Monday, February 26, 2007

Decibles? Heck no. This amp is measured in PSI, my friend.

Oh, what a week! Where to begin but where we left off: Julie's Birthday at "Nast In The Box". After our jaunt to Ontario (the city, not the province) we headed up to Bakersfield to play for another school. I heard the girls had a good time there, but we guys were taken out to a wonderful restaurant and were treated like little kings by our hosts. On Thursday we played the chapel for the high school kids and got to crank it real loud. They were very kind to us. To me especially because my voice sounded like I'd put it through a cheese grater and they didn't jeer in the least. Thanks guys!

We left toot sweet for Escondido and played an acoustic chapel the next day for our fourth school of the week. Luke and I had a blast at our host home on Friday night. They put us in a "pool house" which was a miniature house in their back yard by their pool. We set up the recording equipment and got three more tracks done for the up-and-coming album. How exciting!

Saturday we found ourselves in Poway (northern San Diego) at Chinese Bible Church, doing a music workshop for their high school musicians. And who did we meet there but the easily flattered, oh so generous, black custom Fender Tele owner/borrower, CTI alum Jared Moody. Go figure. After an afternoon of boba eating/drinking/spitting and some amazing Pho (that's "ph" like "f" and "o" like "uh") thanks to Dave Yu, we parted ways for the next while.

CBC was a good time on Sunday morning and Ruth had a surprise visit from a friend's dad from Australia. I think that was the case anyway. Anyhow, we downed more boba (oh MN, how you lack such delicious things...) and enjoyed the service at Flood. If you don't know about Flood, it's the home church to Future of Forestry (formerly Something Like Silas) and my main church while I was living in San Diego. If you get a chance, check it out. Seriously.

Ooooh, and I almost forgot. Some of you may have seen those energy drinks in the gas stations. Goodness knows we see 'em every two hours on our trips across the States. Anyhow, some of them are nothing more than guarana-flavored soda with big bold letters on it. Some of them just taste bad and have a little more caffeine in them. One of them, Red Line, has a warning on it stating that you shouldn't consume it if you're under 18, have a history of heart problems, are pregnant, or one of a hundred other things. It promises the energy of a class of 2nd graders in six little ounces of thick liquid. Most of us would think to ourselves, "hmm..." and move on. No no no, one of our guys (who will remain nameless for shame's sake) paid the $4 for this little magic bottle and reaped the benefits...err...consequences. Apparently it actually DOES work. His heartrate BPM was around 1,000 during the church service and his nose itched for about eight hours. He got an hour and a half of sleep last night (blamed mostly on the earsplittingly loud snoring of yet another nameless band member) and was unsurprisingly surly this morning during the first two hours of our arduous eight hour drive from San Diego to Fresno. The moral of this story is: if you're unsure about the effects of a particular substance, make someone else try it first.

Have a good week everyone.

..nathan walker..

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

California!

Hi friends! Well today is our wonderful Julie's 19th birthday!! Happy birthday dear girl! It's been lovely celebrating with her today...first at lunch with Jack in the Box, then giving her a present of Doritos, Jeff Gordan trading cards, and a journal, then trying to light candles on her birthday cake with the wind blowing persistently, singing happy birthday with Paulie slipping and falling off the step, Willie saying 'happy birthday Julie' every minute...ya, it's fun times!!

So we are in California and it's so nice to be in some warm weather. Yeah, I know I love the snow and it was very exciting for me to be in some...BUT being in warmer weather reminds me of back home in Australia :) Right now we are in Ontario (I think!), just outside of LA. We've spent the last couple of days in San Diego and had a really awesome time playing in Nathan's old church and meeting some of his friends. You guys at Glory were amazing...thanks for being such a great crowd! Enjoy those cd's now!

This past week we also played at a detention centre in Eloy, Arizona. For some reason, playing in a prison is a very humbling experience for me. These are people who have probably reached the lowest point in their lives, but their love for God and the joy that they seem to have really encouraged and ministered to me! They loved our music and it was truly a joy to play for them and be a blessing to them.

Well dear friends, we are now into our 5th week of tour. Amazing...it's going so fast it seems! And next week our amazingly wonderful director Chris will be with us :) Yeah!! God has been faithful and I'm constantly amazed by his goodness to our team. Thank you all so much for your continued support and prayers! Bless you!

-Ruth (or you can call me Marie...seriously, the last 4 times I've introduced myself to people they've thought I said Marie coz of my accent...now, how 'Ruth' can sound like 'Marie' is something I don't think I'll ever be able to understand!)

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Hello from Phoenix!

Hello from Phoenix!

We are finally free of the cold weather, and it feels great. As I write, we have all the doors and windows open and are wearing short-sleeves.

This last week has been pretty busy. Let's recap a bit...


Tuesday morning we played at Denver Lutheran HS for a very receptive crowd. It was lots of fun. Then we played on Wednesday night at Englewood Correctional Facility. This was one of our most humbling and exciting concerts yet. The prisoners were great and some of them even prayed for us after the concert!

Friday we drove through some pretty rough conditions to Albuquerque, New Mexico, but once we arrived it was worth it. We stepped out of the van to 60 degree weather. We spent the weekend with Fellowship CRC and Chelwood CRC. A big shout-out to the Ragsdale family (Jenna, STM '05 alum) for letting us hang out during the Super Bowl. It was a sad day to see the Bears lose, but it was a great time hanging out with the Ragsdales.

Now we are in Phoenix, where the weather is even nicer! Thanks for your prayers and support.

Specific prayer requests:
  • Our upcoming opportunities to minister in prisons
  • Continued team unity
  • Strength for a busy week
God Bless and stay warm!

Paul