The Weekend

Friday afternoon we drove into Chiquimula.  Cruz needed some black school shoes.   Uniforms are used by most all of the schools here in Guatemala and they are very particular about them.  Cruz has to wear his polo shirt, gray pants, apron/vest, black belt, socks, and black shoes everyday except P.E. day.  They supposedly charge a fine if you do not wear your "complete" uniform.  Cruz had everything but black shoes.  We were waiting to make sure he was going to stay in school before we bought them. When we got a note last week reminding us about the fine for not having a complete uniform we decided it was time to make a purchase.  Our first stop was at the shoe store to get him some black school shoes. 

They had two options- a lace up and a slip on.  He quickly chose the lace up pair.  That was easy!

Afterwards we let the boys ride a few things at the mall before heading upstairs to the food court for supper.  The annual fair is going on in Chiquimula and town was busier than usual.

they love riding this monster truck

Cruz especially loved this Harley Davidson motorcycle!

We met our friends Josh and Jessica at the food court for supper.  We ate McDonald's and Pollo Campero.  It was fun visiting with them before they head to the States later this week for a few months. We'll miss them while they are gone!

my boys love Mr. Josh!

one more ride on the motorcycle before heading home

On Saturday morning we headed up the mountain to do Bible study in the village of Lagunetas.  It was our first time back since returning from the States.  I was super excited to see the kids and spend some time with them.

On our way to "go tell it on the mountain".  I love being on mission as a family!

It had been 9 months since we last taught there.  You would not know it from the way my boys jumped out of the car, hiked up the hill, and made themselves at home.  They were not nervous in the least and did great.

Me and Ben inside the house where David teaches the adults and youth. 

Before we left for the States Ben was always fascinated by the chickens.  So much so that the family gave him a chicken to take home one day.  Here he is doing what he always did best- checking out the chickens.  Unfortunately he stuck his finger in the fence and one pecked him.  So, he learned to watch them but from a distance.

Cruz went right back to climbing trees.  That's something he always did there in the past.  Everything just seemed to pick right back up where we left off.

Here we are with the Bible study kids.  I had 16 which is one of the biggest groups I've had yet.  I normally only have about 10- 12.  I wasn't expecting that the first time back.  I hope we will continue to grow and more children will feel comfortable to come.  Would you pray for that?

Look at that sweet, happy face!  This is little Kevin.  Saturday was his first birthday.  He had grown a lot since we last saw him.  We meet at his parent's home.
 

This was me and newborn Kevin last August.  What a sweetie!

David had planned to do Bible study Sunday morning in the village of Nearar but it was cancelled due to a death.  He got a call early on Friday asking to help get a young guy to the hospital in Chiquimula.  He drove up the mountain to pick him up.  When he got there he saw two men carrying the young guy up the mountain trail.  He was wrapped in a hammock and tied to a stick.  That is how they carried him up the mountain. Anyway they put him in our vehicle and David drove him to town.  He stayed there with him for several hours before leaving.  He was under the impression that he would be okay, but he ended up dying in the night.  It was sad.  Would you pray for his family?  

Since we didn't have Bible study that morning we just hung out at home.  It was actually a long, boring day for us but we made the best of it.

the boys played doctor and took turns taking care of all of us

That afternoon the Discovery Channel was running a marathon of "World's Deadliest".  We watched it for several hours.  We saw shows on hammerhead sharks (Cruz loves sharks!), whales, snakes, alligators, and "big cats".  During the cats segment we learned about tigers, lions, jaguars, leopards, cougars, and more.  My boys watched it without hardly moving..  They spent some time the rest of the afternoon reenacting all of the animals they had seen.  They put on their tiger suits and did a show for us.

my little tigers

At one point in the show a lion attacks a zebra, kills it, and eats it.  Cruz pretended that his Cozy Coup car was a zebra and "attacked it".  We laughed, a lot.

We ended the day with a tamale supper.  A vendor comes around our street almost every Friday afternoon selling them.  From time to time we buy some.  I had a few in the freezer that I heated up for supper.  We love them!

 

tamales are another Guatemalan staple food

We hope you had a good weekend too.  We are looking forward to a great week ahead.  David will be making a visit to the village of Tunuco Arriba on Tuesday to try to make contacts and build relationships.  Would you pray for his trip there?  I'll update you on how it goes soon.