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Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday started out with a trip to Sugarloaf Mountain. Sugarload is a peak situated on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean rising 1,299 ft. above sea-level. A glass-paneled cable car capable of holding 75 passengers runs along a 1400-meter route between the peaks of Babilonia and Urca every half hour. We spent 2 hours on the peak of the mountain and then we headed back to the bus to eat some lunch.

Since all the concert locations served us lunch and dinner, we were able to go to a nicer place to eat lunch. However, the majority of the group wanted to go to the mall to eat, so about 15 from the group went back to the churrascaria from the first night.

After lunch, we headed up another mountain to go to Christ the Redeemer statue. The statue stands 130 feet tall, weighs 700 tons, and is located at the peak of the 2,296 ft. Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park. We boarded a cog train similar to the one in Colorado Springs to take us on the 20 minute ride to the top. We stopped at one station on the way up, and a local music group got on the car and played some samba music for the last 5 minutes of the ride. Once we were at the top of the mountain, we had an excellent 360 degree view of Rio. This was an excellent picture opportunity.

Once we headed back down the mountain, we came back to the hotel to get ready for the concert at Igreja Batista de Campo Grande. This is the home church for two of our translators we have had with us all week. Also, we found out, right before the concert, that it was live on the interent. This was a great time of worship and was an excellent ending to our work here in Rio. After the service, we had pasta and meatballs and hot dogs for dinner.

When we arrived back at the hotel, we went to a meeting room and had our "tour awards" party. We ordered pizza and had a great time of fellowship by giving out awards of things people have done on the trip. Most of these are funny things that people have done or had happen to them. As per our tradition on these trips, Bill and Tim sang the "tour song." These two guys write lyrics to one of the songs that really develops its own character on the trip. This year's tune was "Joshua Fit the Battle." The song includes many different aspects of the trip - some funny and some of the memorable moments. We even voted in Kenn Hughes and Gabi into the orchestra last night.

As we spend our last free hours here in Rio, this trip has been one of encouragement to the believers here in Rio and to those who don't know Jesus as their personal Savior. We have made new friends, strengthened old friendships, and really have drawn closer together as a family. Gabi, our contact here in Brazil and additional flautist, said that we really made her feel part of our family too. She also said that one of our bus drivers, a few days into the trip, said he could see that there was something different about us and that we really care for one another. Even though we are coming home today and there will be no more blog posts, please keep the people of Rio in your prayers.

We look forward to sharing our experiences with everyone at the home concert on August 10th at 6:00pm.

We love you all and look forward to seeing everyone!!

Tuesday, 7.29.08

Today was another great day. We played two concerts at Brazilian Baptist School. The morning concert was to a full house while the afternoon concert was to a little smaller crowd. This school was located next to the Seminario we were at on Saturday. We ate lunch at the same place we did on Saturday too.

After the concerts at the school, we took a little trip up the mountain to the rain forest to see a beautiful waterfall.

While it was a little hike to see the waterfall, a hand full of the group hiked even higher to try and see the top of the waterfall but to no avail. Once we left the rain forest, we headed to Igreja Batista de Itacuruca. This church is also located next to the Seminario and the Baptist school from the morning.

We gave a concert to a full house and the people enjoyed it very much. We played a couple of encore songs before heading to dinner provided by the church.

After dinner, we came back to the hotel, where we actually got in before 11:00pm. However, several people were going out for pizza when we got back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we have a touristic day (as Eddie would say). We are going to Sugarloaf in the morning and to Christ the Redeemer . After that, we will head to Igreja Batista de Campo Grande for our final concert.

Please pray for rest and strength to get through the final concert. Today was a challenge for many of us.

Updated Pictures

I finally got all of the pictures upload to the internet. Here is the new link. You will need to register in order to see the pictures. I tried to find a way around this but have not been successful. I'm sorry about that. I couldn't find another place to host the almost 800 pictures so far.

I hope you enjoy these pictures. I will update them every night.

Monday, Monday

Today was a great day! Our schedule changed a little bit and gave us some time to relax this morning. The concert that was scheduled for this morning was combined with the afternoon concert since they were at the same location. After a relaxing morning, we headed to Igreja Batosta Parque Anchieta for our concert. This was a combined school and church concert so there were many young people in attendance. Today we had some instrument demonstrations to help the younger ones understand what an orchestra is made up of. After we played Larry preached and did a great job. The audience was very enthusiastic towards our music. We also have a couple of celebrities traveling with our group. Ellen Vanderslice, who plays trumpet and is 89 years old, has been receiving a lot of new fans due to her age. Also Tom Cruise is traveling with us and played the drums today...oh wait, they were talking about Tim Smith. Apparently they think he looks like Tom Cruise (I don't see the resemblance).

After our afternoon concert, we traveled quite a ways away from the hotel over one of the longest bridges in the world. The bridge spans the bay connection Rio de Janeiro to Niteroi. We were able to take some great pictures of the city of Rio from this bridge.

Our concert tonight was at Primeria Ingreja Batista de Niteroi. This was another old church that looked like a former government building. the orchestra played for about 1800 people at this church tonight. After the music portion, Larry preached another great message. Many of those in attendance tonight were visitors to the church. During the invitation about 10-15 people came down front to receive Christ as their Savior. The orchestra played a couple encore pieces including a second hearing of "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho." Apparently, they really like that song down here. After the concert, we had a fabulous dinner - chicken lasagna. Before we loaded the bus to head back to the hotel, the guys cleared the tables by taking all of the plates, silverware, and cups to the kitchen.

Tomorrow I will have the pictures updated. I am leaving the computer all night so the pictures will upload. The internet is not as fast here as it is at home, so it takes longer for them to load. I promise they are coming.

Pray for us tomorrow. We have three concerts, two at the same location but different people attending. Pray that we will have the energy to present a pleasing sound unto the Lord.

Saturday and Sunday

Hello everybody! Sorry for the delay in posting but the last two days have been extremely busy. But even through the hustle of it all, God has been at work through us and our music.

Saturday we began our day at the Seminario do Sul with sectionals/workshops. These were not as crowded as Friday's, but were an encouragement to those who participated. We were spilt into four sections: strings, winds, rhythm, and conducting/arranging. There were about a dozen string players, five wind players (all woodwinds and no brass), about five rhythm section , and 14 conducting participants. After about an hour, we stopped to have lunch at the Seminario and then went back to the Chapel to combine for an open rehearsal. An open rehearsal is a time where the participants can play with us on a few songs in an informal setting. Also, at this workshop, three of the conducting participants directed the orchestra. That was an exciting time for them. You could see the joy in their eyes as they led the group. After the open rehearsal was over, the orchestra played four or five more songs for the participants.

One thing we learned while at the Seminario was the school system here in Brazil does not teach music. If anyone wants to play an instrument or sing in a choir, the church is the place to get plugged in and be involved. The churches have music schools that provide lessons to those who want to study music. Our contact and translator, Gabi, who is a doctoral flute performance student at UNT, said that she began her musical career in the church here in Brazil. She has been playing with us in all of the concerts and will be playing with us at the home concert.

We left the Seminario at headed for Igreja Batista Barao de Itaquara for our evening concert. This was a large church and has 10 choirs. They also have an orchestra and Tim got to play the brand new drum set they just bought. This church was very appreciative for us being there and ministering to them. After the concert, the church prepared dinner for us. It was a typical Brazilian dinner: roast, rice, beans, and several desserts including celebration jello.

We arrived back at the hotel about 12:30 am and slept a little bit before getting up for Sunday morning church.

Sunday was a tremendous day. We were at the Primeira Ingreja Batista do Rio Church (the First Baptist Church of Rio). The sanctuary looked like a government building. Big, tall columns in the front and the inside even looked like an official chamber at one point in the building's history. This church also looked somewhat like our sanctuary. There were two floors, and in the balcony, there was a broadcast room in the upper right corner of the back of the church. The windows for this room looked exactly like ours back home. This church was completely packed with people. There was overflow seating in the foyer to accommodate all of the people. While we were storing our cases and bags in a room located in one of the children's Sunday school classrooms, the children were singing songs and having a great time. They were really getting into the music and having fun singing about the Lord. During the service, we helped lead the congregation in worship. The Christians here really know how to praise the Lord. Every single person in the room was singing, and not just the move your lips a little to look like your singing. They were singing with their whole heart. It was a very worshipful time for me personally to see the congregation so involved in the worship. We felt at home in this service - there were two baby dedications yesterday morning. After the service, many people came up to members of the orchestra telling us how moving it was for them that we were there. The Lord was really using us to minister to these believers and encourage them through our music. After the service, the church had prepared a nice lunch for us: rice and chicken stroganoff and shoestring potatoes. It was followed up by excellent desserts.

Yesterday, we had some shopping time at the Ipanema market. We were told this was a better market that Copacabana's market. The park where the market is located was completely full of little tents with lots of merchandise. You could find just about anything you wanted to buy here. Eddie, Diana, and I bought saxophones made out of bamboo. That's right, I said saxophones. If you know Eddie, then you know what I am talking about. This was a great place to do our souvenir shopping. After the market, we headed to Igreja Batista Vila de Penha for our evening concert.

This church was also standing room only. Again, during the congregational worship, the people were singing so enthusiastically. It was incredible. Once we finished with our portion of the service, Larry preached. He encouraged the youth (it is youth month in the churches here) to be a bush on fire for the Lord. He talked about how God can use anybody if they are willing to be used by Him. It was a very powerful sermon. Several came forward during the invitation. After the service, we had dinner provided by the church. It was the exact same meal that we had a lunch only the dessert was ice cream instead of cakes.

One interesting note about the two churches on Sunday, neither congregations clapped after any of the songs were played. At the second church, the pastor told his congregation that he would allow them to clap during our last song, "Celebrate Jesus." We heard that some years ago, someone told the people here in Brazil that it was irreverent to clap during a church service. It was interesting to finish a song and hear complete silence. It made us wonder if they were enjoying the music at all. We found out after the service on both occasions that the people loved our music very much.

I am in the process of moving the pictures to a different site, which will allow me to put them all up instead of going through and selection which are worthy to be the chosen few. I will try to put that link on the blog tonight.

Please continue to pray for us. We have given 6 concerts and have 5 more to go. Pray for strength, concentration, rest, and the people we will come in contact with.

Pictures posted!

Here is the link to the pictures. More pictures will be added every night. Tomorrow will have details from today also.

On good note, the missing luggage arrived today!

Tomorrow is a full day for the orchestra. Pray that we will have a good night's rest as we will be leading in two church services tomorrow.

First Day of Concerts

Today was our first full day of activities. This morning when we got up, it appeared that it might rain because of the cloud cover and the humidity. When we arrived Cinelandia (the House of Representatives), the skies cleared and no cloud could be seen. This was a very interesting concert in several different ways. This was the first time an orchestra has ever performed a concert outside on the steps of this building. Also, the House of Representatives sent an official from the Culture division to present the orchestra with a proclamation written by the House to the orchestra. The largest television station in Brazil covered our concert outside the House of Representatives this morning and will be airing on the local news stations here. After the concert, the orchestra was given a brief tour of the House of Representatives.

After we packed up our equipment, we headed to Igreja Batista de Magali (Magali Baptist Church) for our sectionals/workshop time. But on the way to the church, we stopped at a church member's house, where they had prepared a huge buffet lunch for us. After our filling lunch, we arrived at the church to begin the sectionals/workshop. This was the first time that this has been done and was a huge success. There were 168 participants involved in the sectionals/workshop and the skill level of those involved ranged from beginner to professional. At 7:00pm, we gave a concert at the church to a very receptive audience. We received several standing ovations and at the end of the concert, the audience kept asking for more and more. So we played some extra songs, which they loved. After the concert, the church prepared "hot dogs" for everyone that attended the concert.

On the way back to the hotel, we made a stop at the grocery store for a few "midnight" snacks. Tomorrow's schedule has changed slightly to allow us to have some free time at Copacabana Beach in the morning before we go to the seminary.

The lost luggage did not arrive today, so pray that it will get here as soon as possible. Also, Kenn Hughes made it in today and was a big hit at the concert with his trombone feature and orchestral arrangement of "Joshua Fit the Battle." Larry Walker was able to share the Gospel at both concerts today, which we were not expecting at the House of Representatives.

Since we arrived at the hotel so late tonight, I will work on posting pictures tomorrow. Thank you for you prayers and your wonderful comments. The Lord is really blessing us here in Brazil.

We made it!

We all arrived in Rio de Janeiro Thursday morning. The only thing missing was one piece of luggage (it will be here tomorrow). As we left the airport, we headed to a mall for lunch and then to the hotel to drop off luggage. This afternoon, we took a bus tour of the city were we learned some interesting facts about Rio and were able to see the whole city. After the city tour, we came back to the hotel to freshen up before an excellent dinner: an all-you-can eat churrascaria. This meal included pork, chicken, chicken heart, lamb, and beef (definitely a great way to start off the trip). After dinner, we arrived back at the hotel (where most of us) headed for bed. Everyone was pretty tired today, so pray that we will have a goodnight's rest as we have 2 concerts tomorrow and 1 clinic.

Below are a few pictures from today. We've had some technical difficulties with the Internet at the hotel, but hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow. More pictures will be posted tomorrow as well.

Sugarloaf Mountain

Copacabana Beach

Sandcastle at Copacabana Beach

Itinerary at a Glance

REACH RIO

Wednesday, July 23
Delta flight departs 3:36 p.m.
American flight departs 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 24
Delta flight arrives 7:05 a.m.
American flight arrives 8:30 a.m.

Hotel - Golden Tulip Continental

  Rua Gustavo Sampaio, 320 - Leme

  Rio de janeiro - RJ - 22010-010, Brasil
Bus Tour
Orientation
Dinner at Churrascaria

Friday, July 25
Concert #1 at Cinelandia
Sectionals with Magali Musicians
Concert #2 at Igreja Batista em Magali

Saturday, July26
Sectionals at Seminario do Sul
Open Rehearsal
Concert #3 at Seminario do Sul
Concert #4 at Igreja Batista Barao
de Itaquara

Sunday, July 27
Concert #5 at Primeira Igrega
Batista do Rio Church
Concert #6 at Igreja Batista Vila da Penh

Monday, July 28
Concert #7 Kidz Concert at Igreja Batista
Parque Anchieta
Concert #8 Second Kidz Concert at Igreja
Batista Parque Anchieta
Concert #9 First Baptist Church, Niteroi

Tuesday, July 29
Concert #10 Brazilian Baptist School
Concert #11 Second Concert at Brazilian
Baptist School
Concert #12 Igreja Batista de Itacuruca

Wednesday, July 30
Sightseeing
Concert #13 Igreja Batista de Campo
Grande

Thursday, July 31
Check out
Mall
Airport
American flight departs at 6:10 p.m.
Delta flight departs at 10:55 p.m.

Friday, August 1
American flight arrives at 6:05 a.m.
Delta flight arrives at 11:19 a.m.

Sunday, August 10
4:00 p.m. Meet in sanctuary.
6:00 p.m. HOME CONCERT