Inauguration of our new church building

Hey everyone! School is well underway. I'm teaching a couple more classes than I anticipated, so it has been really busy so far. We have a new curriculum, too, so I have to get used to that. But it's great to see all my students again and meet some new ones. Here's a picture of some of the teachers working on drawings that we posted in the classrooms.

On Saturday we had the Inauguration service for our new church building. It still doesn't have doors or windows but we have to start using it because we turned the old church building into classrooms. It was a really neat service- we sang a song about shining the light of Jesus, and everyone except the musicians started outside, with lit candles in hand. We started singing and playing as they entered the dark church. Then we watched a video that showed the ministry when they first started building on this land up until now. It was neat to see how many people have been working faithfully here since the ministry started, over a decade ago. And a lot of people came to the service- the building was almost full. Alot of people's friends and family came to visit. Afterwards we had a fellowship meal of soup together, outside on the soccer court, and the weather was beautiful too, after having a cold rainy week, so we were really thankful for that.

Here's a couple of pictures from our musician's practice the afternoon before the service. We got a new sound board and I am SOOOO thankful- before it was so hard to hear myself singing or playing. The new building has much better acoustics, too. It's also got a neat design, it was designed to look kind of like an old inn, since our church's name is The Inn. I'd like to post some more photos, but I have to go for now.

Back in Guatemala :)

Hey everyone! I'm writing to let you know that I arrived safely back home in San Cristobal. My first few days were a little rough, emotionally, because I got some sad news when I arrived. A friend of mine, Abel, who worked here at the Colegio last year died a couple weeks ago. He was playing basketball when he banged heads with another player and fell backwards on the pavement, hitting his head. He was in the hospital a few days and there were complications and he died on January 2nd. He would have been 21 on the following Monday. Please keep his family and friends in prayer as we will miss him dearly here. I was talking with his sister the other day and even though this is the hardest thing she has ever been through, she told me many stories of how the Lord has comforted her and her family and friends during this time. The Lord comforts those who mourn.

In other news, classes begin on Monday, the 23rd. We have been having meetings in the mornings for teacher training. This year we begin "Diversificado" for the first time, which is the next level of schooling here in Guatemala, where students choose a technical training track. It is about the equivalent level of tenth grade in the U.S., but the classes are more geared toward a particular career than in U.S. high schools. I am excited because almost all of my 9th graders from last year will be returning again. My schedule is going to be busier than last year, as I am now the principal English teacher. I will be starting with 6 classes, and the other English teacher, Tina, who is new, will have four classes. I am taking the bulk of the work because Tina is new to teaching and is still working on learning Spanish, so it's easier for me. So at this point, I will be teaching 1st, 2nd, and 7th through 10th grades. I'm not sure who is going to be teaching Pre-K through Preparatoria. We could really use another English teacher here.

Some of you may remember that we are building a new church building here. They have made a lot of progress since the fall, I've included a couple of pictures. They are already converting the current church building into classrooms and offices that are necessary for our school, as we are growing every year. You can see in the picture that the name of our church is "El Meson" which means "The Inn". The name comes from the story of the Good Samaritan- we want to be like the inn that was a refuge for the man who was beaten while traveling on the Jericho road. Our vision is to be a safe place of seeking the Lord together.