Construction

Here are some photos to catch you up on the construction we have been doing!

In the ministry building, we installed
a temporary interior wall to separate
Michael's office from the other bedrooms
and living room area.  The other rooms are
divided by fabric hanging down as curtains.

The buried barrels to the left are mini-settling tanks for
the shower water and kitchen sink water.  The water is
then filtered by passing through sand in these concrete bins
(not shown) before entering a deep hole in the ground.

These guys are pouring a thin sidewalk for us
to go between buildings without getting muddy.

This is the 290-gal. water tank we used while
our cistern was being cleaned and refinished.
The water runs into this tank from the community;
then our water pump takes the water to our
wash house.

Our washing machine puts out water too fast
to dump directly onto our driveway, so first the
water drains into this trash barrel, then exits
by gravity out the small tube at the bottom,
and then flows down a ditch to the driveway.

We installed this little roof over the walkway
between the wash house and the kitchen.
It keeps us pretty dry unless the wind is
blowing... then we run!

Inside the wash house:  our kitchen sink,
washer and dryer, bathroom (behind Elena),
and shower (end of hallway).

Children's Day

On days like "Secretary's Day" or "Grandparents' Day" or "Mother's Day," I always used to ask when was "Kids' Day"?  And my parents only laughed.

Well, here in Guatemala, they actually do have a "Kids' Day," and it is celebrated in grand style!  Our church had a special service complete with clowns, piñatas, and games.

Worship time

Piñata

An evangelistic drama and dance

A happy dance

And clowns (the girl clown is Dasha,
one of my dancers).

Sweet lady in town

This sweet little grandma, named Anastasia, sits in her wheelchair in town most days, watching people walk by.  Some people give her food and some give her small coins.  I have made a habit of stopping by to give her a quetzal (equal to about $0.13) and talk to her a bit in K'iche'.  People stop and gawk as I have my conversation with her in K'iche', but what they don't know is that I always say the same thing every time:

"¿Xeq'ij, la otz awäch?  Ën otz, maltyox.  Jwert q'ij chanim.  Dios katutewchij.  ¡Ena!  ¡Cha'ana kwenta!"  which means,
"Good afternoon, how are you?  I'm fine, thank you.  The sun is hot today.  God bless you.  Good-bye!  Take care!"

Veronica and Anastasia

She especially loves Veronica, who always gives her a hug!  Some day soon hopefully my K'iche' will improve to actually be able to carry on a conversation, but this lady's smile is great big, even at our small interaction!

Funny signs

We have some funny signs in town... no wonder people passing through town sometimes get lost!

This sign instructs you to turn right to go the next town, but the other sign says the road is one-way to the left!  Actually it means from this intersection to the left, it is one-way, but you can turn right.  Usually drivers don't pay attention to signs anyway.  Hahaha!

Let's dance

Through the last year my dance team, ¡Levántate! (which means Arise!) has presented several dances...

"Shout to the Lord" in church.

"Your Love Has No End" to celebrate
new classrooms at church.

Prayer for the team by the church.

On Father's Day we invited the dads to
join the children for a dance to
"You Make Me Move."

"Lord, You Are Good,"

"Your Love Has No End,"

and "No Higher Place" in a service in
our new ministry building.

"Joshua 1:9" at a special church service
to thank God for his blessings.

"No Higher Place" in church.

First church service

Before we moved to our land, we invited our church for a special service in our future ministry buildings.

Michael taught about Biblical healing
in the future ministry building,

and the children had their own class in
the future classroom.

We've moved!

We were finally close enough to being able to move to our land that I decided I would like to move before Christmas!  So we made a list of the necessary things that had to be done by the construction workers before we could move (like drainage issues and room dividers), and an even longer list of things we could finish soon after moving in (like pathways and laundry lines).  The men got to work on the details and I (Heather/Erica) got to work packing.

And four days before Christmas, we moved!  Praise the Lord!

Celebrating Christmas in our new building.
We missed Carolyn being with us!

Now we have new sights and sounds and neighbors and community members to learn to adjust to.  For example, we discovered that the day begins here by 6:30 a.m. with random neighbors and nearby churches playing music at high volume, local corn mills grinding on and off (which sounds like a jackhammer), our puppy crying to get up and join the fun, and occasionally a grackle (a big, black bird) cawing right outside our window!

We want to say thank you to our friends and supporters who have helped us reach this milestone.  We appreciate your support and many prayers on our behalf, since we feel God's blessing on this project.  We know that He will help us through all the difficulties we face as we put our trust in Him.