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.