1pm
This morning we visited the village where the brothers live. Their mother prepared a meal for us: corn, guinea pig, and cheese we couldn’t eat (not pasteurized, would have made us sick).
I am still startled by the poverty level in many of the villages of the Andes mountains. I see their circumstances and I see hopelessness. Yet, to hear David, Umberto, Ephraim, and Samuel talk about they hope they have in Christ, it makes me feel like a total fraud. Seeing their situation makes me understand what it’s like to have Christ be your source of joy, hope, and even the means to get by day to day. I wonder how much I rely on Christ for those things. It seems I feel like I can take care of myself most of the time and just let Him fill in the gaps.
Eating guinea pig with Cliff at the house of the brothers
After we left the house, Randall and I ran back to the van as it had started to rain. We talked about how meeting that mother had impacted us. As it turned out, Randall wrote a song about the experience that made it on to the record called “Did Not Catch Her Name”. Randall later told me that he finished the song after the conversation we had, so that was quite a thrill for me. And it’s a great song too.
Financially it is easy to see that our country is much more well off than Ecuador. But spiritually, I wonder if it’s just the opposite. Has all that we have as Americans numbed our need for God? It might be the one thought that I take with me after I return home.
Midnight
We spent close to 4 hours in the makeshift recording studio above the hotel dining room tonight capturing the sounds of the brothers. Josh and Andy had all their gear set up and worked them pretty hard, but they seemed to love every minute of it (the brothers as well as Josh and Andy). Chances are they recorded some great melodies to build songs around. That is probably what will end up happening to all the recordings that they are getting of indigenous music from India, Ecuador, and Brazil. They will pick a melody, an intro, or an instrumental solo and build a song around it. Interesting to note that their music was all in the same key, C. no sharps and no flats in the key of C, as most musicians know. At one point Andy said he played an E chord for them and they cringed. Tomorrow we are headed to the market, a photoshoot, and then back to Quito. Cliff got really sick tonight, hopefully he feels better by morning.
(–> Day 4)