Pianos and Papayas

 The family Borbon gave me a large papaya.  I asked my landlady and she showed me how to score it.  The fruit gives off a milky gelatinous substance.  You wash it and then it can sit and ripen more instead of mold.  It wasn't the most delicious we have had.  I froze some of it and made papaya shakes by adding milk and a bit of sugar.  It was only all right.  When I went to make more I discovered that I had put the fruit back in the fridge instead of the freezer so even I who don't waste just put it in the garbage. 

 We got our miracle finally.  After waiting two and a half months for the foundation to send keyboards, we contacted our area authority.  We told him about our work and asked his help.  In one week we received word that our 15 keyboards had arrived.  They were shipped out to us, and we had the joy of delivering them this week.  Rod is unpacking them here.

 Happy students (siblings).  She has been serving as Primary President.  He is deciding whether to become active again.  We like him a lot and are encouraging him.

 When we arrived for class they were working on curtain rods for her room.  He made them with the tools you can see.  They were pretty impressive.

 This is a bush decorated for Christmas.  Each point has a glass ball. 

 This woman speaks some English.  She wants to learn more.  Last week out English class turned into piano class for 6 people.  There is a group of families that live close together out in the country in Penonome.

These flowers are ginger.  She said they aren't the plant with the edible roots.

 What appears like a cob of corn is the beginning of the flower of the banana.  It grows out, bends down, and the bananas grow.  This woman grows enough for her family in her back yard.

 Here is the flower after it has grown down.  I'm not sure if this is all the bananas or if they grow down further. 

We had a wonderful time giving out the keyboards.  We needed to fill out papers so we could legally recoup them if people don't keep their commitments to come to church and practice regularly.  One young man fingered each part of it as well as the books, just marveling that this lovely thing could be his.  He is prepared to conduct the music tomorrow in the district meeting, and one of our other students is playing.  She was well taught beforehand by other missionaries but is continuing to learn with us. Rod came up with a way to use them to help with English.  There is a 50 song bank in them with folk songs.  We plan to make a CD so they can listen and learn.  We had a great time square dancing today to Oh Susannah.

We have had a few interesting drinks lately.  One was cantaloupe blended with sugar, water, and milk.  It was very cold and refreshing but not my favorite.  The other was a lemonade made with lemons that are green outside and orange inside and very tart.  The sweetening was "Miel de cana", (honey of cane) or molasses.  It looked like iced tea and tasted delicious.

Rod has used the Lord's method of piano, and in about 3 hours can play Jesus once of humble birth.  Our students are beginning to play with two hands together.  We are praying for miracles for them now that they have something to practice on.

We love our work.  The president of the Mission came to interview us today.  He was a bit off schedule, so our interview was over lunch at our house.  We made baked beans in the crock pot with sweet potato.  It was quite nice, though not what we're used to in the states.

Rod gave a lesson on sacrifice.  One of the questions he asked was "When is a sacrifice not a sacrifice?"  The answer is (for us) when you can see all the blessings it brings.  We are so happy.  I have to laugh when the president says he's impressed with our sacrifices.  With the exception of missing our family, it's no sacrifice at all.  Since they are all supportive, we're just fine.  Love to all.