Haiti Benefit Sing

A couple of gentlemen from our area organized a Best of Berks Bluegrass Haiti Benefit Sing which we participated in.  Christian Leinbach, our county commisioner, was in charge of it; Wendell Yoder, Daryl’s former boss, ran the sound system (his group will be singing on a subsequent night).  This was to be a two-day affair at the Schulkill Valley Bible Chapel with Pastor Steve hosting the event.  The second night was postponed till February 19th or 26th due to inclement weather. 

The Stony Mountain Gang

Berks County and WEEU listeners should be familiar with Eastside Dave Kline.

Christian Leinbach, county commisioner; along with his group

Garment of Praise--the only a cappella group

Schulkill Valley Bible Chapel has a mission down in Haiti, about 120 miles from Port-au-Prince.  There is a clinic there, as well as their sister church.  The city, especially the clinic, was swamped within days of the earthquake.  The Haiti Benefit Sing will send all their proceeds to this mission.  The concert charged $5 per person, and they also had donation baskets. 

It was wonderful to participate in something that was very new and different than usual.  Since it was in Northern Berks County, it was a new area for the Garment of Praise. They took a lot of requests for the old hymns, and also shared their usual numbers.  It was not specifically a “Christian” event, so it was also our privilege to present the gospel.

Oley Mennonite Program

Garment of Praise sang at Oley Valley Mennonite Church on January 31 Sunday morning. The Petersheim family debuted their new song with their children: “God makes a lot of a little”.

Oley Valley Mennonite Church on Sunday morning

This church holds some fond memories for the Petersheim brothers–their dad grew up here.  Their grandparents dropped in for the service, along with Dan and Daryl’s parents, Willis and Lydia.

Daryl and Danny's grandparents, Elmer and Ruth Petersheim

Also, Daryl and Renita’s neighbor, Rod Burkert and friend came over to Oley to attend the service.

Rod Burkert and Nancy--the Petersheim children's favorite neighbors

The Good Ole’ Bus

We had a program schedule for April 5, at Shalom Mennonite.  We decided to take the good old bus to the program that night, since the church was about 2 1/2 hours away.  Brian had been down with pneumonia, and he was making a comeback that night.  Taking the bus would allow him to rest on the bus, and not have to drive.

Unfortunately, the bus was not ready for occupation!  Prior to the trip, I went down to Daryl’s parents where we park it, armed with Windex, cleaners, vacuum sweeper.  Well, it took longer than anticipated, because a mouse (or mice) had really enjoyed our bus for the winter.  Also, the grafitti on the side, complements of parking it in Reading, would not be removed easily.  That project was put off until Saturday when Daryl bought some grafitti remover at Lowe’s, and I went at it again.

Anybody know how grafitti remover works? I’m not sure, but two sad things happened while using the grafitti remover; one, the grafitti had been on too long and didn’t want to come off; two, the black stripes on the bus did want to come off.  So, at first glance, the bus looks better.  At second glance, it looks like it needs more help!

Oh, well, here’s the beauty we took on the trip on Sunday!

The trip went well, with Jason driving part way, and Daryl the other.  Shalom is up above 80, so we spent a few extra minutes taking 322 rather than agonizing up rt.61.  The bus was a little emptier this trip, because of the seniors and juniors of Fairview being in Jamaica on a missions trip (this included Caitlin, Jason’s oldest,  and Carissa, Brian’s oldest.) Our 4 children went along, Jason and Denise took Brooklyn, and Brian’s took their youngest children, 3 boys.  Danny soloed.

Yeah, they stole the sound guy’s chair to bring in the sound system.  Worked pretty good.

Brian got through the program okay, resting a little more than usual, not quite full strength. It was wonderful to have him back up there, though.  They had been kind of limping along for the last 2 weeks with lots of fill-ins.  Marcus came back for a few times, Amy (Fox) Huber, the Fox’s sister, did the tenor part once or twice, and I actually filled in for 3 songs.   Thank God, we got through it, and it’s good to have the 4 of them back singing together again.

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