The weekend was very relaxing and exhausting at the same time. We left for Rolla at am on Friday, where we met at the Rechtien farm for brunch. After the meal, the men headed off to the Catholic church to load up most of the decorations we would be using for the stage. After loading up the cross, mutliple plants and vases, we made our way to the Leach theatre. We unloaded the trucks and vans and then proceeded to start setting the stage for the evening's performance. At around 2:30, we called the women to come to the theatre. After the women arrived, we all began praying over and annointing the auditorium. We then ran a set of sound checks and called our physical preparations of the stage complete.

We headed back stage, where we enjoyed a fabulous feast of meats, cheeses and other snacks. Mary Elizabeth and Tracy had taken charge of arranging our meals for this trip and they did an absolutely fabulous job. Having filled up on light items, we headed off to our respective dressing rooms (men and women separate). By 5pm I was in full costume and was ready to go. We spent the remainder of the time backstage praying and singing praise songs and encouraging one another in the Lord. This is the manner in which we do things at every performance, but this time we had more time for this portion of the preparation than we usually do.

The performance that followed was amazing. Although there were some technical issues with the microphones, the performance itself was an astounding success. Everyone that stepped up to the microphone did a fabulous job with singing their song with great emotion. The audience was very receptive and seemed to enjoy every song. It looked like there was somewhere around 550 people present for the performance, which is a great turnout. It was awesome to get the chance to perform in an actual theatre.

After the performance, we broke down the stage and change out of the costumes. Ma and Pa Rechtien (Dick and Pat) had arranged for the members of the cast to stay with host families in Rolla. Lisa and I were assigned to a couple named Ted and Nancy. We loaded our stuff into the car and followed them to their house which is on the edge of town in Rolla. We arrived at the house around 11:30. We sat in the living room and enjoyed some ice cream while talking about the "Isle of Dreams" ministry and the goodness of the Lord. It was a great conversation, but I was quite exhauste from the performance. At around 12:45am we made our way to our bedroom, where I quickly fell asleep.

Lisa was up about a half hour before I was. I took a long shower and found her and Ted on the back deck talking. Ted and Nancy have an amazing view of the wooded hills behind their house for as far as the eye can see. It was such a peaceful way to start the morning and it gave Lisa and I the opportunity to talk further with Ted, who is a retired dentist. Through our conversation, we learnedthat Ted refinishes old furniture as a hobby and has quite the collection of antique furniture in the house. It was great to hear this man talk of his knowledge of furniture and restoring it, and it gave Lisa and I further insight into his life (which is always a neat thing to experience). We made our way to lunch with the rest of the cast back at the Rechtien farm, where we enjoyed another fabulous meal and great conversation with many of the other host families.

It was a great weekend, filled with lots of hard work, lots of great conversation, losts of praising God, lots of sweat, several tears and a lot of wonderful memories.