Christafari Update 11/23/07
Nov. 23, 2007 - Brazil is going great so far! It was hectic before the trip with my toe surgery on Friday (ingrown toenail removal) a six-hour practice on Saturday and then staying up all night to prepare for being gone for three weeks. By the time we got on the plane we were exhausted and the long flight didn't help much. We ended up traveling for 24 hours straight, flying from Los Angeles to Lima, Peru and then to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Once we arrived in Brazil, Kevin McIntyre, our new booking agent/tour manager/translator greeted us with a smile. It is essential to have a translator when you visit Brazil for very few people here speak English. Kevin has proven to be a real blessing and a great addition to the Christafari crew. He also makes my job a lot easier.
From Sao Paulo we drove to Sao Jose Dos Campos, a small city in the state of Sao Paulo and were greeted by a very hospitable church. Everyone is taking such good care of us here-and they feed you like kings! If you have never had a Brazilian churrascaria or some chocolate pizza, you are seriously missing out.
After taking a day to overcome jetlag and catch up on not getting any sleep for 48 hours, we were finally adjusted and ready to play our first show. The concert was at a massive church in Sao Jose dos Campos, and we had no idea what to expect. We had never even heard of this city before and while the church building was huge, the pastor never officially invited the congregation to attend. Instead, he simply asked the church members to hold a 24-hour prayer vigil in preparation for the show. It worked!
It turns out that the fire marshal had limited the capacity of the building to only 3,000. It filled up quickly and we were told that at least 1,000 were regrettably turned away. We'll have to play in a larger facility next time! As for the show, it went great! We sang 25 songs to a massive crowd that was by far the loudest audience that we have ever encountered! They really get us here in Brazil-possibly more so than any other country. We sang a host of songs from every album and even sang in Portuguese. At the end of the night I gave an altar call and many came to know the Lord. When we were relaxing after the show the promoter came up to us with a huge smile on his face. He had never seen so many unbelievers in his church before. They handed me a stack of response cards filled out by new converts and everyone was so excited to see such a tremendous harvest in just one night.
The next day we got up early and began filming a music video for Avion's "I Love You Father". It is coming along nicely. In the afternoon we headed off to the beach for some big wave surfing. It is incredible what an impact our music has made on this massive country, everywhere we go somebody recognizes us and tells us how much they love our songs. It is a real blessing being here.
Today we fly to Sao Luis, the reggae capitol of Brazil and have no idea what to expect. Please pray for safe travel and many salvations on this next leg of our tour. Also pray for Jayme (our sax player). He has tremendous back pains and may have some sort of stomach virus.
Blessings in Christ,
Mark Mohr
Christafari
