Feliz Cumpleaños a Clay!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAY!! Yesterday was Clay's 14th Birthday but we celebrated all weekend. Here are some pictures...

Emily bought him a piñata for the party we had with our tutors on Friday. We named it Tony the Tiger.

Emily also dressed like Clay.

During the party with our tutors we made pizza.

Then we had a party with a bunch of friends on Friday night. For the party Clay got a piñata of himself. This is him with the piñata before we hit it.

This is him with the piñata after we destroyed it. haha

Here are some of his gifts.

Then Saturday and Sunday we hang out with our friends! We went to Central Park, played Swap (a card game), and just hung out. It was really fun!

Hope you had a good weekend too.

-Katey :)

Ruins.

On Friday I felt my first temblor (shaking from an earthquake). It wasn't long or a lot but it was an experience. It didn't do any damage near us but we felt it. But yesterday Clay, Emily, my dad, and our friends Andy and Amy went to go see some ruins around Antigua that were destroyed by the earthquake of 1773. Here are some pictures from our adventures...

The first ruin we went to was Santa Clara, it used to be a convent.

Inside the ruin there were some beautiful gardens, arches, and a lot of really cool architecture.

Below the ruins were some catacombs where nuns are still buried. We could go down the stairs to part of it.

We also went to San Francisco which is a monastery. We didn't tour it like we did with the convent but it was beautiful!

My day was ruined but it was a good thing!

-Katey :)

Comida (Food)

My whole family has tried a lot of new foods while in Guatemala. Here are two of our experiences with new foods...

Homemade Tortillas: Today my parents teachers came over to the house and we made tortillas. Here are some pictures...

This is Clay making tortillas. You had to do it just right to make the perfect tortilla. Clay had it down, I on the other hand did not.

Once we made the shape of the tortillas we put them on the skillet to cook. Ussually, in a village, you wouldnt use a skillet but thats all we had. Then we took them off when they were ready. I am not exactly sure how to tell if they are done but my parents teachers did.

This is the final product. We had big ones, small ones, perfect circle ones, and oddly shaped ones (the ones I made). They tasted really good with meat and cheese which we put on them and ate for lunch.

Carambola (Starfruit):

We found some starfruit in the market with our friends Andy and Amy. Amy said it was really good so we bought some and took it home to eat. We found out after the first bite that it is very sour. And once we told our Spanish tutors about the new fruit we discovered they taught us the Spanish name (Carambola) and taught us that they don't usually eat it by its self, they make it into a drink. So we tried that too.

What new foods have you tried recently?

-Katey :)

Panajachel

This weekend I went on a trip to Panajachel with three guys from Destiny, my Dad, Forrest, Clay, and our new friend Andy. It was an amazing trip! Here are some pictures from the trip...

This is a waterfall on the road to Panajachel. Because of all the rain we have gotten down here lately it was flowing steadily. Once we got to Panajachel we stayed near the lake.
On Saturday we took a boat ride across the lake to San Pablo and on the boat ride we could see these lines down the mountains that are from all the mudslides that happened during the rainy season this year.
Besides all the mudslides the view from the boat was so beautiful!
Once we got to San Pablo we met Pastor Efrium and his wife Betty. They were so nice! They introduced us to 4 kids that had completed school through the scholarship program and now they have good jobs.While we were in San Pablo I met Renita (Efrium and Betty's daughter) and she was so sweet and cute. I was also given ropa tipica (the typical clothes of the women) and it was so pretty!It was an amazing trip and the 3 men got a lot of the information that they needed for a possible project in the future in San Pablo. And I would like to thank them for bringing down a lot of things for us (especially the peanut butter m&m's!). Thank you so much!!
-Katey :)

Juan Moises Aguilar

Yesterday was such a beautiful day!! And yesterday we got to meet some awesome people. I will let my dad tell you about them...

Yesterday, Juan Moises and his wife, Celestina traveled by “chicken bus” to Antigua. They took on this trip from the Lake Atitlan region to meet with Forrest and Carol Kendall and we got to spend some time with them as well.

Juan and Celestina are humble, genuine, deeply spiritual, and ready to change the world. Let me tell you of two projects that you could participate in with Juan:

1. First of all, these two reach out to widows in and around their pueblo. Because of recent mudslides in this record-breaking rainy season, Juan is now carrying the burden of 14 widows who need homes built for them. Most of these women are not alone in their needs, they also have children that they are caring for. Juan is taking on the task of building 14 simple homes for these women. Each home carries a price tag of $2500. Won’t you prayerfully consider how you might participate in this project by giving directly or by being a part of a team and coming down here to help Juan with the actual labor.

2. Secondly, Juan is not only a native Guatemalan, he is also a missionary. Juan’s current mission field is to a village in Nicaragua called Rama. Once in Nicaragua, it takes Juan two and a half days by boat up a river to get to the people of this village. The people he is reaching out to speak an indigenous language and are difficult to reach by typical North American missionaries. Juan speaks an indigenous language here in Guatemala and this commonality gives him an entré into the lives of the people of Rama. In 2011, Juan hopes to spend about 8 weeks reaching out to Rama and he needs your help to get there. Please consider encouraging my friend Juan by helping to sponsor his ministry in Nicaragua. Click here if God is leading you to help Juan in his ministry. This simple investment will yield eternal dividends.

You can also friend Juan on Facebook here.

Thanks for letting me introduce you to one of my new friends.

(Todd)

Hope you have a great day :)

-Katey!

Children's Festival :)

Today we helped out at a children's festival in Pueblo Nuevo. It was put on for a church in celebration of National Children's Day (Oct. 1st). Here are some pictures from the event...

I'm in the Lord's Army (in Spanish).

My mom gave this little boy a balloon and he loved playing with it :)

This is Angel Uno y Angel Dos. Not really, their names are both Angel and they are best friends so I started calling them Angel Uno and Angel Dos.

There were piñatas. This one is of a tv character.

The kids loved the candy!

I had such a fun time playing with the kids, talking with the kids (in Spanish), taking pictures with the kids (they loved to see their pictures on the camera), and just having a lot of fun with the kids! I love kids! I cant wait to do more events like this. They had a little talk and some of the kids received Bibles. It was an awesome day!

-Katey :)