Category: General News

Friday morning, September 4th, we headed for Holmes County, OH, with the Garment of Praise for 3 programs. The bus was a little fuller than usual with Marcus and his family joining us to help fill the vacancy from Jason staying home with his wife and new baby.

The travelling was uneventful and we arrived at the Townhouse Bed and Breakfast, where we unpacked and got ready to head over to the auction for the Friday evening program. The guys warmed up a little in the big tent; Brian and Daryl with their usual parts, Marcus returning to baritone, and Danny filling in the bass. It went okay–one amusing part was Brian singing Jason’ bass solo on “Where His Grace Begins” and then jumping back up to tenor for the chorus, dropping down for the bass run, hopping back up to the tenor for the finish of the chorus.  I think we were all grateful to hear Jason sing that one the next time.

Hitting the coffee house late Friday night after the children are in bed.

We walked around Berlin to get breakfast Saturday morning–what a pile of children were on this trip. Made for some fun…and chaotic times!

Homestead Restaurant for a great buffet Saturday morning!

Setting up on Saturday morning for our next program to be on Sunday morning. Jason says, “That’s what you call ‘air bass'”.

Enjoyed the auction for a few hours Saturday afternoon, to bid on a few things, and visit with friends.

Joe and Rhoda Miller, our good friends, always have us over for supper…and the guys have to get in their half-court basketball game! Jason drove out with daughter, Molly, to help sing on Sunday! It was good to see him join the group again.

Now there’s a pretty picture; John Deere and GOP bus! Joe took us on a hay ride around the area for some beautiful views!

Headed for Sharon Conservative Mennonite Church.  We attended Sunday School with the church people, then the guys shared the morning message in song, then we enjoyed a good fellowship meal with their congregation, and some visitors–a lot of our German Baptist friends were there.

Joe and Rhoda came to the last program–their Brianna made good friends with our Chrissy.

Even though Jason was there to sing for most of the program, Marcus filled in Danny’s part for some of the program, and all five of them sang “One Fine Day” for a grand finale.

Photo’s of our Strasburg Mennonite Church program…this was a good program…and was nice to be near home.

This is a continuation of the Indian trip…

We went north to Lamb of God on Sunday Morning.  The children went to Sunday School while the guys set up and practiced a little.  Family friend, Justin Stoltzfus, dropped in for the program from over in Goshen. The church also fed us a wonderful lunch before we headed home.

The road home was uneventful.  Brian got to try out his “shroom burger” and put in his solid 45 minutes of driving.  We arrived home around midnight.  Thank God for safe travels and a good tour!

This is a continuation of the Indiana trip…

We got to Terry Myers house around 3:00 and he fed us the biggest, baddest burgers (definitely hard to sing on).  It was nice to see their house almost finished and visit with our friends.  Terry had just been to our church last October for meetings and it was good to catch up with them again.

Then it was on to the 3rd program of the tour, Cuba Mennonite Church, for a full auditorium and reconecting with old friends.

This program was a kick-off for the school year for  Pleasant View Christian School in Montgomery, Indiana.  Jason, Joanna, and Rachel Knepp provided supper for us at the school and then the guys warmed up and worked on “Gloryland”, a new song they sang this weekend.  The children enjoyed this evening, since they played outside for some of the program and there was a concession stand run by the volleyball girls.

We arrived at David Gipe’s house for a meal before the program….

…and visited with Shirley Bowman (wife of Dwaine, affectionately known as Big Bear), and Shirley’s daughter and son-in-law, Sheldon and Kim Lavy. It was nice to look through Shirley’s memory book of Dwaine and listen to some of his CDs he recorded singing with the Hobo’s!

After supper, we drove over to Lighthouse Christian Center where the guys had sung previously other years.  They had about 450 people in attendance from all different churches in the area.

We returned to David Gipe’s house for the night.  They put us all up for the night, and Kim provided a wonderful breakfast for us before sending us off onto Indiana.

We’re all ready to head out on our Ohio/Indiana trip this weekend.  We are looking forward to being in the Dayton, OH area on Thursday evening, but wanted to mention that we’ll be missing a very important person–Big Bear.  Duane Bowman (affectionately known as Big Bear) was the one who would invite us to the area and welcome us whole-heartedly!  He would come up on stage, kick Jason out of the quartet, and join us for a few numbers.  Since last time we were there, Duane had a heart attack and went home to be with the Lord.  He will be missed!

We stayed in the area for church the next morning at Greenwood Mennonite Church, Sam Yoder’s church.

We spent the night in one of the members’ houses (he was gone for the weekend, so he let us invade his house and cabin out back).  It provided wonderfully for all 3 families and Danny.

The church people were friendly and welcoming.  We had a good service–with the congregational singing, Sunday school, and the quartet singing during the sermon slot of time.  They provided us with a scrumptious meal, and then we headed home.  It was about a 2 1/2-3 hour trip–not bad– so we arrived home early evening.

On the road again–to Deleware this time.  Anna and James Harvey were the promoters of the dinner concert, and it was held at Sam Yoder’s Farm.  Also on the program were the Allen Harris family from Indiana(a father and two sons who sing together).

Sam’s farm is a very family-friendly place to have concerts.  Jake Petersheim was in his glory–John Deere tractors are everywhere inside.  Sometimes they have tractor shows with a concert, but not this time.  Still, there are always Sam’s pedal tractor display the whole way around the top of the room–75 of them (he’s got 150 total).  And in the display cases around the room, he has 175 model tractors set up.  I think he said he has several hundred more at home in display cases.

Renita Petersheim and Sam Yoder made some Oregon connections this time–Sam’s father grew up in Albany, Oregon, and Sam’s in-laws are in McMinnville, OR.  About 10 years ago on his way up to Alaska, Sam and his wife stopped in Sheridan, OR (Renita’s home town) and parked their trailer in the church parking lot while visiting friends in town.

We let the children play outside after the meal, while the guys sang.  There are cattle to visit, chickens to feed, and toads to catch.  We all really enjoyed our time there.  Sam and Anna are great hosts!

Gospel Express was invited to come do a tent crusade on the grounds of Teen Challenge, Rehresburg, PA, and Garment of Praise was invited to open up one night.  Dale Weaver from Myerstown was the moderator, and Dave Miller brought the message, “It’s All About Jesus”. He spoke from Hebrews 2:1-3 about not neglecting your salvation.

Before the message, Dave’s family also shared a small drama regarding the spiritual gifts–funny and challenging! Nelson put in an enthusiastic word here and there, and ran the sound system (with son-in-law, Rendall Hostetler). This is a dynamic ministry and we pray God’s blessings upon them.

Garment of Praise was received enthusiastically by the Teen Challenge guys, and Nelson requested one more song after they were returning to their seats.  They sang “Heaven’s Joy Awaits” and got the group clapping along (this is sometimes scary–since clapping along with GOP’s timing can confuse these guys 🙂  ). After the song they got a standing ovation, and after the service, testimonies of the songs blessing them.  May God receive the glory!