Fun Run for therapy patients

We joined in ASELSI's Fun Run for their therapy patients.  It was a way to raise money for the program, as well as have a special activity that their patients were able to participate in.  The normal parades in town are too long for handicapped kids and adults to be a part of, so this special "parade" was a blessing for them and for all of us.

Here we are in front of Chichi's
famous arch.

Walking through the streets of Chichi.

Walk and bike ride

Two or three mornings a week, Elena and I (Heather) take our dog, Dorado, for a walk in the neighborhood, and Veronica rides her bike.  It is good exercise!

Dry versus wet

We have two seasons here: dry and rainy.  On the drive to our land in Chulumal II, there is a stretch of road that is brown during dry season when the plants are covered in dust, and green in rainy season when the plants can actually be seen.

Dry season

Wet season

Much appreciated maid

Micaela has been working for us since the day we arrived in Guatemala four years ago.  She comes to our house six days a week, two half-days to clean and do laundry, and the other four days just to wash dishes.  She is a mother of five, and a grandmother of four, and her husband is the head maintenance man at ASELSI.  I appreciate Micaela's faithfulness to us!

Thank you, Micaela!

Gate roof

The roof over our gate is finished.

Please pray for our workers.
They have no safety gear.

The front entrance.

Life house

Our local church in Chichicastenango has a weekly evangelism outreach called "Casa de Vida" or "Life house."  The church members are all divided into three Life houses, one of which meets on Friday night, and two on Saturday night.  We go to the Friday night meeting in the house of a family that lives in town.  The purpose of the meeting is to share the gospel with our friends and family who don't know Jesus yet, but might not want to go to a regular church meeting.  One week they asked me (Heather) to share a message, so I talked about 1 Peter and how God calls us to be holy.  I am impressed with our church's desire to reach out to people with the love of Jesus.

Crossing the street

While walking around town to do my weekly shopping, I (Heather) have to cross several streets.  This involves a complicated checking process before stepping out:  first check for 18-wheelers or other large trucks, next check for "chicken buses" (old U.S. school buses), then microbuses, pickup trucks, other cars, and tuk-tuks.  When you find a break in the constant stream of larger vehicles, don't step out yet... remember to check for motorcycles, bicycles, people pushing carts, people walking, and dogs.  Then re-check for vehicles, and finally RUN!  It's much more exciting than a Walmart aisle.

Finishing fence

The final steps to the fence are almost complete.

They installed a door

and a gate, so now we can lock up the property.

They lined the outside of the fence with
steel roofing sheets to close off the view.

Up at the top of the property, behind the house
site, we planted some baby trees:
lemon, peach, plum, apple, and avocado.

The only things remaining to be installed are the roof over the gate and a mountain of rivets to attach the roofing sheets well.

Outhouse floor

They poured concrete pads over the huge holes they had dug earlier.  (See earlier post called "Pit latrine and septic well" in January 2015.)

The (two-seater) outhouse floor is on the right,
with the posts in place for the walls.

Here they are preparing the concrete pad
that will cover the seepage pit.

Sand and concrete

Here are some photos of standard practice here:

This pickup truck bed is entirely full of sand.
It is sold by the "cubic meter," which is one truckful.
The driver of the truck brings the sand (or gravel
or dirt) and unloads it at your property with a shovel.

This is the standard way of mixing concrete,
wearing rubber boots.  Here José is
finishing up a batch.

Retaining wall

We now have a retaining wall behind the ministry building site. 

First they brought in huge rocks.

They laid the rocks layer by layer with concrete,

and built up the wooden boards as they went.

Then they chipped away the extra concrete
with a chisel and hammer.
Now the site is ready for building!

Youth "handshake" dance

Carrie, Elena, and two of the boys at church presented another dance.  They did such a good job doing the choreographed handshake in unison that the congregation burst into applause in the middle of the dance!  Good for them!  And many thanks to Heather's Aunt Mary Gugler for the shirts.

Carrie, Alan, Elena, and Alex

Youth dance

The youth at our church presented a dance that Heather choreographed.  Veronica kept up with the teenagers pretty well. 

Sunday school dance presentation

The Sunday school kids presented 3 dances.  Many, many thanks to Heather's Aunt Mary Gugler for contributing the shirts they are wearing!

Veronica's class.  Plus you can see Carrie
on stage, where she sings with the chorus,
and Heather on the right, directing.

Both classes.  It was amazing
to see all the kids together.

The older kids' class.

The kids always dance each week in the
back of the sanctuary during the worship
time.  Plus you can see Elena, who is a
teacher's assistant.

Sunday school

Heather teaches worship dancing to two Sunday school classes each week.  She visits each class for about 20 to 30 minutes.

The "Giants in Jesus," ages 8 to 10.

The "Bible Explorers," ages 5 to 7.

Rubber ducky rescue

Veronica accidentally dropped a small rubber ducky down our shower drain, which was installed with no drain cover.  In the process of trying to extract it, it moved further down the pipe, so we called in our builder to help.  He ended up cutting the pipe where it came out the side of our house, and then he used our kitchen tongs to pull the ducky out!  He reinstalled the pipe with a covered "T," so we can more easily get to any escaping duckies in the future.

Diego worked by Michael's flashlight.

Our happy, little rescued ducky!

Looking at ravine

We spoke to our neighbors about the possibility of running our gray water out to the huge ravine behind our house.  We didn't realize, however, until we went to look at it, that the edge of the ravine is falling away little by little.  We don't want to be held responsible for any landslides, so we are going to try to deal with our gray water on our own property for now, using a type of gray-water gardening effort.

Michael talking to our neighbor, Felipe.
The orange flag is on the edge of the ravine.

Heather and Veronica looking over the ravine.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all fathers!

At least those of you in the United States didn't have to endure the Father's Day celebration here.  They celebrated Father's Day on Wednesday, June 17.  We had a truck drive around our neighborhood at 4:00 a.m. with a loudspeaker through which they were wishing all the fathers "Happy Father's Day" and playing loud music while periodically setting off loud rounds of firecrackers.  And everyone here considers that a perfectly normal way to celebrate Father's Day!  We hope your day was more peaceful than that!

Fence

Our fence is almost finished and is only lacking the sheet metal all around and the front gate and door.

The front entrance.  The ministry building
will be in the lower front portion and our
house will be up the hill in the upper part.

This photo shows the sheet roofing material
the fence will be lined with when it is finished.

Dugan's visit

Heather's parents came for a wonderful visit in March.  We loved spending time with them!

Walking through the market on our way
to pick up Domino's Pizza.

Car wash

When I want to get a car wash, I buy gas at the local gas station, and they wash the car for free.  Veronica loves going with me!

We have to hold a towel over one window
where the seal is too old to work anymore,
or the water sprays in when they pressure
wash the car.

"The washing guys" in action.
I appreciate them very much!

Checking progress

Sometimes the girls go out with me to check on the building progress on our land...

Veronica and Andrea

Elena, Carrie, and
Heather (if you know me in the U.S.)
or Erica (if you know me in Guatemala,
Puerto Rico, or Peru)

Ready for rainy season

Rainy season is coming soon, so I improved our dog Dorado's bed to help keep it dry.

Neighbor kids

When we go out to our property, the neighbors' kids always come out and invite Veronica to play with them.  She enjoys the attention!

Youth group

Carrie, Elena, and Andrea really enjoy attending our church's youth group on Saturdays.

Driveway

We are very thankful for our driveway.  Without this driveway, our property was one of thousands of pieces of property here that are "adentro" or "inside," meaning they are only accessible on foot.  We bought the driveway in three pieces.  First, we bought a two-meter-wide strip from one neighbor, then a bordering one-and-a-half-meter strip from the other neighbor, to connect into the lower corner of our property.  

In the photo below, you can see the community path that was on the section of land that we bought for a driveway.  Since we bought the land this path is on, we have to allow people to walk up our driveway.  We also had to leave enough room on our property outside our fence to allow for the path to continue past it.

This photo is taken from our land, looking
downhill toward the street, where our car
(white) is just entering.

Because of continuing discussions with one of our neighbors (whose house you can see in the photos) debating the exact location of the edge of our driveway, we added a row of blocks along his side, to define the border well and eliminate border disputes in the future.  We were glad that he finally seemed happy with the results.

Looking up the driveway from the road.

 The driveway was finished with gravel.

We had plenty of width, but we were were having trouble turning into the driveway, since it is a bit more than a right angle and the main road is very narrow.  So we bought an extra triangle at the entrance from our neighbor and moved the boundary blocks over.  Now we can come and go easily!

Raising electric line

Early on in the construction process, our neighbor asked us to pay to raise his electric line so trucks wouldn't bump into it on their way into our driveway, since it drapes over our entrance.  The cable had previously run to the top ridge of the roof in the photo below, which now shows the newly raised line.

Chicken joke

Heather's joke:
Why did I watch a chicken cross the road?

Answer:
I was in Chulumal II.

Ha ha.  :)
(Sorry... but this joke did make my family all burst into laughter!)

Turkeys, chickens, and hogs

Some of our new neighbors are turkeys, chickens, and hogs. 

A turkey viewing the ministry building site.

A chicken coming to "visit" Veronica.

Verifying the water pipe location.

Checking out the cistern.

And hogs (one inside the pen and two to 
the right of it) squealing to announce their
presence just outside our lower boundary.