Serving the Savior

2009 ends with two news items of members serving the Savior. The first announcement is the musical debut of a member of the congregation. After two years of practice, he played for services for the first time this past Sunday. I want to thank Roxanne Martens for the musical course she developed for learning to play by chords. The member from the Moca congregation faithfully practiced and has learned to play almost all of the hymns in the book that we use. He is using his talents to serve the Savior.





Another example of service is a younger member, Alexandra. Formerly the congregation was using a ceramic dish for the gathering of the offering. This dish was accidentally broken and a new offering basket was needed. Alexandra had the desire to make one using plastic canvass and yarn. With some guidance from the women in the congregation, she was able to sew a lovely basket that now is used for Sunday offerings. She, too, is using her talents to serve the Savior.

Hosanna, Loud Hosanna

Yes, this post dates back to Palm Sunday (March 16). The following is a video of the seminary students singing "Cabalga Majestuoso" which is equivalent to the hymn "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna", found as hymn 130 in Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal. (You may purchase a copy through Northwestern Publishing House at this link -- and no, I was not paid for that plug :-)

[By the way, the first stanza was recorded from behind the students. In the second stanza, you see their faces from the front.] I hope you enjoy it!



The Lord bless you with his peace,
NW

Praise Him with the Keyboard

Presently, there are several people receiving training to play hymns with the chord method of piano playing. Each of the students is a member of one of our congregations and our goal is that in the future we will have people able to read music and lead the members in singing and praise with musical instruments.

We would like to give our deepest thanks to Roxanne Martens (wife of LATTE Missionary Ralph Martens) who wrote the music course that the students are using. She wrote the program herself and gave us permission to reproduce it to train more people. So far it is working well and the students are making good progress.

We thank the Lord for gifted people like Roxanne who are willing to share their talents with the church, and we thank God who bestows musical talents on His believers and fills their hearts with the desire to praise Him by learning to play hymns to His glory.

[ The above was written by Kathy Strackbein. We thank the Lord for her service as well. --NW]