Yesterday we were fortunate enough to attend the 33rd anniversary concert of a friend’s singing group. Our friend Julio Carvalho, from Union Church, has been a member of the Sons of Israel (Filhos de Israel) men’s octet, a group that travels around to churches in southeastern Brazil performing inspirational music.

The concert was at a little Baptist church about twenty miles outside of Rio–just imagine your church stuck out in a crumbling suburb, surrounded by green hills, bicycle shops, hamburger carts, and laundry hanging from people’s balconies. Add peeling paint, wooden slatted pews, and a picture of a waterfall painted on the back wall of the baptistry. We were the only English speakers there, and the service was entirely in Portuguese. It lasted from 7:30 to 11 PM. It was wonderful.

There were four singing groups other than the Filhos de Israel, including a large men’s choir, another men’s group, a quartet of young men who sang some very cool modernized hymns and some old Michael W. Smith in Portuguese, and JeVi, a mixed septet whose name stands for Jesus e Vida, Jesus is Life.

One of the greatest blessings of being here is seeing Jesus praised by so many different kinds of people. Going to church last night with Julio was one of the highlights of our time here so far. His wife and daughters and some grandchildren were there, as well, and we had a great time after the service trying out our Portuguese and licking cake off napkins in the Brazilian style.

I love my cherry red acoustic/electric guitar. It is the perfect size and shape for me. My parents, husband, and in-laws all contributed to its purchase the Christmas before last. My guitar and I have had some good times. We especially like to lead worship together. See how pretty it is?

When we flew here about a month ago, the case got all chewed up by the baggage machinery. I opened it up as soon as it came off the baggage carousel, though, and it looked all right.

Then, I got it out to play this afternoon for the first time.

Somehow, my sleep-deprived, just-off-the-plane self didn’t see this crack. This huge, jagged, potentially arm-stabbing crack. That I can’t fix. Or afford to pay someone to fix. To be honest, I don’t think this kind of thing can be fixed anyway. At least, not on less-than-$200 guitars. And I would have had to tell Delta about it within 7 days (not that they would have done anything about it, since guitars aren’t covered by their policy).

So I’m bummed. I can still practice with it, but I can’t lead worship with it. Sad.

Speaking of worship, to end on a high note, here’s our worship band from last Sunday:

That’s John, Amy, me, Jesse, and Alistair. Alex plays the piano, and Geison the drummer and Pastor Lucas on guitar are out of the shot.

Pronounced “fayleesh pashkwah,” like a good Carioca. He is risen!

We celebrated Easter this morning at Union Church with a surprisingly large congregation, including many first-time attenders. There was a breakfast beforehand with pancakes, sausage, and fruit (papayas, mango, melon, pineapple), and a great service with all the good old Easter hymns. We were afraid that the singing wasn’t going to work out all that well, because most of the band was gone and we were scrambling to get it together in the end, but it was great. As I said to one of our friends at church, God can always take whatever it is we throw out there and make it into something beautiful in the end.

In his sermon, Pastor Lucas urged us to remember all the other Christians around the world who are celebrating Easter today, some of them in hiding. It’s great to know that we, our families and friends back home, and all the other members of our faith can celebrate Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection together.

He is risen!

UPDATE FROM TIM: Here are some pictures of Lorraine leading worship this morning, including a shot of the “flowering cross,” a Union Church tradition.