Hey folks! Thanks for you encouragement last blog it made me smile inside : )
I have a few prayer requests and little info about my job for anyone who is interested.

Please pray for my bosses. They are about to make some very important decisions for us. We have three options as far as work for the next two years.

Here’s a little about the work that I’m doing here in Guatemala:
1) 4 of my colleagues are in Phase 1 of the program. They have 2-4 schools that they’ll train in health concepts such as hand-washing, clean water usage, teeth brushing, nutrition etc. They work directly with students and teachers in the schools four or five days a week. The goal is to help the schools get certified as a “Healthy School” for having things like a tooth brushing station, toothbrushes for all students, clean water, a hand-washing station etc. Usually the schools get 2 sets of volunteers in hopes of being certified by the end of the 4 years.
2) Most of us are assigned to Phase 2 of the program where we will work with a partner on a much larger scale of the same thing. Instead of having a few schools and working with them, we’re in charge of an entire municipality/region of schools (20-50 schools). Between the two of you, you must work with the superintendent of the region to encourage and train the principals of the school and the teachers so they can set up the aforementioned resources in the schools. You still visit each school to check on progress and encourage, but it’s not your job to actually help implement anything, rather to train the schools to do it themselves. It’s thought out well in advance because there are 3 generations of volunteers doing this work for a total of 6 years (we are first generation).
3) In Phase 3 a pair of volunteers works with the superintendents and other head-honchos to work on implementing regional/country wide changes to school curriculum to include more topics on health. They will also organize the sharing of information and training of teachers and principals. I’m still a little unclear about what these guys will do but it’s very minimal contact with students. The volunteers will mostly train groups of national education staff members, superintendents and principals in ways to implement the Healthy Schools Program and other measures to create a healthy environment for students.

Please pray that God would send me to the right program in the right region! From what I understand, success depends largely upon the superintended of the municipality you’re assigned to. If they don’t have time, refuse to or are too lazy to work with you then you’re pretty much screwed for your two years. (Interesting how some things are the same all across the world huh?) Pray that God would be preparing both my partner and our boss for a productive service and great personal relationships!!
Also, the principals’ and teachers’ participation is crucial to success. It would be great to have teachers who are excited about the project and principals who are willing to encourage teacher participation. Also, “confianza” or trust is super important in other cultures (I’ll post something later about why for all you anthropologists!) so please pray that I would integrate well into my new community—we move in March 27th—and that strong relationships would be formed with the families. Lastly, obviously the person you’ll be working with is very important not only to job success but personal/mental happiness : ) Please continue to pray that I will be placed with the right partner.

General prayers for the program and Guatemala: If corruption is under the table in the US, it’s definitely a side-dish on the Guatemalan table (not that it’s not the same ole …stuff… in the US and abroad, but it’s just more obvious and accepted part of life). Pray that God would allow all of us to be successful in our work without getting caught up in politics…that God would open doors to see results despite slow moving process and less resources…that people would be motivated and willing to work with us!
Thank you so much for thinking and praying for me!! Please feel free to send prayer request to me as well : ) thammon.09@gmail.com




Lastly, if you are interested in helping out in a small way, you can send care packages!
A few things I will need (that I’ll have to buy with my at-poverty-line salary : ) are:

Markers in a plethora of beautiful colors
Fine point, colored pens
Stickers to give as prizes to the students
Tape (masking and scotch)
Construction paper

Personally:
1. NUMBER 1 REQUEST: pictures!! If you have pictures of us together and you can print one off, I would love to hang them on my wall so I can see your face : )
2. A CD with your favorite songs so I can have some new music, any type of music (country, classical, 80s rock)
3. Any type of snack in a bag or box (like pop tarts, teddy grams, etc)
4. Letters or cards!
5. Little bottles of lotion
6. Nail polish (just the dollar kind : )

If you send me something I promise to send you a post card! Granted it’s not equal to a package, but I officially survive on $4 a day…I hope you understand. (it’s really not that bad, it’s just tricky to buy non-essentials)

Thanks guys!!!