Good Lord, We're Groupies!!! 11-98

WARNING: the following letter is VERY long, but well worth it. I had sooo much to share with you all, that I couldn't have made it any smaller. There was just too much that happened, and you know me and details!! Please read til the end....

Here goes...

1,070 miles round trip!!!!! YIKES!! BUT, It was THE most incredible weekend of my entire life, to put it mildly! Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start, when you sing, you begin with...oops, guess I watched "Sound of Music" too many times. :) Anyway, my sister and I stayed at the Holiday Inn, down the street from the concert. We went down to the hotel restaurant around 2pm, to get a bite to eat. After lunch, we sat there a few minutes and started joking around. I said to Ann, "I wonder where they stayed. Could you imagine they walk in and have lunch right now? That would be so awesome! I've been praying that God would give me an open door to speak to Bill and give him my music, but a good open door, not just two seconds with hundreds of fans all around." I look up to the sky and say, "Hey, God, I need a favor!" I even said it jokingly, thinking that would never happen, but with God NOTHING, and I'm here to tell you NOTHING is impossible with God!!

SO, as we're sitting there, the only two people in the entire restaurant, mind you, who walks in? JAKE HESS!! I said hello and he came over and gave me a hug! I told him I met him at the Philly concert and he seemed to remember us. He even said, "Yes, I remember giving you a hug, and I believe I enjoyed it too! " I laughed. He was so sweet. He then says, "You know, my hugs don't last that long, so you better stock up on them." Me, being a little slow sometimes, didn't catch his meaning, so I replied, "Are you kidding? Your hug in Philly will last me forever!"

"Yeah, but you should stock up on them, cause they don't last long." Then the light went on. click. He wanted another hug!! :) So, I willingly obliged!

That man has some sense of humor! He told me he was waiting for a few people and sometimes they show up, sometimes they don't. I told Jake I had something for him, ran upstairs to the room and came back. It was a card thanking him for everything he's done and how deeply he has touched me, and I included the poem I wrote about him in it and the picture I took with him in Philly. I wanted him to have that, not because of me, but so he can look at it and remember a fan he touched very much. He read it right there and told me it was the sweetest poem!! Of course, that required another hug! Then, guess who walks in next? Guy Penrod!!!!! He gave me a hug! I couldn't believe what God was doing! I talked to Guy. I told him how we came all the way from NY. He was impressed that we traveled so far for the concert. I said, "I'd travel anywhere to see you all." Guy said, "I don't know if I'd travel that far to see me, would you, Jake?" Jake said, "I would travel that far to see you."

Guy said, "And I'd travel that far to see you!" They were so funny! I asked, like this will come as a shock, if Mark was coming down too, but they said he had eaten down here already. I wonder if he had come down to eat with the Goodmans? Now THAT would have been awesome to meet them! Anyway, Guy has to be one of the nicest guys (no pun intended) I've ever met, next to Jake and Mark, of course, but then there's Mr. He Touched, The Legend, the man with the bus....BILL GAITHER!!! I met THE LEGEND!! He was the last to arrive as I was talking to Guy. I shook his hand. My sister told him this was my birthday present, so he said, "Well, how about a birthday hug!" These people love to give hugs! I love it! They must have known I love to give and get them myself! So, I told him how I wanted to give him my music. He said of course I could. I ran back upstairs again, thanking God along the way. I gave it to him and explained a few things about it. He, too, asked where I was from, how old I was, etc. He was so nice. Since I didn't want to bother them during lunch, I thanked them and went to go back to sit down. Jake offered me a fry before I left!! :) So, we sat down and I ordered tea, meanwhile forcing myself not to stare at the table only a few feet away! I couldn't believe I was eating lunch in the same room with Jake, Guy and The Legend, Bill Gaither himself!! What a privilege! Well, Ann wanted to get back to the room to rest and get ready, so I forced myself to get up and leave. I walked by, gave Jake another hug, thanked Guy and Bill. Bill told me, "You know, you remind me of a young Bill Gaither. I used to try and give all my stuff to Jake Hess and try to get his attention." Ann piped in, "Yeah, and look, you're eating lunch with him." I remind him of a young Bill Gaither, wow! What an honor! He then said, "So, keep at it." I said, "I'm the most persistent person in the world." Ann said, "Persistence is her gift." Guy gave me a thumbs up. I said, "Well, I hope you like it. See you all soon." As we stood there to pay the bill, I heard someone, either Guy or Bill, say, "She's a very sweet girl." I then heard Jake say, "Yes, very." Then, we got ready for the concert! I not only prayed for an opportunity to meet Bill, but to meet Mark!! So, we step out of the elevator to get to the concert and who's there?? MARK LOWRY!!! I couldn't believe it! David Phelps was with him too!! I step out and Mark's right in front of me walking away. I said, "Hi Mark!" He turns around, "Elisa!" and he hugged me!! He knew who I was!! He put his arm around me and said to David, "This is my biggest fan! She e-mails me all the time." I said hello to David, and had the privilege and honor to walk to the concert with them! We talked along the way, and I was silently thinking, "God, you are the most amazing person. I just can't believe what you've done. You're pretty awesome!" Mark looked REALLY good too. Heck, he had on a sweatshirt and pants and he still looked good! Anyway, we got to the place and they went their separate ways, Mark telling us he'd see us later. We went into the place, I met Jake again, another hug, :) and he signed his video, "Jus Jake", which is absolutely a must buy, and he was upset that I didn't have it already. I apologized. :) He's so darn cute. Guess what he wrote on it? He writes it down and said, "Can you read that?" I thought it said, 'thank you'-Jake. BUT, he said, "It says, 'Love you, Jake.'" That deserved yet another hug. Jake Hess loves me!!!! :) Since there were other adoring fans around, I took another picture and said goodbye. Oh, and I asked Jake if I could take him home with me. He said, "When we goin'?" I laughed and said, "Tomorrow morning!" I wish I could!

I also met Ben Speer for a few seconds. he was very nice. I met Bob Cain again. He is also a very genuine, sweet man. All the other people were at their tables, but I had met them already. Then the concert started. It was awesome!!! Like it's anything but! We clapped, laughed, sang. Mark was a riot! I wish I could write down everything he said, but I forget so easily.

Besides, this letter is long enough and I have so much more to say! :) Just know that he was very funny. 'nuf said! The vocal band sang "Alpha and Omega", which I just found out is on the Atlanta tapes, and I was floored. It has to be one of the best songs I've heard. It gave me chills! What a song!!! 

The rest of the concert was incredible too, as always. When it ended, I quickly got my stuff ready for Mark to sign, and got my camera out for any photo opportunities. I met Bill Gaither again and he told me he looked over my music already! He said it had a lot of potential, but it sounded young. He recommend I take some English courses, which I am looking into right now. He talked to me for 10 minutes, even while other fans were waiting!! He gave me some great advice, told me how he wrote 55 songs before getting a hit, and I didn't even want to hear the first 50. :) He was so nice about. I'll try and remember some of the things he said, "You have a lot of potential. I looked them over. Even Mark read some and said you had great potential and that you were a very sweet girl, but I would recommend English courses. Gloria and I are English majors, and I really feel that would help you a lot. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to put you down, just helping you out. You can see your Spirituality is strong and your love for God shows, but you need maturity too. You're still young. Keep at it." He said other things, but I can't remember it all. We told him how much we enjoyed the concert. He asked if it was different then the Philly one. He said they try and make each one different. I said it doesn't matter, they're all incredible. SO, Guess what he did?? He said, "You should come to the Richmond one tomorrow. It's only four hours from here!" A personal invite from the man himself! Anyway, I thanked him and told him I'd look into taking some courses. I took a picture and walked away to go find David. David saw me and said, "Hey, you're Elisa, right?" Ladies and gentlemen, I am no longer just a fan, no longer an e-mail address, no longer IBIJC, I am officially Elisa!! The whole Gaither Vocal Band remembered my name!! Bill, Guy, Mark and David!! I said, "Yes." David said, "I hear your a big fan of Marks. NO, you're Mark's biggest fan!" I said, "You bet!" I went on to tell David how incredible I think his voice is. I took a picture, and then went to find Mark, but Mark was gone! ;( So, I did the next best thing, I went back over to Bill, while Ann got Kevin Williams to sign my book, and as Bill was just about to leave, I said, "Bill, Mark promised me he'd sign my books, and he's not here." Bill called over his road manager, I think, and said, "This is Elisa, can you go find Mark and have him sign these for her?" Can you imagine?? The man told us to follow him and he'd try and find Mark. We got close to back stage and he told us to wait. He said, "Ok, if you wouldn't mind stopping here, I'll go find Mark. Who do you want these signed to?" I told him my name. He said, "How do you spell that?" I said, "Trust me, he knows who I am!" :) As I waited, I was a little disappointed I didn't get to see Mark again, but again, Mark did something that has made me like him even more, if that's possible anymore. He came out!!! I said, "Mark, I though you were gone and you didn't get to sign my books!" He gave me another hug and signed all my stuff. He said, "No one really stayed around, so he went back to eat." Gee, what a shocker. Mark, eating. :) Anyway, he had even changed back to his sweatshirt. He came out for me!! Of course, Mark, being the nice guy he is, would have come out for anyone, but it made me feel good anyway. He even stayed there and talked to me and my sister for about 10 minutes!! I took a picture with him, then one of him and my sister. Oh, and his other CD cover has a REALLY great picture of Mark in it. Ann told Mark, "This is a great picture of you. Where can we get one?" Mark looked at it and said, "Yeah, that is a great picture." So modest! :) I pipe in, "Please, Mark, you look good in anything." He said, "Elisa, you are too sweet. Thank you!" Then, Guy walks over, waves hello, and came over to give me a hug. I tell ya, these hugs will last me forever! :)

Then I took a picture with Guy. He tells Mark to come over, so I was sandwiched between Guy and Mark. :) Guy goes to leave and said something mean, jokingly, of course about Mark (I don't remember what it was). We laughed, and I piped in, "No way. Mark is very special. Mark, you're very special and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!" He said, "Thank you. Well, you're special too!" We said goodbye and left. The next morning we got up and decided at the last minute to go to the Richmond one. After all, we did get a personal invitation from Bill! :) We got really good seats. We actually got artist circle seats, but I couldn't see and asked if we could move. My sister and i kept watch on bleacher seats right by the stage. There were a few open, so we went and sat there. They were so close!! And guess who was in front of us by the stage? Bev and Charles!! Mark had told us they'd be there, and they were! The concert was a little different, some same songs, a lot of other ones, and Mark was even funnier! You know how Bill always says Mark's funnier with him then he is by himself? That whole thing? Well, my sister made a point, it's Bill that's funnier with Mark, not Mark with Bill! :) OH, and when I had talked to Mark the night before, I asked him if Candy had ever given him that picture of the chia head I wanted him to have. I said it kinda looked like Bill. Mark said, "Hey, I used to use that line all the time. I haven't used it in a while!" SO, Saturday night, Mark used that line!! He remembered!! And he thinks he has ADD. NOT! Mark remembers so much. He's so smart. Anyway, after the concert, I spotted Bev and introduced myself. She was very nice and took time to talk with us. I met Charles a few minutes later. Very nice people. Well, Mark was signing autographs, and then came over to where his parents were waiting. He spotted us and looked surprised and said, "Mama, this is IBIJC!" she smiled. He was in a rush, so I didn't get to talk to him again, and we went to leave. I met Kevin Williams on the way out and was so impressed by how nice he is. He was so sweet and he's going to be a daddy next year!! He'll be a great one too. What a wonderful man. Then I met Janet Paschal at her table, and she signed my book. She was soooo sweet! She even said, "Elisa, that's a really pretty name. Very unusual." I said it means God's Promise. She wrote a very nice note in her book and was gracious enough to take a picture with me. I said goodbye and she said, "Thank you so much and God bless you!" What a great group of people. Well, I guess that about covers it. I wonder how many of you actually got to this point? :) If you did, I'm even impressed. Oh, and I met Jake again too, right before the concert. Yes, he did give me another hug! :) Can you tell I had a wonderful weekend? I can't wait til the next one! They know me!!! Maybe one day, after my English course, and after I grow up a bit, they'll be singing one of my songs, or I'll actually have the privilege of traveling with them!! What an honor that would be. I wish they had a job opening. Setting up the tables or something. I'd do anything to travel with them. To listen to that music every night would be payment enough. Ok, I think I'm done. Thank you for taking time to read this and for putting up with my babblings. I love you guys!!

Love, Elisa.