Greetings from Guatemala Wednesday

While the group was with the adults, the rest of the team (children & teens) went on a tour of the village.  Kevin gave us alot of information about some of the children, families, flowers and fruit trees.    This area was very interesting – they had pigs either wandering around, or tied to a tree in their homes.  The chickens and the ducks were also walking around in their homes.  Their homes are outdoor with a few shelter areas in their space.  The flowers were beautiful!
We then got to tour the school, which was very interesting.  The children were happy to see us.  Most of them were out playing, but the boys were helping to build a new structure (Sharon said this is their version of building trades).  Some were studying, and some were sweeping their classrooms (Home Economics maybe?)

Next we went on home visits.  We were able to visit two families with different stories.  One of the families had two success stories – two girls who had graduated from school who were sponsored by the mission.  They are doing very well.

Then, it was time for our team to meet back up for lunch.  After lunch, the teams who were teaching faith lessons to the children and teens had to prepare for their lessons, and the adult team was free to tour the village and go on home visits.

But….this is the rainy season for Guatemala, so we again had a wonderful storm as some of us were under shelter.  We wondered if the other team was getting wet out in the village…..

We did our faith lessons for the two groups.

Children:

The children loved their songs today, and were singing very loud.  They were so happy to be there at the lesson.  We had many hugs, which is a common theme here.  They love to see us.

Teens:

The teens were interactive today, and they had a great lesson.  Marge got to visit with her sponsored child, Joselyn Brissada and gave her the ‘grandma’ talk!

About then, the adult group came back and they were dry!  Turns out that they had just entered a home when the rain came down.  So they visited during the storm and then it was time to come back. this family had a student who was top of the sponsored children in school.  Unfortunately, they did not have time to tour the village.

Then it was time to load up and head back.

During the trip back, van #1(Kevin, Sandra, Cesar, Carlo, Artees, Bruce, Kaitlyn, Margaret, Dawn & Luann) talked about the volcanos.  Kevin told us about how the rivers filled with ash and rock, which we observed as we crossed over the bridges.  It was a site to see.  We were enjoying our ride and having fun talking, when we were summoned to pull over by the police.  They were pullilng random people over, and we got the lucky number. Manuel was our driver and he handled it well.  We were relieved when we were allowed to pull away.  After that we stopped at a spot where the road is downhill, but when they put the car in neutral and took their foot off tthe brake, the car went uphill!  It was crazy!

We then continued home.

During the trip back for van #2 (Marge, Jona, Sharon, Daniel, Ana, Julian, Oscar), they apparently drove past us as we were pulled over and laughed!  Van # 1 then also found out that they also stopped for ice cream….what the heck? This van does not have air conditioning, so we will give them a pass on this one.

Shortly after arriving home, it was time for dinner and reflecting on our day.

Then, more crafts had to be assembled…..we had lovely devotions by Margaret…..then, exhausted….off to bed.