Saturday Afternoon

Saturday afternoons at 4:00 PM we have ensayo (rehearsal) for church on Sunday. This week was my second rehearsal with the church musicians and thanks to Allen Smith and Wes Baker I had some sheet music! The musicians are as follows from left to right: Me, Loida (who sang), Hermes who sings, Veronica (singer), Bruno (leads by singing and playing guitar), Rebecca, and Kati who also sings.

In Peru, most things start about 30 or so minutes late. As people arrive you greet them with a kiss. When you arrive, you greet everyone present. I actually think this makes the situation much less awkard! The greeting here is to kiss the left cheek. Some people will shake hands but the kiss is much warmer :)

We have a lot of fun in rehearsal. Hermes who is also a dancer will sometimes dance as he sings. Everyone teases each other. The main thing they say to me repeatedly is "Tranquila, tranquila, Raquelito" which basically means to relax! They are very patient with me as I try to learn the songs, introductions, and the order of worship. It is a bit difficult when you have no music and you are asked to play the introduction especially when you have forgotten what key it's in or what note it starts on!

Even though I have only been here a short time, the love that these brothers and sisters have for God and others has been obvious to me. Whenever there is a church event ministry, the young people (20-30 yr olds) are there serving. I hope to be able to learn and grow from their patience and love for each other.

Anyway, after praying, we practice the songs for worship. Afterwards, I have started a class teaching Music Theory and Sight-reading to those in the worship team. My goal is to help them not only be better educated musicians but also to give them the tools they need to write down the songs they have written for worship. If you can sightread, a new realm of music is opened to you. All of my students are very intelligent and continually surprise me with the rapidity of their growth! So far, we have done notes in the bass and treble clef (do-si are the syllables they use instead of the alphabet) and simple rhyth

ms.

The past two weeks, Veronica and I have stayed after class and played some guitar and violin duets. We tried some Paganini and some Pop songs such as Nuestro Secreto. It has been awesome to see God open up opportunities for relationships through music. I thought I would not have people to play chamber music with but I already have a guitarist friend and a violinist friend!

Thank you for all your prayers regarding my health and adjustment! To my surprise, I haven't been sick even with a cold! I am slowly learning the culture and I can get around the city some! Please continue to pray for me as I learn Spanish. It is a long and frustrating process! I always wanted to learn another language but it is very draining. It takes every ounce of brain I have to understand and to speak. By the time I teach English at 4:00 PM I keep speaking in Spanish! I was reprimanded lovingly by Alleen that this was English class and that I wasn't to speak in Spanish :)

May God bless you all!