Mission to Romania, Day 2, from Denny Nutter

From Denny Nutter, OAMC singer
Received Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 1:13 PM Pacific

Day 2 – First Day In Romania

This morning we had wonderful a breakfast buffet at 7 a.m. at our hotel, and then boarded buses at 11 a.m. to head out to the Romanian Theological Seminary, where OAMC practiced a few songs and had a wonderful lunch in the cafeteria. After lunch, about 121 of the RAMC (Romania Adventist Men’s Chorus) men joined us. They sang “Soldiers of the Captain” in Romanian and then OAMC sang it in English. Both groups gave each other a rousing round of applause and then we were seated in three major choirs with a mix of OAMC and RAMC singers.

What fun as we got acquainted with each other and practiced our Romanian and English with each other! Alin Apostol, the RAMC director, and Lou Wildman, the OAMC director, each gave tips and pointers, which were translated for both groups.

During a mid-afternoon break we acknowledged the oldest singer with us, 83-year-old Norman Skeels, and the youngest, Mircea, a 14-year-old Orthodox teen who begged his mother to let him sing and travel with the RAMC. Alin told his story and we were all thrilled that he will able to join us for the entire two weeks.

Tomorrow we will be practicing with the Romanian Brass (supposedly as good as or better than the Canadian Brass) for our final concert in Bucharest.

Our TV video taping originally scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed until the final concert at the Radio Hall in Bucharest (on April 25), which will be recorded live. We should be at our best by then!

We concluded the day with another delicious Romanian meal at the Seminary cafeteria with Tom Stafford’s custom-Romanian-made 75th birthday cake for dessert!

Some of us were fortunate enough to ride back to the hotel on the Romanian chorus bus, which was filled with rehearsal songs in four-part harmony plus some bonus numbers, such as “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in Romanian and “I’ve Got Peace Like a River” in English.

What an awesome experience to hear the words, “When I gaze into the night sky…” as we pulled out into the darkness from the seminary parking lot.