Christmas parties

Our dance team Arise! participated in ASELSI's Christmas parties again this year.  The ASELSI workers handed out backpacks full of school supplies to 400 needy kids.  The children were chosen from elementary and middle schools in the area by the school directors who knew that these were the poorest families.  Each day, 200 children and their parents (divided into 3 groups the first day and 2 groups the second day) were invited to a local church in two different communities about 20 minutes from the town of Chichicastenango.  There was a show for each of the five groups, with dances by the local church youth as well as my Arise! dance team, a skit about Christmas, a clown act, and a salvation message.

These ladies are spreading pine needles
on the floor of the church, which is a
common decoration here.  It is a way
to honor the guests that will soon arrive.

The first day in Chicua there were three groups that entered the church to watch the show and then went out to receive their backpacks.

Arise! dancing as shepherds who were
excited to see the baby Jesus.

One of the groups eagerly watching
the Christmas show.

Waiting between shows in a house next
to the church watching a YouTube
video challenge!

ASELSI chartered a bus to take their
employees (and us) to and from Chichi
each day.  Two moms, Alicia and Clelia,
also came with me to help.

The second day in Chuabaj the church was bigger so there were only two large groups that day.

Practicing when we first arrived
early in the morning.

Ready for the shepherd dance
 "Jesus Is Christmas."

Ready for the dance "Still Rolling Stones."

Waiting between dances in one of
the church's Sunday school rooms.
The papers are packets that I made to
keep the kids busy: word searches,
mazes, dot-to-dots, etc.

Carport

The first job our new construction crew worked on was our carport.  It has been a very nice addition to keep us dry in rainy season!  The entire driveway and parking area is designed to fit about 7 cars total, just in case we might need it for visitors or future ministry vehicles.  The street our land is on is very narrow, with no extra width for parking.  It is also safer to keep cars inside our locked gate at night.

Putting on the trusses and beams.

Installing the coated steel roofing and
transparent panels to allow more light.

Our car is happy.

We sometimes see a complete rainbow!

Goose on the loose

One morning when we woke up we found a beautiful goose in our yard, just standing there!  We suggested to our workers that they catch it and see which of our neighbors it might belong to.  However, they were wary of doing that because, due to the dishonesty here, someone might have claimed ownership falsely.  They didn't want us to get in trouble with the community.  A goose like this is worth a few hundred quetzales, or about $20-$30, which is a lot of money here.  So instead, our workers tried to chase it out the gate.  After a funny scene of grown men chasing a goose, it decided to fly up to the ridge of our kitchen building!  It disappeared after a while, so we hope it found its way home!

Ladies' conference

I (Heather) went with 9 other ladies from our church to a ladies' conference in Zacualpa, a small town 1 1/2 hours away.  Our pastor, Gregorio, also pastors a church there, and we were invited to join them!  There were over 150 ladies in attendance from many different churches around Guatemala.  It was a good day of worship and learning about how Jesus can heal our hearts.

We rented a mini-bus to transport us
there in the morning and back in the
late afternoon.

The church was beautifully decorated.
The ladies up front were being thanked
for helping serve at the conference.

These wonderful ladies from our church are
so funny!  We laughed so much during the
drawing for door prizes that even the
conference hostess commented at one
point, "Oh, that group from Chichi!"

Huge puddles

Now that rainy season is in full swing, one section of the dirt road that we travel on to get to town is full of huge puddles.  Last year they tried to "fix" the problem by filling the low areas with gravel and dirt, but that just moved the problem down the road farther.
     In the photos you can see a large truck, a small tuk-tuk, and a medium pickup truck, but traversing the puddles is actually hardest for the many people that walk or ride on motorcycles.
     Each year the communities that are located on this heavily used road ask the government of Guatemala to pave it, but no progress has been made yet.

Corn

The corn is getting tall all around us!  This photo was taken from the entrance of our driveway.

Visits from Puerto Rico

We were blessed by visits from some of our church friends from Puerto Rico!  They came during the time when Elena and my mom were also visiting.  Luis Pagan's family came to Guatemala for a Full Gospel Business Men's conference and made the long drive to Chichicastenango to visit us!   Then a few weeks later, Jeschell (the pastor's daughter) came as a translator for a group of dentists.  They were just passing through Chichicastenango, but we were able to meet with Jeschell in town for half an hour!  What sweet friends!

The Pagans came out to see our land.
Our construction is visible in the background.

Praying over our land and ministry.

This photo was taken in town, in the
courtyard of a local hotel.

K'iche' class

We are continuing to study K'iche' with a sweet girl named Ruby, who was born and raised in Chichicastenango.  We also have two other students in our class, Ana and Haydee, who are also from Chichicastenango.  Their mom speaks K'iche', but their dad grew up in another city in Guatemala, so the girls were raised speaking only Spanish.

Girls from left to right:
Ana, Ruby, Haydee

The three girls (age mid-twenties) already speak English fairly well, and I (Heather) am tutoring them.  Actually, Haydee has been studying with our family for about six years now, first with Carolyn, then with Elena, and now continuing with me.  The three girls are often hired as translators for teams of American doctors that come to Chichicastenango to spend a few days seeing patients at a local ministry.  However, many of the patients only speak K'iche', so Ana and Haydee realized they also need to be able to speak K'iche', and we invited them to study with us.

Visiting

We just finished six weeks of wonderful visiting with my (Heather's) mom and our two oldest daughters.  First, Elena and Grandma came for three weeks, and then Carolyn came for three weeks.

Our church

We are so grateful for the local church where we are members, named Cielos Abiertos, which means Open Heavens.

Pastor Gregorio preaching during a
service (the pink hair is Veronica's)

Sunday School skit thanking God for
the harvest

Collecting kids for dance practice in
the "Dance Bus" (our car)

Worshiping Jesus before dance
practice starts

Celebrating Veronica's 9th birthday

Beautiful flowers decorating the
church for every service!

Christmas dances

This year ¡Levántate! presented three dances at our church's end-of-year party.

The three in turquoise are new additions,
all age 7, two of which are younger siblings
of team members.  They have waited
patiently to be allowed to join the team!

Fireworks

At midnight on both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, our neighbors all around us shoot off fireworks.  It is beautiful!

The "display" lasts about 15 minutes, but they tell us it used to last up to an hour!  The government has outlawed some of the more dangerous types of homemade fireworks due to houses burning down each year, but we still hear of people, especially children, losing fingers.  So, while we pray for their safety, we go up to the top of our hill and enjoy the show!