First and second electric columns

To receive electricity, we first had to install a concrete column.  We chose a place that seemed good at the entrance to our driveway, built the column, and started the process of applying for electric service.

First they prepared the rebar grid.

The column was on the edge of our land,
so they built the footer one-sided.

Right as the worker from the electric company was scheduled to arrive, our neighbor (on the other side of our driveway) fussed that we didn't have permission to drive over a small corner of his land to enter our driveway.  Our driveway is at an angle sharper than a right angle relative to the road, and the road is very narrow with a 5-foot drop-off into a cornfield on the other side.  The column's position at the entrance further complicated the entry, so we had to make a quick, difficult decision to tear down the column and build another one further up the driveway on the other side.

We had three days before our application would expire, so the workers got right to work the next day, finally finishing pouring the new concrete column in the dark.  Our complaining neighbor wasn't happy with the results, because now the column is close to his house, but we discovered that the new position actually benefits our entryway more, since our car is able to pass around the corner without coming close to hitting it.

The new column is now
on the other side of the driveway.

The electric company worker arrived the next day and installed our new line!

Finally moved the water pipe

The next week, the leaders assigned to the second water project came out to do the work of moving the pipe.  No one but those particular leaders is allowed to cut or work on the pipes in any way. 

Detouring around the house site

Praise the Lord, all turned out well, and the downstream neighbors were happy, except for our closest neighbor, Felipe.  He was complaining the next day that his faucet wasn't working well, and it must be our fault.  After talking through several ideas including digging new ditches and running all new pipes to his house, our builder walked over to his house to see the faucet for himself.  The faucet was old, and the mechanism had stopped working!  So we bought him a new faucet, our builder installed it, and everyone was happy!

Felipe and Sylvia's house

Diego and his helper replacing the
faucet in our neighbors' "kitchen sink"

Visit from leaders

Once the water pipes were uncovered, we went again to the community leaders to ask them to reconsider moving them, since building a house over water pipes isn't a good idea, especially in an earthquake-prone area.  They agreed on a time to come out and see the situation.

Here they come!

They discussed the matter for quite a while,
some agreeing and some disagreeing.

We were advised that it is traditional to buy soft drinks for the leaders when they come to discuss a matter, so our builder bought 22 sodas to hand out.

Veronica was happy there was
one extra Pepsi for her.

The end result of the discussion was that they decided to ask the community to vote at the next monthly meeting, since this is something that affects others.  There are apparently mixed feelings about moving water pipes, some wanting to move them, others not wanting to modify the system.

The monthly meeting was held the following week, and we were praying hard.  We were actually pleasantly surprised that the leaders presented our case in a positive manner, and then the people had a bit of discussion (which we didn't understand because it was in K'iche').  Afterwards, they asked what everyone thought, and there was a chorus of "otz," meaning "ok!"   We were so grateful!

Found water pipes

While they were digging, the workers uncovered some water pipes.  We knew these pipes were there, but before we started digging, the community leaders had told us we couldn't move them due to a community rule.  It was very frustrating for us, because their rules are based on tradition rather than logic.  There are about 25 users downstream from our land that use water from this "second water project" pipe, and they are worried that moving the pipe will worsen their service.  Our water connection is not to this project, but to another pipe for the "third water project" which also runs through our land above the house site.

The main pipe we found runs diagonally
through our house site and parking area.

A branch to a neighbor runs through
the ministry building site.

There are other branches that also run to neighbor's houses.  We hoped by uncovering the pipes, the leaders might understand why we need to move the pipe(s).  We don't really want a pipe through our dining room!

Leveling the land

Since the ground is so hard on our new land, it took more than six weeks for nine men with pickaxes, hoes, and shovels to level three sites and cart away the dirt.   The upper level is for the house, the middle level is for a parking area, and the lower level is for the ministry building (where we plan to live for a while at first, while they are building the house).

House site

Hauling dirt by many, many
pick-up truck loads.

View of the three levels from the driveway.

The ground is so hard that even the water won't drain, so we are going to have to put a good drain around the house foundation.

Monthly community meeting

Once a month there is a meeting in Chulumal II to discuss the three water projects and other news pertinent to the community (like upcoming health clinics or road work).  I took the following photos without flash to not attract attention.  The men sit on the left, and the women sit on the right.  Up front at the table are the current leaders, serving their 2-year term.

Michael, trying to understand K'iche'.

This month there was a special health teaching by a local group, ASDECO, trying to promote the development of Guatemala.  They covered the following topics:
Keep your outhouse clean.
Drink atol (hot drink made of corn) rather than sodas.
Keep your chickens out of your house, especially your bed.
Pregnant women need special care.
Malnourished children can't learn.
Don't eat food years past its expiration date.
Don't throw used disposable diapers on the road.

Afterward they served a snack to everyone, which was a bread roll from a well-used box and a cup of atol (hot drink made of corn).  They served the drink in plastic mugs.  Near the end of serving the large group, they ran out of mugs.  Shortly they brought in more, which we guessed someone washed from the first part of the group that had already finished.  We turned down the snack after watching all those hands reach into the box, and the drink since we weren't sure how well the mugs were washed and dried.  Interesting after the teaching on germs...

The local people really seem to respect ASDECO, and we hope they will make the changes that were suggested.

Checking out the neighborhood

We went on a walk to check out the neighborhood in Chulumal II.  There are only a couple of roads and many footpaths.

Near our house.

On the way to the meeting house.

Cornfields are everywhere.

Independence Day parades

We went to watch one of the Independence Day parades in town.  This was the day of the elementary school students' parade.  The parades on the next two days were the high schoolers and then the middle schoolers.

Waiting...

The costumes were extravagant.

And the kids were all so cute!

Little Lambs parade

September 15 is the day Guatemala celebrates its Independence Day with parades.  Actually there are 3 days of parades in town.  This year there was also a small parade in our neighborhood beforehand for the special needs students at ASELSI's Little Lambs School.  They gathered in front of our house.

Elena has been helping teach at the school on Tuesdays for a couple of months, so they invited her to participate in the parade.

We all went along, with Veronica waving her Guatemalan flag (that she made with another missionary).

Clearing the land

They have started to work on our land!

First they used big hoes to clear the weeds.

Then they started scraping off the too-soft mounds of dirt left by the cornfield.

We asked around to see if any of our neighbors wanted dirt, and a few of them said yes, so the workers are taking the dirt by wheelbarrow and dumping it into three different neighbors' fields.  They said they will use it to make adobe bricks.

Praying over the land

Before we started work on our land, we first went to pray over it with our builder, our pastors, and a couple of ladies from our church.  (We didn't take a photo of that prayer meeting.)

The following week, we went out with our daughters and had a family prayer meeting at the same spot.  (Heather took the photo.)

Lord, we thank You for this land that You have given us.  Please use it to glorify Your name and to bring Your Word to the people here!

Carrie's English class

These are some students that come to Carrie's intermediate English class at our house.  Usually only a couple of them come, but this was a full day.

Yosseline, Ana, Amy, Carolina, Haydee, Estefany

Manifestation

One day I left to go shopping and drove past a long line of cars waiting to head north on the highway.  As I got further along, I had to skirt around rocks in the road and then a smoldering pile of tires.  By this point, I had figured out that it was probably a manifestation in process, and I didn't want to turn around and drive back home.

So I called Michael to let him know something was up, and I did my regular shopping in town.  By the time I finished, not even any tuk-tuks were driving through town, which was odd, so Veronica and I stayed and waited in the grocery store parking lot.  A few other missionaries from another mission walked by and invited me to wait at their place on the other side of town.  That sounded like a safer idea, so we waited there until about 5:30 p.m., when the roads finally had cleared.

This "manifestation" turned out to be a protest by the bus drivers against the unpaved section of highway where a detour was put in around a landslide last year.  It was full of potholes and caused very slow driving through that section.  Apparently, money had been given to the town to pave it, but there was suspicion that the leaders had taken the money for themselves.

The unpaved detour was full of potholes.

Results of the day's protest.  This is a
sign by the detour that says
"We are working."

More land offers

Now that people know we bought land, we are getting more offers.

A man knocked on our door one evening, saying he lived in Chulumal II (where we own property) and that he had a piece of property to sell.  His story was that the school his daughter attends in town is requesting that the students buy laptops, and he needs to raise money for that purchase.  He drives a tuk-tuk, and his story seems probable.

Out of curiosity, we went to see the property he has for sale.  It is down the road from our land, but it is a very small triangular-shaped piece (about 3400 sq. ft.). That is the size people are receiving as inheritances these days since the land is so divided up.

We told him we would spread the word... so does anyone want to buy a tiny piece of Guatemala?  (Just kidding.)

Rat visitor

We had a rat visitor, whom we discovered by finding droppings on our car battery.  So we put some rat poison out, and it was gone the next morning.  Several days later, we found a dead rat under the car, but that seems to have been the only or last one!

Fire = electricity upgrade

Recently our electricity went off, and we found out the outage was caused by a fire in the apartment behind ours.  Their maid had wanted to wash the windows, but due to faulty wiring, there was a wire sticking out in her way.  She pulled on the wire, which short-circuited the system all the way to the electrical cables in the street.

Thankfully the maid wasn't hurt, but a small fire started and the cables down the street started sparking and melted in two!  Our landlord's wife ran with buckets of water to put the fire out (not a good idea with an electrical fire), but thankfully she wasn't hurt either.  We called the electric company and they sent out workers to remove the burned cables from the street that day, and then they replaced the cables with larger ones the next day.  We were impressed with their fast work.

The worker right outside our house.

The worker down the street.

Now, as an unexpected benefit, our electricity works with more power than ever!  We always had trouble with our microwave not working very well because the power was weak.  However, ever since they replaced the cables in the street, it's like we have a new microwave!

No electricity

Whenever the electricty goes off, our water pump doesn't work to carry water from our cistern.  We have learned how to deal with it so life can go on without much of a bother.  I go into bucket-toting mode:

We flush the toilet by pouring water
into the tank.

I fill the bucket on the left with
  water to wash hands and dishes.
(The container on the right, which is
always there, has clean water.)

English class homework

There are two girls that come over to our house regularly for help from Carrie with their English class homework.  Their names are Guisela and Mirella, and they are granddaughters of the pastors of our church.  They are 14-year-old twins that attend a junior high school here in Chichicastenango.

They often have to memorize and sing English songs or present skits in English in front of their class of 40 students.  With Carrie's help, their pronunciation is improving!

Construction site

We went to check out one of Diego's other current building sites.  In the photo you can see the type of confined masonry that they build with here in Guatemala, and which we will use in our buildings.

Spiral staircase... Hang on tight, Veronica!

Selecting a builder

Over the last few months, we have interviewed several builders, mostly following recommendations from other American missionaries.  First, we looked into hiring an "engineer" or "architect" and met with four different men, but we discovered that they are basically trained at what we would consider a community-college level (in the States).  They also charge a higher price to earn money for themselves as well as paying a "master craftsman" who then actually oversees the work of the building project.

So next we talked to four "master craftsmen" themselves.  These men varied greatly in their knowledge and experience, and ranged from only seeming to be able to follow directions, to actually being able to think for themselves.  Their prices were lower, which was good, but some of them were only wanting to use cheap materials without regard to safety.  Here in Guatemala it is possible to buy inexpensive concrete blocks, for example, that break easily upon contact.  The builders also tend to add extra sand and gravel to the concrete mix to make it cheaper.  While we want to keep our prices down, we also want our structures to stay up!

After much frustration and prayer, we finally met with one more builder, named Diego Peliz, who offered us reasonable suggestions and explanations and seemed to understand his trade better than the rest.  Since we are trying to build an earthquake-resistant house, ministry building, and perimeter wall, we were happy to finally meet with a builder that seemed to understand the differences in quality of materials, as well as what types of materials will last the longest.  He has worked with other Americans before, and it was clear that they have taught him some aspects of safety in selecting building materials.

We took Diego out to see our property during his interview. 

Michael and Diego discussing the
fence around our property.

Dance

The girls performed a dance in our church recently.  Only one local girl danced with us (Juanita, second from the left).  The other girls are Americans with another ministry here in Chichi.  They all did a really good job.

Practicing in a Sunday School room.

Waiting to enter the sanctuary.

No chlorine!

At the community meeting this month, one of the leaders stood up to read a proposal by the Health Department of Guatemala.  He was speaking in K'iche', but was using enough Spanish words for us to figure out that they were suggesting that the community clean their water at the source (miles away on the side of three different mountains) once a month with chlorine.  This would help keep the water clean and reduce the green junk that grows in our pipes (due to no chlorine added to the water).

He mentioned that he was only reading the proposal to the community so that they could decide if they were interested.  Just when we were thinking, "Yes!  Of course!  Please!", to our surprise the people shouted, "NO!"  All we could figure out was that either they didn't want to pay the small fee that would be collected or they didn't want to take turns on work trips to do it.  So there was another delay in the development of this country.  There are so many ways that the people here are lacking education, and they just don't realize that sometimes their decisions are hindering their good health and progress.

Big bugs

I'm glad these big guys don't come around very often.  This one was bouncing on and off the window and buzzing really loudly.  It sure caused some screaming girls in our house!  Fortunately it was outside and Michael was brave... a little insecticide took care of it.

The next day