SAMBA WITH THE SAVIOR

From her birth in Recife but raised in Salvador, the fourth largest city in Brazil, to finding her way to the U.S. at the age of 19, Kedma Wenz has spent her whole life as a musician/singer, using it as a platform for good that has changed the world. The causes and non-profits she support are as varied as the musical styles and languages she speaks.

She is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English. She’s recorded professional music in all three languages, with albums ranging from samba, bossa nova, jazz, praise & worship, and more. One of her accomplishments she’s most proud of is being the first Christian artist to be recorded at Paramount Recording Studios. Paramount, in Hollywood, has recorded some of the world’s most famous legends such as Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Celine Dion. While her music is enjoyed around the world, this female powerhouse invests her time, talent, and treasure in what she says is "simply sharing the grace of God that has been shared with me.”

Those from Brazil might find her a modern-day version of their female heroine Maria Firmina dos Reis. Almost 30 years before slavery was banned in Brazil in 1888, Firmina wrote the country’s first abolitionist novel, Ursula, in 1859. She also published critical essays, poems, short stories and wrote abolitionist songs. She also founded the first free and racially integrated school in Brazil before the abolition of slavery.

Wenz, who writes and records songs, uses all the royalties from her records in a fashion eerily similar to Firmina.

Wenz, in fact, has personally set about supplying more than 300 schoolchildren each year in the Amazon region with the ability to receive an education. “It’s hard for others to comprehend that attending school in modern-day Brazil is not a right but a privilege,” she explains. “Without a uniform, books, shoes and school supplies, a child is literally not allowed to attend school.” The royalties also go towards a project to build a new school called “Fazenda Agua da Fonte" in Belem - in the Amazon river area where transportation is only conducted by boat.

Every October, Wenz can also be found marching and praying on the streets of San Diego as an advocate for the organization A21.org. They holds the well-known Walk for Freedom seeking to abolish modern slavery with each step. “A21 goes to places, like San Diego, that are known centers for human trafficking, and I’m compelled each October to open with singing before the walk and then in silence and prayer carry signs that let people know that slavery is alive and well in the United States and we must fight to end it.”

Feisty and funny, she’s been the mother of five children in a blended family in Riverside, CA, for the last 16 years. Wenz, who refers to her family as the “Brady Bunch with a Brazilian twist”, met her current husband Paul Wenz, a Lutheran Missouri Synod Pastor through the nudge of others. The pastor’s wife, of her then non-denominational

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LUTHERAN CURSILLO OF SO. CAL. – Cursillo means “A short course” and literally is a “short course in Christian Living.” It is a 3-day, intensive study and experience of how to better live life as a Christian. The weekends are led by a team of Cursillistas (one who has attended a past Cursillo) of about 50-60 people. The team consists of lay directors, clergy, musicians and cooks. There is no sponsorship from any of the main governing bodies of the different synods of the Lutheran Church. Weekends are held at Cursillo House in Pomona, CA with about 25 pilgrims in attendance. https://lcsocal.org/ Read more on the next page.

A21.ORG – Rallying around the world because an estimated 5.4 out of every 1,000 people are enslaved in the world. There are more people enslaved today than at any other time in history. Human trafficking generates an average of $150 billion per year. There are an estimated 40.3 million people enslaved right now. https:// www.a21.org/content/human-trafficking/gqe0rc

LOVELIFE.ORG – Follows a 4-step journey found in Nehemiah chapters 1-3 to lead the Church of Christ to repentance and obedience in order to “rebuild the walls ”in our cities. This is practically played out when a church Adopts a Week and walks through the 4 steps of Hear, Pray, Go, and Connect.

MINISTRY OF BLANCA MADIRIGAL – Raises awareness and funds to assist with food and education in Baja California by engaging local businesses & churches from all denominations. Wenz’s song, "Dios de mi Esperanza", from her project "Conduce", is the theme song of Madrigal’s TV program. Royalties from the song supports food & education in Rosarito. The show, "Mexico Y Sus Contrastes" broadcasts from Rosarito, BC, and can be viewed Saturdays at 11AM on Television 73 out of Estatal, Mexico. https://www.cnrnoticias.tv/ church, set about (without her knowledge) to find her “a good Christian man to date."

MINISTRY OF SISTER SHERRIE – This group led by 83-year-old nun and founder Sherrie, serves the homeless, sex-workers and other vulnerable people all over San Diego county. For 25 years they’ve shared a simple message – “There is no shame when coming to Jesus”. They can be found singing with people, feeding them, praying with them, and blessing them every Thursday in Presidio Park in Old Towne San Diego. On Saturdays you’ll find them back north in the City of Ramona feeding the unhoused.

“When I went to delete the profile they had set up about me, I did take a look. Who wouldn’t have?” explained Wenz. “I accidentally clicked and sent my email address to a single father raising three kids on his own. I wasn’t interested in dating anyone, especially a pastor like my first husband had been.”

“Well, it took a while for me to respond, and on Father’s Day that year, I sent him a message wishing him well. He invited me to his church to hear him preach. After that, we became good friends, and God did a number on both our hearts to eventually marry. At the time, our kids were 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 just like the Brady’s. After all these years of marriage I still believe the Lord answered my friends’ prayers for me. He truly is the definition of a “nice Christian guy."

Her husband Paul Wenz, who pastored Faith Lutheran Church in Riverside for 15 years, beams when he shares about his wife’s music and ministries. He recently accepted a calling as head Pastor at the Emanuel Lutheran Church in Santa Barbara. With the last of their children graduating from high school this year, Kedma has stayed behind temporarily in Riverside until the school year ends. Committed to both family and the congregation, Kedma commutes to Santa Barbara on the weekends, and Paul commutes to Riverside to spend two days together most weeks.

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It wasn’t an easy road to becoming the international signing star, mother of five, and the ministry “rockstar” Wenz is today. “ I was born Kedma Perreira N de Castro and raised by a mom who was a simple homemaker and my dad an HVAC specialist,” she recalls emotionally. “My dad valued education so much that he took a job as a janitor at the local University to earn free tuition towards a degree in Chemical Engineering. He had to eventually drop out to earn money and care for our family. He did go on to have a professional career. Yet, it was his love of music that influenced me most.”

“From the time I was 3 years old, my dad had me up front in church singing with him, and I fell in love with that microphone. I remember as a small child thinking 'that is what every child does.' However, when I reached 10 years old, I realized I was different. My musical family was different. My dad was a great songwriter, and he even went on to win local awards for composing. Because of him, I have loved Jesus my whole life.”

From those early years singing with her father, Wenz then went on to tour Northeast Brazil as one of six singers in an all-girls a capella group called Christal. Touring and singing at churches and various venues gave her the opportunity to do what she loved most, teaching younger kids to sing and play music. A value she shared with her own children, each was asked to take musical instrument lessons for one year and see if they liked it. “Two of them have kept playing, so I think it paid off pretty well,” she boasts.

From there, she was offered the opportunity to attend Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA, on a scholarship sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph in the City of Orange. And, with no formal training in English, she taught herself by literally “doing my assignments.” She later earned a 3-year scholarship to Cal State University Long Beach in music for her grades and ability to write lyrics. She now holds A.A. Degrees in Voice, Sound Reinforcement, Latino Studies & International Business Administration, and a B.S. Degree in Healthcare with a minor in Business Studies.

Her professional recording career began as interestingly as her life. While at her cousin’s house one day, he taped her singing one of her favorite Christian songs, Tell Your Heart To Beat Again, with her teenage daughter Kiana on guitar. “He sent it off, and the next thing you know I got a call from recording label Melody International asking me to record in studio.” That album led to the production of a contemporary Christian album by the name of Conduz. She had also just finished a Brazilian Jazz CD project.

The COVID-19 pandemic did offer setbacks to the bubbly Brazilian. She was set for a five-country tour including Brazil and European countries such as the Netherlands, England and Belgium in May of 2020. She had just come back from a 14-day concert tour at 17 churches in San Paulo when she got the news in March 2020 that it all had been canceled.

In 2022, she had the opportunity to try to rebuild the tour but selflessly stayed in the States to care for a cousin who’d been diagnosed with cancer. “She lived just an hour away, and it was my joy to be able to help care for her,” shares Wenz.

“Praise be His name, she is now well, and I’ll be back out on the road with my music when the Lord is ready for me to go.”

In the meantime, she has been busy with ministry and music. Wenz is getting ready to record five new songs with lyrics provided by others. She’s translated the copyrighted songs from Portuguese to Spanish and plans to be back in the studio this year. She was asked to perform at the Lutheran Church of the Missouri Pacific Southwest Synods’ Conference in Las Vegas, where she was heard by more than 2000 in attendance and transmitted online performing her own Samba arrangement of Great Is Thy Faithfulness in Portuguese and English.

A fitting song as a Samba, which is known as a Brazilian dance of African origin. Like her life of learning to rely on staying close to God and springing back from challenges – the dance has a basic pattern of step-close-step-close and is also characterized by a dip and spring upward at each beat of the music. “God has given me the grace to go with Him where others don’t usually go with both my music and my ministry”.

“If I’ve learned one thing, walking this road of life that hasn’t always been easy – it’s that praise and worship is a serious matter. You gotta’ pray in good times and in bad times. And, no matter what, we always have reason to offer praise."

Her music and videos are everywhere – iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube. To learn more about Kedma Wenz or sample her deep contralto tones and music, please visit: https://www.instagram.com/kedmawenz/ and https:// www.facebook.com/kedmawenzoficial/ To view video of the school she is building in Brazil: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=-J-qGV0je04