Saturday November 2^nd

We arose early ready for the new day and the work laid out for us. We had our morning devotion which was most appropriate as we discussed the passage in the gospel of Luke verse 6 about the two men who built their houses, one on a firm foundation and one without. Today we were starting work on a foundation for a school. But the school itself would form another foundation for the community to educate and provide a better life for their children. I find it refreshing to start each day in these small group devotionals. Everybody has an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings in a safe and meaningful way. After a great breakfast we again boarded the back of the pickup along with the masons and other local work force and headed for San Gregorio. It's not supposed to be the rainy season here in Guatemala but things being what they are its been raining and so we took along our ponchos.

When we arrived at San Gregorio we disembarked from the pickup and headed again for the salon building. After a short introduction between ourselves and the masons we broke up into teams of two and pared up with a mason. We spent the rest of the day in the Salon tyeing together re-bars (reinforcing steel bars for the concrete columns) with steel wire. We accomplished quite a large share and will finish up tomorrow before we start laying rock in the foundation. In late afternoon we had a good downpour but fortunately we were inside and the rain stopped before our trip back to San Lucas.. It was hard work but it was rewarding to see what we had accomplished in one day.

The kites were still flying as we returned to San Lucas Candace had an activity panned for us. She invited a friend to take us to the cemetery and explain how the people of this community celebrate All Saints Day. The streets and the market place were full of people. Mostly street side venders cooking and serving food which looked very tempting. As we approached the cemetery the crowds grew larger and the kites more abundant. According to our guide the people believe that there are within the Catholic religion three churches. There is the earthly church, the heavenly church of those departed and the purgatory church of those who departed but are not ready for the heavenly church. They go to the cemetery often taking food to eat and to be in communion with their deceased loved ones. The kites are a way of helping bring the spirits down from the heavenly realm to be with them. Most of the people appear to be buried in above ground crypts most of which have re-bars protruding from the top so that further additions for future family can be accommodated.. It began to rain again but fortunately most of us had ponchos. The kites were all drawn down and we headed back to the hotel. As we were leaving the cemetery we passed a large gathering of people with a PA system; Candace explained that it was a lottery, We returned to the hotel and were served our evening meal. We had a short meeting and retired to our rooms.

-Mic Morris