March 14 - 20, 2008 - Raymer Visit

Lake Ridge Bible Church pastor Roger Raymer, and his wife Judy came down to visit us during part of Semana Santa (Holy Week). We took them to see different ministries and sites here in Guatemala City (Seteca {Seminary} Radio TGN, the Relief Map, the National Cemetery and the National Palace. (We didn't go inside the palace.) On Sunday we took them to Patzún so they could attend church there. Monday morning, Alfa Y Omega school had an Easter party for the
elementary kids. Roger and Judy passed out some candy to the children.Monday afternoon we drove on to San Marcos, spending the night there, before going on to Tuililen to visit Urbano's widow, Catalina, and one of his daughters, Susena. It was really nice to be able to visit with them. Ken encouraged Catalina to get involved with mentoring younger women. Some other stops on our way were Comitancillo, and the Mam Center near there. The care-taker's family at the center was very excited to have us visit.

























We made one stop along the highway for Ken to take pictures of some interesting rock formations.


Intermissions Conference - Feb. 29 - March 2, 2008

The Weekend of Feb. 29 - March 2 we attended the annual Intermissions Conference in Antigua. The speaker this year was Dr. Steve Strauss, director of SIM; USA. He brought messages on the book of Ruth - about how God reigns and is sovereign in every situation - even when it doesn't seem that He knows or cares. Cindy helped with registration and designed, printed, laminated and tied string on over 500 names tags for everyone attending. Ken ran the sound system during the conference, and was a general 'go-for.' We had a great time.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

We've had a very busy schedule since Feb. 14. A work group of 11 from Burlington, Onatario, Canada, came to work with us in Patzún. The leaders arrived Feb. 14, and the rest of the group arrived Feb. 16. While here, they worked on the prekinder/kinder room (which is almost finished) made tables for this class of 19 students, painted, and made bookshelves for several rooms.


When we had the 'dedication' of the prekinder/kinder room, the children, teacher and director were really pleased. The members of the group who were in attendance had fun too!



Here are close-ups of some of the prekinder/kinder children (The two girls are cousins.):



The group also put up sheet-rock above the block walls on the kinder room and the new 4th grade room. (The 4th grade room was originally going to be a computer room, but the 4th graders need a better room - so they get first choice.)

Something that I was excited about was that a false ceiling was put up in the kitchen. The building we are in has a metal roof. There is an open space between the roof and the walls. Consequently, a lot of the dust and dirt of Patzún comes in through the open space. Now, at least, the kitchen will be a little cleaner.

Several of the ladies in the group taught some ESL. Everyone wants to learn English, so the children enjoyed this labor of love by the ladies. I even got to take off a few minutes from cooking the meals one day and teach the youngest class!