Woke again this morning to the dreary, drizzly rain. I think it rained most of the night. It is amazing to us that the streets don't flood - the earth seems able to absorb it all.
I've noticed that when the outdoors isn't calling us, I go to the kitchen to fix something to eat to pass the time. This morning, I fixed a big batch of waffles with homemade maple syrup, assorted jams - raspberry, apple, abobora com coco (pumpkin with coconut), batata dolce (sweet potato), dolce leite (caramel sauce) and ice cream. Great way to start the morning. I had Merl look up the word "abobora" to find out exactly what they were eating - definition: pumpkin, squash, gourd, a softy or slouch, a fat woman (gourdo mulher). Merl laughed because he said there are many gourd shaped women here.
After doing dishes, I spent some time preparing music packets for piano lessons and Primary pictures to take to SF de Paula this afternoon. 
We also spent time just looking out the window at the rain. We saw the mailman come to deliver mail and then sit under the gate arch to get out of the rain. He didn't stay long as duty called, and he was off to the next stop - and hopefully a protective covering.
Merl was particularly interested in a car pulled to the side of the road. A red flag was sticking out from the front corner of the car, and the hood and doors were open; it was a unique way of warning people that they were having problems. In his CPR classes, he teaches students to do something that will catch someone's attention to help avoid an accident. We walked to the bus in the rain at 3:15 p.m. and arrived in SF de Paula at 4:40 p.m. (the bus picked us up a little late). The door to the church was open, and we found the new branch clerk, Jonathan Ramiriz, in the office. He is a young man who recently served his mission in Canela and had returned to work here with Marcos - a great asset to the branch.
It wasn't long until Jessica arrived (the young girl who leaves school early and runs all the way to the church). I had talked to the missionaries about how difficult it has been trying to give piano lessons to so many young people in two hours before the integration meeting starts. Most of them would arrive just an hour early - no way to teach 10-12 lessons in an hour or so. They must have got the word out, because we had a steady flow of kids all the way up to starting time. And each of them had a little private time to actually play without everyone looking over their shoulder. Next week we are going to arrive by 1:00 p.m. to allow even more time - especially for the students who have morning school.
The missionaries requested that we show "The Restoration" (a 20 minute video). That would have been a great video to watch, but popcorn was added to the plan. Big mistake! Spilled popcorn and looking for more caused a lot of interruption and noise. The missionaries did their best to keep things under control and hopefully a few were able to learn from the video.
After the meeting, the youth were interviewed to get their recommends to go to the temple on Saturday. The missionaries were excited that some of their new converts were going to be able to go. Looks like there will be 15 youth going. Some of the piano students spent time going over new material - with Larissa answering questions that I could not
Siaonara had us home by 11:00 p.m. tonight. . . the rain had changed to a light mist. . . we have hopes for a better day tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment