A ministry team from OM Arts International called "Heart Sounds International" (HSI) recently returned from a challenging field project in the Peruvian jungle. This trip centered in a camp called Aurora along the Amazon River where HSI joined with 20 persons making up five teams gathering for a variety of ministries—medical, sports, literacy, children's clinics, and various practical projects.
Results of the Urarina gathering
Results of the Urarina gathering
More than 100 Urarina from small villages had come to Aurora, many traveling for days by boat. The HSI team met two Urarina pastors and started asking about their music traditions and how they composed music. The pastors had written three new songs in the Urarina language, and the HSI team encouraged the pastors to collaborate and write a song based on the words of scripture. The pastors were happy to participate in this historic moment, creating the first scripture songs in the Urarina language. Before long seven Urarina and Spanish songs were recorded, mostly in a melodic style from their mountain region.
Back in the 90s, the president of Wycliffe shared that when the translators got the new believers to sing the newly translated scriptures, using their own melodies and music styles, churches grew rapidly. When that did not happen, churches grew more slowly. Missionaries shared that with Urarina pastors a few months ago and encouraged them to write worship songs in the Urarina language. To the HSI team's delight, that connection of scripture and local music forms had moved from continent to continent, and then to the far flung communities along the Amazon, where the HSI team had the joy of recording new Urarina worship songs that one day may be sung at God's Throne.
Back in the 90s, the president of Wycliffe shared that when the translators got the new believers to sing the newly translated scriptures, using their own melodies and music styles, churches grew rapidly. When that did not happen, churches grew more slowly. Missionaries shared that with Urarina pastors a few months ago and encouraged them to write worship songs in the Urarina language. To the HSI team's delight, that connection of scripture and local music forms had moved from continent to continent, and then to the far flung communities along the Amazon, where the HSI team had the joy of recording new Urarina worship songs that one day may be sung at God's Throne.
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