Ken & Linda Whitney: Brownies

The Huamanchumo sisters, Angie and Fernanda, and their friend Micaela have always been fascinated by my baking. Monday they all came over to learn how to make brownies. It just amazes them to see all the desserts we have. We finally concluded that whereas rice is a daily staple here in Perú, desserts are a staple in the US. That explains why we're so much fatter than Peruvians. We had a good laugh about it.
We're looking forward to district conference at the end of November, and for more reasons than one. Apparently word of my "expertise" in choir directing has gotten around, and I now direct three choir practices every Sunday: Primary, Youth, and Adult. They're all for performances at District Conference. It gives me a new appreciation for all the dedicated choir directors I've sang with over the years. I never realized the extent of the stress in preparation and trying to get people to sing as directed plus the total exhaustion I feel at the end of the day. The Primary has made huge strides with "Away in a Manger," and progressed from singing monotone to two parts, girls and boys with a touch of harmony. We put on quite the comedy show as I tried to get the Primary President to play the automatic piano. Somehow we could never get the timing of the piano right with the kids, and plus the intro kept getting confused with the song. So after stopping and starting a dozen times we decided to sing without accompaniment for now. The Youth choir practices "Come Thou Font" and "Hope of Israel." They have their antics, often reminding me of my high school teaching days. A certain two brothers who remind me of Twedledee and Twedledum kept me on my toes as I confiscated their device, had them get rid of their gum and finally separated them to opposite ends of the choir. They sang beautifully and we had fun working with our piano player Elder Hernandez who loves to play improv. He's so creative that he couldn't remember the fancy flares he added from one time to the next. You can imagine the kids and me stopping over and over again to help straighten him out. Elder Hernandez also plays for the adult choir. He's so bursting with talent that he keeps playing the piano during instruction times, and he plays whatever song comes to his mind, or maybe his fingers. Finally I threatened to hit the off button on the piano, and he quieted down, but kept playing at a lower volume.
Last week we visited all the missionaries in Chimbote. We inspected their rooms, checked their area binders and distributed cookies. A good time was had by all.