Life lately...

So I haven't updated in a while and I know that if I don't put something up soon people will start to wonder what is going on with me (that is for the few of you that read this) and that my mom will start to hassle me until I update, so here is a little bit of what has been going on in Guatemala the past few days...

It is graduation season here, which is weird for me. They start their school year in January and finish in October so those who graduate have their ceremonies at the end of October and the beginning of November. I have been to two graduations in the past two weeks. They were different from each other, but they were both, well, graduations. It is always exciting to see the person you came to watch walk across the stage and have their moment of fame, but the rest of the time is pretty much just for the graduates themselves and the people in the audience are to wait patiently until the end so they can take pictures and celebrate. Rosa, my friend that had her baby about 4 months ago, was one of the graduates. This was a special thing for her because even though she is a teen mom, she finished the year. The other graduate was a good friend from the base, Sammy Chavez. He did awesome in school and was amongst the top of his class. Here is a picture of Rosa, unfortunately I didn't bring my camera to Sammy's graduation so I don't have photos from that night.

Also, last Monday was the first official day of the SST here at the base. It is a school for Guatemalan youth, kind of like a DTS which is what I did last September, but shorter. It is one and a half weeks in the classroom and then one and a half weeks on outreach. There are 15 students here who are all crazy and God is moving in their lives. Even though I am not a part of the actual staff, I am in charge of the kitchen so I get to interact with them which is good. It is hard being the only staff member who lives here at the base who is not involved directly with the school. It is also hard that Mario is a part of the staff of the school which means that we only get to see each other at meals, but God is working a lot in my life and I know in Mario's life a lot during this time. It will be even harder when they leave for almost two weeks so I am enjoying the time I do get with Mario right now.

Another cool thing about the SST is that Mario's younger brother, Junior (or Edward) is doing the school. Mario is the only Christian in his family, but when he was living at home his brother told him that he wanted to do a school like the one Mario had done. When Mario found out about the SST it was the perfect opportunity for Junior. Junior is a clown and has been making us all laugh since the day he got here. He has been letting God in little by little, but today at church during the alter call he decided it was time to give his life up to God and accept Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior!!! What a blessing this is for the whole family, especially Mario. Unfortunately I haven't gotten any good pictures of Junior yet, but I will post some later when I can.

So that is a basic update of Youth with a Mission Guatemala, Susan style. I thank you, my faithful followers! God bless you.