My Story

I am Jimmy Francisco, and I am glad to tell you my last news through this letter. I hope you are keeping well. My family and I attend a Christian Church called Prince of Peace. We usually attend our services on Mondays. I have learned to love the Almighty at church and in the feeding program. Therefore, I want you to know that LW has an immeasurable value in our lives because the staff has always helped us so much. In fact, a teacher of the evangelism team shared the gospel and encouraged us to continue loving God. She also took advantage of this opportunity to collect this information for you. My father is Jose Guanija, and he is 35 years old. He works as a shopkeeper in Tactic, Alta Verapaz, to support our necessities. So, he visits us once a month, although he tries to be in touch with us as much as he can. My mother keeps busy with household chores besides raising turkeys, hens, cows, and pigs. She sometimes sells some of them to cover other expenses. Our priorities are clothes and food supplies, especially corn. However, we try to survive by growing corn and beans for our consumption.

My biggest dream is to become a soldier when I am older, so I am doing my best as a third grader. I like face-to-face classes because I like spending time at school to learn more about my lessons. Today, everything is expensive, so it is sometimes difficult for my parents to cover my school expenses. Christmastime is the best celebration ever because I like burning firecrackers and eating marshmallows and tamales (this is a typical dish). I like drinking canned juices, especially apple, which is my favorite. I am a Quiche dialect speaker. I also know a little about Spanish, but I would like to learn how to speak English too. I am twelve years old and my next birthday will be in August. When my birthday comes, I get excited and share my happiness with my sister Heyli and the rest of my family. I leave you now, but before I do, I want you to know that I love playing soccer. Thank you so much for reading my letter!

Many hugs and blessings,

Jimmy Francisco Guanija Gutierrez

Translated by: Hillary Popol, AAC Secretary / Antigua Guatemala