Our All Saints Day - By Nancy, Colette and Sara

Hello to our Minnesota friends and families back in Minnesota! Please be assured our team is well, safe and enjoying our time together in San Lucas Toliman in Guatemala. Today is a Holy Day- All Saints Day. In Guatemala, this is a holiday, therefore businesses are closed so families may enjoy this holiday together. Because this is a holiday, we were not able to hold clinic today. On All Saints Day, the Guatemalan people spend the day celebrating the souls of the dead. They elaborately decorate the  cemeteries, specifically the grave sites of their deceased family members. There is much music around the town. The church bells are rung continuously all day manually by parish members. The families will have picnics at the grave sites of their family members and fly very big kites throughout the day.       Today our day started at six a.m. with very loud fire crackers. The fire crackers here are as loud as the fire works back home! Needless to say, we certainly did not sleep in on our day off from clinic!  Part of our group stayed here in San Lucas for 10 a.m. Mass and a special lunch at the parish called Fiambre. Fiambre is a mixture of many vegetables, few meats, and cheese served on a tortilla . Desert was a type of green sweet squash with corn. The shell of the squash was included and needed to be removed before eating. Dr Jim realized this after trying to eat the shell. Needless to say, his desert was a little crunchy! Dr Jim, Dr John, nurse Katy and Teri did a fantastic job of organizing the parish bodega (in English, we would call it the hospital pharmacy). The rest of us: Bridget, Nancy, Sara, Chuck, Colette, Carol and an oral surgeon Dr. Chuck met at the parish and spent the day touring Lake Atilan. When we first left the shore, the lake was a little rough, but got better later in the day. Of course, our Guardian Angels kept us safe throughout the day. We stopped at San Antonio, then Santa Catarina where we had a very nice lunch, then off to Santiago. We toured two of the churches, and of course did a little shopping to support the local economy! (at least that is what I always tell my husband when shopping in Guatemala!) The weather has been perfect! Warm during the day and cool in the evening. Tomorrow we will pack up into the back of the parish Ford pickup truck to head out to a nearby village to hold clinic for the day. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers as well as the people we serve. We continue to keep our family and friends back home in our daily prayers here at San Lucas. God Bless all of you! Those of us here feel so fortunate to have this opportunity to serve the people of Guatemala. To our co workers back at UHD clinic and hospital, we hope you are doing well in our absence-wish you were here with us !  Thanks for your continued support to all family, friends and co-workers! Nancy, Colette and Sara