Sláinte!

Our final day in Ireland was one of our saddest days of the tour because it meant we would soon be gone, but in many ways it was also one of the best because we knew we needed to make the most of the time we had left. The time spent in Dublin (the country's capitol), while different and much more fast-paced than all our other stops, was educational and exciting. Our time there began with a chance to view the Book of Kells, an ancient manuscript of the four Gospels beautifully written and illustrated, and ended for many of us with a jaunt about the city at night enjoying the sights and sounds of Dublin. In between we found time to hear music, shop a bit for our friends and family back home, and perform a lunchtime concert at St. Patricks Cathedral.

This morning we were up bright and early in order to have a smooth transition in the airport through security and customs. We had a small passport scare, but it was resolved, thankfully.

It's never easy to return to "normal" life after experiences like this, but if we are able to take what we have seen and learned from this adventure and use it somehow in our lives back home, our day to day activities can be so much richer. Yesterday in the Cathedral I found this quote by Patrick and I felt it would be apropos to share it here as we end this journey in order to begin another:

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.


Amen and Amen.


PS Sláinte is literally gaelic for "health" and is a kind of toast in Ireland!

The Final Leg

Our concert in Waterford last night (the home of the famous Waterford Crystal) was a huge success and it was great fun to perform with the Waterford Men's Chorus. The church not only supplied a great crowd but blessed us with a lovely reception following the concert.

This morning we left Waterford to begin our final long drive to Dublin, the capital of Ireland. This country's rich history was brought to life once again when we had the chance to visit two significant castles on our way from Waterford to Dublin. First we saw Cashel Rock and then later visited Killkenny Castle and both were fantastic pieces of architecture. The latter was a much more intact example of a historical castle and was decorated in the Victorian style.

While we didn't have an official concert today, we did sing in part of the ruins at Cashel Rock following our tour of the grounds. Tomorrow will be our final official concert and all of us are already starting to feel sadness over the fact that we have to leave this beautiful country so soon.

Prayer Request: Pray for our final concert, that God would maintain our strength and vitality in singing and reaching those in our audience.

Life in Killarney Part II

This post is by guest blogger Carla Miller:

On Monday morning twenty of us chose to board the bus for the day to travel the 125 mile round trip route called the Ring of Kerry. The day was perfect Ireland weather, a bit overcast but mild in temperature, and the landscapes were beautiful. Despite the length of the route we never traveled for more than 20 minutes at a time without stopping to take pictures, sightsee or explore the countryside. One of our first and favorite stops was at a small sheep farm where a wizened, old gray haired shepherd gave us a sheepdog demonstration. We were very impressed with the precise obedience and eagerness of the dogs.

Half of our route ran along the coast of the beautiful Atlantic ocean, and we stopped once to walk the rocky beach. The views along this drive were incredible and awe inspiring. We stopped at multiple overlooks to observe the stretches of beaches and mountains, landscapes as far as the eye could see. At one overlook we stood in awe and acknowledged that pictures could not do justice to the beauty before us. As a group we broke out into a verse and chorus of a worshipful rendition of How Great Thou Art. At the end of the trip we all agreed that anyone who didn’t travel the Ring of Kerry seriously missed out on some of the most beautiful views in Ireland.

Life in Killarney Part 1

On Monday we had two options of how to spend the day; either we could remain in the town of Killarney exploring the shops and the local National Park, or we could travel on the bus to see the Ring of Kerry, a stunning and popular tourist trail in south-western Ireland. Here is a bit about the first experience, with information on the second to come . . .

The town of Killarney was a pleasant place with lots of great food, shops and lovely people milling about all helping to create a lively atmosphere. Within the main part of town is both St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Mary's Church, the latter of which we were to sing at that night, and many of us took the time to visit both. The church was a lovely space, but the Cathedral was an amazing feat of architecture in beauty and scale.

Just at the edge of town was in my opinion the best part of the town to spend your time in, the Killarney National Park. Within the borders of this large piece of land one could find amazing views, waterfalls, a lake, islands, old estates and more. On this particular day, many of those who stayed in town took the short hike to a ruin called Ross Castle. It sits right by the lake, and while very little of the full original complex remains, it is still fascinating and impressive to see. Over the years, the castle has seen many changes as its ownership has changed hands. While it originally functioned as a castle, it later had a more "contemporary" home built on the grounds and then became barracks for the military. It is now being restored to its original historical structure.

The rest of the day consisted of a scrumptious dinner and then a wonderful concert! Most of the choir members had taken every opportunity they could throughout the day recruiting people we met wherever we were.

Prayer Request: Pray that we maintain our health for the last set of concerts.

A day of travel, and so much Mhoer

Today was the day. One of the moments of the trip that many of us were eagerly anticipating had finally come; we were going to the see the cliffs of Mhoer!

Our luggage piled up outside the tour bus once again as we loaded it up for a day of travel. As we enjoyed breakfast we imagined what this stunning natural phenomenon so many of us had only seen on Google images would be like. Before we knew it, Galway was simply a small dot in our rear-view mirror and the cliffs was calling!

If you have ever felt so thrilled by something that you wanted to tell everyone about it but yet simply desired to silently revel in the moment, you may have a clue of what it felt like to see these cliffs. Like magnificent sentinels, the cliffs rose out of the ocean shrouded in mist and fog and unwavering in their duty. Both peaceful silence and a vibrant sense of life simultaneously defined the atmosphere of the place and created a swelling of emotion in all of us present. Pictures can’t do it justice and words feel like a waste when trying to describe what we experienced.

Ultimately, the days travels were meant to bring us to the city of Killarney, and after much more driving and a ride on a ferry across the river Shannon, we arrived on the outskirts of Killarney and immediately went to an outlook at a local seminary to get a view of the Killarney valley. What we found was a stunning vista. The sun was breaking through the clouds casting golden strokes across the hills and lighting up the rooftops of the town.

Prayer Request: Pray for continued unity within the chorale family as we travel, eat, live and sing together.

New Experiences

We woke on Saturday excited for the day of our first concert. Each of us were anticipating our international debut and eager to share our music with the people of Galway.

Before we did our evening concert at St. Nicholas church, we had the opportunity to visit a few interesting places. First we learned about Connemara marble, a type of marble exclusively quarried in Connemara that was actually used in building the State Capitol in Harrisburg, PA. It came in the beautiful colors of dark green, light green, red, white and black and was absolutely stunning to see.

Next we toured Kylemore Abbey, a lovely castle situated by a small lake built in 1867 by Mitchell Henry. In the years since then it has functioned as a home to nuns of the Benedictine order, a girls school and now a tourist attraction. Just adjacent to the castle is a small cathedral built in memory of the first owners wife after she died and is a beautiful example of neo-gothic architecture. While in the cathedral, we did an impromptu concert which served as a practice session for our evening concert. We ended up having a rather nice audience of tourists who trickled into the cathedral while we were singing and enjoyed the chance to share our music with them.

Following our time there, we returned to Galway, the city in which we were staying that night and also performing, and spent some time walking the streets of the city and visiting shops. A few of the chorale members happened to meet some fellow Christians while on the street and we spent time encouraging each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. It was exciting to see the presence of believers in Ireland intentionally trying to share their faith with the people in their city.

That evening after enjoying a scrumptious dinner, we set off for our first official concert. The space was fantastic and we quickly set up, rehearsed and waited. While our audience was not huge, The concert proved to be successful and those in attendance expressed genuine enjoyment. We tried to find points of connection with those we talked with after the concert and, when possible, asked for contact information to stay in touch and share Christ’s love in some way with them once we had returned to America.

Even though some of our chorale family were feeling ill, overall it had been a smooth day. On our way back to the bus, however, something rather unexpected happened. One of our chorale members, Shawn Lassiter, had begun to feel ill towards the end of our concert and as we left the church he grew light-headed and we had to help him to the ground. He was taken to the hospital and after a long night of testing, sitting, talking and waiting, it was determined that he had simply experienced faintness due to low blood sugar. He was a trooper through it all and is now doing fine, as are those of us who spent the night with him in the hospital.

Prayer Request: Pray that the mission God has given us while here in Ireland would not be hindered by sickness but that he would use it for his glory.

Media is up!

Check out the Snapshots! and Video! tabs to see what we are seeing. It's like you're here! . . . well, sorta.

Also, submit your e-mail at the top of this page to get e-mail updates.