September News

Hey everyone! It's been a month since my last post. First there wasn't that much to write about, then there was a lot going on but not that much time to write about it. I've been thinking, while seeing the news about the hurricane, that there's definitely a lot to be thankful for here. The water we had in our house is nothing compared to the devastation many people are facing in the Gulf States. By the way, we don't have water coming in the house anymore, though it is very damp and kind of moldy, but I think that's common at this time of year because of the humidity.

At left is a photo of the continuing progress of our new building. This part of the building already existed as the cafeteria next to the ball court, but they have knocked down and rebuilt some of the walls to accomodate the new structure which will house our new church sanctuary. It is exciting to see how quickly the construction is progressing. Especially since our need for a bigger building is so great. The other night when they dismissed the kids for sunday school there were already so many people waiting outside to take their seats.


September 15th is Independence Day for Guatemala and all of Central America. The night before some of our students and teachers did a torch run to Santa Cruz, a neighboring town and back, carrying torches and flags. I rode in a pick-up on the way out but I was feeling ambitious on the way back and ran into San Cristobal with the others. Actually, I walked a lot and got a lift in the pickup a couple times, but I did make it in for our triumphal entry into the main square, in the pouring rain, flags waving and torches ablaze. It was pretty cool- there was a crowd there hanging around, waiting for us and other people who were doing the same.

At left are some of the ladies who participated in the torch run, in the square at Santa Cruz.

On September 15th, Independence Day, our school participated in a parade in town. We had three themes- Guarding our Identity, where students dressed in traditional dress, Guarding our Future, with students dressed as what they want to be when they grow up, and the last was something like Guarding our Sovereignty, and that was kids dressed up like members of the armed forces or police. Each section had a banner which some of the teachers and students made and it was really impressive looking, I thought. I hope to post some pictures of the Independence Day parade but right now I'm having trouble with the photo program so I'm going to leave this post as is.