How and Who Made the Candels ?... Part 1

Many of you have received candles made from the women in Rio Azul , Guatemala. This is our first project through Food for the Hungry in economic development this past year. David has worked very hard in getting together these beautiful candles to scent and bring joy to your homes BUT not near as much work as the women of Rio Azul  . This has been a great eye opening joy for us both as we ventured out to learn how to make candles ourselves and then taught this to other women and men in the Food for the Hungry community. Then they traveled to out skirt communities and taught this to women in Ixil. (E-shil) . I thought that you would enjoy a photographic journey of the presenting and creating of these candles as well as photos of the people and land where they are made.

Before teaching others how to make candles David and I headed into the kitchen to figure it our for ourselves.

Art in progress.....

Next, I ( Melinda ) traveled to an area Nebaj where I met with regional workers of Food for the Hungry and taught them how to make candles WITH a TRANSLATOR (on the left). These are all Guatemalans who have a heart for combatting poverty in these outer regions...especially with the children.

Everyone lined up to see how the color and fragrance was added. The very next day, 2 of these people would take this candle making class to the people in the village area and teach it all in Ixel (E- shil)

This is the woman who took this on and did a beautiful job. She taught this class with one other person who had attended the class the day before. She is dressed in traditional clothing that is worn everyday by the Rio Azul women. We also took this time to share about the Lord and his plans for people every where and the provision of talents that he has given and the fruitfulness that can come from knowing and serving the Lord as well as living out the talents he's given each of us.

the women and children could not believe that the candles smelled as good as they did. It was amazing to watch their faces light up as we dyed the wax red and added the fragrance. They each took turns smelling the candle and rubbing the wet fragrance on their hands and arms...

No child care for this class.... no age limit.

After setting the candle we knew that it would be a while before we could remove our finished product. So many of the women had doubts about whether the "stuff" would harden and smell... We knew that we needed to hold their attention or else we would loose them back out into the community so..... we ran out for snacks!!!

Part 2 coming.... check back in and see how the candles turned out and photos of this beautiful people group here in Guatemala that we are blessed to be serving.