Love Guatemala Graduation 2013

We had a great week with our home church IMC here to help us celebrate our second graduation with Love Guatemala.  This was our first year to have students from the Art School graduate.  It was the culmination of years of hard work for Carlos and Telma. 

My favorite part of the week was seeing a student from the Cooking School, Mayra, receive a whole suitcase full of cooking/baking supplies from a lady who sponsors her (who was here visiting) from the U.S.  Mayra was overwhelmed with gratitude and was speechless.  She works very hard and I am so proud of her and the other ladies who have persevered and worked hard for two years!  

Mayra and Robyn

 Our team visited many families and encouraged and met needs.  They also helped clear some of the land that was recently purchased to hold the new Love Guatemala School.  We had a lot of fun together!

Pastor Aaron and Rich with some of the Art School graduates.

Carlos

The Land

The guys had fun with machetes and chainsaws.....

Meeting with a local architect to discuss building plans.

Andy taught a class to the Cooking School graduates to help them as they begin their new businesses selling baked goods in the community.

He was also our cameraman for the week.  He did an awesome job taking pictures and making videos for the ministry, not to mention comic relief!

Rich, who sponsors Beverly, was able to visit her and her family at their home, spend time at the Art School and our house and exchange gifts.  Rich also walked her down the aisle for her graduation from the Art School.  It was a very precious time for them!

Beverly and Rich

Pastor Aaron and his family have sponsored Nancy for a long time and made some great memories together as well.  Please pray for this family, as they are going through some difficult situations and will have to make some very tough choices.  The hardest part about being here is seeing the hurt and suffering in families.  We may not be able to "fix" everything, but we can share the Hope of Christ with them. 

Nancy and Pastor Aaron

Precious!!!

The graduation was just beautiful!  Everyone worked hard to make it a special time for the graduates and their families.  The ladies in the Cooking School made some amazing cakes and the Art School students displayed some of their beautiful paintings!

 

My favorite painting ;)

A BIG thank you to our friends who hosted the graduation, the Schmidts and the Harmans!

Thank you for praying for our families in the schools here!  We appreciate your love for them and continued support, it means more than you will ever know.  We'd love to have you visit!  It is our goal to have every student sponsored for school next year.  It is our desire for our sponsors and the students to have an ongoing relationship with one another.  We keep you updated on them and you can send them letters, pictures, gifts, or best of all, come and meet them in person and tell them how special they are!  Please visit www.LoveGuatemala.org for information on sponsoring.