Boys go to Jupiter to get ...

Last week we traveled to Panama City to renew our visa.  We got on the bus at 10:00 p.m. and arrived in the city at 7:30 a.m.  We visited immigration, they took our photo, and we went to return home.  The de Gracias, friends from Aguadulce, are moving to Columbia.  They wanted to see us and were planning to be in the city at the same time.  We received word that they couldn't come.  I talked Rod into stopping in Aguadulce.  We bought the tickets and boarded the bus (texting to see if they would be there) only to receive a call from the de Gracias that they wouldn't be home.  We jumped off, bought tickets home and settled in.  Then we received another call saying we could meet in Santiago.  They waited on the road until they saw our bus pass then took a taxi, and we had half an hour together as the bus stopped at the halfway point for food and potty break.  What a sweet gift. 

This cactus is here in La Concepcion.  Look at the size of the trunk.  I don't think of cactuses as part of the plants in a tropical climate.

One of our students has baby ducks at their house.  I can't resist them.

Puerto Armuelles is a bit of a ghost town.  This pier is a remnant of the banana business that used to be.  There were three LDS chapels at one time.  Now there is just one independent branch. We walked out on this pier last week at our own risk.  Children aren't allowed and you could see why.

 Our landlord brought this bug on the tip of his machete a few days ago.  We got to share it live on Skype with our kids.  It is amazing.  He said he had one on his ear once and it felt like a knife, so we didn't touch it.  I put on both of our pictures to see if one were clearer for Myles.  He plans to do a google image match search to see if he can identify it.

 Our landlord, Jorge, took us to his tiny farm, Jupiter.  We didn't tell him why boys go to Jupiter.  Here I'm drinking from a tiny spring that they said was pure.  (I hope they know)

Rod at Jupiter.

A fresh fruit from their tree.  I can't remember the name.  The fruit is pink and it has little very hard round seeds.  Edyn said she ate them in Brazil.

 The view from the house at Jupiter stretches to the sea.

We followed Jorge down to the river thinking of chiggers all the way.

Rod carried trees so Jorge could plant them.

Back up to their tiny two story house from the river.

We had two young girls, cousins, play and direct each other's hymns in church this week.  The families are thrilled.  We are thrilled.  I can't stop smiling over it.  We added 4 new students this week.  I keep thinking there's no way, but somehow it works.  We do have a few, of course, that we're starting to wonder about.

Rod has become philosophic about his new calling.  The president is pleased to have someone to prepare the programs for Sacrament meeting, really an executive secretary, and Rod figures together we can do that.

I gave a talk in church Sunday.  One of my students helped me correct my written talk.  I practiced several times, but when it came down to it, I couldn't read it, and I just gave it errors and all.  I tell myself my errors are getting fewer.  I hope it's the truth.  The people are kind and we are coming to love this branch.

Do you follow Jesus this close?

I knew the time would come when I would have few photos and not a lot to say.  Here it is.  We followed this truck home from David one day.  I liked its message. 

We finished reading the Book of Mormon for the second time on our mission in Spanish about a week ago.  The Liahona, magazine from the church that we receive here has dedicated this month's issue to the Book of Mormon, so we've been reading an article each night before we begin the book itself again.  It has made me wonder how closely I follow the Savior, and how much I use the Book of Mormon as a handbook.  However, this morning I felt I received a guide that I needed.  I read 2 Nephi 31:20.  It says "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ having a perfect brightness of hope"  Sometimes when I think of the struggles of those I love, I lose faith.  The problem with losing faith is that then things are awfully dark.  

We had a cancellation tonight and filled it with a visit with our landlord.  They came to sing with us.  He is an artist about our age with a wife about 25 or so.  Amazingly, they both seem content and happy.  We sang Beatles and hymns and ended with a closing prayer.  I enjoyed it a lot.

Rod received a call to serve in the branch presidency as a counselor today.  He wasn't pleased and his obedience will be tested.  We'll see how it works out.  [I won't be able to serve as a counselor because of language and knowledge barriers, more like an executive secretary to help get the Sunday program going]

Our first "starting from zero" student played in Sacrament Meeting today.  We were preparing with 3 other students directing while he played.  At the end of the hymn, all three remembered to cut to the right.  I cheered, and when I looked around we had an audience of smiling parents.  I love it that people are supportive.  There certainly is joy in helping others improve their talents.

The Good, Bad and it bugs me

People are wonderfully kind to invite us into their lives.  This is the little sister of one of our students.  They live with their grandmother in Puerto Armuelles.  After she showed us the birds, the girl took them outside and put them in a bush.  I asked if they had clipped wings.  The grandmother said only one does, the others stay with it.

 Rod tries for a laugh (which he got, of course)

 These flowers are just along the roadsides here.  We didn't have them in Aguadulce.  I always think of hummingbirds getting trapped in them.  Rod says not to worry.  If they did it very often it would take them out of the gene pool.

 We had two students cancel in Volcan last week.  One called in advance, but the other just wasn't home (actually she told me today she was there but just didn't hear us).  Next time, I told her, I'll pound.

 

 We took the time to drive up to Cerro Punta. It was wonderful.  It is the area that grows much of the produce for all of Panama.  They are utilizing hillsides amazingly.  [Rod: It's hard to get the perspective of how steep they are, they would be hard to walk up.]  I can't believe they don't have horrible erosion, but we only saw one bad case.  It's much cooler, so they grow broccoli, cabbage, carrots, onions, peppers, and even strawberries.  I paid $2 for a 12 ounce Styrofoam cup of them and then realized I didn't dare eat them without washing them in Clorox, so they had to sit in the car.  They definitely weren't worth it by the time we got to eat them.  We also tried candied figs there.  The girl said they were higados (I think) and were a medicinal fruit, but they didn't taste like medicine.  She gave me 2 to try in a spoon for a dime apiece.  That was sufficient.

 This young lady in blue is as excited a student as we've had.  She exudes enthusiasm.  It makes our work very nice.  The young man in white has a piano, but has had no teacher, so he's excited to learn. We teach them to direct music as well as play the piano.

 When I went out to wash clothes today, I found this lizard who'd fallen into my bucket.  He was glad to be liberated after we shared him with the neighbors.  Our landlord says he can walk on water, but I didn't see him do it. (the lizard, not the landlord)

[Rod:] Our car was already licensed in Panama city when we bought it and now we needed to license it this month for the next year .  We were told several times we had to go to Panama City -- 8 hours away -- to license it.  In a foreign country, the regulations don't appear to make sense and it is hard to figure out how to manage things.  At town hall, an American, who appears to live here and was changing the ownership of a vehicle, heard our plight and told us where to go to get it inspected and said then you just pay $20 and they license it for another year.  [Without his help, we wouldn't have made it through the first step]. Turns out it was close to where we live.  Then we went back and they said "Oh No that won't work as you have to go to Panama City where it was issued before".  But a man at city hall took us outside and whispered go back and talk to Lourdes about it.  Lourdes (in New York or Italy, it might have been Luigi the fixer) took us outside her place of work and said you need to get a bill from the electric, house phone or water company, so you can show residence.  The church just pays the bill for the Landlord -- however, he was nice enough to go with us to 2 places and let us change the billing for the house to our name -- now we are responsible.  We went back to the fixer and she said she would do it for $90, but ended up charging $95.  [The story I'm telling myself is that $45 is extortion for foreigners, but the alternative would be worse]  She said, "Now, I'll fix it all up for you and get your plates back before the end of the month".  We got nervous and called her after about 10 days and she then called her contact in the city.  It always seems to take a call to keep things moving here.  Turns out somewhere (probably Panama City as they shipped everything off) they made new plates with the same number, but with a new expiration, instead of just a new sticker.  The picture above is the old plate -- they had to use a grinding wheel to get the pop rivets out of our plastic bumper without destroying it.  What a hassle.  The end of the story, however, is that the mechanic spent 20 minutes, fit us in towards the end of his day, and then didn't charge--us to the consternation of the other mechanic.  It wasn't the money, but it is nice when someone is kind (the American also was kind) -- I would do well to remember that.

Execution Summary:  Well over $120, much hassle and two Pass-a-long cards later we got our car licensed.

Interesting aside:  All of the senior couples eventually purchase a car.  In our case, we feel we are easily 3 times as effective.  I did send off an email to the area authority, asking why the Central American Area didn't have cars for the senior couples to rent like many other foreign missions.  However, I guess my pay grade (0) isn't high enough to rate a response.  We expect this one to be a buy high sell low and make up for it on the volume of blessings.  We're going to come out all right.

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.