Our Life Through The Lens...: Fun Days

All Saints Day is so interesting here in Guatemala! The day for most catholics is spent at the cemetery, painting the grave, cooking food, placing flowers in vases and remembering the person they are there to honor.

And there are always kites! All shapes, sizes and color. They are beautiful! There is even a kite competition....

From the oldest to the youngest, everyone enjoys their kites!

Families gathering at the graves to spend the day.

So many beautiful flowers scattered around..

Sugar cane and kites, what more could you possibly need? :)

This grave even had a traditional band playing around it.

The poorer people do not have a big grave, just a space of ground that they care for.

This little lady was selling tortillas and sugar cane.

Our mission president, Bro. Steven Hight, was here for that day and he really enjoyed hearing about the kites.

Jeren spotted this butterfly the other day and desperately wanted a picture of it. It's amazing to me how tattered and torn it is, yet it still was fluttering around drinking from the flowers.....

Thanks for stopping by our blog!

~Crystal

This post has LOTS of pictures. :) I thought I'd just post random things about how part of our life is here.

The kids love their Sunday School class. Of course it's all in Spanish and I usually can figure out what the story is about and then I tell it to Jeren and Ashlyn (quietly) while they are telling it in Spanish. But they just love their little class and the other kids seem to like having our kids in there, too.

Coloring their papers - aren't they just the sweetest little people ever?

This beautiful bird likes to sit outside of our back wall. I love taking pictures of him.

On Friday's the school kids will come over to our yard for their recess, because we have the school play-set in our back yard. Our kids love it when they come over. Megan can't talk to these girls and they can't talk to her, but they still have so much fun and laugh the entire time. I'm so thankful that our kids aren't intimidated by not knowing Spanish - they are learning and making progress.

Love these precious girls!!!

A few weeks ago, we decided to wash the truck. The kids were so excited to get into their swimming clothes and "wash the truck" :)

Serious stuff!

Ashlyn having fun washing the moto

He really took he job seriously.

Jeren (H-eren...they call him here) and Ashlyn's Sunday School Teachers. The middle teacher has since had a sweet baby boy!

The first-grade teacher has asked Owen to come over 3 days a week during their reading time to read to them. It's so sweet to watch and hear - Owen will read and word and they will all repeat word for word until the end of the story. :) This helps them with their pronunciation of the English words.

Keith goes over 2 days a week for their reading

Kristyn helps almost every day (when her school work at home is done) in the Kindergarten class with their reading and pronunciation. She has struggled the most with being here and away from "home" but since she has started doing this, she has completely blossomed and we are so thankful for that. She LOVES going to help them and the kids lover her in return (15 students in that class). The teachers have all expresses how much she is a help and we appreciate that. (The teachers are all taking English classes that Keith gives 3 days a week.)

God knew my love for flowers and has provided some beautiful ones here. :)

Every once in a while, the teacher will decided to play soccer after school. It's always a fun time!

This is Helen - she is tiny and hilarious!!

Krlos is one of the Kindergarten teachers and one of the most sincere men I have ever met. I can't wait to see what God has for him.

Alijandra (Alexandra) is one of the first-grade teachers. She is just a happy girl to be around.

Jonathan is the third-grade teacher. He's is a great young man that loves God and loves to have fun!

Wilmer teaches the upper grades with Keith. He is a fine young man that loves God and is a joy to be around.

Claudia is one of the Kindergarten teachers and has been one of our biggest helpers. She is fluent in English and is willing to help us out with anything we need. She is a wonderful young lady!

One day last week all the kids in the fourth-grade class made cards for each of our kids and me. That was so special. They brought them over to our house and told us how much they loved our family....so sweet!!!

Last week, we had a Teacher Night at our house! We had lasagna, corn, brownies and ice cream! We played games, laughed, talked, practiced our Spanish and they practiced their English and we all had a wonderful time. It felt so nice to have friends in our home!

This is outside of our back wall and down the 32 steps from our back yard. :)

The door way is to our back yard.

Climbing the wall to get the ball that went over.

So, so thankful for friends!!!

This is Leonel. His wife was the director of the school that passed away suddenly last year. He is a faithful, sincere, Godly man that we have a lot of love and respect for.