Make new friends and keep the old

We went to the Kantorei Epiphany Vespers last Friday night. I still want to blog about the service, but first I need to introduce you to my "new" friends. I wanted to blog this while they were still gone on tour so their family could see photos of them, but I was just too tired to post them before tonight!

Rev. Peter Gregory, Ewe, Lamb 3

Rev. Gregory is one of the pastors at my parent's church, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, IN. I introduced myself and he had a little confused look on his face at first. It had been a long tour for them and at first he didn't realize that we were just 2 1/2 hours away from Sioux Falls. He realized we were way up in MN, but forgot how far he had come on tour that we weren't that far from that tour stop. He filled in for my dad's Bible class while my dad filled in while Ram recovered. After a few minutes he made the connection of who I was and we had a nice chat downstairs while the Lambs ate a whole bunch of sugar  treats. I'm sure it was difficult for him to be away from his wife and baby girl for tour. He was the officiant and preacher for the Kantorei tour. My parents talk about the Gregory family often and I had sent them a few cards, but I had never met them in person. Hopefully next time we are in Fort Wayne I will meet his wife too.



Melanie (Looper), Keaton, Ewe

Keaton's mom is also a Looper and she told the Loopers where all the tour stops were and that we should all go hear Kantorei and give Keaton a hug from her when we saw him. Melanie gave him a hug before I did, but I gave him homemade molasses cookies and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Ram told Keaton that he could share with the rest of the guys on tour but he didn't have to share if he didn't want to. Melanie seemed to know everyone at the service that night so we had a hard time getting all three of us together for a photo. We saw many other friends, some from when Ram was at Seminary. We finally wrapped up the visiting, gathered up the Lambs, and headed back to Melanie's to spend the night.



Ewe, Lamb 3, I think child 4, Lucy, Rev. B.

Right before we left, I was cleaning up the spot where the Lambs ate and I made a comment to Lucy. I said it was nice to see other kids in church. Something in her answer helped me make the connection that she was Lucy B.! We are on an e-list together and I had e-mailed her a few times about a year ago, but I had never met her in person. I was so glad that I spoke to her and we made the connection. So then we needed to chat for a few minutes and it made it even longer until we left the church. I must add that all her children stayed for the entire service and did a great job-and they are all 5 years and under. Ram took Lamb 2 and 3 out for some of the service, where he could still hear, but they didn't have to stay seated for the whole service after a long day with no nap and so close to bedtime. Maybe now that we've made the connection we can try to get our children together and do something in Sioux Falls together. It was so neat to meet someone at the service that I only knew from cyber space before. Rev. B. graduated not too long ago so he still knew several of the men in the Kantorei so they had several people to chat with too. 


I didn't take a photo, but another "old" friends we saw at the service were the pastor and his wife of the host congregation. When we first moved here he was a pastor at an area LCMS church. Shortly after we moved here he took a Call to Sioux Falls. Their church hosted the Kantorei. They did a great job feeding and housing the members of Kantorei and hosting the concert with a reception afterwards. I had a nice chat with his wife, she is a Lutheran school teacher. It's clear that LCMS schools are declining all over the USA when she talked about the decline in Sioux Falls and I know about the decline in Fort Wayne. It's so sad that even our "big LCMS towns" aren't holding onto their precious schools any more. I thank God for the schools that are still making it under tough conditions.