Day Two:
Friday, April 14 2014
Linfield Christian School
The first stop of the day was Linfield Christian School in
Temecula where we lead the Easter Chapel for the middle and high school
students. As we were arriving at the school Abbey S. remarked, “This is
the first time we’ve ever sung at a school [since she has been going on AACS
choir tours], and I love it!” The
students at Linfield returned the sentiment, clapping and singing along with
our choirs. (Of course the middle school girls just melted when the Men of Note
sang their “Nylons Medley!”)
Another memorable moment of the performance was the
Bell’Arte rendition of “All the Beauty” (written by J.J. Heller and arranged by
AACS alumnus Adam Cogliano). The piece
focuses on the thoughts of a young woman as she looks in the mirror and must
battle the “lies” she hears about what she sees. The Bellas interjected a moving “spoken word”
section into the piece where they shouted some of the lies that they must
confront: “You’re worthless. You’re legs don’t look good in a skirt. Every time I look in the mirror, all I see is
‘gross!’” The piece then confronts those
lies with the truth: “You were fearfully
and wonderfully made. You were made in
my image. I know every hair on your
head. You are a daughter of the King,
and I love you!” Several of the Bellas
commented that they felt the power in the texts they spoke today and hoped that
the piece blessed the audience as much as performing it blessed them.
After the performance we invited the high school performing
arts students to hang out for an informal Q and A session before we enjoyed a
delicious, and authentic, Mexican food buffet for lunch. Dessert was a full pallet of huge, ripe,
fresh, luscious, local strawberries.
They were so juicy they required a “splash zone!”
Friends Christian School—Middle School Assembly
The next stop of the day was Rick and Barbara Kempton’s
former school, Friends Christian School, in Yorba Linda. Here we performed an assembly for 500 middle
school students who had earned a much needed break from a round of standardized
testing. Mr. K received a boisterous
standing ovation from his former students, and during his introduction he
thanked them saying, “Barbara and I are visiting those we love, and we’re
introducing them to those [from Maryland] we are falling in love with.”
After the assembly we enjoyed some “down time” on the
sprawling Friends campus and were treated
to Lamppost Pizza, a favorite of the Kemptons, followed by root beer
floats. (Whitney V.’s first root
beer ever!)
Rose Drive Friends Church—Evening Concert
As the sun was setting , we began an evening concert at the
Rose Drive Friends Church. Besides the
Kemptons,, Mrs. Joseph, Ms. Kauffman, Whitney Vandenheuvel, Brook Bloomquist, Hannah
Holden, and Mr. Vineyard all had friends and family who were able to join us
for the concert, making the evening a very special event for everyone.
Following the concert the students went to stay the night in
the homes of host families who were all close friends and family members of the
Kemptons.
More exciting tour moments to come! Including a hilarious, late night bus debacle with the chaperones. :)
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| Evening concert at Rose Drive Friends Church - Yorba Linda, CA |
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| Primping for the evening concert |
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| Chapel Performance at Linfield Christian School in Temecula, CA |
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| Root beer floats in the California sun! |
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| Whitney's first ever root beer! |
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| The teachers get in on the root beer float action |
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| Pizza Dinner in Yorba Linda, CA |
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| Fresh, juicy California strawberries at lunch. Splash zone required! |
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| The Kempton's are reunited with their family |
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| Chapel Performance at Linfield Christian School in Temecula, CA |
