New Years Day

New Years Day was spent getting our bearings, going to Pana for lunch and a bit of shopping, then church last night. The fireworks continued all day as people celebrated the New Year. On the drive from the airport children were lined up on the road waiting for candy to be thrown from passerbys. This is something that started when relief came in a few years ago for an earthquake. I did witness a truck in front of us throwing out candy and they were Guatemalans. Pedro said it was good to see locals serving the community.
It was mid day New Year's Eve when we were traveling from airport and I kept seeing burlap bags of pine needles with children and/or families standing by them for miles and miles. Pedro shared that it is good luck to put pine needles on your doorstep or entry for good luck in the New Year. I hadn't seen anyone actually stopped to purchase as we traveled and when I asked why Pedro said it would be "last minute shoppers" which I thought was funny. All this to say when I was in Pana walking around and seeing all the wonderful wares of the local vendors I walked into several little booths that had pine needles all over the floor. I was glad I knew the story.
Had a wonderful church service last night and had a pretty big crowd for New Year's Day. Got to sing songs in Spanish which was fun and Larry translated during the service which was wonderful.
Vacation Bible School starts this afternoon, they are expecting 200 children to attend so will be preparing and helping with that.
Blessings to all for a wonderful start to a New Year!