Nigerian 2nd Month End

 Every day in Nigeria is an event.  I can't think of any two days that have been the same.  Just when we think things are going to be okay something new is given to challenge us.  That is where real growth seems to come in.  I may have blogged about birthdays before, but, I feel I need to say again that birthdays are celebrated in the Service Center.  If it is your birthday you are responsible to bring enough cake to share with everyone.  The picture above is only a small amount of the people in the service center.  Friday I counted either 60 or 70 people.  I need to recount.  At lunch time we all gather at the birthday persons desk, present the cake and sing happy birthday.  It has many verses here.  I don't have them all figured out.  This week Paul, our finance man, enjoyed his birthday.  The cake that was brought in for his birthday was beautiful!  It had chocolate and fruit on it!  Way pretty.  It tasted quite good, too.

On Wednesday Tim and I, Elder and Sister Winget, and our favorite driver, Rufus, went to Victoria Island for two reasons.  #1 To go shopping at a store called Games.  It is kind of like a Target store.  Just not the selection we are use to there.  We found two cookie sheets which we have been looking for so we could replace the ones already here.  Then we drove to look at a school to see if it was a possibility of being a school to consider for sending students to.  It has to meet several qualifications.  When we drove up to this school my first reaction was, no way!  We went in and talked to the person over the school and asked for credentials, cost, student enrollment, etc. Tim asked most of the questions.  They were good questions.  What we didn't hear, we had to listen to the spirit to see what we felt.  While talking to these men, I felt reminded to take a second look.  This is a third world country we are looking at.  As such, we need to see it for the value it has and not compare it to things I know from home.  I believe we are going to allow a student to attend.

 

We attended Stake Choir practice tonight.  It is the first one we have attended.  If I had only known what we were getting ourselves in to.  The practice is 3 hours long. It is grueling, hot and way out of my comfort zone.  They use a method of learning the songs using do-re-mi.  Each note is sung by the tone.  We learn the song first using do-re-mi and then we learn the words.  While learning the first song we were divided into our parts.  First off, the basses were sent to the back of the chapel and Brother Jennings you will lead and teach them."  I was so glad it was Tim given the responsibility and not me.  The altos were sent to another section of the chapel and we sat there waiting for someone to direct us.  We were also looking at our music and wrote in the do-re-mi letters.  The choir director eventually came over and told me that I was to direct the altos.  My mouth flew open to sputter out, "but I don't know this song, I have never directed a choir" and sweat poured down my back and armpits.  I was in huge trouble.  But, I did my best.  Thank heavens we had a girl who had a good voice and great pitch.  My troubles weren't over.  After choir practice the pianist asked me if I would learn how to play one of the pieces! Say, what?  Leading the altos was difficult enough.  I have been giving it a lot of thought for the last few hours.  How can I possibly say no?  How can I possibly say yes? I agreed to meet the pianist tomorrow.  I think once he sees my abilities he will agree I shouldn't play for the choir.