Recording – colombiatotheworld

When you fall, sometimes it takes a village to pick you back up.

The past few months in the Morales house have been a testament to community, faith and the strength that only comes from Jesus.

We didn’t post much of what had been going on, but now that things are finally looking up, I thought I’d share.

May 13th: Leo took a brave and valiant move (after much prayer) and quit his job at Guitar Center in order to focus more on ministry and his business. (shameless plug: http://www.leonardo-morales.com)

May 16th: Leo was working on our basement remodel, fell off of a step-ladder and fractured his right elbow.

May 18th: Our dog, Canela, gave birth to 5 puppies

May 19th: Leo had extensive surgery on his elbow to repair the damage

The rest of May: an absolute blur.

Most of June and July: a blur

August 10th: Leo’s US citizenship ceremony

Now, here we are at the end of August!

We have now called the summer of 2016 “The summer of recovery, citizenship and puppies”.

Here’s the deal:

There is absolutely no way that we would’ve made it through the first 2 weeks, let alone the months afterwards without friends and family.

We’ve had people bring us meals (it didn’t hurt that Canela had such cute puppies to visit/hold), bring us urgent medicine or food, help finish the recording studio, do yard work, organize our basement, and just be emotional/spiritual support all throughout this process.

As Leo walked in for his 3-month appointment, the doctors were astonished. They have NEVER seen anyone heal so quickly after such an intense fracture.

Leo jokes around that he plays guitar even better now than he did before, and proudly shows his “ironman” picture of the screws that were put in his elbow. We know we are blessed and fortunate that it turned out this way!

We didn’t post anything about it on Facebook because we didn’t want his family in Colombia to worry. They were dealing with their own hard situations, and didn’t need to know that Leo was having such a hard time.

But, right before his mom came for his citizenship ceremony, he told her over the phone. She said she felt that there was something going on, and just prayed for us.

What is amazing to me is that we would’ve probably never had this many conversations with people in our lives without this accident. Life here in the US is so rushed, so compartmentalized, and so shallow at times. When people would come over, it seemed that conversations lingered. Testimonies about hard times were shared, and our faith was strengthened.

When we let people into our mess (and there was a whole lot of it!), we realized that we really weren’t alone. This world, as much as it feels like it’s “every man for himself”, is much better lived in community… when one falls, we all rally around to pick him/her up off the ground.

We are so grateful!

Guitar Center

When we first moved back to the US 3 1/2 years ago, we had absolutely no idea what the next steps were. We just knew that we needed to be here.

So, we moved into my parent’s basement, and watched God provide everything we needed in His timing.

One of the most important things was for Leo to find a job. Unfortunately, his degree in Jazz Composition and Improvisation doesn’t really count for much here, so his desire to teach music wasn’t going to be an option.

He decided to fast. He knew that God had brought us here, and that He had a plan for us that we couldn’t see.

Through those days of job-searching and prayer, the Lord kept bringing him back to Guitar Center’s website; but there were never any job postings listed. So, Leo decided to just go to the store and check out the situation. As he walked around the store he realized that they didn’t have anyone who spoke Spanish, let alone any other international diversity on their staff.

So, he found the manager and introduced himself.

The manager posted a job opening that day, just so Leo could apply.

And, just like that, my kind, humble, ESL, pastor’s heart man was thrown into the world of retail.

I suppose there were some good days thrown in those first few months, but most days were grueling.

In Colombia, it is terribly rude to not introduce yourself and say hello before starting a conversation. In the US, it’s common.

It’s also, apparently, common to say “No, I want to talk to someone who speaks English” when someone with an accent answers the phone.

There were so many times Leo would come home absolutely mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted.

And that was before winter hit, and he had to drive 30 minutes from my parent’s farm to the store in the freezing cold, snowy and icy roads. (something he had never done before).

But, every once in a while he’d come home with a story from the day that didn’t include people being rude, and those were precious.

There was one day when a widow came in and wanted something that would help her read music, as she was almost blind. Leo took his time showing her different things, talking with her and making her laugh. By the time they were done, she had tears in her eyes and told him that he reminded her of her husband who had passed. She was so grateful that he had taken time with her.

There was another day that a man came in and started talking with Leo about all different kinds of things related to sound, and then the man just paused, put his hand on Leo’s shoulder and said “Brother, are you a Christ-follower?”. Leo lit up, so grateful that the man noticed! As it turns out, that man was a pastor, and Leo has continued to help their church out with sound over the years.

Eventually, the Lord provided a place for us to live, just 2 miles from the store. And, it seemed like every time we went out for a date around the area, there were people who knew Leo.

Then, as we built our recording studio, people he had made a good connection with in the store started coming over to the house and recording beautiful music. In the last 2 years, he has recorded and produced songs and albums for people from the Bahamas, Kenya, Peru, Colombia, the Congo, South Africa, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and good ole’ USA.

He started finding purpose beyond just selling stuff and making commission (2%, if you were wondering). He started connecting with immigrant pastors, and offered his help to install their sound systems and train up their media teams.

I think he has been to every immigrant church in the city… African, Asian, Latino… and even one of the new Lesbian churches downtown. That is a story for another post. 🙂

He has taken such good care of people, that now, even on Sundays, he’ll facetime with a church or two when they are in crisis, in-between his own worship practice.

He is one of the hardest workers I know, taking advantage of all the different opportunities that the Lord has given him.

And now, we are stepping out on a new adventure: He quit Guitar Center on Friday. It is time for him to start doing more of what he loves, and the time he was putting in at the store just didn’t allow for him to do that.

So, spread the word! Leo is available for installing sound and training up media teams, recording projects, latin jazz gigs; guitar, bass or recording lessons, etc. We are so excited to see what the Lord is going to do!

We will always be grateful for the 3 1/2 years that Leo spent at Guitar Center. It is where he learned how to communicate not only with Anglos, but with all different races and economic levels. It’s where he put to use his amazing people skills, and built lasting friendships with other musicians here in the city. It’s where he spoke value to Spanish-speaking pastors and worship leaders, hearing what their struggles are beyond just a sound system.

The employee prices on sound equipment and instruments didn’t hurt either. 🙂

On to the next season!

What in the world are the Morales’ doing?!?!

This past summer our church hosted the Vineyard Global Conference. For the first time in the Vineyard’s history, pastors and church leaders from all over the world came together in ONE place to worship and learn from each other. There were many powerful moments throughout the week. Leo and I were honored to lead the kids in worship and in a mission experience as the week went on.

We were also honored to host 6 pastors from Peru and Chile for the week.

We would come home absolutely exhausted from working 12 hour days, to sit around our living room sharing invigorating stories of ministry until the early morning hours.

Honestly, the months leading up to this conference weren’t our best as a couple. We were both so immersed in our own separate worlds that we hadn’t truly served together in a long time. Yes, Leo supported me in the things I did at church, and I would come alongside him, but we hadn’t felt like we had done anything that was “ours” in a very long time.

Leo would come home with amazing stories of conversations and moments he would have while installing sound and training up media teams in a variety of churches and mosques around the city. I would beam about all the things the Lord was doing in the kids’ hearts and lives… but we deeply missed walking alongside each other, taking part in each others’ moments.

That all changed at the conference.

We were finally together, for an entire week, serving alongside each other. Watching the other come alive as we were “in our element”.

We started to dream again.

Our conversations with these amazing, church-planting pastors ended with “you need to come down and partner with us… train up our people in what you’re doing. Come serve alongside us for a few weeks!”.

So, we started planning.

We intentionally started saving.

Then, about 2 months ago, we hosted a Spanish worship night with La Viña. Leo finally found all the members of the band who understood how to play all styles of music, and who deeply desired to honor Jesus with their musical talents and lead others into worship… and we put together an incredible set infused with some of our original tunes.

That night, something powerful happened inside of us. We trusted the band to follow us, and we intently listened to Jesus. There was absolute freedom. New words and melodies poured out of us. Leo and I led together like a tree-climbing rope being woven together… I would play something and he would wrap his own style and words around it. He would sing just a few words, and I would come around with more. We had never truly experienced anything like it before. No competition, no tug of war, just pure unity as we truly led together for the very first time.

We came home and songs continued to spill out of us. OUR songs… not Leo changing or translating my songs, or me putting words to his melodies… we were writing together for the first time in our lives.

Which gave us an idea: is it time to finally finish the Spanish worship album we’ve been working on (ie frustrated with, fighting about, giving up on yet hoping for)?

We started working on it. We invited all the musicians from the worship night over to record together… our studio was filled with beautiful music! The best part about it was that every single member of the band was from a different country… Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Portugal, Colombia, Mexico. There was great excitement as they heard these new songs for the first time and put all their hearts into recording their best. My heart was soaring as I heard what was being made in our humble basement.

This week, we are ending the recording stage with just a few more things to go, and Leo is already working hard on mixing.

We hope to have a digital release in December, with an official “release concert” sometime in February/March.

We leave for Peru, Chile and Argentina in January for a 5-6 week trip (yes… this is still the Morales’ we’re talking about… we don’t nail down specifics until last minute! lol!).

We will be partnering with church planters and leaders to train in Children’s ministry, Worship ministry and recording. We are even going to be doing a kids and youth camp alongside the leaders so that they can put into practice the ideas we will be working on together.

To say we are pumped is an understatement.

To say we are overwhelmed is also an understatement.

Please pray for us. There are a lot of things that need to come through for us to be able to follow what we feel like the Lord has laid out.

Pray for these last weeks of finalizing our cd.

Pray for the details to come together for the trip.

Pray for all the things we already had on our plate before we took on these 2 huge projects… Worship club, Christmas activities, Leo’s retail work, family visiting from Colombia, etc.

We want to savor each day, and not get caught up in “getting somewhere”… but also keep the balance of needing to plan and dream. It is a fun tight-rope to walk on.

Thanks!