On Sunday morning we sang in the beautiful mountain town of Schneeberg. The small city is built on the side of a beautiful small mountain. It has tall, stately traditional buildings with flower baskets under the windows and paved stone streets. The weather was perfect and the sun was shining. Our concert was held in a town hall where citizens were voting in the basement. We performed in a small auditorium on the second floor.We rehearsed a few songs before the performance. I believe the music could be heard by the voters, even those walking by on the street. This may have attracted some interested persons, as the auditorium was nearly full.
The audience was very receptive to the Choir and Orchestra. Frieda Bennett gave her very moving testimony. We held a drawing for door prizes, including an autographed picture of Dirk Nowitzki. A boy about 10 years old picked the names out of a hat for Pastor Rick Dill to announce. Rick is the Pastor of Weimar Baptist Church and translated for Jim Witt. The audience cheered each of the door prize winners.
We presented the Burgermeister with gifts for the city and he gave a moving acceptance speech. He's a believer! He said "where language ends, music begins." He presented us with a gift of a porcelain bell and said that the bell was the symbol of the city. He said that "Communism tried to silence the bells of the church, but couldn't silence the Gospel. "
After the concert we visited the main Lutheran church, built in the 1400's. It was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt. It's a classic stone, high-vaulted church. Mark Hill led us spontaneously in the Doxology and a few other songs, including a solo by my daughter, Gracie. The room echoed and made us sound like angels.
-Brian Sanford
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