Day 12: Püttlingen, Germany

This morning we left Schlitz shortly after 10:00 a.m. The bus ride was a typical trip—the boys caught up on journals and wrote their second letter home (to be mailed in France). We stopped twice—once for a potty break and once for lunch. We tried to find a nice place to stop for the boys to eat lunch, but it wasn’t until after 1:00 that we found a place that would work—so you can imagine how hungry the boys were! To top it off as soon as we sit down, it started to rain so we ended up eating on the bus anyway…

We continued the trip to Püttlingen and arrived at St. Sebastian Church around 4:15. The church was BEAUTIFUL! The acoustics were wonderful (5 second echo) and the architecture was so kinesthetically pleasing! The boys sounded amazing in there! We had a brief warm-up in the church and quickly scurried off to get changed for the 5:00 concert. The concert went very well and Francis gave them a rating of 9.5.

Following the concert, we were invited to a barbeque at a nearby Abbey. We were treated very graciously and generously! The boys had more bratwurst, Coca-cola, and Fanta than they knew what to do with! We sang one last song for them (Sitting on Top of the World) as a thank you and “goodbye” song. They were snapping and clapping along with the boys during the song—it was a really neat experience! We then gave them our banner and “thank you” gifts and were pleasantly surprised to receive a banner from them in return! They loved the boys so much that they also gave each of them a postcard. As we drove away on the bus they were waving towels and blowing kisses to the boys—they already told us they want us back!

The biggest lesson we are trying to teach the boys on tour is that good people are everywhere in the world. While some countries may not always see eye-to-eye and create conflict—most of its people don’t want war. War is all political—they are still good people.

So, on the road again… We finished our bus ride to Sarreguemines, France (about 45 minutes) and arrived around 9:15-9:30. We divvied up into host homes and left for the night. Tomorrow the boys have two concerts—one in a school and a full concert in the Protestant Church in Sarreguemines—and some free time for sightseeing.