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| Elder Rodriguez, the Limanite (he's from Lima) |
I'm having an adventure in piano lessons. When we first arrived I had a minor dispute with the mission president's 17-year-old daughter about whether the music lines were called a,b,c.... or do,re,mi... Imagine that! Now I've discovered a book by Mary James that sheds light on my Spanish music problems. They really do use do,re,mi and middle C is do central. Instead of quarter, half and whole notes, it's blacks, whites and rounds. The C/treble clef is clave de do, and the G/bass clef is clave de sol. Fascinating! Meanwhile Mary James has sent me digital copies of her piano books designed for teaching in the mission field with permission to print them for missionary purposes. This includes a transitional simplified hymn book, all in Spanish, designed to go with another program that donates keyboards and simplified hymnbooks to select places in the mission field. The Missionary couple before us started a music program here, so all I have to do is keep it going. It's exciting to see these little gals in their homes with dirt floors playing the piano. Meanwhile their parents, sisters and brothers all sit around us reverently watching the lesson with expressions of ooos and ahhhs when they recognize a hymn being played. It's a sweet perk for serving a mission here.
Rest assured that I am still running. Ken takes me to the plaza at 6:00am, and I do 2-3 miles in circuits while we watch the pueblo come to life. People go to work, children go to school dressed in their uniforms, some carrying projects. I'm the only one running. Some give me strange looks, some say buenas dias, some just shake their heads and laugh. They're getting used to us along with the other regulars, watering the grass, pushing carts of fruit, carts of miscellaneous deliveries, the musical call of the ice cream truck...no wait that's the garbage collector. Yes we're becoming a permanent fixture.
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Elder Gomez from Iquitos on the stairs in the Casa Capilla de Nuevo Chao
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Elder Carr capturing Hermana Whitney's infamous manjar blanco cinnamon rolls on digital film
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Fresh fruit even tho here south of the equator its the middle of the winter
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Balloons in the Plaza de Armas Virú, Perú
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Plaza de Armas on the point of awakening
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From Martha and clan:
ReplyDeleteFrom kids: how big is that bike with the fruit on the trailer? Is red stool looking thing connected to the trailer on the back?
From all: we miss your cinnamon rolls!
From Lizzy: why are there dirt floors in the houses? Joe wants to see a picture of that?
From kids: the balloons look cool
From Martha: I like the trees. Lizzy agrees and we think they are cool
Joe loves the balloons.