David, Craig, and Juan came over on Monday to start the welding work for the ceiling and roof on the addition. They stayed and worked here for four straight days. The ceiling joists are completely done on Roy's side and the roof joists are about half done on that side. A few more days ought to finish it. See pics 1&2...
We had clinic in Chujuyub on Monday morning. Our friend there with the key was over an hour late showing up. We had a ton of stuff to do back in Quiche in the afternoon, the roads were horrible (we barely made it to clinic - lots of trucks, even 4x4s, were turning around and going back or getting stuck) and it was raining like crazy, making us wonder if we could even get home. So we set up outside the building and started doing clinic out there. See pic 3.
Somehow, the roads managed to IMPROVE with all the rain. We actually had less trouble getting home than we did getting to clinic. Go figure.
Tuesday, we had the wonderful privelege of visiting Vina Studios in Solola. John Henderer, one of the guys working there, had called Matt a few months ago and we started talking about trying to get together. Unfortunately, between our schedules, we didn't get a chance until this week. They are doing some absolutely awesome work over there. One of their main projects is a series of videos mostly done with finger puppets called Deditos (little fingers) portraying various Bible stories. The idea is to produce audio tracks in various Mayan languages. Most people around here can't read, so getting the word of God into their hands is a little tricky.
Lots of people are working on translating the Bible into Mayan languages, but if the target audience is illiterate, the next step is to get these translations recorded and distributed. Vina is doing that work.
Please check out John's blog at http://www.sololagracia.com/ He put a really nice write up in there about us this week.
Also check out Vina's website at http://vinyastudios.org
See pic 4 for a shot of Heidi doing some voice work for one of the videos (they're being produced in English, too, for promotional purposes in the US).
Yesterday was Heidi's last day at ASELSI. They had a really nice going away party for us and had some very kind words and generous gifts. We are really going to miss all those folks. We're looking forward to visiting as often as possible, but it's never going to be the same as living here...
In the "closure" department, one of the workers at ASELSI asked us to come to his house a year and half or so ago to check out his wife. He was pretty upset and was relatively sure she was in the process of miscarrying. So we drove out into the middle of nowhere with our ultrasound machine to check her out. The drive included about a 20 yard section where we were squeezing between a house and a fence so closely that we were touching on both sides... then there was nowhere to turn around, so we had to BACK out the same way!!!
Anyway, when we got to their house, we unfortunately confirmed his fears, that she had miscarried. We prayed with them and assured them that there was nothing that they had done to cause this - it just happens sometimes.
Well, shortly after, they conceived again and yesterday Mom came in with her new baby!!! (Their other daughter's name is Heidi, so that made an even better connection!) See pic 5 for a shot of the happy family (minus Dad, who was working...)
Today, Heidi is at the Hospital Buen Samaritano for her last clinic there. We'll clean and prepare for the arrival of the Savior's Sons team tomorrow. We won't be here - we have clinic in Canilla - but since Dr. Street is on the team and he built the house, we figure they've pretty much got it under control. Also, this team is the team that was coming in to Quiche the day that Isaac came home from the hospital. They got to meet him when he was only 3 days old.
So we're planning on driving over to Totonicapan, where they're staying, maybe on Monday afternoon to have dinner with them and share a little bit. They helped us get many of our personal possessions down here two years ago and they're helping us get some of them back home again... What would we do without those guys???
Well, we hope to have some pics from this weekend. It'll be our last time in Canilla, which should prove to be pretty difficult. We've grown so attached to the Fickers during our time here that they're pretty much family to us. Well, the less we think about it right now the better....
Also, Roy and his grandson Cameron have been here for the last two weeks and they're heading down to Guatemala City tomorrow morning to pick up the Savior's Sons team. We're doing a fair amount of turnover with Roy as far as handing over the managing of the construction of his house...
No comments:
Post a Comment