Christmas Dance

What a fun day my dancers and I had at ASELSI's Christmas Party!
For a great overview of the event, go to the Christmas Party Video. 
For a video of our dance, go to our Christmas Dance.

We walked to a local gas station, close to ASELSI, at 6:00 a.m., where the children arrived walking, in tuk-tuks, in microbuses, or in pick-up trucks.  Four teachers from the church class also came to help.  Then we walked together to ASELSI.

We presented our dance 3 times.

 
We also participated in another dance a few times with the group from Texas that was there for a week to help at ASELSI.  We had learned the dance the day before at the dress rehearsal.

We estimate that there were close to 3,000 people watching the event, divided into 4 groups.  There were 2,000 gifts given out to children that day, and 14 people gave their hearts to Christ.

Thanks, ASLESI, for allowing us to participate in this grand celebration of Jesus!

Dancing again!

It seems wherever we move in the world, I (Heather/Erica) end up teaching kids to dance for Jesus.  And I'm happy to be doing it again in our new Guatemalan church! 

Last year I choreographed a dance that was presented at ASELSI's annual Christmas party for the poor, and this year I volunteered to choreograph another dance.  Last year we had 9 kids, mostly missionary kids.  This year I'm blessed to work with (in addition to 3 of my own daughters) 23 Guatemalan kids from our new church in Chichicastenango, called Admirable Príncipe de Paz (Wonderful Prince of Peace).  

There are 17 angels (girls) and 9 shepherds (boys), ages 8 to 13.  The dance is to the Spanish version of the song "You Are Good" by Israel Houghton.  The "multitude" of angels dance for joy as they announce the birth of Jesus, and they invite the shepherds to dance with them.  This photo was taken in the sanctuary of our church.  The outfits were sewn by a local tailor after I realized I didn't have time to sew them all myself!

The Christmas party this year is on November 29, this coming Thursday.  Please pray for my dancers as they present the dance four times that day!  And pray for wisdom for me as I try to direct them in Spanish.

Basics or luxuries?

One of the things God has been teaching us lately lines up well with Thanksgiving...

We're learning to be thankful for simple things that we never appreciated before.  Like tile floors instead of dirt.  Washing machines instead of washing clothes by hand.  A variety of food instead of only beans and tortillas.  A car instead of public transportation or walking.  Thermal underwear instead of shivering in lightweight clothes.  A computer at home instead of having to pay at an internet cafe.  A gas stove, oven, and microwave instead of cooking over a fire.  Water faucets in the house instead of carrying water from the river.  Hot showers instead of sponge baths.  Toilets in the house instead of an outhouse.  A refrigerator and freezer instead of having to buy food in small amounts because there is no way to keep it.

Just the basics for us Americans, but unattainable luxuries for most of our neighbors.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Brrrrr...

Wow, was it cold in our house this morning!  The outside temperature was 38 degrees and the indoor temperature was 57 degrees.   We wished our apartment had a fireplace!  The temperature during the day shot up to 70 degrees, though.  It was sunny and beautiful.  This is the first place we have lived where, due to the huge swings in temperature, condensation forms on the outside of the food packages stored in the cupboard!

Mexican checkpoints increasing

We just returned from another trip to Mexico to renew our visas, where the Mexican government is really becoming more active in checking cars.  This time we were stopped four times on the way through Mexico to our hotel in Comitán.  Each time they wanted to see our passports and vehicle identification card and asked several questions about where we were from and where we were going. 

First, we stopped at a newly opened customs site where they verified that we hadn't brought anything worth taxing into the country.  Then we stopped at a military checkpoint where we all had to get out of the car (except Veronica) while they poked around inside.  We were glad that they just looked at our mountain of luggage, left everything in its place, and let us go on.  Then the third stop was at a government office by the roadside where a man walked out toward us waving his hand for us to stop.  We guessed it was because of our Guatemalan license plates, but after he reviewed my documents and asked a few questions, we passed on through.  Then we passed through another military checkpoint, where they also let us go through quickly.

We aren't nervous about these stops any more, since they have gone well so far, but we are always on guard.  So far the authorities seem content with two things:  that we are Americans there as tourists, and that we are only going into the country as far as Comitán.  They also seem pleased that we speak Spanish!  But I must confess that they speak much more quickly than the Guatemalans in Chichicastenango, and we end up asking them to repeat themselves.  Our friendly smiles and a bit of chatting seem to help a lot, too!

Independence Day Parades

Guatemala celebrated their Independence Day on September 15.  Well, actually, Chichicastenango has parades on three days, starting with the preschoolers on the 13th, then the high school students on the 14th, followed by the elementary students on the 15th.  The girls and I walked into town each day to see all three parades.  

Veronica only came with us the first morning
to see "the babies" as she calls the preschoolers.  The
other days she stayed home to take her usual nap.

They closed off the main highway for a few
hours each morning while the parade
slowly made its way through Chichi.

Waiting for the parade to begin!

There were several school bands...

and lots of pretty costumes...

as well as several groups representing the
traditional Mayan beliefs...

and the traditional Mayan religion still
in practice today.

Some of the highschoolers did
crazy stunts.

All of the children were precious...

and beautiful!

Carolina, our new K'iche' teacher

We have a new K'iche' teacher named Carolina.  She is a very good teacher, asking us to speak using the little bit of K'iche' we can remember, but trying not to overwhelm us.

In the above photo, you can see Heather (Erica) and Carolina holding a book.  Heather helped with the translation of a children's book into K'iche', working together with Carolina to ensure the K'iche' was correct for the Chichicastenango dialect.  This book will be used in ASELSI's school for handicapped children since the children's primary language is K'iche'.  In fact, some of the kids don't even speak Spanish well yet.