St. George to Moapa

Tuesday, April 29

This morning was a beautiful morning. First off, I slept in to 8am :), then my host family made us the best French toast in the world. It was a very relaxing, come-what-may kind of morning. The sun was shining, there was an ever-so-slight breeze, and in one word it was ideal. :)

Also, all morning Kenny (the father) was telling his son Ian that if he didn't finish his breakfast he couldn't wear his cowboy pants. I thought this was a little weird (Ian's four) but didn't think much of it. Then time came for me to brush my teeth, which meant using Ian's bathroom in his bedroom, where all my bathroom stuff was. In I go and what do I see? Popcorn. Popping on the…haha, couldn't help myself. No, I come in and there's Ian, decked out in not only his cowboy pants, but boots (complete with spurs), a cowboy style button-up shirt, cowboy hat, and rawhide gloves. He's barely 3 feet tall!! I almost died it was so cute. So we brushed our teeth together (male-bonding, I know) and then parted ways.

Later in the car driving back to the bus, Kenny asked me what ethnicity I was, and I answered him that I'm Navajo. Kenny laughed and told me that Ian had been wishing and wishing that when Singers came that he'd get an Indian to sleep in his cowboy bed (apparently he has this Cowboys & Indians fixation), and I inadvertently fulfilled his wish. Considering the chances of having one of the only 2 "Indians" in the choir, Ian had a very lucky day. I now wish that I'd been there to see little Ian's face when his dad told him that I was a real life Indian, and that we brushed our teeth together without one arrow or pistol shot. :) What would Custer have said?

We arrived at Moapa Valley High School around 1 or so and immediately entered the auditorium to do a workshop with the choirs there. The workshop was…educational. We all learned a lot, but it was rather frustrating, and a good reminder to why I am so glad to not be in high school anymore. All be it educational and almost candid, the air after the workshop was less than lovely. In fact, it was rather tense. Our following rehearsal was, consequentially, very frustrating. We weren't staying in tune and began to point fingers and play a blame-game to determine the cause of our problems.

Then Scott Moore had something very enlightening to share. All he said was that we needed to be very forgiving right then and there. All of us were feeding off the negative energy in the rehearsal and giving out more negative energy that was undermining our efforts to have an effective rehearsal. Scott's suggestion really opened up my eyes - I for one was really feeling antagonistic towards the rest of the choir for no reason whatsoever, and once Scott helped me realize this I made a very positive effort to reverse my feelings. Our rehearsal ended on a good note (haha, no pun intended) and we had a great concert tonight.

I'm constantly astounding on tour with the deep friendships we create and the help and support they give us. I was asked to sing a solo tonight in the concert and was absolutely terrified of it. It's more of a baritone solo and although I can do it, I'm not very comfortable in that range. Valerie, an alto and good friend, gave me a little "prep session" before the concert and calmed my nerves, to the point that I gave the best performance of that solo I've given. Afterwards everyone was so supportive and forward in complimenting and congratulating me, which, unbeknownst to them, I really needed. What an opportunity to be in a group where everyone builds everyone up without hopes of reimbursement or payment of any kind, and most of the time without even knowing they're doing it. :)

Tonight we ended the night in the home of the Waite Family. Brother and Sister Waite (Lanny and Maxine) have 4 children, 3 of which are married with their own families. We never met their youngest son who lives at home. I think he avoided us. Lanny is an attorney in Las Vegas and is also the Justice of the Peace here in Moapa. Apparently in towns of less than 30,000 or 100,000 or something like that the Justice of the Peace is just elected by popular vote, without the need of a specialized degree (or any for that matter). And as far as I know Maxine just held the fort down, which she did very well. We had a great conversation about medicine, law, religion, insurance companies, etc. before going to bed, which is where I am now. And I'm falling asleep, so good night :)