My Story

Zacualpa is a small but busy village in a mountain valley. Both Quiche Mayans and Ladinos (those with mixed European ancestry) inhabit the village. The prevalent language is Spanish. Families in this village live in one or two room homes usually constructed of either wood or adobe. Although many of the people are farmers, the village contains several small and specialized stores, a body repair shop for buses, mechanics, plumbers, and many other small-town tradesmen. It also has a large open-air market which serves much of the area. Even with all of this, the poverty level is extremely high, and the children are very needy.

Hello! This is Juan Carlos Lopez Tino, and I am so glad to tell you a little about my family and me. I was born on November 9, 2019. Today, I am 4 years old. I was diagnosed with epilepsy, but I am doing well. I still do not attend school because I am not able to talk well. I enjoy playing with my toy cars and blocks. My favorite color is blue. I like dogs, and my favorite food is spaghetti. Now, let me tell you about my family. I have one brother and four sisters. My father is the one who supports our family economically. His name is Juan Carlos Lopez, and he makes a living as a merchant of grocery products. On the other hand, my mom keeps busy doing the housework and taking care of our family. Her name is Martina Tino Coj de Gutierrez.

We are members of a Christian Church called Full Gospel. We live in a rented house which belongs to one of my father’s friends. My father pays Q400=$51.75 monthly. The house is made of tin sheets with dirt floors. It has one room and a separate kitchen, but no running water or electricity. So, we use candles and go to a nearby spring to collect water in plastic vessels for our house. The spring belongs to one of our neighbors. We help him a little economically to give it maintenance. Please, pray for us. We are a low-income family and our frequent needs are clothes and food. We raise a few chickens at home for our consumption. Let me tell you that I am glad to be part of LW-Adopt A Child because it blesses me with delicious food for free. We pay a motorcycle taxi to get to the feeding program and the trip takes us 20 minutes from where we live. To end this letter, let me tell you that my father helped me to give all this information to a teacher of the LW evangelism team. I will leave you now, but I hope to hear from you soon. 

Kisses and hugs,

Juan Carlos Lopez Tino

Translated by: Hillary Popol, AAC Secretary