Days 10 & 11: Hinton and Grand Cache
As I brought up last blog, we arrived at Hinton Alliance Church at 9:00 PM, where we had a late noodle snack. The boys all stayed at the church, while the girls all stayed at a volunteer's house. I can't speak for the girls' experience, but the boys were quick to settle down and go to sleep, as they were all tired from swimming.
The next day was one of our few days off. No performance, no travelling, just staying at one location for the whole day. I slept in, and I awoke to find the kids watching Moana in the foyer. The kids played around the church for a lengthy amount of time, before Sarah took them to a mini golf course. I stayed behind to get some work done, but I hear it was a fun experience. The funny part is that the mini golf course was beside a trampoline park, and the kids were very mopey at the start when they realized that was not where they were going. Later in the day we had KFC for supper, and then the momentous task of getting all the men on the team bathed began. Since the church did not have showers, all of the men went to the house where the girls were staying to quickly shower.
The next morning was our performance at Hinton Alliance Church, where we would be taking over their Sunday service. There were no issues, which I believe is largely due to Sany's authority. The day before, Sany gave the kids a stern lecture over what appeared to be a lack of instruction following. It was quite humorous to see the normally rambunctious be cowed by Sany's serious demeanor. The performance was live streamed, meaning that my father, Blaine, who set up all of our performance dates, was able to watch our work.
After our Hinton performance, we packed up quickly to make the drive to Grande Cache for our evening performance at Pineview Alliance Church. It did not take long for everyone on the bus to get a visit from the sandman, as almost everyone took the chance to get some sleep. My mother, Shelly, decided to snap some pictures of everyone who was sleeping, except for Sany, who was enjoying the scenery.
When we arrived at Pineview Alliance Church, we quickly got to unpacking. Us adults were a little annoyed with the children, as many of them were reluctant to help. When we finally got everything off the bus, we set up the marketplace and stage for the evening performance. The kids practiced on the stage, which was a little smaller than previous ones, but Sany knew how to work around this. We were then treated to a delicious supper of spicy pulled pork and vegetables.
The performance went well, and was unique in that I was able to get behind the kids as they danced. An opening in the back of the stage provided a great spot to get some videos. I liked that from my view I could see Sany at the back of the room making motions to the kids, clearly giving them instructions. Once the performance and marketplace sales were over, we spent the night in the church. The children were rather hyper, and getting them to go down into the basement for bedtime was a bit like herding cats. Thankfully, everyone was able to get in their sleeping bags by a semi-reasonable hour.
The next blog post will cover our performances in Dawson Creek and Tumbler Ridge. See you there!
God bless,
Adam Sylvester
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