Was excited to be able to call home today... didn't think I would be able to do that until we got with Becky and Aaron. Talked to Emma and Caroline... it was GREAT to talk to them!
Had a great breakfast... eggs over easy and refried beans -- no utensils, just bread.
It is Mother's Day in Guatemala... so we went to a program @ the kid's school. It was a good walk to the school... 3/4 mile or so up hill. The program was LONG and very unorganized. They fed us lunch there... a kind of corn mush cooked in a banana leaf with a bit of meat in it and two slices of a very sweet white bread.... didn't take the tea they offered due to amoebas.
Prior to the program, we met the headmaster of the school. Dr. Ke is Korean, but has lived in Xela for 30 years and considers himself a Guatemalan... he is 75 years old. He was very interested in soliciting money from Dad and he was intrigued that I was a pastor (the school was Presbyterian) He preferred to talk to us rather than go to the program, but Dad told him that he came for the program, so Dr. Ke quickly changed from his sweat suit to a real suit and came to the program. At about half way through the program, he interrupted it to introduce Dad and asked him to make a few remarks... (buttering him up for a donation!) Dr. Ke told us afterward of his grand dream of making that facility a school for 2000 kids and a seminary and university for 2000 students total of 4000! Only one floor of the 4 floors was completed and one other one under construction with hopes for 2 more. He invited us to his office to talk more and make a pitch for money... but when it became clear that Dad wasn't going to give a sizable donation, he left the office for a while... with us just sitting there!
After the program, we walked home to find out that we had NO water in the house... water was out in most of the neighborhood.
We then took a taxi to Ahora's house in the country. Interesting contrast... their small cement and tin home sits right across the road from a very new and elaborate house, compound that includes a pool, a garage with three new cars and a soccer field.
We very much enjoyed visiting there and ate a very delicious meal together ( tortillas, rice and a freshly killed chicken... they wandered in and out of the house as we ate!) then walked up to Jacob's grave as a family... this was about a mile walk up a pretty good hill. The whole family, except the youngest son who was not there went and it was a very moving experience as we gathered around his grave and shared some memories. On the way home, the boys and I started a game of passing a soccer ball back and forth and that turned into a game of "how do you say...in english/spanish... which we played for a long time at the house.
We left by taxi and went to the supermarket....a small store that was jam packed with goods to purchase. After a several hour nap, we had supper around 9 p.m. of refried beans and fried plantains with cream. VERY good!
LOTS of firecrackers continued to go off ALL night.. which again stirred the roosters and dogs... not a very peaceful place. Since it was Saturday, there would be no water until Monday at the earliest. Oh well who needs a shower! (one of the reasons, I shaved my head was to deal with this possibility!)
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