Songs of Praise

Wednesday nights are very special.

Our church doesn't have Wednesday night services, but we praise the Lord anyway. On Wednesday we have choir practice. We are a very small church so the choir is small, too. We have four altos, 5-7 sopranos, 2 bases and 1 tenor. For Christmas and Easter cantatas we might pull in a few extras for a few weeks, but mostly it's just the few of us. What we do have is an outstanding music director. He has taught us to sing--literally.

Higo is from Brazil. He attended school in a small Baptist college in our state. Several years ago our minister got the wonderful idea to use the music students at this college as music directors for our church. For some reason, this college has formed an alliance with Brazil. They have a very large student population, most of them with ties to the music college. These gifted students
have opened our eyes to the culture and warmth of their country. They come to the US, some of them with very limited English, but all of them with a great determination to achieve an education.

Through these students we have expanded our horizons and opened our hearts. The first student we had lived in the trailer that my father occupied during his life here. We thought, in our ignorance, that he would be thrilled to have such a nice home. We found out later that he came from a very affluent family. His grandfather was a minister of some note and a professor at the university. He lived in Fontaleza a beautiful, coastal city. His parents had immigrated to the United States and now lived in Orlando, Fl. He was much more cosmopolitan than any of us in our small town.

What these students have is a tremendous dedication to getting an education. In their country it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get into a college. Many, many apply and very few are accepted. They simply do not have the educational opportunities that we take for granted. It is very expensive for parents to send them to the US. The Brazilian dollar trades at 2 to 1 for US dollars. Many of the parents will make huge sacrifices to keep their students here for four years. Also, because travel is very expensive many will not see their children again for at least one year and maybe more. Thank goodness for computers--their main contact.

Higo, our current director, came here with limited English. The first time he tried to direct us it was like playing charades. He would pantomime and we would guess what he meant. However, when he started playing the piano we didn't need a translation for the extraordinary music he created. We have grown together. He now is so fluent in English that he can make quite subtle and funny jokes. We have learned musically until we can follow his directions without making too many embarrassing mistakes. He has lifted us way beyond what we ever dreamed we could do. More than once we have looked at the music he has selected and been positive that we could never accomplish it. However, he has led us patiently until a miracle has happened and a beautiful piece of music appears. He has made us dream, and reach for our dreams, and sometimes we even reach our dreams.

He has done all of this with a deep, abiding faith that makes us all feel lacking. He has taught us that each hymn is literally a praise song for God. He has taught us that faith is the bottom line in all of your life. He lives his faith. We have been blessed by his talent, his willingness to teach us, and the opportunity to meet his family and learn about his country. However, we have been blessed most by his example of faith.