04/04/2009

Wow!
It has been a while. So, so, so much has happened since my last post.
Let me just fill you in...
Spring Tour was amazing. We toured the south-east for 2 weeks over our spring break from 03/08-03/21 and performed concerts in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
You could look over our completed itinerary on the S.M.D. (Sacred Music Department) of M.B.I.'s (Moody Bible Institute) website.
Spring tour went extremely well. One of the best tours I've been on yet.
I'll fill in the details, and add photos later (we also had a local concert in Aurora last week that went well too).
Let me get to the heart of the matter, CHINA!
We are trying to work out all the logistics of making China happen with fervor. There's still a lot more to be done; along those lines there is a little less than 50 % more support to raise as a whole, a good number of our guys also need to still raise a considerable amount to achieve the required $3,000 that each member is responsible for (there's about 45 guys total), we still have to get visas for all the guys, still have to work out shipping or packing all our stuff over (risers, instruments, sound equipment, P.R., etc.).
On the other side, Fenn Torjeson, an American missionary in China is helping us tremendously. He's organized loads of plans for us, and is our conduit of sorts over there.
To give you a little glimpse of what's in store for us ministry-wise when we get there, I've laid out a general (and in some sense, tentative) itinerary for this summer...
Sat. 16 May; noon- sing for graduation ceremony at Moody Church
18.45 hr.- depart from O'Hare to San Fransisco, arrive: 21.20 hr.
Sun. 17 May; 13.20 hr.- depart San Fransisco to Hong Kong, arrive: 06.25 hr. (05/18/2009)
Mon. 8 June; 07.45 hr.- depart Beijing to Hong Kong, arrive: 11.20 hr.
14.10 hr.- depart Hong Kong to San Fransisco, arrive: 11.35 hr.
13.50 hr.- depart San Fransisco to Chicago, arrive: 20.10 hr.

Amoung some of the cities we'll be performing at in China are; Hong Kong, Xiaman, Putian, Fuzhou, Taiyuan, elsewhere in the Shanxi province, and Beijing

I've embedded a googlemaps quasi-itinerary of some of the places. You can check it out if you like.

I'll be in touch, you keep in touch.
Please pray.
-john.