Back to School.....ALL of us

Coti (Abuelita) our hostess in Merida

Yep. We all went back to school: Jeni, Marisol, Pati, Jasmin, Leti, Adela, Julie, Nick and me. For the Mowery family, it was language school in Merida, which is a 3 hour drive west of Cancun. Thanks for many of you who prayed for us during this intensive training.
For 2 weeks, we had 4 hours of classroom instruction + 2 hrs of conversational instruction while touring the city + 2 or more hours of homework each day. Carmen, our teacher spoke no English. We stayed in a host home with Coti - also strictly Spanish speaking - who was a sweet grandmother we called Abuelita, which means "little grandmother." To try to keep up the momentum with our language study, we will continue weekly Spanish classes with Lizy, one of our Back2Back team members. Please continue to pray as we start this next step in our language study.

Rope made from Henequen

Henequen plants (bonus horse)

Antonio a Mayan field worker

While we were in Merida, we got to do a little sightseeing on the weekend, including visiting one of the few working haciendas (pronounced "acienda") in the state of Yucatan. Hacienda Sotuta de Peon was like taking a walk back in history. For those of you from the U.S. think of the old southern cotton plantations, only in this case the slaves who worked the land were Mayans. This particular hacienda harvested henequen, which is the plant used to make rope. We also got a wagon tour of the huge plantation, got to swim in a cenote (underground freshwater lake), and end with dinner. It was a very fun and interesting day.

Leti with her backpack (mochila)

Pati, Leti, Jasmin, Marisol

Meanwhile, back at the (other) ranch, Ot's kids were getting ready for school. As many of you know, Jeni (12), Marisol (10), Pati (9) and Jasmin (7) all started first grade last year. They all started second grade this year. In addition, Leti (6) started kindergarten, and we're hoping to get Adela (4) started in pre-k. They were all excited to go to school and just this week, Pati proudly told me she got a 10 out of 10 on a math assignment, cause for celebration. We also hired a tutor (Fabiola) to work with the girls five days each week, from 430pm-630pm. After 2+ weeks, so far so good. Please be in prayer for the girls and Fabiola, as they try to make up some ground on the road to catching up with others their age.

Adela ready to walk to school