Septemebr 12th singing in the Votive church and going to the flea market.

The morning of the 12^th I got up super early, got ready, read my special “love note” from my parents, had a fun special Skype time with my family, ate breakfast, had a wonderful practice time, did devotionals, prayed, and went on our way to the Votive church for the first day of the festival. It was so tall and large like the other cathedrals and it was so beautiful inside. It was hard to believe that our choir was about to sing in there!

 The other choirs and orchestras sang or played before us. Our choir sang Amazing Grace second to last. All of the other choirs had maybe 30-50 people in it compared to our choir which only has 15 people in it. So we looked like a very miniature choir compared to them, which was fine. They all did a great job!

 When we all got there I felt like Abba (Father) gave me shalom (peace) and I felt His light shining upon my head. When we opened up our mouths and sang, I felt like a choir of angels. When we started singing you could hear your voice go out and then come back and bounce back to you; it was amazing! You would be able to hear a pin drop. I am so overwhelmed that we had the opportunity to be able to sing in this beautiful church. We were singing about God’s love and His word in this amazing church across the world to people from all over the world. This was just an incredible experience. I am so thankful for that wonderful opportunity . Mrs. Auliee had come to support us and she brought her other son Max. Mrs. Auliee said she was very proud of us, which was good to hear, since she had helped prepare us when she came to Colorado. We praise Father for all He did to prepare us and arrange for us to be here in Vienna. I was very thankful to be able to sing in the beautiful Votive church.

 After singing in the beautiful Votive church we all headed back to the hotel to change. We then headed to the flea market. I wasn’t very happy that we went out to shop on Shabbat (Shabbat is Sabbath on Saturday.) The flea market was PACKED!!! I knew it was going to be busy, but I didn’t think that it was going to be this busy. We went during lunch time so we each went to different food stands. Kira and I headed over to a Mediterranean food stand. I bought this really tasty falafel, pita sandwich. It was the best Mediterranean food that I have ever tasted. The sauce from the sandwich kept dripping from the sandwich so I was kind of leaving a “trail,” but not on purpose. Kira kept saying, “Oh, Kaila’s been here.” It was really funny. We went by this funny sign that said, “*No wi fi. *Talk to each other! *Call your mom! *Pretend its 1993! Live!” It was great.

 After finishing our lunches, we headed over to a near by scarf shop. These scarves were all made out of high quality fabric. Some were made out of silk and they were only selling them for $5 dollars. I bought several scarves but after returning home, I wish I had bought more. We all split up into different groups afterwards and went our different ways. Mrs. Ellison, Emma #1 and I went to a souvenir shop. I bought some things there and then headed over to a tea shop nearby. We visited food shops and an antique store. I love antique, vintage things, especially antique cameras. I wanted to buy an old camera but I didn’t have enough space in my suitcase….or money! We stopped at one more place called the Billa. It is their local grocery store.

 Our choir headed back to the hotel, changed, and got ready to head over to the concert hall. We walked over to the hall, which was only five blocks from our hotel. We wanted to support the other choirs and orchestras. They were all very talented and did a very nice job. We watched them for three hours. I was very glad that we had the chance to support the other groups in the music festival and I looked forward to perform the next night. All of the people performing in  the festival were from Italy, Norway, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Macedonia, USA (our choir), and Slovenia. After their performance we headed over to a traditional Austrian restaurant very close to our hotel. We all had such a fun time! They had a lot of pork there, which I was afraid of, since I don’t eat pork… so I had the chicken instead. It was huge but very tasty. It was a lot easier not eating pork than I thought it was going to be, thank the Lord!