Special "Events"

Right after Freya and Steve left we received a team of 8 Grace College students led by former missionary colleague Kip Cone for just under two weeks of outreach ministry using English as a drawing card. Arrival at the train station in Aalen.

It was a remarkable group of young people - culturally sensitive, flexible, gifted and enthusiastic. They fit in to a multitude of different contexts and left a lasting impact on many people with whom they came into contact. This has encouraged us to consider inviting teams in future years for similar outreach ministries. Departure some 12 days later at the train station in Aalen.

A few short weeks later Thomas arrived with a group of friends, the Relevents Woodwind Quintet, for a week of concerts interspersed with sight-seeing excursions.

Thomas had to find his way back into German quickly as the quintet spent their first two days playing for music classes in Thomas' former school, Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium in Aalen.

These opportunities were coordinated by Norbert Locher, one of Thomas' teachers when he was a student at the school.

An evening concert was presented in this picturesque building in the center of Nördlingen, a medieval walled city about 1/2 hour to the east of Aalen.

The atmosphere in this concert hall was rustic and noble at the same time. The audience was enthusiastically appreciative as evidenced by their applause and comments afterwords.

The group was extremely professional and made a very pleasant impression.

A special treat was having Thomas' former and Zachary's current oboe teacher, Vannippon Kim-Thorn along with his wife present on that evening.

From left to right: Laura Dangerfield Stevens, flute; Thomas Pappas, oboe; Mary Pritchett-Boudreault, French horn; Ann Shoemaker, bassoon; Shawn Copeland, clarinette.

In action!

Guess who did the music for our church service on Sunday morning? Joining the quintet is Jim Boudreault, Mary's husband, on the trumpet.

After their Sunday evening concert in the music school in Aalen. Music of this type and of this excellence is seldom heard in Aalen as was attested to by the enthusiastic and overwhelmingly positive newspaper reviews.

After a full day of church and concert everyone relaxed with hamburger treats from McDonalds. After a much too short visit they were off to the airport early Monday morning. The european based managment team (Becky and John) looks forward to organizing future concert tours for this up and coming group.