Sunday, June 17: Sunday Services

This morning we went to Morumbi Baptist Church and joined their orchestra and praise team to lead worship for two services.  The church was vibrant with energy and excitement.  The congregation made us feel so welcome and appreciated, and we thoroughly enjoyed participating in their praise and worship songs.  We all felt a mutual connection and were blessed by each other’s music.  The church provided breakfast and lunch for us where we had an opportunity to visit and fellowship with the church members and their musicians.

Diane Guthrie sang "Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace" so beautifully!

Our trombone section (Kenn Hughes, Mel Adair and Camp Kirkland) with two Brazilian players that joined them in the section. 

Skip Sidner and Alan Suska (trumpets) with five siblings that all played in the orchestra with us this morning. Their proud father is in the middle. 

Kay Hays worked with the children on an art project.  But more than that, Kay was asked to share her life story with the children.  They wanted to know all about her including her family, education, career, interests, and faith.

Due to Brazil's first game in the World Cup, the church was decorated with Brazilian flag colors and festivities were held after church to watch the game. It was so fun to see their country pride!

We led worship for an evening church service at Liberdade Baptist Church, which is Gabi’s home church. During their praise and worship band set, we could see the evidence of God’s presence in the sanctuary through the singing of the congregation. It was especially meaningful when they prayed a blessing over us for the remainder of our week's ministry. We could really feel the sweet spirit of the people.

Things you can pray for:

• Pray for us as we lead workshops for the children tomorrow.
• Pray for our concert at Theatro Municipal de Barueri tomorrow evening, which is in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Sao Paulo, and that lives would be touched by our faith stories and music.
• Pray for refreshment from some fatigue of our team members as we move into some very busy days ahead.

Saturday, June 16: Final Day of Preparation

Today was a wonderful day filled with music and fellowship with our Brazilian friends preparing for the coming week of church services, music workshops with the children, and special performances for the community. Two of our team members started a renovation project today. The rest of us started the day with a rehearsal at Mackenzie University with players that will be joining us for the next week. Some are from local churches and others are from Mackenzie University. We have 3 guest conductors joining us throughout the week - Parcival Modolo, Flavio Regis, and Camp Kirkland.

Diane Guthrie, guest soprano from Texas, joined us to rehearse several of her pieces of music. 

Members of the Orchestra from Morumbi Baptist Church played a special hymn for us after rehearsal. It was so neat to hear them play from their hearts for us.

We enjoyed a delicious Churrascaria for lunch and many of the Brazilian players joined us! It was wonderful to get to know them and experience an authentic Brazilian steakhouse. 

After lunch, we enjoyed a short bus tour through Sao Paulo on the way to Sala Hall. Gabi showed us the financial district, Sao Paulo Opera House, and the Museum of Modern Art, but the moment where we felt the most impact was when we drove by an area highly concentrated by crack addicts. They have taken over this square in front of a Lutheran church. Unfortunately, there was a fire recently inside the church due to this issue, and a historic organ was destroyed in the fire. Drugs have become a major issue in Sao Paulo, and there are many homeless people. 

We arrived at Sala Hall to hear the Sao Paulo Symphony play selections from Franck, Saint-Saens, and Dukas. To say it was glorious is an understatement.  It is currently ranked as the 6th best performance hall in the world! We are all so excited to have the children from the workshops perform with us in this gorgeous symphony hall on Tuesday!

After the concert, we enjoyed dinner at a pizzeria. 

Things you can pray for:

• Pray for us as we lead music in three church services tomorrow
• Pray for Kay as she begins teaching art to the children
• Pray for open hearts to receive the gospel 
• Pray for our team members to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in conversation and ministry

Friday, June 15: WE ARE HERE!

We all made it safely to Sao Paulo this morning with all of our luggage in tow. Praise God for safe arrivals!

Gabi (Brazilian Global Mission Project Rep) met us at the airport with special greetings while Kenn Hughes gave some instructions.

     

With minimal sleep from the plane ride, some of us had a nice little nap on the bus ride to the hotel!












After making our way to the hotel, we were able to check into our rooms immediately and eat a nice buffet lunch at the hotel restaurant. We all were able to get settled into our rooms and a meeting about the trip shortly followed. Gabi and Camp gave us some great information about the Brazilian culture and some additional details for the week.

One of the most interesting facts was about music education in Brazil. Music education is essentially non-existent in the public school system, and 80% of children learn their instruments in the church. How exciting that we get to be part of this! We will be conducting workshops with three children's music projects.

Only 150 tickets are left for our performance at Sala Sao Paulo concert hall that will happen on Tuesday evening. Word has gotten out that we are here and it is exciting that we'll be sharing the gospel in such a meaningful way! The children from the three projects will be performing at Sala Sao Paulo with us.

This evening, we had a wonderful rehearsal with members of the Mackenzie University orchestra and choir. Many of the orchestra members will be joining us throughout the week.

                                  

                                                                                                      

Things you can pray for:

That we will get some rest tonight after a long day. The team is very tired from traveling and a long rehearsal this evening.

That we will be open to the Spirit's leading and be a light to all we meet.