Fasten my seat belt

      Sunday was a wonderful day of worship at the PIB, Primeira Igreja Batista de Curitiba. Morning and evening each had almost a 2-hour service, in which we played along with the church instrumentalists. In our rehearsal, I heard Camp Kirkland make 2 statements I've never heard before in any orchestra I've played in. He stopped us in the middle of a song and said, "I can't hear the trumpets!" There are about eight or ten of them--I couldn't see from where I sat. In this morning's service, the youth orchestra played with us as well, and we must have had 30 strings! Church orchestra guys, eat your hearts out! The entire stage area was filled, including the built-in choir risers. These kids played with energy and were really fun to interact with. In the next song we rehearsed, Camp called out to the drummer to play louder! Ok, now I've heard everything.

     

My first look at PIB church

Prayer time in the Sunday evening service, which was about as full as the morning service, everyone singing and engaging in the entire service.

He Is Exalted, one of our selections

The church fed us lunch, then in the afternoon, we conducted music workshops. The string workshop was by far the largest (some of our US churches should be so lucky!) and we even ran overtime, with all the interest and questions from the string players.

With just minutes to "rest" (think there won't be much of that going on here!) we had to run through the rain back to church for the evening service. The forecast has changed since we left the states. Mostly rain all week. Good thing I have my umbrella.

With a 10pm dinner scheduled at a local favorite pizza restaurant, I opted to go back to the hotel and try to call my hubby and give him another Father's Day wish. The rain was coming down so hard, some of the PIB orchestra members volunteered to drive us the block-and-half distance to the Harbor Hotel Batel, our home away from home for the week.

I really appreciate everyone who promised to pray for me this week--it's a FULL schedule, beginning with 8am breakfast in hotel, and ending with 10pm dinnertime, never stopping to take a breath in between. My energy is high in the morning, but of course as the day wears on, I wear out. I've got "permission" to miss some sessions if need be, but I really don't want to do that, because there are only 2 violins in the GMP group. So, thanks for lifting me up each day.

Off to another glorious Brazilian breakfast. The table is laden with fresh fruits (abacaxi-pineapple, is better here than anywhere else!), assorted cheeses, meats, breads, eggs, and of course the wonderful pao de queijo (cheese bread) that we're all scarfing up! Brazil also has great coffee. (Good thing there are no scales here.)

Bus to a school, where we'll give a morning concert (for which we have had no time to rehearse!), and then do some instrumental workshops and teaching. Many of our GMP members have been given instruments to give away to the children here, my fellow violinist had one large suitcase with 5 donated violins, and one of our guys carried a cello here for some lucky cello student. These people are so appreciative of whatever we give them and it reminds me of those of you who helped make it possible for me to be on this trip. So, another big thank you to you!

Ate logo (until later)...