[During June and July, 1998, the General Board of Global Ministries led a group of 21 students from United Methodist-related colleges and universities in singing global choral music in the Baltic States and Russia. The participants wrote statements commenting on their experiences. Following is one such statement.]

It was in the deafening silence of the wilderness that I heard the whispers of hearts. In a small church in Kaunas, a place stripped of glamor or any trappings of riches, I heard the people sing louder than in any cathedral. . . .

I saw a little girl go through the communion circle with a flower holding it up for people to smell as they took the blood and body of the One who entered the uncharted before us. I cried because the Holy Spirit took me to a new level.

In Christ's life he had no home. We wandered homeless through villages and cities spreading the word that "the right hand of God is writing in our land." We could not get used to our surroundings before it was off to another setting. I hadn't had the chance.