Lizards and a concert

 I tried twice to move these two photos to the bottom of the blog but they wouldn't go.  Maybe it's because they might be top interest to some of the kids.  We were teaching in Penonome and an older brother called us over to see a "Teeny" iguana.  I didn't think it particularly tiny, but it was compared to the 3 foot one that ran across the road when I was driving.

Rod, always interested, put his thumb down.  You can see the size, but the iguana wasn't a bit afraid.  He licked the thumb twice -- and then BIT!!   I wish I'd had a video.  It was like the mouse in our apartment incident with Apryl.

This is our new house in Concepcion.  It is at least twice as big as we need if not more with two baths and 3 bedrooms.  Someone had walled up the closet.  We asked to have it restored.  Hope we don't find an awful reason for it to have been walled up.  It has glass sliding windows which I don't like nearly as well as the roller ones.  I'll have to buy drapes.

Everett had 2 of these sticks.  I don't know why I hadn't thought of lumi sticks before.  I'm going to get a set and carry them with us.  We had a lot of fun. 

Last night we went for our lesson with Leydis and Eric but with a twist.  They invited the ex branch president who doesn't come any more for a concert.  When I'd told him that the kids could play he seemed very pleased.  I made pumpkin bread (it failed again) and took lemonade (way too much lemon and it was bitter).  It turned out that our guest didn't come, but the kids played all their hymns (it took over an hour) as we sang together.  It was a wonderful evening.  This is their final bow.

The family together after the concert.

I took a family home from church and Rod was in the chapel teaching Elder del Angel.  Rod discovered a simple method to teach chords and they were having a grand time.  We're not allowed to teach missionaries, but we made a half hour exception.

We haven't connected again with Emma, so no news there.  Our Tuesday appointment with the family around the corner found the husband absent and the wife uninterested.  We had the guitar and sang a bit.  She took down the words to Count Your Blessings in shorthand.  That was fun to watch.  Then I taught her two guitar chords.  We left, and as we left we had to walk through tall grass.  We've made it a habit to stamp our feet after that, because we're so afraid of the chiggers (whose bites we now have again, so with good reason).  I started to stamp, and Rod said "Quit it.  She has read the bible and may know about 'shaking off the dust of your feet'.  I can't imagine ever doing that, but I need to make one more visit to make sure we didn't leave that impression.

On our trip to Concepcion we were stopped 4 times by police.  Two were just routine stops for drugs, the other two weren't.  One was for passing on a bridge.  The bridge was at the bottom of a hill and both sides had dotted yellow.  The bridge paint was so faded you couldn't tell, but apparently there is a rule that you can't pass on a bridge.  Another American who lives here and spoke fluent Spanish was stopped just in front of us for the same infraction.  He argued.  For a while we wondered if we wouldn't be better off without his help, but he eventually got us both off.

The second time was our first encounter with a corrupt policeman, but I didn't realize it until after the encounter.  He said something like "What are we going to have to do so that you don't get a ticket?"  By this time I was tired of it so I said quite forcefully,  "I'd like to know, too, because we are trying to be the most obedient possible and follow the laws.  If there are laws we need to know about I would appreciate it if you would teach us so we can obey."  By this time I suspect he was hearing his mother's voice in the back of his head, and he just waved us on through.  In retrospect I've tried to think what I would have done.  Our friend told us that it is illegal to ask or to pay bribes, so I don't know.