[November 6, 2007] Today was a long and busy day but it was a really good day. We had breakfast around 9:00 and left the compound to go downtown and sing for the Secretary of Culture for Belem. Unfortunately, the secretary had more pressing issues, so we sang for students at the Carlos Gomez Music Conservatory, a school where most of the kids are poor. Belem is a poor region compared to most of the brasilian capital cities. It was kind of weird seeing the contrast between some of the wealthier cities like Campo Grande (which, by the way, means Big Camp) and Belem. It reminded me of Ecuador where, if you have nothing, you have nothing but you find a way to survive because it's necessary. Words can't adequately describe the mobs of people on the side of the road hoping to get picked up to go to work for a very low wage. I was told the average salary in Belem is about 380 reais (sounds like ray-eyes) per month, which translates into less than $200 US dollars. That's so little! Yet, the concert tickets were 30 reais and the 2000-person convention center was sold out completely. We got to share Jesus with a lot of people and heard some great responses. It was clearly the craziest crowd we've had so far, but the love some Jesus. It was also our best performance so far. We hope it will continue to improve like it has been.
I do have a bit of bad news, though. I have suffered the loss of a dear comrade. You may have seen us together, some of you many times. We have been friends for quite a while now. We went through some tough times together but we made it out alright...until now. He may not make it this time. He was severely injured during the concert and I'm really pretty shaken up by the incident...mainly because it was my fault. See, what had happened was, I stuck my hand out to shake a kid's hand and he grabbed my Ecuadorian bracelet and broke the string, losing half of the beads that I spent at least an hour last month repairing...for the second time. I'm really heartbroken about this because it's my "Compassion bracelet." When I look at it I think of the Compassion kids we help support and it's my reminder that real people, real children are suffering more than we know.
Okay, enough with the sad talk. We had a good day and a good concert. We went to the zoo today too. Good times. Pray for my knees, though. I'm feeling a bit arthritic. Moving really slowly tonight. We be aight tho! Another early morning, and it's already after midnight. Hora de dormir!
Peace, Love, and Chocolate
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