SYMPHONIES OF HOPE

Symphonies of Hope
Chris & Coleen Anderson
P.O. Box 1061, Pharr, TX 78577
In the U.S. : 608 - 313 - HOPE
Message phone in U.S. : 956-781-5133
Email: chriscoleen@symphoniesofhope.org
Email: chriscoleen@choirsoffaith.org

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Update August 2009

Symphonies of Hope– Choirs of Faith

Orchestras & Choirs Serving in God's Love

Update # 17

Seems like July was the busiest month ever, and it certainly was the
hottest! We wanted to raise funds for the Pharr Orchestra to get some
violins so we organized a cinnamon roll marathon. Making 1,200 large
rolls meant 30 hours of straight baking, but we survived and were able to
get 12 violins. Next we tried to get players to come to our first ever Hymn
sing… so we performed at bus stations, parks and hospitals to let people
know what we were planning. The Hymn sing went well and we plan do to
more in the future. After finishing the Hymn sing we wanted to play with
the home school orchestra in Saltillo, Mexico in August—only a couple of
hours from one of the villages where we were already planning to visit, so
we had lots of practicing to do to get familiar with the music that was
emailed to us 2 weeks ahead. It was far more difficult music than we were
used to but we knew a challenge would be good for us. We had to pack up
again and prepare for a month in Mexico. Meanwhile we had to make
bread like crazy and sell it on the road and door to door to raise enough
money to even get to Monterrey and back. In hot dusty La Fama Mexico
we were still keeping busy but at least we had time to get caught up on
schoolwork. We only had until September 3rd before our papers expired
so we worked with the group in La Fama every day for several hours a
day. September first we had a small concert with all of the students
before we left and the group was able to play some of their first hymns.
Though we have accomplished much all of us have have had many
exhausting days. For whatever reason, perhaps largely due to our absence
from the U.S. for nearly 2 years and economic changes, donated funds
have steadily tapered off. This has meant constantly baking and selling
bread door to door to meet our family’s basic needs and to pay for weekly
phone calls to 3 orchestras in Guatemala, and 1 in Monterrey. We are
barely getting by, but as large challenges have come our way God has
shown mercy to us. We don’t have any intention of withdrawing from the
groups that we have started and still have hopes of starting others, but it
has been a difficult time. Please pray for us and give thank you prayers
with us for any persons who join us in supporting this effort.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with
gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord,
He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His
people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving;
and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For
the Lord is good and His love endures forever , His faithfulness
continues through all generations.
Psalm 100:1-3

Quick Summary

Cinnamon Roll Marathon

The idea was a good one… almost too good. We knew that our cinnamon rolls had been a
really popular item back in those days when we had the bakery. Maybe people would buy
them… We decided to sell them kind of like Girl Scout Cookies. I made a flyer and some order
forms and we gave a packet to all of the orchestra members and to a few friends. We only had
3 days to sell them because we needed to use the church before everyone was gone to summer
camp. We thought it would take a 12-14 hour day to accomplish. We asked anyone who could
to come help on baking day, went to various places and purchased all of the ingredients we
would need, and got everything ready for the big day. We started at about 10 am… not too
early because we wanted the rolls to be as fresh as possible in the morning the following day
when we delivered them. Things appeared to be going smoothly, but as all the order sheets
began to come in, and we tallied things up we realized we were in trouble. There were orders
for over 1200 rolls! They were far more popular than we ever imagined and were we ever glad
that we didn’t have more days to take orders! Well, we decided do the best we could. We mixed
dough and more dough...rolled out rolls, and more rolls… baked rolls, and more rolls… The hours
seemed to go by in a blur. I remembered why we sold the bakery! We sent Joseph back to the
store for more supplies a couple of times before the stores closed for the night. Our feet
began to hurt and then our backs began to ache. Someone brought us hamburgers a few times
or we would have starved. We kept going and going like the little Eveready Bunny… We sat
down at every opportunity . Soon it was one in the morning then 4 then 5 then 7. It seemed
like something was wrong with the clock. Joseph and friends helped deliver the rolls as we
finished the orders. We kept counting and recounting trying to figure out how many more mixes
we had left to start. (Later we tallied up 26 mixes of 14 pounds of dough each…. All mixed by
hand!) It wasn’t until 3 in the afternoon that the last order was done and in a bag. We were
staggering tired…. But still had to clean up the cafeteria and wash the mountain of dishes and
fold and put away all of the tables. The Bradford family had stayed up with us the whole
night and had rolls to deliver too. While they went to deliver rolls we washed the tables and
started cleaning. Sandy, a friend who was living next to us washed dishes and we loaded all of
our things in the van. Joseph volunteered to finish cleaning up and I was so glad because I
didn’t feel like I could stand up any longer. We went home and got to sleep at 5pm… and didn’t
wake up until 10am the next day. Wow! What a cinnamon roll bake it had been! We were
happy to be able to purchase enough violins for the little group in Pharr. But next time we
have a cinnamon roll bake we will have to break it up into 2 days with a night of sleep in
between!

Hymn Sing Night

While in the U.S. this year we wanted to continue our mission work in some form. We do
always like to encourage people to sing hymns together in a special way and so we
decided to organize a Hymn sing. As part of that effort we wanted to encourage folks
who knew how to play instruments to come too and contribute their music. We played as a
family in the bus station and at several hospitals in the area to let people know about the
hymn sing and to invite them to participate.
In the end about 30 people attended. We read different special passages from the Bible
between hymns and it was an encouraging and worshipful evening. We hope to do it
again in other places as we are able.

Saltillo Home School Orchestra

Back to La Fama in Monterrey, Mexico

We heard about the Saltillo home school orchestra last year when we were staying with the
So this year when we were in the U.S. and heard they would be having another concert in
August we were all very excited. The home school movement has been growing in Mexico over
Richardson Family. We really wanted to go last year but we were in Guatemala at the time. a
number of years but we have never met any Mexican home-schoolers before. We wrote to the
director and asked for the music and asked if we could participate too. It is a gathering of
home-schoolers from all over Mexico. He sent the music and we set out to learn it 2 weeks
before the concert. Unfortunately we were also trying to make cinnamon rolls and prepare for
the Hymn sing at the same time while baking 18 loaves of bread and 15 packs of cinnamon
rolls 3 or 4 times a week! This left little time and energy to practice and the music was much
more challenging for us than we had expected. I especially had anxiety about attempting to
play with the orchestra as I have only been learning the cello for a little over a year and
without an instructor. When we arrived there were two very intense days of practice… Two to
three hours of practice followed by an hour or two of rest… and then another practice.
We arrived very late at night and had to get up early. The first day seemed like a fuzzy
nervous dream to me. All of the other cellists were far more experienced than I and the pace of
the music was much faster than we had practiced at home. On the second day we still hadn’t
had time to make our black skirts so between practices Elizabeth and I rushed to the camper
and sewed at high speed. I was thankful that some girls there had shared a very simple pattern
with us and we were able to whip those skirts out in record time.
I had struggled through the two days and at last the concert came. We got all set up on stage
and played through the songs we had worked so hard on. On the hardest ones I missed a lot
of notes but was doing my best to at least look like I knew what I was doing… when I overheard
a boy directly in front of us say loudly as he pointed at me…”Look at that lady ! She isn't
playing all the time” Oh well, I guess I wasn’t fooling him! But all in all it was a great
experience. It pushed us beyond our regular routine and best of all we met some really neat
families. And we appreciated that they let us participate even though some of us were less
experienced than others. They encouraged us to play what we could and not to worry.
The director, Mario, later invited our family to visit for a couple of days and to visit their
church in Monterrey. It was a truly inspiring experience. Although he is only 21 years old, he
composes music and plays piano professionally... and his sisters are excellent violinists. We
enjoyed the time with his family tremendously. Their love for God and for music was evident in
their home and in their church. And their church was one in which the congregation sang out
together in a real united and beautiful way. Now we just can’t wait to go back again! We had
a great time sharing stories and music with them and encouraging one another.

In La Fama there isn’t much to see… Some old houses built from tin and wood scraps
surrounded by makeshift pallet or tin fences along the dry riverbed that runs through
Monterrey. People here live on the lower side of the wall… I guess some would say they are
squatters. But in this unlikely looking place are a number of smiling faces that we have come
to know rather well. Not all of them are very well behaved… they are somewhat of a rough
bunch of boys mainly. But they are generally pretty cheerful and curious and ready to get
involved in whatever there is to be involved with.
Last year we were strangers when we arrived but over 5 months time we built violins with them,
had typing classes with them, watched a few Christian movies with them, sang songs and
read stories to them. We only had a couple of weeks to start teaching them how to play the
violins we had made. We found a man who was willing to come to the community and keep them
going on their violin lessons after we had gone but they were our first orchestra group and
Symphonies of Hope didn’t even have a name then.
So this year we wanted to return and reorganize what we had begun before. Some of them
had been especially successful at learning how to play. When we left, the instructor who took
over lessons loaned many of them real violins. But after a time he required them to come to
classes in the center of Monterrey and for many of the children that was too hard to arrange.
It is about an hour to an hour and a half to ride the bus there. And many of the parents didn’
t feel like it was a good idea to send them so far. So the teacher had to take back the violins
from the ones who didn’t continue attending classes. So many gave up at that point.
This year we received a gift from the Sisters of St Joseph in Wisconsin to be used for
children in a community, so we decided to get a few more violins and help these children get a
start again. They were very excited when we arrived with the violins. Many of them
remembered several of the songs they had been taught before.

Starting Over with the La Fama Orchestra

Painting The School

A few days before we left La Fama the weather turned cooler and it began to rain… a relief for
us though the rain meant that all that fine dust turned to sticky mud. We packed up our camper
in the rain and we were a sorry sight by the time we pulled out. It is always exciting to be on
the road again.
We pray they will continue on well without us—remembering to be on time, hold their violins up,
and to follow a Godly path. We have heard that they are continuing with their classes and
that Christina has been continuing to teach them with simple messages and verses from the
Bible. That is very encouraging news. So far all of the students we left in Monterrey are
continuing to attend.
Meanwhile we are back in the U.S. Preparing to visit Chris’s mom in Missouri before our
next trek to Mexico and Guatemala. Who knows.. Lord willing, we may even make it to
Wisconsin for a week or two. We are delayed here in McAllen as our van transmission
decided to go on vacation… a very nice lady at the Spanish church here found us a
Guatemalan mechanic who thinks he can repair it for less than average. We will just hope it
will hang together for us as we travel.
Please keep us in your prayers and stay in touch. As you all know we love to hear from any of
you. We are trying to do better at getting a few more personal letters out to people… if you
don’t hear from us immediately it doesn’t mean we aren't thinking of you! We’ve just been very
busy. We plan to travel north on 77 from here to near Huston and the up through Texarkana
to Missouri. If anyone knows of anyone with good camping spots along the way let us know.
Take care and God be with you all.
Love in Christ,
Chris, Coleen, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jonathan, Samuel, and Scooter

Missing Pricilla

We have missed Pricila’s presence here in La Fama greatly. I’m not sure how much
people realize how she affected the people here. It is sad to see that since she has gone
many of the positive changes that she brought about are fading away. Unfortunately
alcoholism affects entire families in the La Fama neighborhood. While their house once
was the only one where we could count on the lack of alcohol, things have changed. Her
brothers were very depressed for three months after she died… Now they seem almost
back to normal, although the oldest still has moments when he breaks down in tears. Life
here is full of harsh realities. We are trying to encourage them in whatever way we can.
Cesar has found a new job at a hardware store. He tells us he would like to travel with
us after he turns 18 next year. He seems to be able to understand the dangers of
falling into alcoholism. He hopes to go back to school someday and study computers.
Pricila’s little dog, Bonbon, is still here. They say she still looks for Pricila.
Cesar and Alejandro’s mom is working now because the house reminds her too much of
Pricila. There is talk that they will move to a different community this winter. Please
keep them in your prayers as they struggle to learn to live a new life without Pricila.
They have a special place in our hearts.

Conclusion

For many of our classes we borrowed the first grade classroom at the school. Chris
mentioned if there was anything the orchestra could do to help at the school to let us
know. The first grade classroom did need painting so one day the orchestra students
and we dressed in our oldest clothes and got out the brushes and one very rickety roller.
We had a fun day painting and organizing the classroom and although we were tired at
the end of the day, we had a feeling of satisfaction to see the job done.
One sad moment was when we were washing the cups and toothbrushes from last year
we ran across a little princess cup and toothbrush that were Priscilla’s... Another
reminder of a little girl that meant a lot to all of us.

The children in La Fama were excited about the new violins. We only were planning on
staying 3 or 4 weeks so we tried to make each day count. For the first several days we had
group classes but sometimes it was difficult to keep the squirrelly boys from being silly and
taking up a lot of the class time with discipline issues… So we decided to have individual
lessons every day of the week. We worked out a schedule and every one had a half hour
personal class time each day. This worked out much better. It gave Chris time to talk to each
one about particular problems they were having and to work out issues. They memorized
several Bible verses as part of their classes and at our final concert we recited Psalm 100 vs.
3 together for the parents.
The most difficult thing was that many of the children would forget to show up for their lessons
because their parents were not really tuned in to their activities. Sometimes we would have to
hunt them down to remind them. We hope that someday they will learn to arrive on time . It may
well be2 or 3 years before people begin to recognize what the little orchestras mean to many
families and children that we work with. Though they aren’t always very responsible about
arriving on time, they are very proud of their children when they see the progress they are
making and that they really are learning to play an instrument.
As time went on, Christina, the mother of two girls who had continued with the downtown
classes, volunteered to be the leader of the La Fama Orchestra. She is a believer and will put
God at the center of their activities in our absence.
While we were in Monterrey we were invited to a free concert of a young peoples orchestra.
We wanted to bring some of our students so they could get a taste of the possibilities to
come. We didn’t have much time to gather them and only found 3 boys at home that evening.
Alexis, Victor and Carlos accompanied us to the concert. They were very excited… especially
when the huge curtains went up. Unfortunately the acoustics of the theater weren't very good
so the sound didn’t carry well but still they were impressed, especially at how often the director
shook hands with the first violinist. We had to take them home after half of the concert because
they had to get up early for school the next morning but I think they really enjoyed the evening.
We were very busy making certificates, cds and music for our students and preparing for our
own little concert. We planned a small concert for the parents to be held two days before our
departure. In addition to the beginning songs in their Suzuki books we wrote some easy parts
so they could play a few more complicated hymns with our family. The concert gave us a
chance to establish before the parents the purpose of the orchestra—to keep God and his
Word at the center of all we do, including music.
On the night of the concert it was fun to see the children in their black and white orchestra
outfits, greeting their parents. We heard that several of their nice outfits were bought for them
by the school. It is encouraging to see others in the community helping to encourage them. The
parents were very excited when we presented the children with certificates celebrating their
work and achievements . During the concert a special guest was introduced to the surprise of
everyone… and especially the three boys who had gone with us to the concert a week before.
The guest stood up and took Chris’s violin and played a medley of all of the songs that the
students were working on. He played incredibly well and then it was revealed that he was that
first violinist in the concert we had gone to! All of the students were so excited they could
hardly contain themselves! After the concert Jorge posed for many photographs with the
children. It was a very exciting night .