By Dennis Nutter, OAMC member
Friday, Sept 27 – After
a wonderful hotel breakfast, we once again boarded our buses and headed out to
the little Adventist Church in Arad, where we had lunch boxes delivered, ate,
had staff/team leader meetings.
We changed into our concert attire and headed to the concert hall in Oradea, the Filarmonica de Stat.
This was the largest concert hall so far on this trip. Local city leadership and one representative from Parliament were in attendance and we had multiple speeches of welcome, greeting, and appreciation.
Lots of the crowd stayed behind after the concert wanting to hear more, so as an encore, there was a spontaneous rendition of Soldiers of the Captain sung in the concert hall lobby.
The concert was followed by a boxed supper of heated stuffed green peppers in the intermission break room. We then had a two-hour bus ride to a hotel and two smaller motels in Arad, shortly before midnight. The bus was very quiet the last couple of hours with most of its occupants sound asleep. It was a very short night but probably one of the best nights of sleep so far for this writer.
Sabbath, Sept 28 – The day started early with breakfast at the motel at 7 am, with the buses rolling by 8 am to drive to the church in Arad where our group was responsible for the worship service.
The church was packed with standing room only. The church members had arranged for a dinner reception at a large public hall about 6-10 city blocks from the church. A full-course meal was graciously laid out on long tables for us.
There were many Gypsy homes in the neighborhood. We were told that they are not lived in but more of a competition to see who could build the biggest and the best. They are not finished inside, with the exception perhaps of a single bed in an unfinished room. Most of the families, if they are there, live in the back with an outdoor kitchen, and are basically camping out.
We then drove to our afternoon concert location in Timisoara, one of the largest Catholic Cathedral in Romania outside of Bucharest – Domul Romano-Catolic. The acoustics were again fantastic and proved to be an inspiration to all.
The church was packed, with standing room only, people standing all the way down the side aisles, and stacked two to three deep at the back of the church. This writer believes that it was one of our best concerts so far.
The chorus was accompanied by a full orchestra, two female soloists, and two different pipe organs (only one at a time). I was able to talk with one of the nuns, with the help of an interpreter, following the concert. As I thanked her for allowing us to perform in her church, she stated how much she enjoyed the blessings of the concert.
Following the concert, many of us walked down to the city square, which was the location of the beginning of Romania’s December 1989 revolution against Communism. There we saw still bullet holes still in the church building where many lost their lives in their fight for freedom.
We changed into our concert attire and headed to the concert hall in Oradea, the Filarmonica de Stat.
This was the largest concert hall so far on this trip. Local city leadership and one representative from Parliament were in attendance and we had multiple speeches of welcome, greeting, and appreciation.
Lots of the crowd stayed behind after the concert wanting to hear more, so as an encore, there was a spontaneous rendition of Soldiers of the Captain sung in the concert hall lobby.
The concert was followed by a boxed supper of heated stuffed green peppers in the intermission break room. We then had a two-hour bus ride to a hotel and two smaller motels in Arad, shortly before midnight. The bus was very quiet the last couple of hours with most of its occupants sound asleep. It was a very short night but probably one of the best nights of sleep so far for this writer.
Sabbath, Sept 28 – The day started early with breakfast at the motel at 7 am, with the buses rolling by 8 am to drive to the church in Arad where our group was responsible for the worship service.
The church was packed with standing room only. The church members had arranged for a dinner reception at a large public hall about 6-10 city blocks from the church. A full-course meal was graciously laid out on long tables for us.
There were many Gypsy homes in the neighborhood. We were told that they are not lived in but more of a competition to see who could build the biggest and the best. They are not finished inside, with the exception perhaps of a single bed in an unfinished room. Most of the families, if they are there, live in the back with an outdoor kitchen, and are basically camping out.
We then drove to our afternoon concert location in Timisoara, one of the largest Catholic Cathedral in Romania outside of Bucharest – Domul Romano-Catolic. The acoustics were again fantastic and proved to be an inspiration to all.
The church was packed, with standing room only, people standing all the way down the side aisles, and stacked two to three deep at the back of the church. This writer believes that it was one of our best concerts so far.
The chorus was accompanied by a full orchestra, two female soloists, and two different pipe organs (only one at a time). I was able to talk with one of the nuns, with the help of an interpreter, following the concert. As I thanked her for allowing us to perform in her church, she stated how much she enjoyed the blessings of the concert.
Following the concert, many of us walked down to the city square, which was the location of the beginning of Romania’s December 1989 revolution against Communism. There we saw still bullet holes still in the church building where many lost their lives in their fight for freedom.
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