We had a "Retreat" yesterday for the Protestant community. It started at 11:30 and went through till 3:30 PM. There was a group of about seven adults that were from a church near Albany.

It turned out to be all singing, with the exception of a half hour sermon at the end of the day by the youth pastor from the church. They had there own sound system and a really nice electronic keyboard.

Unfortunately, the keyboard player is one of those plays by ear types and plays mostly chords so that each song ends up sounding like the last. I enjoyed the spirit and certainly am impressed when any group of people is willing to spend their Saturday afternoon with a bunch of prisoners!

Speaking of music, it is so sad to see what has happened to a whole generation that went through school without any musical education at all. The young adults I am surrounded with can only deal with beats and maybe a sixteen note "melody" and the melody does not usually include more than two or three different notes.

While I am certainly a calmer and more understanding person than I have been, I am still frustrated by the lack of openness of our choir members to learn a song. We rehearse for two plus hours on Friday afternoon, and then another two plus hours before the 2:00 service on Saturday, and all that time is spent on one song.

Since we are working from word only sheets, and I can not pick out melodies without seeing the music, each time we sing the song it is different. I just asked Mom and Dad to send in some of the music I gathered while in the Feds so we will see if I can get them excited to learn some new songs.  ¶ 7:18 AM