Variety is the spice of life

I wish I had taken a photo of my favorite part of this week. It was a time when, as President Eyring teaches "There are few things sweeter in life than knowing that you were an instrument in the Hand of the Lord.

We have an English student, Carlos, in Penonome who is a returned missionary of a few years and who was slipping away. We asked him if he would consider teaching a missionary prep class partly in English. He said yes, so we asked the Branch President if he would support this. He also said yes, so we got Preach My Gospel in both languages for each student. When we taught piano to Jaan and Angel last Thursday they were excitedly asking for help in English pronunciation. Their text was "My purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ..." It turns out a retired couple from Arizona have agreed to help as well, so it should really be worthwhile. Sweet!!!

We volunteered to sing in a school for handicapped children that we walk by each morning. We sang to three different groups but our camera battery died after this group.

Some children had to participate in a different manner than others. The teachers were helpful in giving them the opportunity.

Rod is losing his inhibitions. He dances with people, and helps me all he can. I can't thank him enough for his support and patience. This mission is more my comfort zone than his, but he never complains.

Antonio, in the blue, greeted us at the mini-super on the corner one day. Afterwards we met him at the school and made the connection to sing.

Karyme is a piano student in the Las Tablas branch. They gave us these marinon(cashew) fruit. I love the beauty of the plate of fruit (to say nothing of the beauty of Karyme). I saw a plate of these at a students house several months ago and was sorry I hadn't taken a photo. Then here was my opportunity, and Rod indulged me in it even though it was raining and he had to pick them. Like I said, "He's awfully good to me".

We are amazed that the half starved dogs don't eat chickens. This family told us that sometimes they do, but these two seemed contented together.

The parents of our branch president's wife are not members. They visited while we were teaching one night, and as I met them I misunderstood and thought they were inactive members. I shook his hand and said "It's about time you came. When can we come to visit you?" Luckily he didn't take offense (I think). However, when we came, the next week, he was already in bed. He works construction in the sun all day and goes to bed early. We'll try again. It was a great night with the family.

Oriel Jordan and Rod made a stomp rocket. We had a lot of fun. Some of the excitement at this house was to make sure the rocket didn't come down in the open sewer. It really is nasty. When we park I have to hold on to the side of the car to avoid falling in. Yuck!!! When we got home we took it to the mini-super where we bought the supplies and showed them. Then we played with the kids in the street. After we'd had enough they continued with our landlady and her daughter as audience. It was a lot of fun for everyone.

We read the book Cookies with these kids a few times so I suggested we make cookies. They were jumping up and down and laughing in delight as they took turns beating the eggs and sugar with my hand mixer. We did have a good time. They recently lost their father. Life can be hard.

More of the cookies. They were raisin cookies but they didn't turn out wonderfully. I realized that they have to have the walnuts for me.

Unfortunately Rod isn't reading cookies but Where the Wild Things Are with them as we wait for the cookies to bake. We are so grateful to have good books.

The gospel is still true. Blythe gave birth to a baby girl, Taylia Joy on Wednesday, May 17. Deryk's new baby boy, Adam Deryk, was born April 28. I tell you this to let you know that being here and missing that wouldn't be worth it otherwise. We love the work.