Thanks for the Call

     This last Friday was Independence Day for Guatemala. In 1821 they gained their independence from Spain.  So, for several days this week they had a variety of celebrations.  Wednesday morning, we got a call at the Clinic saying the kids that were scheduled would not be there because they had special activities for the celebration they couldn't miss.  Right after that we got a call from our friend Mark, who is from our previous ward, that his daughter, Madison, was competing for "Mayor" of Zone 2 just half a block from us.  We ran right over!  Guatemala is divided into Zones, zone 2 is the area where the Clinic is, also our old ward and several grade schools. Each school chose one child to represent them.  At this occasion, each child (about 10 of them) stood and introduced themselves and answered a question from the judges about how they could improve this zone or something similar.  The judges then choose one of them to be the "Mayor" for a year.  Madison didn't win, but she did a good job.  Here is a picture of her with her certificate. She is our "adopted" grandchild here.

 

     Thursday we couldn't get any students to come to the Clinic either so we went to the Obelisco, a plaza a few blocks from where we live and watched the events for a while.  Each school has a group of students come there to join in the celebration.  At their designated time they join together to light their torch and have runners take it to their school throughout Guatemala City.  I can't imagine they really run to each school, that would be way too far, so I don't know how that works, but it is a big deal at the plaza. 

     While we were there the band from the TioJuan school was playing for a while.  I had to take some pictures because these are the boys we see at the clinic. You might remember the handicapped boy we sent you a picture of a while ago.  Here he is again in the back of this group, walking with each of his hands on the shoulder of another boy for support.  Angel is his name, a perfect one for him.

(Angel is at the back here)

    We went to the Green Market this weekend also and for the holiday they had some Marimba musicians playing. It was so fun to see them playing in their suits right there in the middle of the market, right next to a meat counter. So I have added a few pictures of the market.

    Saturday we went to another place that had a lot of ruins, some of them have been repaired and look pretty nice.  It is called Mixco Viejo and it was inhabited around the 1500 AD until the Spanish came and took it over.  

I really like the picture at Mixco Viejo of the large tree in the midst of the ruins.  Dad is really enjoying his camera that I brought back with me in January. 

     It was fun to see, very hot and humid and that is where I got all of the bites on the back of my legs.  I just counted them and there are about thirty.  Some of the bites are quite red around them and are as big as a quarter. I will put bug spray on a lot thicker and earlier next time I am in this situation!

    And the last picture is of a shirt I saw at one of the local tiendas the other day.  

   Thanks everyone for the fun Skype call today!  What a fun surprise to see you all on the screen at the same time! What a great B-day present for Dad...and me too!   We enjoyed every minute of it.  I just wanted to reach out and hug you all.  

    Have a great week and enjoy each day because they fly by so very fast!  

        Love you Mucho,   MOM, Grammy

P.S.   We saw a really good movie the other night at our movie night with the other Senior missionaries called "Hidden Figures". A true story about three black ladies that worked for NASA computing things for the space program.