Keyboards and Cats

We added a new student, Lorena, this week. Her father is crazy for cats. Rod doesn't usually indulge, but he does like them, and we had a lot of fun talking about cat memories.

Rod had a cat when he was a boy who would curl around his neck companionably while he read. This cat could do it, too. He also had one who would jump from the floor onto his shoulders without digging in.

This is the Rodriguez family. He is the branch president. We are teaching both of them on Sunday evening. Their daughter wanted to learn to direct as well. It was a rainy Sunday evening and a lot of fun.

We finally received more keyboards. When we were returning from Puerto Armuello on Wednesday we were panicking because we had such a great need. I prayed about it and thought about the fact that the last time we were in this situation we had called the area authority (ex) who is the church employee in charge of temporal affairs in Panama. I e-mailed him and the next day we magically received the keyboards. When we review it, all our "facts" don't match, but I've decided not to worry about it and just be grateful. We gave this one out to Irvin, a young man who has been walking quite a ways to another house to practice. He sat right down to practice and Rod was right there to teach.

I'm especially grateful for prayer lately. It's amazing how I just go along taking things for granted. I had the idea in prayer to pray for our family while we were praying with our students. Often I can't hear or can't understand what they are saying, so I was just marking time. When I am praying it makes a big difference. Duh!!!

I loved the women's conference and Elder Uchdorf's talk on forget-me-nots. I could only remember 2 of the things he said not to forget, though, when I was recounting it to Christie. He said "Don't forget to have patience with yourself, and don't forget that the Lord loves you." I'll have to look up the rest, but these are definitely worth remembering. Too often when I listen to conference, I allow myself to judge myself instead of to be inspired to do better. This meeting was a gift, in that I did go home inspired and hopeful. The Lord definitely is good to us.

Fish, Floors, and Flowers (Spiritual of course)

 This man was riding down the street with two fish.  We went to take a photo, but by the time we caught up he'd sold one.  Oh well.  We thought about buying one and then remembered filleting a fresh tuna and how long it took and decided against it.

 This is Ever.  He is a new convert and is one of our students in Volcan.  He is darling with this baby.

 This is the inside construction of a grass covered hut. 

 Here is the side view.

 And here is the outside.  Many of these have a metal cap on top.  They are much cooler than the metal roofs of the houses.

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 I complained about the tiles that cut my hands when I tried to clean.  Anita Watson suggested that I regrout.  My landlord was having a tile job done on one of his other houses.  I asked if we could redo ours, and he did it that minute.  I'm pleased.  It is almost smooth now, and will be much easier to clean.

This tree house is on our way to Puerto Armuelles.  I think it is awfully clever.  Sometimes it is even more tightly trimmed.

Here is a flower (orchid) that is the Panama flower.  It looks like a dove inside.  It is called the Flor del Espiritu Santo (Holy Ghost Orchid)

Another Week in La Concepcion

Sister Chevita, who came with us to move, introduced us to her friends of the Baha'i faith, the Harpers. They invited us to dinner. They are vegetarians and the food was delicious. Look at this salad and eat your heart out. She served homemade dressing of yogurt and lemon. Wonderful!

Here is Olga. talk about presentation!! She also introduced us to a tiny bakery next door. It is clean and the treats are a bit sweeter than in most bakeries, and I'm not baking any more.

Our student, Marvin, makes animals from seashells for sale. He gave me an armadillo which will come home to live in my armadillo sewing basket.

Rod snapped these photos of cacao. We haven't tried the fruit yet, but the fruit is attached directly to the trunk. Rod wonders if the fruit of cacao qualifies as chocolate. I vote no.


We tried a new fruit, mamon chino, in Aguadulce and it wasn't much good. It is very common here. A woman we visited offered us some and I accepted. This was fresh and juicy and as good as it gets. Rod has a bit of a different opinion.

This is Chanis' mom in Puerto Armuello on the coast. She has a duck with 11 ducklings. It is wonderful to watch them. Makes me think of Make Way for Ducklings.

Rod introduced a family to the stomp rockets here on the beach. We had a great time.

We have geckos that play on the windows at night. I caught one of them. I love to watch them.
We returned from Volcan last Thursday night and went by the church to find out how many of our students were going on a temple trip and wouldn't be able to study with us the next two days. We met a family from Canada who were here visiting her mother in Volcan. The mom had an aunt here in Concepcion and hadn't visited her yet. We offered to give them a ride to her house while we were waiting for the bus. Rod took as many as would fit and I stayed at the church to watch their luggage. They visited and returned. Rod had promised to bring me by to meet her later. We went by on Saturday afternoon. She met us at the gate and didn't want to open it. I think the family had tried too hard to offer the gospel. I convinced her that we weren't trying to force anything, and she consented to a visit. She was distant until I told her how much I enjoy some of the hymns they use in their church. One says "How can I pray when I am angry with my brother? God doesn't listen to prayers unless we repent" It sounds a bit middle eastern and is very beautiful. After we sang that, she got out her hymnal and we searched it a bit. She talked about being a teacher and we enjoyed the visit. At the end, she offered us manon chino, "Bien Dulce", and it was. This is the second time I have used this hymn to thaw very cold women of about my own age. I love the power of music and the power of love. I think it is possible to forget that Christ says if we have not charity, things just don't work. (mas o menos) It makes me think of Brigham Young who said (mas o menos) that it is foolish to offer the gospel by trying to snatch away the doll that someone else values. Only we show what we have in love and see if they are interested in the blessings it offers.
I love our life here together. Rod is a huge blessing to me. [I AM NOT GETTING FAT!]
We currently have at least 47 students. Many are sharing keyboards and we are about to say "NO MORE!" It is hard to come to that point.
Last Saturday night I played for a wedding. They asked me to play at 4:30 for a 5:00 wedding. I started at 4:30, but the wedding didn't start unto 6:45. A student told me the next day that the groom's hair wasn't right! I had a sore shoulder and neck for a few days, but the ironic thing was that, after practicing hymns for the 2 hours, when I played for the congregation to sing I messed up royally. Go figure! A dose of humility?

The Lord's Work Wherever We Go

 Jorge, our landlord, owns a farm he calls Jupiter.  He gave us oranges, a wonderful papaya with firm fruit and a beautiful star center for the seeds and fresh corn.  The corn was disappointing, because it hadn't formed properly.  We got 4 bites from 4 cobs! The papaya needs to be propagated.  Yum!!


In walking we saw this large monkey chained to a tree.  He seems reasonably happy.  We tried feeding him bananas (our regular bananas are called:  Guineaos here -- not sure what it is when they say bananas -- we'll need to find out).  We walk in a different direction every day for our walk -- 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back.  So we weren't sure we could find him again with the camera, but it worked.  We feel a bit more secure here and are glad not to be driving where the traffic is worse.  So far we have gone down 3 one-way roads the wrong way -- the natives are nice enough to flash their lights or yell helpfully when we get it wrong.  We haven't seen a 'una via' sign yet and apparently the natives don't need them;)

 This is our bathroom floor.  The spaces between the tile pieces are deep and the tiles are sharp.  I wonder how long it will be before I cut myself cleaning it. 

 One corner of the kitchen.

 

 this is the view out the bedroom/living room window.  The jail windows really don't add much beauty!

 When you look down, this is the water that flows under the house.  I just heard a change in the music of the water and went to look out.  There are FISH in the water as well.

 This is our "closet".  I'm not willing to chance the steps without a handrail very often.  Luckily, the stairs have a rim for hooking the hangers on.

 Another view of the kitchen.  The fridge is made for shorter people we both stoop a lot to use it.

Our table for meals.

 One of our students.  He lives on the beach in Puerto Armuello.

 The Elders stayed and played Go Fish with a group of kids who were playing soccer in the street with our students when we arrived.  Our students were dedicated and paid attention to the lessons, even while the game was going on, so we stayed and played a time or two with them.  Our driving here is about 1/2 as much as in Aguadulce, so that is nice.  (Two trips instead of three and shorter ones.)

Another group of students.  We are sharing pianos, sometimes one for 3 or four students until we can get more.  The eleven year old in the gray sweater gave up on his lesson a bit early -- sometimes we strike out;)


We were walking by the church last week and saw someone drop their garbage on the lawn.  When we reached it, Rod picked it up.  I was a bit surprised, because that is usually my role, but I was even more surprised when we caught up to the culprit and Rod handed her the garbage and asked her if it was hers.  He said to me when I raised my eyebrows, "I said it nicely".

Yesterday we were teaching a group in the church in Solano (really part of Bugaba/Concepcion).  Another woman came with her daughter.  The daughter, Karla, speaks very good English and is working on a government program that gives English to very motivated students in Volcan.  They study 4 extra hours daily 4 times a week.  They have computers and a lab and she says they are progressing nicely.   She and her mom came to the church to ask if I could provide music for their sister/daughter's wedding next Saturday.  We agreed to visit their home after the lesson to talk about it and ended up having lunch.  The father is an electrician and works all over Panama.  He says he'd be glad to take us around when Audrey comes if we'll pay the gas!  What a blessing.  I'm practicing the music well this week!  You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. Actually I like it better when it's expressed
 "What a blessing we can be to each other with our various strengths."

Apryl and Deryk dressed their babies with us this morning on Skype and they (the babies) were blessed together in our home ward.  Thanks to Bishop Rogers for his generosity.  The kids also got together and played hockey yesterday.  Great memories.  We really love and appreciate our family.