Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Sorry about not having a post yesterday. It has been very busy and we forgot. I will try to combine both yesterday's and today's together.

Monday started out by going back to the village to put the fronts on the houses and hang the windows and doors. All of the concrete work had been finished in the houses by the families. It is our understanding that the families are encouraged to get involved by doing their own concrete if they are able. There was also a group doing Bible school with the children while the houses were being finished.

I went with a few people to do one of my favorite things...shop. It's not the shopping that I love so much but where we go to do it that I love. We went to the local market in Chimaltenango to purchase the gifts for the families receiving the houses. I love this market because it is a real taste of life in Guatemala. The women go there to purchase a chicken still alive, or purchase their vegetables, or some raw meat or fish. There are hundreds of locals selling their wares and it is fascinating. There is uniqueness to the sights, the sounds and of course the smells. We have a couple of vendors in the market that we go to every year, Mirna and Jose, and they know us now by sight. They see us and there are smiles on their faces. (Might be because they are going to have a really good day in sales.) But they do know us and we know them as well.

From the local market we went to another local market to get more fruit for the team. Then it was on Economica, the local Family Fare, to purchase soap and other things for the families.

Today, we split the team up and had a group go to the local Bible Seminary to work on a building project that they have going. The group that worked there worked really hard I am told. They spent the day laying part of the foundation and then backfilling around it. They were all tired at the end of the day.

The remaining ones in the group went to Amor Del Nino to play with the kids at that orphanage. When we got there the older children were off to school so we played with the younger ones and held the babies. Lots of hugging of those beautiful children. After the older children had arrived home and had some lunch, we did some Bible school with them. Mily our translator told the story of Jesus entry into Jerusalem. After hearing the story, the children had a parade with streamers and lots of singing.

After getting back from the orphanage and the seminary we went to a local church in El Tejar to pass out clothing and food to the people of the church. I am always amazed and humbled by how grateful they are for a bag of food and a few clothing items.

Tonight after our dinner, we had Mily's parents do some singing for us and they told us some of their story. They were fun to listen to and it was very interesting to hear their story.

It was a great day again. God has blessed us over and over again throughout this week. We thank all of you back at home for all of your prayers. We give all the glory to God for such a great experience this week.

Love you all and miss you.

P.S. Hoping you have lots of snow to greet us when we get home. (That part might only be from part of our team.)

Donna