Quartet Night at Fairview Christian School

We’re excited about an upcoming program in our school gym on Sunday, March 24, 2013. Groups participating will be: Vision Quartet, Testify Quartet, Landis Brothers Quartet and Garment of Praise. The program starts at 6:30 pm. The gym is located at Fairview Christian School. The address is 410 S. 14th Street, Reading, PA 19602. Hope to see you there!

Country Fest 2012

The children waiting for the auction to start, in the new, bigger facility.

Garment of Praise always has a half-hour singing before the auction starts.

Sorry, our boys cleaned up the pedal tractor pulling contest! (OK, not quite "cleaned up", but had fun pedalling and winning a few.)

The much-anticipated barrel rides.

Singing during the chicken BBQ lunch.

Pony-cart rides --Chrissy Petersheim and Brooklyn Fox

Brian-- looking very disappointed! They just announced that they would let the younger children collect candy first, before letting the older ones cross the tape. His loss=little kids' gain.

Here comes the candy from the copter!

Yum! Danny's chicken BBQ lunch, well-deserved! and very delicious!

Sunday morning, we participated in a service at Bittinger Mennonite Church and enjoyed a delish potluck lunch! Thank you for the warm fellowship and encouragement we received. The new acquaintances we make and warm friendships we renew, make this singing ministry a joy!

Illinois/Ohio Itinerary

July trip to OH

We had a  refreshing trip to Ohio; being with old friends and singing again after a break in the schedule. It only turned exhausting on the road home, arriving back to the church around 4:00 am on Monday morning. We’re grateful again for another safe trip.

We enjoyed visiting with JR and Rhonda Schlabach on our trip. We stayed at their home, and Rhonda’s brother’s home right next door, for the duration of our stay in OH. (JR and Rhonda had done a year of VS in Reading, then stayed for a couple more years.) It was a sweet time of fellowship and renewing friendships with them, as well as many of you all that came out to listen and encourage us!

Almost ready to leave Friday morning, July 13, from the church parking lot. Hope to get the bus looking better by the next trip. Paint job is scheduled to be done SOON!

Excited for the first trip of the summer.

Sweet friendships on the bus: Chrissy Petersheim and Brooklyn Fox.

Higher Ground Quartet shared Friday evening with us in Wooster Square.

The two quartets and Davie Richards: organizer of the event.

This event is growing and well-attended. We hope it is a blessing in the community.

L to R: Marshall and Blake Fox, Jacob Petersheim-- ready for the program.

Staying with JR and Rhonda Schlabach: fun with Rhonda driving.

Fun times relaxing with JR and Rhonda during the weekend.

 Friday evening, the guys sang in Wooster Square; an event planned by Davie Richards. Saturday evening, they sang at Chester Mennonite Church, then Sunday morning at Messiah.

Hmmm... the discussion with new friends. How strong IS the bus? and Can't you understand what we're saying in Dutch?

JR and Rhonda Schlabach were great hosts!

Sunday after the fellowship meal for lunch, we headed east 3 hours to Cochranton, PA to Pleasantview Mennonite Church. After church, Jason and Daryl decided to tackle the job of stopping the leaking air-conditioner before the trip home. Thank you to the help from the men at church, and to God, for an easy fix!

Air-conditioning unit was raining down on us the whole trip, so Jason and Daryl did some repair work on it before the return trip home.

The men who so graciously outfitted the "repairmen" with tools, now have one less sawblade.

We arrived back in Reading at 4:00 am on Monday morning. Thank you everyone for your encouraging words and hospitality during our travels. Thanks to God for the safe trip!

Ohio– Here we come!

Following are the dates and times for our upcoming trip to Ohio. We’ll be arriving in the Wooster, OH area on Friday, July 13th. Here are the details.

Keystone Boys Camp 2012

The guys enjoyed singing to the arrows campers on Thursday night, June 28 at Promised Land Camp in Conestoga, PA. As close as we could figure, this is the eighth year we’ve done this– and loved it every time! Danny was absent for this program; he was on a family trip to Colorado. Instead, Marcus rejoined the quartet for the evening, revisiting old songs, and jumping right into some of the quartet’s new songs.

Ages 9-14 boys; plus counselors and camp staff

Camp Directors (doing a phenomenal job), Arthur and Lorinda Dexter

Favorite songs in this crowd: a rousing rendition of "Is that Footsteps that I hear", and the big quartet mix-up, "Just a little talk with Jesus"

An extra pull for the Garment of Praise this year: Brian's son, Bryce, was one of the arrows campers.

Bryce and friends

The guys finished out the night with visiting with the campers and enjoying root beer floats. Thank you to the cooks, counselors, directors, and all who make the camp possible. We were blessed to be there, as I’m sure the boys are, as well.

Living Hope Banquet

Looking forward to a banquet coming up on October 25, 2011 at Shady Maple Restaurant. Information is posted on the flyer following:

Weekend in Indiana

The trip began at 3:00 am on Friday morning, August 5th.  Jason, then Brian, then Daryl took a turn driving. Click here to watch life unfold on the GOP bus!  This trip, Sheryl also helped out with the driving, and did a fantastic job. 

 One of the funnier moments was instructing Danny on driving the bus for the first time (as well as his first try at driving manual transmission.) Watch here for his successful second attempt! Nothing like learning to drive with a whole busload of people!

Working on "Wonderful Grace of Jesus" while en route.

Our first program was at the Simon J. Graber building, graciously hosted by Jason and Joanna Knepp and family!  They provided dinner and motel for us that evening, and the service was a blessing.

 The following day was jam-packed with fun activities with friends; going out for breakfast at Knepp Family Restaurant with Hank, Jason, Joanna, and daughter, Rachel; eating lunch with Nate and Rose Overholt and family at Jeremy and Vanita Sensenig’s from Fresh Start; and letting the children run off some energy.

Jeremy and Vanita Sensenig hosted us for a relaxing, enjoyable afternoon.

Nate and Rose blessed us with their family singing for us!

If they sing; WE sing!

 We drove about a 1/2 hour to the program that evening at Hillside Mennonite Church. It was the first time we were ever there, but we received a warm welcome, and it was great to meet more brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Marshall Fox and Jake Petersheim after a long day of PLAY!

Training him young (Daryl with youngest son, Darien)

Getting everyone ready for the program.

Sheryl setting up the CD rack.

The next morning we enjoyed a morning service at Fresh Start Chapel and a quick meal, then it was onto the bus for a 5 hour trip to our Sunday evening program.

Eldon and Audrey Miller and family hosted this evening at Salem, and had a meal for us immediately on arrival. We finally were able to do a Sunday evening program here, and they definitely had a good turnout!

They packed them in; filling the foyer, and overflowing into the fellowship hall where they piped the music into.

This time we spent Sunday night in Indiana, and tanked up on sleep for the ride home Monday, rather than travelling through the night. Each night we were so grateful to our hosting families, and blessed by your generous spirits! We couldn’t continue our ministry without you!

Denise, Brooklyn, Cristina (Eldon Miller's daughter, IN), and Sheryl

Our prayer and aim for this weekend was to focus on salvation.  We hope to plant the seed, or perhaps water it. It would be nice to “see the increase”, however, only God can know what was happening in people’s hearts. Only God can truly save the soul. We were blessed to have someone comment on our facebook page, “You guys were great tonight! But I think we should have rented a stadium for all the people… It’s so awesome to see God using you to encourage so many people. Thanks for your testimonies & the emphasis on salvation.”

Indiana–When and Where

April 1 and May 1

On April 1st, the bus hit the road for the first weekend trip of the 2011 year.  Goshen, IN was our destination.  The families went along this time, except for Daryl’s family, who remained at home recovering from the flu.  Brian’s oldest daughters also stayed at home, but Jason’s whole family went.  Danny managed to bring his ENTIRE family on the trip, too!!

GOP-- on the road again! Miss Christina went along to visit her family.

Crowded.. but not as crowded as usual.

View from the road.

2011 was the first year the A Cappella Gospel Sing took place, but hopefully this will become an annual event. Ray Yutzy, of Sharon Bethel Quartet from Iowa, headed up the event, along with a committee of five men in the Goshen area. Ray did a phenomenal job of envisioning the weekend and helping it to run smoothly. Thanks, Ray!

Quartets, quintets, choirs, and family groups from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Canada, and more…

Followers Quartet

Garment of Praise

Greene Mountain Men’s Choir

Harmony Quartet

Harmony 5

Harmony 5 Generation 2

New Freedom Quartet

New Heights Quartet

The Harbor Lights

Higher Ground Quartet

The Living Faith Quartet

Sharon Bethel Quartet

Smucker Family

Many thanks to James Yoder, of Kalona, IA, who ran the sound and did a magnificent job! Also our appreciation goes to Fairhaven, for hosting the event at their church and to the Fairhaven/Woodlawn Youth for operating the food booth. 

Thanks to the Fairhaven congregation for their support!

Organization at this event was top-notch!

Yummy food whenever you wanted it.

Guy (Daryl's son), enjoying something from the food booth.

Near the dining area, each of the groups were able to set up a table to display their CDs and cassettes, and that is where we were able to meet friends and visit. 

CD tables

A highlight of the trip was being able to reach new people in the Goshen, IN area.  From  those we met, we received many encouraging words to go on singing. Thank you for that! We can go for quite a while on an encouraging word!

We also enjoyed meeting the other singing groups, and getting to know them. What a wonderful fellowship in working together to worship the Lord and bringing others a blessing!

The A Cappella Gospel Sing was Friday and Saturday, so on Sunday Garment of Praise sang at Blue River Church of the Brethren.

 

Nothing like a good climbing tree for boys with lots of energy!

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