From December 7^th to the 19^th, Fountainview Academy Orchestra and Choir traveled for over 75 hours and performed in 14 different towns for over 10,000 people, on our annual California Christmas Tour. All the students and a few staff traveled on buses and 2 other vehicles to different churches or theatres and shared our Christmas repertoire in concert. We slept on church floors, pews, hallways, or we were billeted out to different church member’s homes. It is a great opportunity to share God’s love to so many different people!

This year, we started off our Christmas tour in Grants Pass, OR. We had two concerts scheduled back-to-back in the Grants Pass SDA Church. The church can hold over 500 people at a time, and in both concerts, there wasn’t an empty seats to be found. The Better Living Television network and the Grants Pass SDA Church had done a tremendous amount of work to promote our program there. They had printed and sold tickets for both concerts, and had printed their own posters and fliers at their own expense. The demand for tickets was so great that eventually both programs were fully booked. Still, people kept calling in to ask for tickets. Since both concerts were sold out, these people were put on a waiting list. When we arrived there in Grants Pass, the coordinators at the church asked if some of these people could come and listen to our sound-check before the first concert. Of course, we allowed them too, and for about 15 minutes, 75 people listened to us practice.

We received a wonderful supper provided by some of the church members there. That night, our whole student and staff body was billeted out to many different church families.  We were able to get a wonderful night’s sleep and a delicious breakfast the next morning in each of the kind hosts’ homes.

Our next concert was in Santa Clara, at the Santa Clara Convention center that Pastor Rob Benardo (Milpitas SDA Church) had arranged for us to perform in. It was the first of about 13 different places that we would be sharing in during the next week, including Loma Linda University SDA Church, Palm Desert SDA Church, and even in Hollywood, at the First Presbyterian Church.

All of the concerts went well, with the exception of one in Bakersfield, CA. We were performing in the Majestic Fox Theatre that Pastor Jamey Houghten (Hillcrest SDA) had arranged for us. He had scheduled two back-to-back concerts for that evening.  In the first concert, one of our young basses fell off the back of the risers, and hit his head on the floor. Since the fire department was right across the street, help arrived quickly. Thankfully, he was not seriously injured and came back halfway through the second concert with a few staples in his head, thanks to the kind staff at the local hospital E.R. A few nights later, he was back up on the risers again, singing with us.  Praise God!

Our last concert was in Vancouver, Washington at the Seventh-day Adventist church.  Louise Craig and Pastor V.J. Puccenelli had worked hard to coordinate our program there. We had a full house that evening, with about 100 seated in overflow chairs that were brought in. Many family members of students were there also, and several alumni. We also had a very special guest conductor from Beaverton, Oregon.  Dr. Thomas Blaylock, from the Northwest Institute of Voice, was there that evening to conduct one of our closing numbers: the Hallelujah Chorus. Fountainview Academy Orchestra and Choir have worked with Dr. Blaylock for over 32 years. Our director, Craig Cleveland presented Dr. Blaylock with a plaque commemorating those many years of working together. It was a great way to end our 2010 Christmas Tour!

During our tour, hundreds of people came up and visited the students or staff members and shared with us how they were blessed by our music. They shared how, through our programs, Jesus had become more real to them, more than ever before. We praise God for this, how He has given us the opportunity and the ability to reach so many people. We pray that in future tours, we will always make Christ relevant and attractive, not only through our music, but through our conduct.

Sierra Buhler, Grade 10

Music Tour Coordinator