After many months of preparation, today was the day of our Italian concert! This represents the culmination of many months of hard work and rehearsals.
We started the day with a delicious breakfast buffet and then headed into Terni to rehearse and to continue inviting more people to come.
Matthieu Pulfer is a French university student from Pastor Silberstein’s church who has been part of our ministry team during the trip. He shared the following about today’s events:
“Today, we arrived at the church to rehearse the concert. Those who were not part of the group singing during the evening went out singing in the streets while others passed out invitations to the concert. We did this once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Thus, the day alternated between song rehearsals, songs in the street, and distributions of concert invitations. At 9:00pm, we had the apex of our entire trip with our concert: “La Musica: Un Cammino a Dio” (Music: A Way to God).
Pray for the people who came to the concert and also for those who only received the invitation and were able to read the Gospel presentation on the back including John 3:16.”
As Matthieu wrote, the concert tonight was truly the high point of our entire trip. After handing out 5000 invitations in 2 days, it was wonderful to see the church full of guests.
Dr. Adam Watt shared some thoughts on the great success of tonight’s event:
“Tonight was an apex moment for our concert group of 17 as we were able to perform in an old church in downtown Terni, Italy. Over the past couple of weeks, we have practiced some of our selections, and I was amazed as God brought the group together in a short time. Carryn and Kayla played two violin pieces as well as accompanied a couple others; the violin pieces were beautiful, and we are so thankful God led these young ladies to be on the team. Telondra and Bella also sang beautiful solos, and the group sang several sacred selections.
Between each piece, Pastor Bloyd gave a backstory with Biblical application; pray that this message reaches the hearts of those who attended. After the concert pieces were performed, we added two solo selections that the audience enjoyed! Then, the audience requested an encore! We spontaneously sang “Behold Our God” with violins and harmony parts. This was a very moving conclusion!
Overall, the concert was a great success and enjoyed by all. As a leader of the choir group, I was so thankful for how God was able to use our young people to convey the message of the Gospel through music. The young people worked tirelessly this week through long rehearsals, late nights, battles with allergies, and even sickness among some members. They even enthusiastically helped with street singing and literature distribution. Needless to say, I am very proud (in a Biblical way) of our team coming together and dedicating themselves to serving the local Terni church for the glory of God!”
Tomorrow, we begin the long trek back home. We will travel to Rome by bus and then fly from Rome to Paris. We will stay overnight in a hotel in Paris and then fly to New York City on Sunday. Please pray for continued safety and smoothness of travel!