This week the students and staff at our school were entertained and instructed by a wide variety of artists thanks to an Arts Consortium through the Washington State Arts Commission. Our rural students absolutely loved having opportunities to learn about a variety of arts through guest performers.
Members of the local Noisy Water Drumming group gave students an opportunity to drum and perform songs to honor our local Colville Tribe.
Tommy worked with the students on improv theater and had everyone using movement and performing without scripts. He had this teacher laughing loudly as I watched my students act out scenes such as honeymoon and romantic zombies.
The One World Taiko Japanese Rhythm Drums from Seattle instructed our students in the moves, language, and sound of this style of drumming.
Another artist Shelley Graham led students through a workshop of making figures from recycled material. 
Later in the gym the recycled people looked like they were playing the Japanese drums.
Two staff members and one of the Japanese drummers helped out in demonstrating some gymnastics routines and... 
everyone got to hula hoop.
Gloria de los Santos directs the Arts Consortium and was responsible for bringing this amazing group of artists to our school. She is a well-known artist herself and has a passion for providing these experiences to the rural students of Ferry and Stevens Counties in the state of Washington. To see more of Gloria's art go to http://www.gloriadelossantos.com/ . Gloria has also organized the North Country Trail Artists which is an incredible self-guided tour of artists in northeastern Washington and Southern British Columbia. You can learn about this here. I have often focused on the natural beauty of life on Lake Roosevelt here on this blog, but we are also blessed with an arts community that is alive and well in our corner of the world.
Our church has supported a missionary named Mary Jean Robertson for many years. She is a nurse that has devoted her life to bringing the word of God and better health care to the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has had supplies shipped in from churches in the United States and Canada. She has also helped with getting hospitals and schools build in this country. She has visited our church many times sharing the good news of the mission work with the people in the Republic of Congo. 
Recently we learned that one way our church could help was to cut bandages. Mary Jean explained that she could use bandages made of sheets. 
We just had to launder them, cut them in six inch strips and roll them up. They would use all colors and designs. A woman in our church began a drive to collect sheets. 
Members of our small church found old sheets, neighbor's sheets, and sheets from family and friends. Last Saturday we held our first Bandage Day to prepare the bandages to go to Mary Jean in Africa. It was a fun day of fellowship with the other women in the church and what a worthwhile cause! 
