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Tag Archives: handbell choir

2023 02 update

February 3rd, 2023

Four weeks of classes into the semester.  We have been BUSY.  Our director/webkeeper was called away at the end of 2022 due to a death in her family so we apologize for not updating the website as is our custom. In the end, the deceased is believed to be eternally content in Jesus’ presence while those still remaining on the planet are working through steps to keep moving ahead.

Natalia knows none of this of course.  She had her 6th birthday while we were on Winter Holidays and we celebrated with her when she returned to classes.  From these photos, you can see Delilah (the dog) continues to tolerate hugs and Betsy continues to “teach”.

Our fleet of volunteers has kicked up their gears and bring us monthly lunches as well as come once a week to teach a variety of skills with the boys.  Every young person should have the ability to make fried chicken, boil pasta and chop veggies. Who knows what the next lessons will be!?  Natalia’s volunteer driver is Lucy – she joined us for birthday cake and games that day.

We are always excited to have Jerry and Christina from WyldLife YounLife join us!  We are possibly the smallest group they ever have as far as numbers but we are always enthusiastic! SO THANKFUL to God to their willingness and the willing hands of our staff interpreter Amber.

Thank you each for your prayers as we continue to minister here at CSCD. Pray with us for these students and for those who will be coming in the next and future school years.

hearing the bells means Christmas is just around the corner!

October 28th, 2022

So many years, people have commented -IT’S NOT REALLY CHRISTMAS UNTIL I HEAR THE BELLS. We are well into our Christmas music practices and looking forward to presenting our bell choir offerings beginning December 2!  To me (Betsy) Christmas has already begun!

If you have opportunity, go to see this movie – I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY – it sounds like an awesome movie about a favorite carol of mine.

back to school 2017

August 18th, 2017

August 14 – first day of school!

We had one student.  The other three were at appointments or simply had difficulties arriving in a timely fashion.  Nonetheless, we were blessed by the Palmas Community Church as they brought backpacks for our students and their siblings. (picture on left below)

August 15 – second day of school!

Everyone was present!  We kicked off the first day of full attendance with our Science emphasis focusing on the eclipse that will be happening on August 21.  All week (well except for Day 4 which saw only one student again as the others were flooded away from the school) we have been talking about galaxies, sun, rotation, revolutions, stars, planets… It has been a fun week in the classroom.  While speaking of creation and God’s workmanship, we visited the apartment kitchen above the classrooms to see the workmanship of new cupboards that took place during the summer (center photo above).

We have explored the age of the universe by reading the Bible, created models of the sun, earth and moon to walk through what is a solar eclipse and had a guest speaker who has an interest in astronomy.  Our chapel is decorated as if we are walking in outer space (see backgrounds in the photos above and below)— heads in the stars and hopefully provoking the imagination of the endlessness of our universe as well as the endlessness of God’s love.

We created our own stars by making constellations of nails and then wrapping string around them in patterns or in arrays.  We read articles about the solar system at readworks.org

We have downloaded various apps to our devices so that we can “view” constellations in daylight and watch as the moon moves closer and closer to the sun.  Excitement is mounting as we await the eclipse on Monday at 2:11 our time.  We have had some RAIN this week so homework assignments of “observe the stars” were incomplete but we are hopeful that Monday will bring sunshine and blue skies for the event we have been hoping to witness.

Friday afternoons are often a little messy here as students go home early and our adult handbell ringers arrive for practice. This Friday, the students asked questions they had been formulating all week – Aliens? Diamond planets? Blue stars? – which we looked up on the Internet and youtube. How wonderful to have access to those resources! We also had art class and drew very inaccurate representations of the solar system.

All in all, the school year was kicked off and celebrated well. We are thankful for the students we have and prayerful about the staff we need to be able to reach more Deaf children for Christ.  The task is daunting as we meet Deaf adults and children with very limited understanding of signed and printed languages… there is the need to begin with the basics of WHO?  WHAT?  WHERE?  before we can begin to speak of GOD and SALVATION.  Pray with us for the continuing ministry among the Deaf here.

Thanks!

Science Fair 2017

May 28th, 2017

Oh I wish you could have seen the kids on Thursday, May 25. They were magnificent in their presentations of their science projects. I was excited and amazed by them. The two boys pictured above presented Plants and Colors respectively. Great stuff there.

The older two students presented their findings on Bows and Arrows  and Bamboo Music. Very good work all around. The families enjoyed watching and learning along with their students. And Edgar, pictured below with his brand new glasses, could not keep his eyes off his awards and his science project. His smile and enthusiasm were priceless.

Pray for the students at home this summer.  Pray for the bell choir as we prepare to leave on Thursday June 8 for our trip to Toronto Ontario.  Maybe we will see YOU there?

Handbell Choir

April 12th, 2017

April 7 2017 we had our first and only spring performance for the handbell choir.  It’s been interesting getting our two younger boys to multi-task as required by musical instruments.  Looking at the director.  Looking at the music.  Remember which hand is which color according to the color code we use to teach note reading. THEN remembering no matter who is in the audience, still watching and focusing on the director and the music. Serious skills required!

These two did well and so thoroughly enjoyed the snack box provided by the group we performed for. The other members of the bell choir were packing the bells and van while these younger guys were hanging out. The largest issue of the day was Edgar’s tie which had some smudges on it. Yep.  Not acceptable to him.  We’ll try to get those cleaned before they are needed the next time.

How many more coconuts would be able to be in this truck before the tires pop? As we drove, we passed cautiously lest the tailgate let go and the coconuts cascade out.  Driving here is always a challenge.  Praise God that day, there was no challenge other than passing safely on the highway.

Thanks for your prayers for our ministry!

our new year is starting slowly

January 12th, 2017

Someone’s family member died.  Someone’s car is not working. Someone has a medical appointment.  Someone has an appointment for educational testing.  But TWO students have been in school this week.  Since these two are a little ahead of the others in their linguistic development, we have been taking the time to work on problem solving skills, musical literacy skills and handbells, Bible and life skills, and of course written language skills. It has been a nice quiet calm week. Of course tomorrow is Friday and God alone knows what Friday will hold for us!

Tomorrow night is social night and we are hopeful to have a full house of friends coming by for games and conversation.  The Adult Bell Choir will be rehearsing and hopefully honing our skills.

And then there is the weekend.  We have been under a rain cloud for several days now.  We also have a team of workers who were hoping for some sunshine. Sorry.  Today we sent them to the south side of the island.  Tomorrow they may hit the north-west corner. Saturday they may WORK doing some odd jobs that have accumulated.  If there is any break in the rain, maybe they will hike into the rainforest and enjoy the wetness there.

For now, we are thankful that God is sovereign and has given us a peaceful start to our semester.  Pray for the broken car, the medical appointments, the educational opportunities, the understanding of our students in the face of these situation. Many times, they navigate without an interpreter.  Many times, they come back with questions and want some help with figuring things out. Pray for our insights and wisdom into situations we do not understand!

See you next time!

week of November 04 2016

November 6th, 2016

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Our week started with students who wanted to “celebrate” Halloween.  Well, I am not opposed to candy but I am opposed to many aspects of Halloween’s “religious” traditions.  So we got around it by doing “Crazy Hair” and playing some games.

Thanks to our two stylists to their crazy input on the activity!

This year’s handbell choir did their first performance on November 1 with a surprisingly good repertoire. With three fairly young and new ringers, the director of the troupe was nervous but everyone came through with bells on!

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We had some workers around this week – installing a new white board, installing a generator interface for power outages, and power washing everything it seemed.

How beautiful are the feet that bring good news! Isaiah 52:7 and Romans 10:15 both remind us that Good News comes by way of personal delivery.  How eager we were to receive our guest workers and their news of jobs well-done!  How eager we are to continue to teach the Good News to our students and plant the seeds of God’s Word in their hearts! Pray with us for their hearts to be fertile fields as we plant that precious seed.  Pray for their minds to desire to obey Him always.

Lancaster Bible College 2016

March 10th, 2016

LBC 2016

Lancaster Bible College has come to us with a work team again this March.  These people KNOW how to work!  In fact, they worked so much during the past five rainy days, they earned an extra half day of sight seeing.  This morning, (Thursday 10 March) they are off to see El Yunque and then Old San Juan for the afternoon.  Tomorrow, we are all going to the beach for some fun and playing together. Saturday evening they leave – so we are not sure of the Saturday plans.  Probably a little more sleep and then some cleaning of their dorms.

It’s been a good week with them – seeing the Bible stories they have presented in clever and entertaining ways, learning more of those characters presented – Joseph, Ruth, Samuel – to name a few.

Several of the girls served as substitute teacher for Betsy who was out with a cold a few days.  Most have been working on grounds work, painting, scraping, cleaning, and generally helping in a variety in places. We are excited to see God work in their lives and in our lives as we spend time together.

Thanks for your prayers.

Annual Concert (opening day)

February 18th, 2016

We had a small audience and enjoyed showing them around the school, talking with them and teaching them some sign language. Our bell repertoire included:  EL Coqui, Day by Day, Grace Medley and Oh How Lovely.  The guitars played How Great Thou Art and No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus.

It was nice. We are doing a repeat performance tomorrow and look forward to seeing some old friends and new ones also.