DIANE'S TOUR TALES - LAST CHAPTER

Chapter 28: Wausau, Wisconsin

We arrived at the Wausau Performing Arts Theater about the same time as the buses. Our hotel was only two blocks from the theater, in the center of an elite shopping district, The Jefferson Street Inn.  We checked into our room, to have a rest. It was a very nice hotel, with high security so that you needed your key card to move in the elevator. Brenda and the Rymers were in the same hotel.

Tonight would be the Brahms Requiem…. The big concert.  The performing arts committee who got the complimentary hotel rooms also furnished a wonderful dinner from the people of the community .. a fabulous covered dish dinner.

If we were nervous about this Brahms performance, we needn’t be. It went off very well, not perfect, but acceptable. Of course there was no commercial, and we sold very little product. Board members Bob and Kitty Neill, Bob and Carole Gray were at the concert.

The next day the Ukrainians went to a shoe factory for last minute shopping, and we had a room set up in the performance hall to weigh their suitcases. Only two suitcases, each at 50 pounds, were allowed by the airlines. Overweight would be expensive.  But we filled only four shipping boxes. There were only 14 people who had signed up to ship things home.

That evening was our last concert of the tour. The musicians honored Roger’s request that this concert not be a “green” concert with jokes throughout the performance. The only joke was in the song “Route 66” when Ian Polster came out and improvised on his trombone, standing up in the middle of the brass section.  It was a very exciting concert and a great audience. We sold a lot of product at the sales table.

One elderly lady named Dorothy told us later that she was so excited about the music, that she didn’t sleep all night.

After the concert, the orchestra loaded their suitcases onto the bus or the truck. With the remainder of the product in the truck, and the orchestra on the bus, the first group left for the Chicago airport. They would arrive at 4 am and check in for their 7 am flight to New York. We did not lose a single member. They all got on the plane for Kiev.

On Sunday morning those of us that were left in Wausau, basically choir and soloists, went to a Presbyterian Church in a neighboring community to provide music for their worship.  Roger was invited to talk about the Mission for about 15 minutes. We had been told by the pastor that the congregation liked up-beat music. 

Without the orchestra, we were limited to be “up-beat.”  But when we performed “Were You There” with Alla Boyar as contralto soloist, this quiet song brought a standing ovation in the middle of the worship service. We ended with some more lively music: “Shut de Door” and the men’s quartet “I’m Goin’ To Ride in The Chariot.”

As I sat in that worship service, I gave thanks to God that He had blessed our tour every day for the last seven weeks. I know that many people have been praying for us. I am so grateful to all of you.  In a way, I was sad that this was all ending.

One young man in his 30’s told me after the service, “I haven’t heard such wonderful music in my church since I was a little boy. I’ve missed this great music.”

After the worship, the choir and the hosts were gathering in the fellowship hall for another potluck lunch. Since Roger and my work was finished, we began to bid them goodbye.  Brenda and the Rymers would accompany them that night to the Chicago airport where they would board their 7 am flight to New York and on to Kiev, just like the first group.

Usually I have a closing chapter of some catastrophe that happens on the way to the airport, but I can happily report, that there were no catastrophes this year. Everyone went home. Everyone was happy. Brenda Tompkins did a magnificent job administrating this tour.

Roger and I walked to the car, holding hands. From this point on, it would be just the two of us traveling together. We would travel to Chicago, pay a brief visit to the Chicago Art Institute, and have a steak dinner. We always have a steak dinner at the end of the tour, usually at Outback.  Then we would spend a few days in Ohio visiting relatives, before we fly out of Cincinnati to Kiev.

By the time we arrived at Dayton, Ohio, we were both sooooo tired. We pulled into a gasoline station to fill up.  “You fill up the tank,” Roger said. “I’m too tired to get out of the car.” And he tilted his seat back for a three-minute rest. 

I got out of the car, took his credit card, and walked to the gas pump.  I realized that I had not done this the entire ten weeks we had been in the States.  I saw a slot with the words above it in green letters “Pre-Pay.” So I pushed my card into the slot. Nothing happened. What was wrong?

I had pushed the card into the receipt slot. Now it was stuck in there. I could not retrieve it with my fingers. I knocked on Roger’s window, disturbing his rest, and said, “I think I’ve made a mistake.”

Roger got out of the car to help me. I got a pair of tweezers from my suitcase and tried to pry the card out of the slot, but it would not work.

We finally had to get the gas attendant to come out and unlock the machine to retrieve the credit card with our tweezers.

I felt so humiliated. Roger was laughing. Then the attendant said some words that made me feel much better – “This happens about five times a day.”

Rest, glorious rest! Six days of rest until we end this trip in America.

Now, as we look forward to our next chapter in Kiev, we look at it like a blank page. There are uncertainties in the American economy. There are instabilities in the Ukrainian government. Who knows the future?  As we re-adjust our lifestyle from American culture to Ukrainian living, we remind ourselves that “God is in control.”

And the benediction comes to us, as it did on that last Sunday on the tour, from Romans 15:13—

 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”