This next month will be unbelievably busy. We have several teams coming from different churches in the US to help on construction projects, medical missions, and vacation Bible school. We will have back to back teams until mid July. Our days start at 7 am and end 8 pm or later. Working with the teams is great! They come to Guatemala very excited and breathe new energy into our projects and lives.
This week we are working with a bunch of high schoolers from St. Peter’s Anglican Church from Tallahassee, Florida. There are 19 of them in all. So far, they’ve been a blast. We are working a construction project in a village called Chuaxic, about 30 minutes away by van. About a year ago, the head of the house, Juana, asked Porch de Salomon to build her a house. After everything was agreed on, other villagers told Juana that the white people say they will build her a house, but they really want to come and steal the children from the village. Juana told Porch that she didn’t want them to come. Porch then built other homes in the village and, gasp!, we did not steal their children, so Juana asked for help again. It is an amusing story, but it does show how strong some of the indigenous beliefs are.
Anyway, the need of this family’s is great. The father deserted the family 7 years ago and now Juana is raising their 3 boys by herself. They live in a mud-brick home with their grandmother and have no electricity. The children sleep on a dirt floor and the family has virtually nothing.
We will spend all week with the teens building a block house that is much safer and protect them from the elements. Thanks St. Peter’s Anglican! They are funding this project.
The women watching us build.
Digging the septic tank.
ME!
