Finally in Finland

Hello everyone!

It’s almost 8 in the morning in Helsinki and a few of us Halo-ers just returned from a little morning jog in the rain.  Very refreshing.  All of us have arrived safely to Finland with the exception of Andrew and Chiara who won’t be joining us until Thursday (tomorrow!).  Yesterday was a relaxing day filled with walks and Frasier as we tried to wind down from Crescendo-style life where we were volunteers and participants to a Finland life where we’re our only responsibility.

Today is looking like a busy day.  In about an hour and a half we should all be hopping on a bus to head downtown to the Sibelius Academy where we will spend the morning and early afternoon rehearsing.  After that we will head to the Cafe Jugend where we will do two sets of music.  One at 3 and another at 6.  It’s going to be a more relaxed time than some of our other concerts (if that is really possible), as we’re just providing background music to coffee drinkers (which they love here!).  There will be some unbelievers there, though, so we’ll be praying the Holy Spirit will touch their hearts.  It’s just about time for my turn in the shower (with 8 people in one apartment with one bathroom, this had to be very carefully scheduled).

Thank you for your constant support and prayers; the LORD is continually blessing us in large and small ways!  With that said, if there is something on your heart that WE can be praying for, let us know.  That’s what the church and community is about, right?  Soli Deo Gloria!

It’s five o’clock somewhere…

Friday evening in Sárospatak, Hungary, we are performing a concert as a part of the Crescendo Summer Institute concert series. It will be at 5:00 in the chapel area of the main building of the Reformed Theological College. We covet your prayers. We want the Holy Spirit to be present and to communicate His glory through our music.

You may be interested in the text of the Cantata I will be singing, which I feel SO privileged to have learned and to now be singing for the public. I have learned this piece within the last 2 weeks, basically, and it is been a struggle. My teacher at the institute (Tϋnde, whom I love dearly) just gave me a lesson an hour ago and said I have come such a long way with the piece in a short time. Three days ago, she wouldn’t have recommended that I would be ready to sing the piece yet. She thought maybe it could use another month’s work and then I’d be ready. Today, she said I am already  ready. So, praise God! It has been really good to discover that when I need to, I can learn something quickly. It has taken sacrifice and very concentrated work. Plus, I can also testify that God Himself has helped me and I’m relying on Him to help me yet again tomorrow evening at our concert. This piece has so much potential to touch the hearts of those who hear it because it is the basic Gospel message. Please read the text below and find out why I’m so excited to be able to sing this text:

Cantata 199, Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, by J.S. Bach

Recitative

Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut,
My heart swims in blood
Weil mich der Sünden Brut
because the brood of my sins
In Gottes heilgen Augen
in God’s holy eyes
Zum Ungeheuer macht.
makes me into a monster.
Und mein Gewissen fühlet Pein,
And my conscience feels pain
Weil mir die Sünden nichts
because my sins are nothing
Als Höllenhenker sein.
but Hell’s hangmen.
Verhaßte Lasternacht!
Detested night of vice!
Du, du allein
You, you alone
Hast mich in solche Not gebracht;
have brought me into such distress;
Und du, du böser Adamssamen,
and you, you evil seed of Adam,
Raubst meiner Seele alle Ruh
rob my soul of all inner peace
Und schließest ihr den Himmel zu!
and shut it off from heaven!
Ach! unerhörter Schmerz!
Ah! unheard of pain!
Mein ausgedorrtes Herz
My withered heart
Will ferner mehr kein Trost befeuchten,
will in future be moistened by no comfort
Und ich muß mich vor dem verstecken,
and I must conceal myself from him
Vor dem die Engel selbst ihr Angesicht verdecken.
before whom the angels themseves conceal their faces.

Aria and Recitative

Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen,
Silent sighs, quiet moans,
Ihr mögt meine Schmerzen sagen,
you may tell of my pains
Weil der Mund geschlossen ist.
since my mouth is closed.
Und ihr nassen Tränenquellen
And you wet springs of tears
Könnt ein sichres Zeugnis stellen,
can offer certain witness
Wie mein sündlich Herz gebüßt.
of how my sinful heart has repented.

Mein Herz ist itzt ein Tränenbrunn,
My heart is now a well of tears,
Die Augen heiße Quellen.
my eyes hot springs.
Ach Gott! wer wird dich doch zufriedenstellen?
Ah God! Who then will give you satisfaction!

Recitative

Doch Gott muß mir gnädig sein,
But God must be gracious to me
Weil ich das Haupt mit Asche,
because I wash my head with ashes
Das Angesicht mit Tränen wasche,
my face with tears,
Mein Herz in Reu und Leid zerschlage
I beat my heart in remorse and sorrow
Und voller Wehmut sage:
and full of grief say:
Gott sei mir Sünder gnädig!
God, be gracious to me, a sinner
Ach ja! sein Herze bricht,
Ah yes! his heart breaks
Und meine Seele spricht:
and my soul says:

Aria [Soprano]

Violino I/II, Viola, Fagotto, Continuo (con, Violone)

Tief gebückt und voller Reue
Deeply bowed and full of remorse
Lieg ich, liebster Gott, vor dir.
I lie, dearest God, before you
Ich bekenne meine Schuld,
I acknowledge my guilt,
Aber habe doch Geduld,
but still have patience,
Habe doch Geduld mit mir!
still have patience with me!

Recitative [Soprano]

Ich lege mich in diese Wunden
I lay myself in these wounds
Als in den rechten Felsenstein;
as upon the true solid rock:
Die sollen meine Ruhstatt sein.
they should be my place of rest.
In diese will ich mich im Glauben schwingen
In these I want to soar in faith
Und drauf vergnügt und fröhlich singen:
and content and happy to sing:

Aria [Soprano]

Wie freudig ist mein Herz,
How joyful is my heart
Da Gott versöhnet ist
since God is reconciled
Und mir auf Reu und Leid
and through my remorse and sorrow
Nicht mehr die Seligkeit
no longer shuts me away from salvation
Noch auch sein Herz verschließt.
or from his heart.

(English Translation by Francis Browne, April 2002)

Here are a few other items for prayer surrounding the concert tomorrow night:

1)       For unity of our ensemble – in our hearts and in our artistry.

2)       That God would bring the right people to our concert who will be ministered to by our music.

3)       That we ourselves would be able to worship the Lord in spirit and truth as we play/sing together.

Thank you so much for your prayer support! It means a lot to us.

Sincerely,

Joy Freschly

Looking At The Bubble

Last year, really when all of this began, a few of our members met in Hungary.  Caroline and Pauliina formed a deep friendship in just a week, and it was incredible.  During that time, as Caroline saw what was going on, she was amazed and actually had a vision or a dream about being at a dinner with her friends, like in a bubble, but the bubble had grown to include so many more friends than just the few she did have around her table.  So Friday night, after everyone had finally arrived in Sárospaták, we decided as a group to go out to dinner at a marvelous local pizza place so we can have a chance to fellowship and grow together.  Caroline was at the head of the table and during the dinner she looked down the rows and saw that her vision had been realized.  She turned to Laura and said “Laura, I’m looking at the bubble.”  And there she was at the head of the table with 12 new friends surrounding her.

It’s now Tuesday evening in Hungary and we in the ensemble have all had a few days to process what great things have been happening with the group.  I think when we last parted, you knew we were going to be helping with worship during the Creative Church Service which is a significant part of Crescendo every year.  The theme of the service this year was “I Am Unique.”  And indeed the service itself was unique.  For me, personally, it was great to be involved in actually creating the service instead of being a participant, which is where I normally find myself.  The service consisted of some music by the Halo Ensemble, the Chinese students, a world premiere of a piece especially composed for the festival using poetry by our director (Beat Rink) and a message given by Beat.  After the message then, there was an opportunity for a prayer walk.  There were some paintings by a festival painter, a place of communion, a place to receive blessing and prayer.  During the meditative time, we as an ensemble were playing some very simple prayer songs to provide ambience.  The prayer songs were simple melodies based on one line of scripture repeated several times over with some improvisation and changes in the instrumentation.  It was really neat (that’s a pretty small word to use, actually).  Honestly, it was a very powerful time; the LORD used the music and the atmosphere to heal people’s hearts and touch them in a deep way, even some of our faculty members were affected.  It was wonderful to receive such great news of His work.  Afterwards, the ensemble received even more good news!  We’ve had the privelege of having at the festival Werner Finis, who is a music therapist and worship coach.  After the Creative Church, Werner told us of his desire to make a cd to accompany some work he’s doing and invited us to work with him!  Now we just need to pray for leading and for logistics.  How amazingly we’ve been blessed!

As an ensemble, we’ve been growing in so many ways.  Yesterday we had a private session with Werner about how to lead worship and worshipping in the Spirit.  It was very much intense and all of us were stretched in very big ways.  Over 2 hours of just worshipping … wow!  Some of the group have had lots of experience in leading worship and some have not, but all had much to learn.  We certainly all learned a lot about each other.  It is very hard to explain, but as a group we grew together.  On Sunday the festival took a free day and several trips were offered to fill the day.  A few of us went to Slovakia to see Kassa, and ended up sitting at a coffee shop resting in the company of each other.  The rest of us went to the Tokaji region of Hungary to do a wine tasting.  It was a great way to relax and fellowship as well.  A few of the festival singers (Joy included) gave a little impromptu concert during the wine tasting to test out the incredible acoustics of the wine cellar.  It was marvelous!

A few of our members are playing in the festival orchestra here at Crescendo and their rehearsals have moved to the morning time during this week, leaving the ensemble with all afternoon to rehearse.  It’s been wonderful and productive.  Especially because we are giving our own recital on Friday.  There’s a lot on the plate, but the LORD has been faithful thus far and will continue to be.

We’re also trying to keep preparing things for Night of Faith in Finland.  It looks like another of our members who was only going to be joining us for Hungary might be joining us for Finland as well, we just need to work out those logistics.

So there’s another overdue update from the Halo side of life.  And here’s the wrap-up:

•The group is growing together in lots of ways (fellowshipping, worship seminars, increased rehearsal time)

•Creative Church was a great success

•Have had opportunities to work with Werner Finis (music therapist and worship coach) and may have a chance to work on a cd with him in the future!

Here are the prayers we covet:

•Peace over the Night of Faith preparation

•Rest

•Unity as an ensemble and as people, in Christ

•Logistics

Halo from Hungary!

Here it is, the long awaited first blog post!  We are sorry for the delay in posting, but hopefully we´ve gotten some things worked out now so the blogging adventures can begin.

This is where things stand:

The Halo Ensemble has arrived in Hungary and as of two hours ago welcomed its last member for this leg of the journey … and the last of the missing luggage.  We are now officially four days into the Crescendo Summer Institute in Sárospatak, Hungary and already we have experienced and learned so much.  We are also already exhausted!  This can be a subject of much prayer.  Also, the layout of the Hungarian keyboard could be a subject of prayer … the z’s and y’s are switched and none of the extra little things are where I am used to finding them.    But I think we will make it through.

The personnel for the group right now looks like this:

Laura – flute

Heather – oboe

Carl – bassoon

Missy – trumpet

Caroline – violin

Jenna – violin

Michael – violin

Christian – viola

Pauliina – cello

Bobby – cello

Joy – soprano

Jenn – piano

We also have a few members of the festival helping us out because some of our pieces need extra violins or violas.  Thanks to our friends Hannah and Tzietze for joining us!

The city of Sárospatak is so cute and we are thrilled to be here.  Also the festival is full of some of the greatest people with hearts so full of love and passion!  Already as an ensemble we have had a chance to “perform” … we really helped to lead worship at the chapel service yesterday morning.  It was such a joy!  The Lord really came to join us there and the people were really blessed … performers included.  Some of us have not had much experience in improvising or participating in worship services with our instruments, so it’s been a great place to begin the learning process of that.

Our repertoire is really coming along and we’re beginning to finalize programming.  We have also been asked to help with worship again on Saturday night during the Creative Church.  Creative Church is a seeker oriented and sensitive church service which starts out more as a concert and progresses into a worship service.  In the past, it has been one of the most powerful and memorable parts of the Summer Institute and we are so excited to be a part of it this year.  It is a good reminder sometimes of just how closely connected music and worship are.  Sometimes the professional world can make us feel very distant from the Kingdom of God.  The theme will be “You are Unique” and will have a discussion on the unique qualities in every person as God made them and will also feature one of the students at the festival who is a painter.

Rehearsals have been going well and the festival has been very generous in giving us ample rehearsal time and even our own room!  We will be sure to put up a picture of the sign on the door … so you know it’s official.

Thanks again for all your support.  We know we have been difficult to hear from or get ahold of, but we have been praying for you and know you have been praying for us, because we have seen the effects of those prayers.  There have been so many near disasters (forgotten passports, lost luggage, missing music, missed flights), but nothing has stopped us.  All the problems seem to get sorted out, one by one.  Although it is frustrating to go through so many troubles, it’s also encouraging to know that whatever we are doing is fairly important and to see the direct answers to our prayers.

Speaking of prayers, if you’d like the brutal truth to know what we need help with, here you go:

– Unity and clarity of vision within the group (we have eaten all the carrots we can!)

– Preparation of programs (repertoire, rehearsal, printing, preparing the place)

– The audience members and people of Sárospatak

– The students at the Summer Institute

– REST  (and Peace)

Also the Night of Faith in Finland is coming up and there is a lot of work to be done.  Unfortunately we are in Hungary and have left a lot of work in just a few capable hands.  If you could also pray for the team members in Finland who are working nearly around the clock, that would be wonderful!

I almost forgot!  One of our ensemble members, upon arrival at the festival, learned that a faculty member was not going to be coming and so she was promoted to faculty at the last minute!  Praise the Lord!  Congratulations Caroline!

Thanks again for your prayers and support.  Really, we know we could not do this without that, without you.  There would be no point.  So until next time …

Shalom –

Heather