Rainy Season!!

Big River, SK team

Hola. Well 10 days have already come & gone. The first missions team left Tactic on Friday for a couple of days in Antigua before heading back to Canada this morning. We really enjoyed our time with the team from SK & got to know them quite well. It was interesting watching them throughout their stay here as they interacted in the community doing their various activities - it reminded us of our first visit here back in May. Your emotions are all over the map as you see these people in their culture & many with so little.

With the team leaving this has left us with an empty house. After all the activity here over the last days, the house is quiet!! On Friday night we received a doozy of a rain storm - dumped a lot of rain in a very short period of time. The Guest House is located at the bottom of a hill so all the water during a rain storm comes running down the street in front. About a half a block from the house is a small river. Well last night the water running down the street was about 6-8" deep & the river was overflowing. In talking to some of the Impact staff here they said that is the worst they have seen this rainy season. We heard sirens & heard this morning a house had been washed away further up the mountain. Lightening & thunder came with it & we had the power knocked out for 3-4 hours - we spent most of the evening in the dark. We were going to head out for supper with another couple but never made it so we ended up trying to cook for ourselves which was very difficult with no power. We ventured into the market area in the dark & found out some of the market area had power. We picked up supper from some of local vendors & just watched life continue on here inspite of all the rain. Some of the vendors in the area where there was no power continued on with business as usual using candles.

Judy serving a meal

Yesterday Al spent most of the day helping Impact staff clean up some of the water damage at the Chijacorral School (Impact's high school) here in Tactic. The storm water system adjacent to the school plugged up with all debris & garbage coming down from the mountain & subsequently the water over went on the school field & flooded a few classrooms. Also the sewer system for the people on the mountain was also washed out as a reult of the water going where it wasn't supposed to. Both the storm & drainage systems are very crudely constructed. When Al arrived on site yesterday morning there were about 50 local men digging with shovels & picks to fix the sewer line & by early afternoon they had it repaired - let's say though not as we would have back in Canada. Here is a link to a few pictures of the damage http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/32519857/1/Rain%20Storm%20Damage?h=32f754 Later in the evening Karey (ESL teacher) joined us & we again tried some of the local food down at the market. It was delicious & the best part, all 3 of us ate for about $6! Also no rain yesterday which was a good thing!!!

Tomorrow another team will arrive in the afternoon but this will be a very small team - only 3 members. This was supposed to be a Child Sponsor team but we understand there has been a few cancellations. With only 3 people this will take on a different feel than the previous team. Since it will probably not be as busy for us we are hoping to get some chances to do some things that we might not be able to do with a larger group here; ie. visit our 2 sponsor children, work on the construction of the new Guest House, participate in some of the school's worship/devotional times, etc.

Voting station in Tactic

Today is presidential election day here in Guatemala. Guatemalans will also elect a Congress & well as their local government authorities. This is only the 4th time that Guatemala has held presidential elections since peace accords were signed in 1996, officially ending a civil war that devastated this country for 36 years.

Later today in the afternoon we will head out to the worship service at Isgelia Rio de Vida & spend time with some of the local Guatemalan Christians. Worship here is quite different than at home - the services are very lively. It is not uncommon to see the locals dancing & jumping with their hands lifted high as they worship their Lord & Saviour. It is also not uncommon to see many of them at the front of the church on their knees in prayer of being prayed for after the message is delivered. God is at work here in Guatemala!!

Bendiciones!!