VBS

Our church hosted a Vacation Bible School for local children, much like VBS in the United States.  It lasted all morning for six days.  We started the event with a parade through town, and Elena helped with face painting.  The parade ended with an activity with a clown to advertise the week-long VBS.

They asked me (Heather / Erica) to be an astronaut and perform a skit every day with another lady that played the part of a robot.  It was fun!

Elena was one of the assistant teachers, and Veronica participated as a student in the little-kid class.

The children presented several dances throughout the week, some of which they had learned with me earlier.

There was a separate "closing ceremony" afterwards, which is normal for activities here, and the older class and youth presented the dance from the "Fiesta Navideña" to our entire group of attendees and church members.  It was an exhausting but rewarding week!

Christmas gifts

Many businesses here in Chichicastenango give a Christmas gift each year to their regular customers.

Usually we receive calendars.  This one
was from the cable company.  We
also received calendars from the propane gas
company and the construction materials store.

This was the first year Heather / Erica received
plastic bowls in the market: one from Micaela's fruit
stand, one from Julia's vegetable stand,
and one from Eva's fruit stand.

Christmas program

I (Heather / Erica) am continuing to teach worship dance to two Sunday school classes at our local church each week.  This year, I was again asked to participate in ASELSI's Christmas program, called the "Fiesta Navideña," so I invited the oldest class of 8 to 10-year-olds.  We presented a dance to a song called "Jesús Es Navidad," which means "Jesus Is Christmas."  There were 10 children that participated, as well as 4 youth, including Elena.   Unfortunately, Carrie was sick that day, so I took her place in the dance.

Carrie and Elena at rehearsal the day before
the program.

Ready to dance!

We presented the dance three times for three
different groups.  There were several hundred
people in attendance in each group.

The children dressed up as dolls from various
parts of the world to share about Jesus.