DAY 15

Today we started off as usual, with our Spanish lessons. Everyone is improving.
This morning we were joined by Rafael, a Mennonite pastor. He spoke to us about how Mennonites got to Guatemala. We learned that the Catholic church and State had a really strong relationship from 1482-1882. Then different churches were invited by the president. The Mennonite church was first introduced in 1970, long after the Protestants, Pentecostals and Methodists. After a terrible earthquake in 1976 a missionary founded 22 Mennonite churches by hiring Pentecostal priests. Then, because these churches did not share the Anabaptist theology, funding was cut off and the number of churches went down to 6. Eventually, the Mennonite church did establish itself in Guatemala. Today, Mennonites are still a very small percentage of the non-Catholic population.
For lunch, we drove to a community centre and ate with a class of adorable Guatemalan children. We sat with them at their little tables on their little stools. Caleb and Jess seem to have the strongest connection to the children we meet. During our meal they introduced themselves and sang nursery rhymes. After we visited the other parts of the centre. They had a bakery and to support their programs we bought some pastries for 0.65Q (about 9 cents) each. The women at the centre are also responsible for many of the Guatemalan crafts we see at Ten Thousand Villages. We saw the room full of sewing machines and materials. Some of us purchased their beautiful, creative, and hand-made crafts.
The rest of the afternoon was for us to enjoy! It was actually a little weird not having something planned until supper.
After dinner we had some "individual time" to reflect on something that has impacted us. We shared our thoughts and discussed those important moments.
We are leaving CASAS tomorrow and need to pack so...
Good night.

Trevor POGUE, and Tanya Ayala