My Story

My name is Juan Antony Ruiz Lopez. I am happy to greet you through this. I am nine years old. This year I am repeating second grade due to the difficulty I had learning last year. I am taking face-to-face classes two or three hours per day. After school, I do my homework and I play games with my cousins. I am happy that the program is open again, thankfully. During the time it was closed due to the pandemic, I missed having lunch. For me to get there, it takes fifteen minutes by walking. For now, my dad is making bricks and clay roof tiles to provide for my family economically. He also does farm work. My mom stays home. She also gets chickens in the market, so she raises them to sell. We watch movies on the TV, and in this way, we enjoy spending time together. We also eat special food in this time. We also go to a river in order to have a nice time together.

We do not usually celebrate Christmas, but we do receive tamales from our relatives who give them to us. We attend a church located thirty minutes away from home, so we walk to get there. In the time the church was closed due to the pandemic, we got sad because we could not attend it. Currently, we are already able to attend the church, and it is a blessing, thanks to God. We live in our own house made of two rooms with a separate kitchen. It is made of cement block, tin sheet roof and concrete floor. It does have running water and electricity. The house condition is good. Our greatest needs at home are food supplies and corn. For that reason, I thank the feeding program for the grocery bags my family and I received during the pandemic. There was lack of work and incomes, so it was a very difficult time. Since we have a faithful God, he has provided for us. Everything we received was a great blessing at home. Currently, we are doing well, but my mom is having headaches and nerve issues. She already visited the doctor but is not taking any medicine due to the lack of resources. Finally, I want you to know that my mom gave this information to an Evangelism team member to share with you my last news. I say goodbye to you for now. Thank you for reading this.

Lots of hugs,

Juan Antony Ruiz Lopez

Translated by: Febe Ruiz / A-A-C Secretary-Antigua