And now the new year

 Rod is playing monkeys with Hyrum while Hyrum's mom plays piano with me.  Hyrum has a hard time settling down and consequently a hard time obeying.  Rod doesn't enjoy him as much because of it, but yesterday when we came and Hyrum saw him he lit up.  Rod says this is the appointment where he gets romped on.   I like going there because Bertha has 3 children 3 and under.  Her husband is branch president and is going to school.  She is in the nursery on Sunday with just her 3.    I think she deserves a break. Besides, she plays pretty well and it is nice to have a bit of variety.

Lignily's baby, Everett, was blessed Sunday.  They don't seem to make a big deal of it.  Her sister wasn't there.  I like to have my camera and let them have a memory.  I may get in the habit of a camera.

So, the inevitable has happened.  Our lives are in a routine and there were only these two photos (or variations of the same) on our camera this week.    We have taken the last two Fridays off, and it is nice to have a break.  We have only 2 appointments in Las Tablas and have to drive 2 hours one way to get there.  That might be all right if it were the only possibilities, but it seems like we just can't get things lined up.  We finally called the branch president and we'll see if that helps. Otherwise we may get a permanent P day which wouldn't hurt my feelings.  We have 2 permanent appointments to teach on Sunday, so we don't get much time off.

Yesterday we had an appointment to teach English to two children of the counselor in the branch in Chitre.  He prayed as we left and said how grateful he was for our great sacrifice.  It doesn't feel like a sacrifice.  It just feels like joy except for the fact that we can't be with our family.  These girls are pretty good at reading English.  I think I am going to request someone to send more picture books.  These people just don't have them and they are interested.

We walked in last night about 8:30.  I always look to see if there are geckos, but last night there was a cockroach about two inches long up by the ceiling in the kitchen.  I got our trusty spray and Rod got him.  They die spectacularly, not easily.  Then I looked on the sink and there were two more the same size mating there.  Luckily that meant two in one spray, so life is good.  There was a big stain on the wall and I was sorry, but still glad I'd sprayed, but this morning it is gone!  I am grateful.

Last week we decided that we are going to serve as Home Teachers to our families and bring part of the lesson from the First Presidency each time we visit.  Rod prepared and it gives him a chance to practice his Spanish.  I realized as he was sharing his story about the child who saw the stars on the ceiling as her Grandfather was reading to her that this is a foreign custom to these people. Their grandfathers don't read stories.

My student in Chitre, Mihally, gave me her materials to copy.  She had an article about a music missionary in Argentina that set me thinking.  I was able to find this man, Elder Theobald, in St. George.  He will give me a lesson over the internet this Sunday. I am excited to see how he does it.  He tells of how he had to humble himself in order to receive the guidance he needed.  I am teaching chords to my students and telling them they need to play by faith, without using their eyes. Each time I teach this it is a lesson to me of how I need to walk by faith.  I'm studying Elder Neil Andersen's article in the December Liahona.  After a lifetime I am still struggling with the first principle of the gospel.  Interesting!

We had a family over to talk with their family in the States over video chat.  They are older and it was a lot of fun.  Technology can be wonderful!

Here is the music miracle material if anyone is interested.  I am loving studying it. There are errors because we used Google translate, but I think you can understand.

  Love to all.

http://lds.org.ar/noticias2009/noti_200906/info_notiloc_200906_03.htm

Musical Miracles 
through faith and effort

Elder Theobald and his wife, couple missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, visited stakes in the area of Buenos Aires and taught a method to play the piano using chords. The results are a miracle for those who devote time to practice. The music of the Restoration inviting the spirit floats in the air at the chapels that were once filled with silence. But it was not always so.

The Theobalds have served a mission in Honduras where he taught the method inspired by the saints there. From his experiences there, Elder Theobald says:

"We started with about 85 students of piano and after three or four months, were only about ten students.We failed. The Lord had called us to help our brothers to learn to play keyboards and lead the hymns of Zion to stream music while increasing spirituality in church meetings. We taught them to play the chords with their left hand and melody with their right hand, but students could not play with both hands at once. They gave up and did not continue attending piano lessons.

We knew that we had received a call from the Lord to do a very important work, but we did not succeed.

I went to the Lord to help us and he did almost immediately. I started getting thoughts. The first: "You have to use the first principle of the gospel."  An hour later I got the same thought. But I did nothing. Probably the Lord thought that this poor child was so clumsy he could not understand his message, therefore changed the message to make it more clear: "You have to use faith." But I did not understand. I got the same message over and over again, but I still did not understand.

This happened to me almost every hour for three days.
Finally I thought, "I know the answer to our problem has to do with faith, but do not know how."

At that moment I was very thoughtful and I said to myself: "What is a simple definition of faith?"- And thought that faith is believing in something that is real and not seen.

When I thought it was as if a hammer hit me in the head, I knew that is what the Lord tried to teach me.

Since that time, Elder Theobald and his wife have used a method of inspired teaching that is so simple that students can play hymns in a very short time.

Students learn the chords first, memorizing and practicing and then you can add the right hand and concentrate on playing one note at a time because your subconscious plays the left hand chords.

A young man wanted to learn to play the piano before his mission. In two weeks he learned 60 hymns, received a certificate for the course of leading the music, and could pass the written exam to get a keyboard.

In Honduras the attendance of the congregation improved dramatically after school for Theobald, when members began to play the hymns at the meetings. Sacrament meetings become more reverent because of the music.

Some also are learning to lead music. One Sunday when President Chamorro of the Moreno Stake (he learned 13 hymns in 3 weeks) and other members of his presidency were visiting a neighborhood, a leader announced the opening hymn and said there was no one to lead the music. But Pres. Chamorro asked: "What about Diego? He attended the classes of Theobald and can lead very well." Of course, Diego led the music.

The results of this service are impressive. In the Buenos Aires North Stake, 25 students learned from 1 to 25 hymns in 4 weeks.

At Stake Conference, 35 students were able to play from 1 to 4 hymns in a week. In Castelar Stake 19 students learned to play from 1 to 60 hymns during the weeks of instruction and 11 now can lead the music. The same is true in many other stakes in the province of Buenos Aires.

It is common for a person to learn 60 hymns from the simplified hymnbook. Leaders can assist and support students when they assign the hymns we will sing at a meeting well before the meeting so that students can practice them.

The miracle of playing and leading music with faith continues in Buenos Aires. Some of the students of Theobald are teaching others and the music of the Restoration continues to bless the lives of members.
When a missionary couple, with a keyboard, some books and lots of enthusiasm, teaches a group of students for three weeks, and the group does its part with faith, dedication and effort, miracles do happen, and in this case, they are heard as well as seen.