This picture is for Stormy who loves dogs. He lives with Sister Nellie in her tiny new house without a bathroom yet. She is the choir director and we're teaching her to direct music.
We invited a member to lunch one day. She invited us in turn to pass by her house and she shared her shrimp with us. I put them on a tray so you could see them, but you couldn't appreciate the long whiskers, so I added the next photo.
I was a bit put off by the eyes. I think I like them better in the states when their heads are already removed.
We were invited to a Posada at the Branch President's home. It is a party for children to sing for Christmas. They taught me this song, one of their traditional carols. I also played the keyboard for us to sing songs from the hymnal. It was my kind of party. Rod commented that all them men but one stayed outside.
We went to the Christmas party of the Penonome branch. They played American rock music for their entertainment. This man did the Latin music with his accordion.
This is one of our piano students and her baby. I like to watch the mom almost more than the baby. I remember this when Payton was first giggling, that I liked to watch Edyn almost more than him.
We went to the beach to buy fish for Elder Cobba. He is a fisherman from Peru and I wanted him to have fresh fish for Christmas. We saw all of these white herons on the salt ponds as we drove out. The ones in the distance aren't herons and they eat them. We'll try one one of these days.
They selected from this box of fish. It was his catch for the day. We bought enough for 12 people for about $10 and he cleaned and scaled them in the bargain.
Eric, one of our students, agreed to pose with the long fish. We didn't find out the name of it. Does anyone know?
This tool did a great job of taking off the scales.
This man was patient with us wanting him to work in the morning the day before Christmas AND take photos. It really was interesting to see the process. I'm telling him that I'm just a Gringo who doesn't know how to do this. People are friendly and nice here.
I had to arrange his whiskers, but he was quite interesting. We didn't buy him to eat. The funny lighting shows all the holes in the roof. It looks like the rainy season might be tough on this work environment.
It was a lovely day. Here is the Borbon family, children and grandfather. We really love them. We made "figgy pudding" for them after Ledis sang us the "We wish you a Merry Christmas" song. I was serving it and poured the lemon sauce all over their porch. Luckily it is sealed cement and cleaned up easily. They politely enjoyed the pudding. Elder Goodfellow politely declined to try it, and we all know Elder Cobba doesn't like sweets.
The children picked up parts of polished shells for me.
My knives are so dull Elder Cobba had to use a hammer to cut the fish bones. He scored the fish so they would fry even better. He was really excited.
Here is the fish, just waiting to be enjoyed. Elder Cobba sucked off every bone and especially enjoyed the eye. That was going a bit far for me, but he did go further than even I do in not wasting, so I saved my fish head and ate the tongue on our conference call with our grandchildren. It tasted like fish.
I can't buy ground cloves here, and the cloves are soft because of the humidity so they don't break up easily. I borrowed my landlady's mortar, but it was wooden and didn't work. My doorstop does a fine job. I had cloves for the figgy pudding.
Our Christmas day was spent in Santiago with the zone. We had funeral potatoes, just like Elder Holland talked about last conference, stovetop stuffing, candied yams, ham and rolls. We prepared pineapple chunks (fresh, of course) and watermelon. We finished up with ice cream and toppings after our afternoon rest home visit. We copied Myles' songbooks and took the guitar. We had a great time singing with the U.S. elders who knew some of the songs. One elder could play any of them just like Myles. What a treat!
Someone suggested a trip to the rest home. This chicken was there in the dining hall. Someone commented that he was future dinner. Rod said if he pooped on his floor his trip to the dinner pot would be accelerated.
This man said someone had offered him a bible and not delivered. Elder Guevara had a copy of the Book of Mormon in his backpack, so we gave him that.
This man was pleased to pose with Rod. We just sang a bit and wished them Merry Christmas. The bus ride was interesting. We had to walk to the station, wait, then ride out. When we returned we waited a long time. When a bus finally stopped, it was full but we got on anyway! All 18 of us on a 25-30 passenger bus. One of the elders talked to the bus driver then announced that we were Mormons who believe in Christ and we'd like to sing a Christmas song. We sang Silent Night, then Feliz Navidad, then We Wish You A Merry Christmas. It was fun!
Last Saturday we went to Panama City for the temple sealing. I forgot my camera, but the sister at the temple e-mailed these. We had them printed, bought a frame, and were very pleased to give them to the family.
My hair is great. My feet were, too, with my black socks, but we cut them out. In order to get the view with the whole temple I was lying on the ground.
This is the wife of the sealed couple. There is something in the faces of these lovely native women that I love. I feel some kind of serenity or something that draws me to them.
Someone gave us a "Gift to Jesus" of enough money to rent a bus for the whole branch to go to the temple. We have 3, maybe 4 couples who are preparing and we want to take our new converts and our youth. We need to set a date, but WOW!!! what a gift. Our talented Elder Cobba made a card and the branch president opened it in church. It was fun. It's now hanging on the wall in the church.
After our Monday district meeting last week we returned with the Elders. They wanted to check on a family they are working with. We drove by, and there they were, outside their home, because they don't have light, reading the Book of Mormon. It was a sight to warm a missionary heart!
We take the elders with us to Chitre each week to our district meeting. We just finished the monkeys and we were having an English lesson for Elder Cobba while we traveled. I just asked Rod, "How can this be sooo much fun?" It really is most of the time.
We found a way to make cinnamon rolls without making our house hot. We went to a student's home and taught her how. We actually ended up with enough time to bake them, but her oven bakes hot and we burned the wreath. The cinnamon rolls were disappointing because she had actually gotten fresh raw milk to skim the cream for the frosting and then forgot powdered sugar! Oh well, it was fun.
Diana plans to make them again for Christmas. She was just practicing.
We actually figured out a way to carol. This one is at an English and piano class lesson, but we were challenged to sing on the buses so that all Panama would know Mormons believe in Christ. I agreed to do 3 buses, but Rod got cold feet. He suggested doing the bus STOPS where people were just waiting anyway. We copied the words to Silent Night, Feliz Navidad and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We actually did sing to one bus that was FULL!! They wait (for the places which are a long ways out) until every seat is full and children are on laps. We took the guitar and had a great time. I want to go again, of course. Rod and the Elders are not so sure.
Outside the house there was pink glory on the ground. The huge tree had dropped these pieces of its flowers. It made me want to play house.
Rod agreed to pose. It reminded me of the pink plum glory in Corvallis.
If you look closely, there are four large clusters of papayas in this tree. Did we tell you that papayas are the zucchini of Panama? I actually took one over to our friend Jaime (peeling the orange later) before I knew it. When he showed me his tree filled with them yesterday we had a good laugh.
This is a starfruit. Jaime gave me a bag. I tried the ripest one and it had little flavor so I gave them away to Elder Cobba who said they would be his breakfast for the week. Today at church people were saying that they make good fruit punch with water, sugar and milk added. What doesn't here?
Is this a perfect peeling job or what? Jaime sat down and shared his oranges. They are the closest thing to sweet we have had here, and there are lots more on the tree. We go there every Saturday night. He has more types of fruit in his yard, I think, than I had in my Corvallis yard. It was wonderful just to walk through it all with him.
The Smith family all study with us. We left a keyboard (that had quit working) with them a week ago and a son-in-law fixed it. Now they can practice, and Lizardo has played his 3 pieces in church so that we can apply for a keyboard for them. He is excited. The mother of this baby, Lignily, has a number almost prepared.
We love this family. The baby is new and isn't thriving. We hope all will go well.
Rod and Lizardo were practicing "This is the way the Ladies go" for English class. We love how much practice this gives with that difficult "th" sound. We do it with dolls if we don't have a baby. Rod tried it in one house with an overweight 9 year old. He gave up before the astronauts.
Jose was baptized this morning. The Elders asked us to help. We understood that he would be baptized tonight at 7:30 which we didn't think was such a good idea, but hey, what do we know. Yesterday when we visited a family they told us it was this morning. The Elders came by and confirmed. Rod wasn't really pleased and was less so when they asked us to take the baptism papers out to have his mom sign. We were half an hour late getting back to the church after the process, but he was indeed baptized. I took breakfast for him, knowing I didn't want him to be hungry all through church and doubting he'd think of that. His baptism ended at 9:00 and church started about 9:05. Likely there were more in attendance, so who can say if it was a good idea or not. We resolved that we won't be responsible to fill out papers again unless a baptism is more than a week away.
Yesterday we ended up with a cancellation. I suggested to Rod that we go visit. We filled it with a family we've been concerned about. She is the R.S. president and hadn't been to church since we arrived. We sang with them, gave a piano lesson to a young child, and just visited. Today the family was in church. Hopefully it was just a nudge needed. They have been faithful for a long time.
A young man who we've been teaching piano was alone for his lesson yesterday. Usually his active sisters are there. I broached the subject of what had happened to allow him to quit coming. He immediately said something like "It's my fault, I'm just not responsible." What mother could accept that? I talked to him about how much the Lord treasures him and wants him to have the blessings of the gospel, that He doesn't want judgment, just blessings for him. You can imagine how pleased we were to see him come today. I keep reminding myself to try to teach them to rely on the Lord, certainly not to rely on us who will leave in a short time.
We were on our way to Chitre and were stopped in traffic for some time. It was worth it when we saw the cause. The cows passed first, then this man. We were still stopped so I had time to ask his permission. He smiled and was pleased. Just like in the movies!
The cows here are always thin. I suppose the meat might be high in Omega 3 fatty acids, as I'm sure all they get is grass. They have bigger ears, as well.
The monkeys are finally done. We enjoy them with children, and hope we are teaching their families a bit of English that they will repeat often. Too bad they take too much time to make just to pass them out indiscriminately.
We took Ledis and her brother to the beach. We invited her grandparents, but they looked very surprised and refused. This is the saint of the fishermen. The beach wasn't very exciting. There must be a river, because there are no waves, and the water is really muddy. We only saw one hermit crab and a few other tiny crabs. The water is warm, even now when it isn't the hot season.
These trees seem to grow right out in the water. They have a special name which I can't remember. It reminds me of gladiola. Maybe later I'll find out.
This rice was drying in the yard of one of our students. She says it breaks up in cleaning if it isn't really dry. She took us to visit her friend with the rice and corn cleaning operation.
He prepares corn of different types with this machine
I think this one cleans corn as well. They have white and yellow.
He let Rod pour in the rice so we could take this photo. He was really friendly.
Here is a video of the machine working. It was built in Syracuse, NY. Who knows when. It reminded me of the grain grinding one when I was a kid.
Interestingly, it spits out white rice. The hulls on this rice are thick. Brown rice may be different, but I always thought it wasn't hulled as much.
We went to a branch activity in Las Tablas. We aren't doing as well there. This man was making hats. He says it takes 8 DAYS to make a hat. I didn't even dare ask how much he sells them for. He bought the mold.
The hats are kind of plastic-y.
My head was too big to fit well. They are perfectly round, so they don't feel right, but they are colorful, and, I expect, durable.
Maria, our landlady, keeps things up nicely. She sweeps with water, then mops the patio where I do laundry. I decided I ought to help out. We look like two old washerwomen. It was kind of a fun break. I like to think it discourages cockroaches if they have to cross such a big clean area.
This woman works at the fruit stand I like to go to. She is so friendly. I sometimes think she gives us too good a deal. One night I made a fruit salad with pineapple, papaya, oranges, bananas and passion fruit for 8 for $1.75. I love to try everything she has, and we buy once or twice a week, so I hope it is good for her, too.
We had a "Noche de Hogar", a night of visits in a home. Rod played monopoly all night with the young man who lives here. We made a "wrong" turn to get to his house. It turned out that we met him on the street. He had forgotten that we had an appointment together. We've been worrying about his mother. Her father just died. She is the relief society president and hasn't been to church since we moved here. Hmmm... She said the night of singing (and we brought fruit) was a pick-me-up for her. She cares for her mother and two grandchildren and her husband travels out of town to work in a mine and is only home two or three days every two weeks. Life is hard sometimes. And here I am with Rod 24/7.
This is one of our students in Las Tablas. She taught me to make Patacones, green platanos cut in chunks, deep fat fried, then mashed flat and fried again. They taste like the best french fries I have ever eaten. She isn't a member. Her daughter is dating a boy who plans on a mission and the family is really friendly. They are "investigators". Actually, I think it is just a comfortable place for the elders. She grows the platanos in her yard.
All of us together. The young lady is a member from next door. Both are English students. We also shared pineapple (she is allergic) and the whole wheat bread we found at the panaderia. It tastes like good whole wheat rolls when it is fresh and costs 50 cents a loaf the loaves probably weight 1/3 -1/2 pound. We came home and had warm bread with peanut butter and honey. Since we had whole milk, it was a feast. Even so, Rod is not eating much bread.
Elder Pena was transferred this week. It was a sad day. We knelt in prayer together and had them to dinner the last night. He went to David and Elder Goodfellow, from Midvale, Utah, who had been in David came here. He has been here the same amount of time we have and is desperately trying to learn English.
My neighbor had given me a grenadia(different from the passion fruit of the same name). Elder Pena told me he loved it frozen, so I cut it up and froze it for a special treat. I saved the seeds for a day or two in the fridge, but they looked so slimy and ugly I threw them out. When it came time to prepare the frozen drink, they nearly died laughing when they found out what I had done. The seeds (they tell me) contain all the flavor. To add insult to injury, I had left the skin on it. All the fiber I can get is my motto. We had a vanilla smoothie with the rest. I thought it tasted pretty good, but I think the Elders will enjoy this story a lot.
I love seeing these along the road. They were part of our farm life when I was very little. These are the milk cans that we carried up to the road with the milk wheels that we had. Do any of you remember the story when I played with Korinn on the milk wheels and she fell backwards on cement on her head. I saw her eyes roll around and I thought I had killed her. I started yelling this to my mom. Nicolet, my sister, had the good sense to correct me and protect my mom from a heart attack. (and she was two years younger)
We had yet another encounter with a police officer on Friday when we were traveling to Las Tablas. He waved us over when we were doing 99 in a 70 zone. He had his pad out to give us a ticket. I decided to ask him about what we should do here. At one of our student's home we had talked with a police officer who was their friend. He told us we should stay with the traffic, which Rod was doing. I explained this to him and asked him what we should really do. He said 10 over was acceptable and gave us only a warning. I suspect our luck may run out and we'd better be careful. It is difficult to go so slowly. 99 is only about 60 mph. Unfortunately we don't have cruise control in our car, so we really have to watch.
Our video of the week is a young man who can do the sounds of a chicken (I wasn't so impressed as I feel I do a pretty good chicken), but his cricket is incredible to me. It was pretty fun to watch him.
