Here’s an update on our canjo-making workshop held Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013. We were expecting a mix of adults and children, but it ended up being mostly 5th and 6th graders. The instrument making went pretty smoothly, though there was a bit of a time crunch to get them all done.

Our mini-concert went really well, in my opinion. Melodie maintained her nerve to play an electric canjo (are you amazed?!) for two songs. Her first one went without a hitch. She hit a snag on the second one, but after finding her place again, she finished the entire song. No tears either! 🙂 That’s always good.

We never know who we will meet at events like this or where this will lead in the future. God knows. We have a new opportunity this week to speak to a group of volunteers to which our contractor belongs. He said we could speak about our work here, our personal life experience, or anything we want. Sounds like an open door. Pray with me that I’ll know what I should say.

A note of praise: A friend we have been praying for recently attended our Bible study. He got to hear about Jesus’ miracles, the need for faith, and how faith takes away our fear. We were thrilled!

The two main things going on during this week (and the past couple) involve remodeling our new home and preparing for a music-type workshop.

Our house…before

Our home…later!

Our yard…before

Our yard …. later!

First, the house. Wednesdays mean work at the house. The kids and I attacked the gigantic pile of brush and tree limbs, cut them into smaller pieces, and burned them for several hours today. Tiring work! All that fresh air and exercise! 🙂 Norman was busy inside, screwing the new floor boards down in three rooms. I kept trying to tell him he had a screw loose, but…

This weekend, Norman will lead a workshop on making a simple, hand-made instrument. You’ve heard of a banjo? This is called a canjo, because it uses a can (think tin can) and one guitar string. It has frets and is played note by note up to an octave and a half instead of chords. It’s simple to play. Melodie (age 7) was able to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” after a couple tries. So Saturday, our whole family will help parents and children put together their very own canjos, make pizza in an outdoor oven, and sing a mini-concert, mostly of English children’s songs. To go along with this event, Norman has been utilizing all of our family to put together a simple CD of these songs so the new canjo-owners can play along with them at their leisure. Melodie surprised us by offering to sing the ABC song! Through this event, we hope to make new friends, get our faces out there, and be able to spread God’s message to our new friends in the future.

The illustrious canjo

We appreciate your prayers and comments to us. It’s nice to hear that someone reads this blog! And without God, nothing of eternal value will happen here in Japan. Keep praying, please!