Hmmm . . seven random things about myself (I was tagged by Karen Walden -- check her blog and my daughter Michelle's):

1. My wife, Kathy, is the most important person in my life except for God, and I love her very much. Our girls always thought we were too mushy when we kissed in front of them.

2. I REALLY like chocolate -- but you all knew that! One of my favorite treats of all time was a Baskin-Robbins banana split that had chocolate ice cream, chocolate with almonds, and fudge brownie chocolate, topped with chocolate syrup, hot fudge, and marshmallow cream in the middle.

3. I also like Dunkin Donuts and am glad they're finally coming to Indiana -- though they'll be in Indy and not Bedford.

4. I usually enjoy writing and try to do a good job with my monthly article in the Missionary Herald and articles in other places. Good writing is hard to do, though, so I'm still bouncing around in the basement.

5. When we lived in Guatemala I had a darkroom and developed my own black and white pictures and color slides. Color photos were too tough to do.

6. I have visited 23 or 24 different countries, according to my wife's count.

7. Three of the classes that most prepared me for my life's work were: (a) Typing, both for letter writing and later using a computer; (b) Spanish, learning a language that I've come to love; and (c) high school speech class, where the teacher helped me overcome the fear of speaking in front of a group. {You were looking for something spiritual, weren't you?}

I don't know of seven bloggers to tag, so I guess this string will end with me. Sorry!

Kathy and I are in Independence, KS, this week for a missionary convention at Independence Bible School. Things are going well and we're enjoying ourselves, though getting tired.

We took part of one afternoon and went to the Little House on the Prairie, south of town about a dozen miles. Since we've read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and have seen a couple of other places

where she and her family lived, it was interesting to go see this little house where they encountered Indians, wolves, and other excitements.

We also prayed for MK's one day in the convention, showing pictures of them in the morning challenge service. Thanks for those who sent names and photos.

Does this thank-you note from my grandson make the Labor Day weekend ball playing worthwhile?

Amen!

He wrote this note Sunday evening in church and gave it to me. How do you like the drawing on the reverse side of us playing football? He has me labeled "Grandpa," which I've cropped out. Right now this note is serving as a bookmark in the current book I'm reading.

As I think I said earlier, he and his sisters about wore us out with all the activities and two of us trying to keep up with three of them. It was fun, though, and a keepsake like this definitely makes my day!

For those who don't want the Spanish study below, let me just say that:

-- I have a fair start on the studies for the October class, but there's still a long way to go.

-- We had three of our grandchildren here this weekend while Rodney and Michelle celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary. What a time! I didn't get anything done on the preps during those days :-) -- but I had fun with the kids and got a very nice thank-you note from grandson Steven, thanking me for taking good care of him and for playing ball with him. We played lots of ball! We had a great time with them and I don't regret a minute of it. Thanks, R&M, for letting us have them for two and a half days.

Para los que desean estudiar un poco el castellano, estoy dispuesto a ayudar un poco. Melodía dice que va a estar aprendiendo por mucho tiempo, y es muy cierto que habla correctamente. He tratado de hablarlo desde 1973 cuando fuí con mi esposa al Instituto de Lengua Espanola en Costa Rica, y todavía estoy aprendiendo.

El asunto de "lo" y "le" -- Se usa "lo" o "la" cuando una acción es directa y "le" cuando es indirecta. Entonces, "Juan comió la manzana. La comió rápidamente." Comer la manzana es una acción muy directa.

Hablar a una persona se considera indirecta. Entonces, "Juan habló con María ayer. Le habló con mucha cortesía." La palabra hablada se refiere a una acción directa, porque se pronuncia la palabra. Entonces, "Juan dio un discurso el viernes. Lo dio en la iglesia."

Otra forma de pensarlo es: "Lo" y "la" se usan para hablar de la persona o del artículo con la cual la acción se lleva a cabo. "Le" se usa para la persona o el artículo que recibe los efectos de la acción. Entonces, en los casos de la manzana y la palabra, arriba mencionados, Juan accionó directamente sobre esas cosas, las tuvo en la mano y/o en la boca. Por el otro lado, las personas (como María) que escucharon la palabra o el discurso recibieron el efecto de la palabra, pero no estaban en la mano (o la boca!) de Juan.

Sin embargo, cuando hablamos de algunas acciones, tal vez es difícil decidir si son directas o indirectas. "Bendecir" es una palabra así. ¿Nos bendice Dios directamente o indirectamente? En Guatemala siempre hemos dicho, "Dios LE bendiga," quizá por pensar que El lo hace a través de otra persona, o por pensar que no nos toma en Sus manos para hacer algo directamente con o en nosotros, pero que vamos a recibir el efecto de lo que hace.

Bueno, tal vez esto nos ayuda un poco. Si alguien tiene una explicación mejor, puede hacer un comentario.