My Story

Hello! It is a privilege to greet you through this letter. My name is Maria Elizabeth, and I hope you find my information engaging. At the moment, my family and I do not attend any church. As you know, my father lived and worked in the United States. He returned to our country about one year ago. His name is Israel Gonzalez, and he is 37 years old. He works at the coast by selling fruits to support my needs. My mom does not live with me because she lives and works with my father at the coast. Her name is Maria Chingo, and she is 34 years old. Therefore, I am under the care of my paternal grandmother. Her name is Petrona Ruiz Gutierrez, and she is 52 years old. She prepares chuchitos (it is a typical dish) to sell. She helps us with her income at home. She takes me to the coast every three months to visit my parents. We usually travel early in the morning and come back home before night. Thankfully, my whole family and I are in good health. We need clothes and groceries, especially corn. To survive, we raise hens and grow corn for our consumption. However, we must buy it because it does not last long. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I want you to know that LW is a tremendous blessing for my family and me. A teacher of LW shared the gospel with my grandma while she was giving all my information. 

I attend school as a sixth grader. I am 12 years old. I enjoy attending school because I learn the lessons much better. I love my parents because they work hard for me. Unfortunately, they do not have a stable job to cover my school supplies. I would love to work in a grocery store in the future. Besides that, I would love to improve my Spanish speaking. My native language is the Kiche dialect. My favorite holiday is Christmas because I love having tasty tamales. I enjoy drinking banana shakes, and my favorite sport is soccer. Celebrating birthdays is fun, especially if it is my birthday. What I love the most is having a sweet cake to share with my family. I say goodbye to you now, but thank you so much for reading my news. See you later!

Many kisses and hugs,

Maria Elizabeth Gonzalez Chingo

Translated by: Hillary Popol/AAC Secretary/Antigua Guatemala