rojo

Before living in El Salvador, I had never heard of Rojo, a Christian rock bank from Mexico, so when our friends at Operation Blessing gave us tickets to their concert I was happy for the kids, but wasn't feeling particularly excited for the event.

Once the concert began, my feelings quickly changed. Rojo's performance was unlike any other I've experienced; it was actually designed to be a worship session. Their songs are catchy, upbeat and easy to learn. Two enormous screens on either side of the stage displayed the music videos and scrolled the lyrics for each song, inviting everyone to participate and sing-along. 

Latin American Christian worship is about praising God with your entire being: singing as loudly as you can, waving your hands in the air, jumping, dancing. All the Salvadorans, including our kids, did all this (while standing on their chairs) and knew motions to the songs. I began by pretending I knew the words and motions, dancing and singing along with everyone else. And then, suddenly, I wasn't pretending. I learned the songs, let go of my inhibitions and really began worshipping with my whole heart and soul.

It was truly the best concert I've ever attended - a beautiful, passionate, uplifting worship session that we were blessed to share as a Love & Hope family. I know the experience touched the kids' hearts as much as mine. It was inspiring to see even our quiet ones coming out of their shells to sing and praise our Lord. Click here to read what Brenda says about the concert.

A few of my favorite songs were the ones that kept the original English tunes, but changed the lyrics to Spanish. Between the scrolling Spanish words and my knowledge of the English version I switched back and forth between Spanish and English when singing Our God and Never Let Go. And my new favorite Spanish worship song is

Fuego del Dios

(Fire of God)

Fuego de Dios

Quémame hoy

Purifícame y lléname

Otra vez.

(Fire of God,

Burn me today

Purify me and fill me

Again.)