Wesley Bell Ringer Summer Tour - Day 2
This day started off with snowflakes & a hike to Vikingsholm castle at Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe. The Wesley Bell Ringers enjoyed a morning of nature, amazing views, & the history of Lora J Knight & her idea to build a summer home in 1928 in one of the most scenic spots in the world. True fact - her home was made from materials found at Lake Tahoe and some portions of the home was constructed without nails or spikes. And the island in the middle of the bay is called Fannette Island where Lora Knight had her mid afternoon tea.
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| Emerald Bay - Lake Tahoe CA |
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| Wesley Bell Ringers enjoying the morning of nature! |
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| If only the water was just a bit warmer, right Emma? |
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| We made it down to Vikingsholm & are ready to check out this amazing home.
The 2nd Wesley Bell Ringer performance was at Christ United Methodist Church in Modesto California. This was the first time the Wesley Bell Ringers had the pleasure to play at this location. Though it was one of the smallest venue's the ringers have played to date, the audience was filled with hand bell enthusiasts & the the congregation's own bell choir. It is always a pleasure to perform for a group who have a working knowledge of how hard it is to make amazing music within a hand bell choir.
  
It’s worth it to be a Wesley
Mady Roberts
I wanted to take a chance to write about my experience in
the Wesleys. A few years ago when I had first started dating my husband, I left
on tour and while I was gone I would tell him about everything that went on.
Some days were nothing but fun and other days I would feel like ripping my hair
out in clumps. On these days, I would often call him to complain and he would
say to me “Then why do you still do it?” And that was the question, wasn’t it?
Why still be in the Wesley’s even though it includes countless hours of hard
work and can often feel thankless? Then I said to him because it Is worth it to
be a Wesley. Being a Wesley means that your hard work is never enough. It means
doing your best all the time. Not only in your music but in how you present
yourself to the world. Being a Wesley also means making the best friends you
will ever have with a connection that is incomparable to anybody else. When you
spend as much time as we do together, chances are by the end of our two week
tour you’ll have 15 people that won’t just be your greatest friends, but the
best kind of family you could have ever asked for. Yes, all the activities we
do are incredible experiences but at the end of the day, the memories you end
up keeping with you are in host homes, churches, or just spent on the bus. You
don’t need expensive entertainment to have fun because all of your craziest,
funniest, or most emotional stories come from the moments where you are all
together doing nothing at all. Now that my husband has had the Wesley
experience, He knows what it feels like to play the best music possible and
make memories out of nothing. There is a lot of work that goes into this
organization and along with all that work comes a great pride in what you do.
It’s not just making music, being a Wesley is so much bigger than just making
music. Being a part of something that is so much bigger than you or any one
individual is part of what makes our organization so special. Many people wonder
why an group such as this has stuck around so long and it’s not because of the
music or the fundraising or even the tour. It because, like the many other 450+
people before us, we know what it feels like to laugh until our sides hurt, we
know how it feels to console another person over something that may seem
nonsensical, we know how it feels to work until we’re dog tired and we also
know that is worth it to be a Wesley.
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