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.