House Finished, Common Hope Fiesta

The house in San Rafael was finished in record time! We put the last of the lamina on the roof just before noon on Wednesday and were able to have the house blessing before heading back to Antigua. The house blessing is always an emotional moment when Common Hope turns the house over to the new owners, blessings are extended by the vision team, and there are tearful expressions of gratitude all around. We brought the traditional cake and had a bit of a party as we said goodbye. Then the rains began and we hurriedly put equipment and supplies in the truck and headed back to Common Hope.

We divided up for work detail in the afternoon--Bill, Suzie, Meghan, Niki, Charlotte and Meg in the warehouse sorting clothing and Gloria, Paula, Calder, Jesse and Alex to construction to make panels for another house. We had our final reflection meeting and talked about what this week and this group have meant to each of us. Then into Antigua for an hour of shopping and very nice dinner at Posada Don Roderigez.

Today is Father{s Day in Guatemala and a traditional half-day fiesta at Common Hope. There are a variety of activities, most notably the soccer matches among employee pick up teams. We{re hanging out, just playing and relaxing with the staff.

As a thank you to all the staff for their hard work and long hours immediately following Agatha, Common Hope will close at noon today and not reopen until Monday. We can tell that the staff is grateful for the long weekend and relaxing after the past three very strenuous weeks. It will be a long tme before some families and villages feel as if life has returned to normal, but the intense first phase of disaster relief is done. The house we built was originally scheduled to be completed the week of the storm, so the [blitz build[ effort with our team helped get construction back on schedule.

Gloria and Paula leave this afternoon; Bill, Suzie, Meghan and Niki leave early in the morning; Meg, Jesse, Calder, Alex and I will make a field trip to Iximche, the Mayan ruins not too far from Angtigua.