TOUR TALES CHAPTERS 14 & 15

Chapter 14: Glendora, California

Roger started driving on the long journey to Los Angeles, but B.J. drove the majority of the miles down the Sacramento valley.  It was Saturday, and so we didn’t expect heavy traffic, but on the freeways of L.A. near Pasadena, the cars were moving slowly. The buses were not too far ahead of us, and we arrived at the Glenkirk Church in Glendora around 6:45 pm. Dinner was waiting for us in a spacious dining room with round tables.

The Ukrainians were really tired, and ready to go home with their hosts. With no concert tonight, they could rest and get ready for Sunday, which would have a double commitment – two worship services and a 4:30 pm concert. 

Every tour member had a home, and that was a blessing: A home-cooked snack, a good bed, and an American to look after their needs. Our hosts were Dennis and Sheila Davies who had visited Kiev, and felt connected with our Mission. They insisted that we take their bedroom with its private bath, and they moved upstairs to another room.  They were even willing to take two Ukrainians as well, when a church member had to go to the emergency room at the hospital, and so Ivan and Roman joined us for one night. What a luxury to have three nights in the same place!  We were ready for a stop after such a fast pace. 

Roger was upset when he heard that certain Ukrainians had decided for the group to go shopping all day on Monday to Thrift Stores.  “They’re in Los Angeles, with so much to see,” he said. “Why waste it on shopping?”  So the plans were re-arranged. Monday Roger would take whoever wanted to go to Santa Monica beach with the buses. Some would opt to stay with their hosts. Still others would continue their shopping frenzy, and probably take one of the buses.

Sunday came, and Roger joined the Ukrainians at the church at 7:45 am.  Since there were two services, I opted to attend the second one, and took time for a 30-minute walk to stir my metabolism on the hills of LA. Climbing to the top, I found a look-out position with Route 66 running along the bottom of the cliff. It was a beautiful day, and when I walked into the church yard at 10:15, there was a table of our CD’s and books with B.J., Brenda, and Marcia taking charge.

B.J. and I went into the foyer of the church, and the worship band was quite loud. “Let’s sit outside in the lobby until the worship begins,” I said. The usher gave me some papers, and I looked through them—announcements, an interesting Bible study outline on 1 Corinthians.  “Where’s the bulletin?” I asked him. He pointed to a panel on the back of the announcement folder that said, “Main points of the sermon.” “I guess they’ll tell us what they want us to do,” I said to B.J., smiling.

We walked into the large sanctuary on the introduction of “A Mighty Fortress” played by the Kyiv Orchestra. The place was packed. We finally found two seats on the second row.  The words to the four hymns that followed were shown on the wall screen. The people sang heartily with the choir and orchestra.  They knew these hymns.

The sermon was wonderful. “Let Christ be the center, and let me be His servant.  We need to step out of the center, and allow Christ to be glorified. Not Paul, or Apollos, or any other teacher.”

After the service, the tour members were invited to an outdoor pavilion where there were all kinds of fruit offered. We sat in the “perfect” California air and visited at round tables. Soon two buffet tables were opened to feed all the 140 tour members and their host families. The food ministry had been working for weeks to prepare all this food. There was supper last night, and lunch today, and tonight they would have a buffet not only for these, but for the entire audience of the concert. (More about that later!)

The concert that afternoon was a different program than usual. The choir of Glenkirk, about 40 members, joined the KSOC for most of the first half of the program. We add numbers that the two groups could perform together in English:“How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place” from Brahms Requiem, “He Watching Over Israel” from the Elijah,  and Mozart’s Lacrymosa in Latin and even the Prayer of Ukraine in Ukrainian, which the choir had studied with a Ukrainian teacher.  This is a rare occurence for our tour, and it is very difficult because it demands a lot from the conductor, especially after two Sunday worship services with our own group, a rehearsal with the local choir (without the Ukrainians), and then the group performance singing together for the first time. 

“If  I’m ever going to have a heart attack in a concert, this will be the day,” Roger said to me as we went into the concert. But it was a great program. The choir from Glenkirk blended so well with our Ukrainians and it was quite professional.

In the second half of the concert, the KSOC presented their unique program, and during “God Bless America,” the entire audience stood and sang with them. This was a first!

After “Route 66” and the drawing for the CD’s, the Glenkirk choir processed for the final two numbers, Prayer of Ukraine and America the Beautiful.

The concert ran long, and it was almost dark as the audience came out into the courtyard at 7 pm.  We were still selling product with lights on the patio.

One man came to my table to remark, “When I listed to your concert, it was like the door was creaked open and we caught a glimpse of Heaven.”

Then the feasting began. There were four stations at the dinner: Mexican food, sandwiches, meatballs, fruit and veggies, desserts. The crowd sampled from each of the stations. The food just kept pouring out of the kitchen. They had been organizing this massive meal all week for 1000 people.

The next morning, Roger took 100 Ukrainian to Santa Monica beach. They all screamed when they saw the ocean. Many had never seen an ocean before. The musicians walked on the pier, swam in the water, and basked in the sun. Many had red faces and arms that evening.

Some hosts took their guests shopping or to Six Flags. Dennis took our percussionist to music stores all over town. I had a quiet day walking, doing laundry, washing my hair in unhurried fashion, and visiting the Target store to pick up a few things. I need a dose of quiet time every once in a while.

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Roger was late getting home. After the beach trip, he had taken some guys to their guest home, and he was trying to fix the host’s computer. (Roger is no computer expert.)  
 

I was all up-tight when he came into the living room. We were going to be late to the small group dinner hosted by some of Dennis and Sheila’s friends.  
 

We drove with the Davies to a home of a friend where 14 church members and their 7 Ukrainian guests had gathered for a pot luck.  They meet twice a month for Bible study, fellowship, and prayer as a “small group.”  Roger wished he could explain this small group idea to the Ukrainians. It is so important in large church families.

I slept deeply that night. Roger tossed and turned worrying about the guys with the rented car.

The next morning we packed our bags. Sheila had washed Roger’s white formal ties. They looked much better. Dennis took our car and filled it up with gas.  These three days had been wonderful, and we felt like we were leaving home.

At the church, we parted with warm goodbyes to our Glenkirk friends. “Please come back,” said one of the choir singers. “We love great music!”

For the next five hours we would be touring Hollywood and Beverly Hills.  I really didn’t want to go. I’d been there several times on other tours. But the entire group including the Americans were eager for this excursion, and I didn’t want to drive the LA freeways by myself, so I climbed aboard Brenda’s bus and sat with her. We would leave the car somewhere in Pasadena instead of taking it through the city. That was the plan.

But we had about ten people late to the bus, then it was 8, 6, 4, and finally we were waiting for two. Roger and BJ would wait for the two men, and follow the buses into the city later.  Now I was really glad I was on the bus, because I don’t like driving through large cities where I don’t know my way.

Brenda and I had a good visit as we drove toward the center of Los Angeles.

“You really missed a good dinner in Saratoga,” she said. “They had beef and chicken, and lots of delicious food.”

“That was the day we picked up Yuri in San Francisco,” I remembered. “Yes, I really enjoyed that concert. It was so well organized, and the people were great.”

“And did you hear about the $970?” asked Brenda.

“What $970?” I asked.

“One of the brass players left his money on a church pew in Yakima, Washington. No one could find it. We had given it up for loss. Then the next day, someone called to say they had found the cash, and they were returning it to us to give to the Ukrainian musician.”

“Amazing!” I said. And when she told me who it was, I remember that this was one of our new people, who had been so grumpy at the beginning of the tour.  No wonder he had seemed so happy lately.  God works in mysterious ways.

“And that’s not all that’s been found,” said Brenda. “Remember Luba Kanuka’s suitcase. The one she lost in Chicago with her performance dress and cosmetics in it?” 

“Of course,” I said.

“Well, they found it on the bus,” replied Brenda.

“On the bus? How can that be?” I frowned.

“Evidently someone put it on the wrong bus, and it has been sitting there all this time unnoticed. Then, when bus #2 had to be unloaded for service, there it was!  Can you believe it?” exclaimed Brenda.

“Luba must be thrilled. I am so happy for her,” I said.

Then Brenda’s phone rang, and she was occupied for thirty minutes solving a problem of a missing flute.

The usual parking places were unavailable for the buses, but Bill found some parking meters on the street. Lots of parking meters to feed, but we were only one block from the Chinese Theater. The buses unloaded and the Ukrainians crossed to view the hand prints and foot prints of the famous, and follow the stars on the sidewalks of Hollywood Blvd.

Roger and BJ arrived and unloaded their two guys to join the fun.  Many Ukrainians knew the names of our stars and had their picture taken near the sidewalk monuments. 

“Where is Marilyn Monroe?” asked Irina Zhook, our blonde soprano, walking down the sidewalk, completely missing the look-alike model that was in the courtyard of the Chinese theater, willing to have her picture taken with anyone who would pay.

An hour later our buses took us to Beverly Hills. Two blocks from Rodeo Drive is a big sign “Beverly Hills” and our 140 musicians stood in front of it and even between the letters for a large group photo.

Most of the group then followed Roger as he led them down a boulevard of beautiful homes and manicured lawns. A few others found some private time to rest in the park.  And I think our fashionable Katya Vikulkin headed for Rodeo Drive.

We were all back on the bus at 2 pm, and slowly made our way through West Hollywood toward the freeway. I was certainly glad I was not driving. So much better to leave the driving to Bill the bus driver, and relax.

We exited the freeway toward the town of La Canada, for a concert and a one-night home stay.

Chapter 15: La Canada, CA

The town is pronounced “La Can-ya-da” and it is a beautiful community just off  I-215 which borders the north of LA.  As the three buses pulled up to the church, we could find nowhere to park. The parking lot was torn up in construction and though there was a coned curb reserved, it was on a busy boulevard.  It was impossible to open the bays on the street side, so Bill led the buses across the street to a shopping center where there was plenty of room, and the Ukrainians rolled their overnight bags across the boulevard dodging traffic.

Our hosts Don and Joan Williams were right there waiting to take us home. Roger after being tour guide all morning, was very tired. He took an hour nap, while Sergey Golubnichy and the others put everything in place for the concert. 

Great dinner!  Great people!  This was a first-time experience for us and for them. Sharon Boyajian, who organized the event, had recently lost her husband, but she told Brenda that she valued this experience as it helped to keep focused on the future. She had every Ukrainian in a home, and many helpers to cover the details.

But our minds were slipping as Roger forgot his clean white ties at the Davies home in Glendora. Sheila drove an hour to bring them to us, and they will see our concert again in San Clemente.

I had misplaced the car keys in my computer bag, and come to the concert with Mr. Williams, leaving Roger in a panic as he was to bring our car to the concert. Fortunately, the Williams had two cars, and Roger came with Mrs. Williams.

The sanctuary was smaller than most, but the pews were full of enthusiastic listeners. Luba was wearing her concert dress, the one she had brought from Kiev, and she looked fantastic.

One man left the concert saying,” I’ve heard orchestras all over the world, in London, in Berlin, but this is truly the best.”

After the concert, we went to our guest home, where Mrs. Williams served us ice cream bars and read her critique of the concert to us --- A+ on every number. Then she said, “I want you to have something from our back yard.” She left, and brought back a road sign of Route 66. “This is for your new house,” she said.  

I don’t know what the audience enjoyed the most tonight: Route 66, Michelle, NewYork New York, the Rachmaninoff, the tsimbali soloist, the Tchaikovsky overture,  the Hallelujah Chorus…… it could go on and on. There was something for everyone. 

The next morning Roger gave a devotional in the patio courtyard of the church. We prayed, and the choir sang “The Lord’s Prayer” and “Prayer of Ukraine.”  Then Roger boarded the buses with the Ukrainians, and BJ and I followed in the car. First stop, Laguna Beach for lunch and swimming. Second stop, the Solana Beach Presbyterian church.