Wednesday followed a similar schedule to previous days. We started the day with devotions, breakfast, morning program, choir, morning workshops, and then lunch.
In the afternoon, however, things were a little different due to the fact that we started rehearsals for the concert. Each song is played by a band made up of students from the workshops. The Wednesday rehearsals were the first time that the bands were able to meet and play with their bandmates. It is also the first time that we get to hear the songs played by all the different workshop students together. Even after just a few days of learning in the workshops, it is really cool to watch the students work together to make the song sound great.
I watched the rehearsal of three of the songs, and even though nervousness was pervasive in the rehearsal space, there was also an air of excitement, especially for the first-time students (or first-time performers.) The songs that I watched were great, and I have no doubt that after a few more rehearsals, they will be spot on.
The current concert challenge for most of the American team is learning the two songs that we sing in a different language. One is a Czech song called "Píseň O Lásce", and is a cool song. Here is a link to a YouTube video of the original version by a band called Nightwork - YouTube Video for Pisen O Lasce.
The other non-English song is called Baba Yetu. It won the 2011 Grammy Award for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists", and is a direct Swahili translation of The Lord's Prayer (baba yetu means "Our Father"). It is a very dramatic song, and quite aspirational for our choir, but it is coming together very well, due in large part to our friend and wonderful leader for the song, Peťula Poludová. Peťula also selected the song, so you can the excitement in her eyes when we sing it well. The original music video can be seen here - YouTube Video for Baba Yetu. There is also a strong possibility that a member of our team (not me) will sing a solo for this song! I will keep you posted. :)
I hope to have a few videos of rehearsals to post in the next few days, and after the concert is complete, videos of us performing most of the songs are posted to YouTube.
Wednesday ended with a viewing of "God's Not Dead" in English with Czech subtitles. The story was quite moving, even for some of the students who are not yet believers, so please continue to pray for them.
On Thursday night, the students will participate in the Labyrinth, which is a set of six personal reflection activity stations designed to encourage introspection about the events and messages of the camp week. It is also a chance for some of the students to pray with the leaders for the first time, if they so choose. More than any other activity this week, please keep this event in your prayers. It will be happening between the hours of 12:45pm and 2:45pm, Colorado time.
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