First dance at new church

Later in December, our dance team, called Resplandece (which means "Shine"), presented the same dance at our church. 

Heather started the dance team in time to learn a dance for ASELSI's Christmas party, and this was the group's first time dancing together at our new church.  They did a great job, and the kids want to continue!  We are currently learning a couple more dances.

Christmas party

This was the fourth consecutive year that Heather took a group of youth from our church to dance at ASELSI's annual Christmas party.  It was lots of fun!

Veronica dressed as a little clown.

We waited between presentations.

The kids danced 3 times for 3 groups.

Each group had several hundred people.

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.