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Collegian's Chorale consisted of 35 singers; Brass Choir included 10 players (some did both); there were four other guests for a a total of 45 travelers in our entourage. It was god to have Rev. Bruce Oldham, assistant to the president for church relations to travel with us for the first week.

Basic itinerary: Debrecen, Hungary; Hajduhadhaz, Hungary; Foldes, Hungary; Pecs, Hungary; Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria; Prague, Czech Republic; Dresden, Germany; Leipzig, Germany; Berlin, Germany. They performed in all these cities except Dresden, for a total of 17 concerts or services, some happening simultaneously.

These day-by-day, journal-like entries were written by Collegians Chorale director, Dr. Robert Tocheff:

May 24, 1999 - depart campus at 7:30 a.m. for Port Columbus: Columbus - Chicago - Frankfort - Budapest.

The first six days were given to the outreach and growth of the Church of the Nazarene in Hungary. All of the areas and concerts were targeted and arranged by missionaries Imre and Maria Gusztin. There were either small churches or interest in starting a church in these places. MVNC has had a partnership with the planting of the church in Hungary since 1995 under the direction of MVNC Chaplain Dr. Gary Sivewright. Collegians Chorale was privileged to help begin this work with a ministry tour to Hungary in 1996.

May 25-27 - Upon arriving in Budapest we took our bus (which was short of luggage space) to Debrecen. Staying in eastern Hungary for three day we performed ministry concerts at the town hall in Hajduhadhaz, a community center in Foldes, and at the Reformed Church of Debrecen. In Hajduhadhaz, two gypsies stole items from the men's dressing room during the concert - our contribution to the local economy. We were a little more careful after this incident.

May 28 - Acquiring a new bus with a trailer, we began a long ride to Pecs in southern Hungary. We participated in a mass and performed our own concert at St. Erzsebet Church. After the concert many of us took a walking tour of the city guided by one of the church members.

May 29 - Early departure to Budapest for a rehearsal at St. Matthias Church (or Matyas Templom) one of the most beautiful and famous cathedrals in Europe. That evening we participated in a mass, followed by our own concert. This concert at this highly visible venue was the cornerstone of our time in Hungary. It is the hope and prayers of many that this visibility will provide outreach opportunities for the Church of the Nazarene.

May 30 - After sightseeing we prepared for the 4 p.m. Sunday service at the Nazarene Center in Budapest. This was a beautiful service of testimonies and music. Attending the service were two jail inmates who had given their hearts to the Lord as a result of our jail ministry in 1996. Since the Brass Choir was not able to participate in this service because of volume level in this residential building, they were able to perform for the local Salvation Army. By happenstance, this was arranged the night before at the St. Matthias concert.

"This trip was an incredible combination of cultural exposure, performance opportunities and group camaraderie all wrapped in the Spirit of God, with the ultimate goal of telling the good news of Jesus Christ through the medium of music. Music is such a natural vehicle in this part of the world, and it was a joy to have this ministry opportunity" - Dr. Robert Tocheff Director, Collegians Chorale

May 31 - On our way to Vienna we stopped at the beautiful Esterhazy Palace in Eizenstadt where composer Joseph Haydn lived and worked for almost 30 years. We were able to sing on this famous and acoustically perfect stage. That evening we performed a concert at the magnificent Karlskirche (Karls Church) in Vienna. This concert was very well attended and, as often occurred on this trip, the audience continued with staccato clapping in a steady beat until we had no more encore numbers to perform. The receptivity to our music was encouraging to all of us. After the concert we had dinner at Zwolfapostelkeller restaurant (say that three times fast).

June 1 - After sightseeing in Vienna at such places as Schonbrunn Palace and Mozart's Figaro House, we embarked for Prague, Czech Republic. Of course, at all the border crossings we insisted on getting all our passports stamped by the guard. After initial shock and disappointment in the quality and cleanliness of our hotel we settled into Prague for two days. This is truly a beautiful city; much of its charm is due to the fact that it was spared of bombing in WWII.

June 2 - Our Concert in Prague was at St. Nicholas Church in the heart of the tourist district allowing people to enter and leave as they pleased throughout our concert. Interestingly enough there was a Nazarene pastor and wife from Maine present and had once been members of the concert choir at Point Loma Nazarene College. They had been sightseeing the day before, saw our concert posters and decided to stay an extra day (small world). The rest of the day was free time for sightseeing and concert going.

June 3 - On our way to Leipzig we stopped in Dresden, Germany, for sightseeing and a tour through the Semper Opera House.

June 4 - We began the day in Leipzig with sightseeing at the Bach museum and St. Thomas Church. Then we prepared for our concert at Reformierte Kirche (Reformed Church) at 1 p.m. This was our smallest crowd; however, incidentally, there was an Anglican priest and wife in attendance from Wells, England, Rev. John and Pat Campbell. Rev. Campbell's niece is the wife of Dr. Robert Woodruff, the field director of Australia and New Zealand Church of the Nazarene--and an acquaintance of Dr. Fairbanks. The Campbell's in attendance were very impressed and have since made contact with us requesting a recording of Collegians Chorale. We've also been invited to the United Kingdom for another tour.

After the Leipzig concert we tried to hurry to the bus for a tightly scheduled trip to Berlin. Our driver took a wrong turn, got into terrible traffic nearly causing us to miss our concert. The next three days were to be with our Nazarene pastors and leadership in Berlin, doing our best to enhance their work. Our first event was a short concert inside the famous Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in downtown Berlin. We arrived barely in time to change into our formal attire and present our concert.

June 5 - During the day, many of us traveled with a NIVS couple to visit a Nazi concentration camp about on hour north by train. This was a very moving and sobering experience. That evening we returned to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church for an open-air concert on the stairs. Rain nearly caused this to be cancelled but it stopped when we arrived at the church. This was an informal time of singing, playing, and sharing testimonies through an interpreter to a sea of people to milling around this very busy section of Berlin. At various points the pastors invited the people to our feature concert the next evening. This open-air approach was an impressive evangelistic thrust. After the concert many of the students enjoyed dinner at the Berlin Hard Rock Café.

June 6 - This last day was extremely busy and fulfilling. The Berlin pastors had asked us months earlier if we could split up our ensembles into four groups to give more of the Nazarene churches a taste of our ministry. We had prepared diligently for this with a separate repertoire. The bus dropped off each of the groups at its respective church for the morning services and lunch with the people. This turned out to be a very effective ministry to the Berlin Nazarenes and for our students.

That evening was the highly publicized feature concert which, because of space, was held at the Freie Evangelische Gemeinde Baptist Church. The building was packed. We sang and played our entire repertoire for about two hours and were received enthusiastically. We had been selling our CDs and cassettes throughout the trip and we actually ran our here at our last concert. We took addresses and mailed them from home. We could not have chosen a better way to conclude an incredible tour.

We praise God for keeping us safe and for allowing us to minister in His name. I also think everyone can be very proud of our students' representation of Mount Vernon Nazarene College.