The Choirs

Today was good. We went to Valles this morning, where the church and most of the houses were one-room huts, and back to Amilpa at night. At both places I taught Christmas songs to a group of about 20 children. I'm getting a little discouraged, though, with the children's choirs. Florencio doesn't just want me to teach the children some christmas songs, he wants me to teach them how to sing. And I have no expertise in that area. How do you teach a child how to sing, when probably the only music he has ever heard were the songs of his mother? How do you teach someone how to match pitch? How does you start from page one? I can teach people to sing better, because of the voice lessons that I have had, but I can't teach people how to actually sing.

Also pray that my sickness would leave me. It's not bad, it's just bothersome. I know it can't be narrowed down to one thing; it's probably a combination of a new location, the time of year (I always get sick in December), a dusty city, and living in a house with 2 dogs. I have some medicine, but it doesn't seem to be helping.