Amazon Easter

Dawn came on Easter morning bright and early as I woke up much earlier than usual to get ready for the sunrise service at six. Being a campus wide event, the generator was also turned on earlier than usual which was helpful because I never realized how difficult putting contacts in by candlelight can be. The sun actually came up before the service started, giving me a few good shots of an Easter morning sunrise over the Amazon River. Easter is definitely my favorite holiday and I had been looking forward to celebrating it in Brazil, not only because of the beautiful location and great weather here but also to compare the events of the day to the different experiences I’ve had of Easter in the USA and Russia. Well, this was the first sunrise service I remember attending outside and thankfully even at six the morning the temperature was already quite warm. Our service was held in an outdoor pavilion located between the school and dining hall so we could all watch the sun rise above the tree line. The students provided special music with a flute and keyboard prelude and the elementary choir singing several Easter songs. We as the congregation also sang some traditional Easter hymns in both English and Portuguese: “Because He Lives” was “Porque Ele Vive” and “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” translated to “Ressurgiu”. I tried my best to sing the Portuguese words correctly, but the only ones I felt very comfortable with were the alleluias… that word was the same in both languages. The melodies were also the same and it was a meaningful experience to have people from different countries, cultures, and language groups singing the same songs about the very reason we are all here together in Brazil… proclaiming to the world the resurrection of Jesus Christ, His power over sin and death, the eternal life Christ came to give each and every person, and the amazing change He has made in each one of our lives. As the song by Charles Wesley goes… in English:

“Christ the Lord is risen today, alleluia!

Sons of men and angles say, alleluia!

 Raise your joys and triumphs high, alleluia!

Sing ye heavens and earth reply, alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, alleluia!

Where O death is now thy sting? Alleluia!

Dying once He all doth save, alleluia!

Where thy victory O grave? Alleluia!"

Following the service, the kitchen staff was soon busy preparing our Easter feast for lunch when all the families, staff, and students on campus come to the dining hall to eat together – about 80 people this year. The menu was meat from big roasting chickens called Chesters, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh hot rolls, mashed squash, creamy broccoli casserole, deviled eggs and pickles, and a variety of amazing desserts the ladies each brought to share. As a member of the cooking team, my responsibilities included peeling about 40-50 pounds of potatoes, baking 9 dozen soft oat rolls, making about 9 dozen deviled eggs, taking pictures of the whole process (ok that was a self-assigned job), and just being around to help with last minute stuff. However, even in all this hustle and bustle I was granted permission to leave the kitchen in the middle of the morning and watch the children’s Easter egg hunt. Two of the high school students hid empty plastic eggs and when the kids found them all, the eggs were exchanged for a certain amount of candy. That way none of the candy melted in the hot sun and the ants didn’t even have a chance to ruin good Easter treats. After the Easter egg hunt it was back to the kitchen for me where lunch was a lot of fun to make and tasted even better when we finally sat down to eat. When the meal was over, the grown men offered to do the dishes, and no one refused their help… the cooks were definitely ready for a nap. Later in the afternoon, everyone who wanted to swim climbed aboard the two-story school boat and took a short trip up the river to a lake sized inlet. There the boat stopped in the middle of the lake and people started jumping into the inviting water. But both the kids and adults weren’t satisfied with simply getting into the water to swim - they all had to jump in from the top story of the boat. When I stood there looking down from that level, the water seem very, very far away. It was much too high for me to jump, but after watching some of my preschool and elementary students effortlessly climb over the railing and jump in several times, I finally gave in to their begging and jumped in myself. Surprisingly I survived my first and second jumps, and then decided to just enjoy relaxing in the water. So now I guess I can add to my list of unusual Easter Day celebrations jumping off a two-story boat into the Amazon River to swim. And I thought I did some strange things on Easter Day in Russia… Well, any way you celebrate, the truth of Easter remains the same- CHRIST IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED!