffany