still need rain

Willy's surgery was postponed until June 29th. Apparently there are too many other kids with more urgent surgeries right now, so he has to wait. Poor kiddo. He was supposed to go in on Wednesday and they postponed it three times in three days. Talk about anxiety.

We still haven't had much rain and there's still no sign that our well is going to get drilled anytime soon.

But on the bright side, I gave end of semester exams to my kids this week and almost all of them did well. I'm trying to work something out for extra help for those who failed because they're having chronic problems.

I got a package on Thursday! That was exciting. Thanks Debby and Ed! I love getting mail. (hint, hint) It doesn't have to be packages either. Letters are great.

Last night we had game night at church. Every last Saturday of the month we have worship, a short message and then we play games together. For the message Don Elias gave his testimony. That was pretty cool except he talks really fast so I didn't understand all of it. Don Elias owns a pharmacy here in town and his daughter goes to our school.

Today everyone at school gathered around the driveway to say goodbye to little Willy and his parents as they left to go to the city for his heart surgery, which is scheduled for Wednesday.
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Rain!!!

It's raining, like torrential downpour. Thank you God!!!

We need water!

They said that rainy season was supposed to start last week, but so far, in spite of an impending hurricane, we haven't seen hardly any rain here in San Cristobal. We had a bit of a water emergency the other day. Our well is dry and the truck that delivers water was broke down. We went a few days with very little water and one day without a drop in the house. Usually the water gets turned on a couple times a day for about a half hour and we fill up a bunch of buckets in the kitchen and bathroom to use for the rest of the day. But lately we haven't had as much. We were also supposed to have a new well drilled, but there's been all kinds of delays on that too. We always have drinking water because that gets delivered, but it's difficult when you don't have water to wash with. Sometimes we shower or do laundry at other people's houses in town, where there's more water. Some friends of ours went to get water for us once this week (see photos below.) I tried to post some more photos, but my photo posting program is on the blink right now. It might be a problem with my internet connection.

I'm thankful that we don't have to carry our water to our house in buckets on our heads, like some of the natives do, but I'm be even more grateful if we could have a consistent water supply. It's difficult at the school because the kids need water to wash their hands and flush the toilets. There's a lot of colds going around and if we had running water that would help. So please pray for rain, and for our new well to get finished.

Prof. Carlos, Eli and Caleb pushing a barrel of water up the hill to our house. A neighbor of ours went to town to get water for us because the truck that delivers our water was broken.
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They made it up the hill! Muchas Gracias!
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This is our pila. It is an outdoor sink. It has a deep well in the middle that you can fill when the water's on, so you can use the water the rest of the day. Most houses here have a pila. People use them to wash dishes and do laundry. We have a washer and a kitchen sink but sometimes we use the pila also to wash when there's not a lot of water.
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Occasionally, when the water's on and there's good pressure, I try to take a shower. Usually the pilot light on our water heater has gone out so I have to walk behind the house and relight it. Then it usually goes out in the middle of the shower. That's why I usually don't even bother trying to use the shower anymore.
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The Agua Pura Salvavidas truck. Every week these guys come on Monday...
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And they take our empty water bottles and replace them with full.
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Happy Birthday to Me

The Friday before last was my birthday. My roommate Maria planned a birthday party for me. Many of the teachers came and a good time was had by all.

They made me take a bite right out of the cake. Then I wasn't messy enough so Irma shoved some more in my face. I got frosting up my nose.
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Update on the Motas

Last night they announced in church that we have almost met our fundraising goal for Willy Jr.'s heart surgery. The youth group has been doing activities to raise money and many in the church have donated in the last few weeks to help meet the goal. Pray that they will also be able to find enough people with a compatible blood type to donate blood for the surgery.

Below are a few pictures of the Mota family, from when they came over for dinner recently.

Willy and Ilcy Mota.
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Willy Jr. and his dad.
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Tuti and Ilcy Raquel.
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Ruth's Quinceaños

Last week the people from church all pitched in to help the Mota family give their oldest daughter, Ruth, a quinceaños party. Most girls here have a big party when they turn 15, and it’s a really big deal. They invite practically everyone they know and serve a meal, kind of like a wedding reception. Ruth’s dad had always promised her that she could have a quinceaños party, but because of extensive medical bills in the family this year (Willy junior’s surgeries and some other things) it didn’t look like they could do it. But some of the ladies from the church helped organize the efforts so we could all help them give Ruth the party she deserved. So we had the party in the church building and people helped make cakes and tamales and decorate and serve.

Ruth Mota (Tuti), greeting us as we arrive at her quinceaños party.
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Me and Yani. Together forever. Just kidding. Yani probably doesn't want to be my roommate for the rest of her life.
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Adriana and Andrea.
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Ale and Fernanda.
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Pedro and Yuri.
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Christian and Mario- I love pictures of people laughing!
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Tuti's brother Willy, deep in conversation over tamales.
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The happy quinceanera, Tuti, with her friend, Karin.
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Don Mario and Magaly.
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Profe Byron, the music teacher, provided the musical entertainment. There was also a serenade with classical guitar by Don Mario, but that photo didn't turn out.
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Teshi and Karen, serving tamales.
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Tuti and her friends singing a worship song.
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Field trip to the Mayan Ruins at Tikal

A few weekends ago we took the 7th, 8th and 9th graders on a field trip to Tikal, where there are Mayan ruins. This is the first overnight field trip the Colegio has done. My favorite part of the trip was being able to spend time with the students and get to know them a little better by doing something fun with them. Most of the students and even many of the teachers had never been to see the ruins so it was neat to share the experience of seeing them for the first time.

It was incredibly hot in the park, especially since we were all wearing jeans as part of the school uniform. I think I drank five bottles of water in four hours. But we survived the heat and were able to relax afterwards by spending the evening in Flores, which is a little touristy island near by. We also stopped on the way to Flores at a lake and we watched the sun set while the kids skipped rocks and relaxed on the docks. We spent some time in the park in Flores. The kids had a pick up basketball game with some locals and then we ate at a pizzeria and returned to the school where we spent the night. The next day we did a little shopping in Flores, then ate at a hotel on the way home, where the girls put their heads in the pool to cool off, and then made our way home.

We left at 2:30 in the morning, so we saw the sun rising at our first pit stop.
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The infamous line to the ladies bathroom.
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We spent about ten hours on this bus that first day. JuanJo, to the right, did the driving.
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Dara, still in PJs, and Gladis, at our first pit stop.
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We stopped on the way in to the park to eat lunch and then headed out for the big hike.
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We stopped in the gift shop before heading out to hike.
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In front of a really big tree.
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On the trail with Gladis, Aleida and Juanita.
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JJ, camera in hand, as always.
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Gathered at the top, on the steps.
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Seno Marisol, posing for the camera.
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Teshi.
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Some of the teachers posing at the top of the first ruin we climbed. Gladis, Marisol, Carlos and Juanita.
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Yuri, descending.
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There were a lot of steep stairs. It made me a little nervous.
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Profe Carlos, hamming it up.
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This is the tallest ruin. We went to the top.
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Stairs, so many stairs! I've never climbed so many stairs in one day. Although there was that one day I had to do seventeen flights up and down in Manhattan...
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Tuti starts the ascent.
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The view from the top of the tallest pyramid in the park. They told me this view is in one of the star wars movies. Come on star wars experts, tell me if it's true!
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Profe Carlos and Dara. He carried her up all those stairs.
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Enjoying the view.
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Braulio and Marielos.
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They're not tired...
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Hilda and I, resting between climbs.
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