A few months ago we shared about the quinceaños celebration that would be in October for Apolonia’s daughter Jenifer. We want to thank all of you who contributed to making it a special day for her. On this day she had the blessing of being surrounded by her friends, family and several of us from Servants who love her very much. The family enjoyed a special meal, cake and great time of fellowship and prayer for Jenifer. Here are some pictures of that special day:
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- Jenifer’s family decorated their house beautifully for her special day!
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- Jenifer with one of our new team members, Michy!
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- Jenifer had the blessing of having her madrina (which translates into godmother in Spanish and which we call sponsor in English) come for her special day!
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- Jenifer with her sisters, Ana (blue shirt) and Sylvia (pink shirt)
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- It wouldn’t be a complete birthday without cake!
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- And OF COURSE it wouldn’t be a complete birthday if your sister didn’t smash your face into the cake 🙂
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- Jenifer with all of her family and friends who came to celebrate her special day!
We are also happy to share all the girls passed their year in school last year and are excited to be moving on to their next year. Last year Sylvia graduated from 6th grade at the end of the year. Their new year of school with be starting this month and at the end of this year, provided they pass, Ana will be graduating from 6th grade and Jenifer will be graduating from junior high.
The end of 2017 brought some great sadness for Apolonia and her girls as they lost 2 family members to shootings in November. Given the high crime in Guatemala this is, sadly, something that many of our families (and many families in general) experience. Please continue to pray for healing for Apolonia, her girls and all of their family members during this time of loss.
Over this past year Apolonia and her girls decided to close their tienda. As we shared in a past update, a tienda is a little store that sells drinks, snacks, and other basic necessities in a community. There are many tiendas in each community so it is often hard for people to get one started. Apolonia was not making enough money to make it worthwhile due to the many other tiendas in the area. Because of this they have decided to focus on selling fruit in their community.
Please continue to pray for God to give Apolonia wisdom, guidance and provisions in how He wants her to care for her family. Please also pray for the girls to do well in their next year of school and for them to keep moving forward in their studies.
Thank you for all of your love, prayers, and support for Apolonia and her family!
In December we had a friend visiting who is a professional photographer and he took pictures to bless all of the families. Here is a family picture of Apolonia and the girls that we wanted to share with all of you:
Left to right: Apolonia, Jenifer, Sylvia and Ana
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