A Busy Week

 

This past week was a busy week at the office, at least for the first part of the week. Wednesday our whole team was in the office and Gustavo ordered sushi for all of us for lunch. There are five of us, but I think he ordered enough for ten! It was good stuff. As I’ve said before, we can get any kind of food you can think of here except for a taco (at least not what we call a taco in the U.S.) Things slowed down in the office later in the week because it was Semana Santa, the holy week. Here, the Easter holiday lasts four days, and the office was officially closed Thursday and Friday, though we did go in for a few hours on Friday.

We have venues for all the cities Living Legends will be visiting on their tour of Mexico—even Mexico City! Alfredo has worked his tail off getting them all lined up and contracts signed, and we’ve seen a few little miracles that have helped make things happen. Tickets went on sale in four of the cities this past week and should go on sale in the other three in the next couple of days. Now the big stress is getting the word out and the tickets sold. This has been a fun assignment, but also a stressful one. I’ve had more than one night I’ve woken up at 3:00 in the morning with my mind going over and over everything we needed to do. This week will be our last week of prep. The group arrives a week from tomorrow, and the tour begins. We will be travelling to all the cities and doing what we can to help where needed. We’re pretty excited about that.

Thursday we went to the temple, which really helped to calm my soul. We were able to go to the noon session because we didn’t have to go to the office that day. We still had quite a bit of time in the day after we got home, so we decided to have an adventure. Gustavo told us about a street where the stores put out flower displays for Easter. We knew the street was in the Polanco section, and I had written the name of the street down phonetically, so going on those two things, we set out to find it. Online we were able to find what we thought was the street and mapped out how to get there by taking a bus to the Auditorio Nacional and walking a few blocks. That all went well, but when we arrived at the street, it stretched out for blocks in either direction, and we didn’t see any flower displays either way. So we just picked a direction and started walking. Polanco is a very nice area of the city. The internet said the street we were on, Avenida Presidente Masaryk, rivals one other street for having the highest rents in Mexico City. We passed a two-story Mercedes Benz showroom, Cartier and Louis Vuitton stores, and a myriad of fun looking restaurants, many with sidewalk café seating. We asked a couple of official looking people if they could tell us where the flower displays were, but they didn’t know anything about that. So we decided just to enjoy the lovely neighborhood. A block over from the street we were on was Lincoln Park. A lot of families were there enjoying the gorgeous evening. Remote control boats were being driven on the reflecting pond, and it was fun watching them. We found a churro shop and got churros and a chocolate milkshake to dip them in.  As is typical with our adventures, we didn’t find what we set out looking for, but we still had a fun time.

This is the bike path down the middle of Reforma, a major street in the city. They've once again changed out the flowers. These are the third ones in the six months we've been here.

   

A street in Polanco

    

    

     

    

A fresh churro and a chocolate milkshake!

     

I bought a package of gum from this little girl even though I don't chew gum, but seriously, how could I resist!

    

          

This man was working on painting model boats right next to where they were sailing remote control ones. They were very impressive!

     

Friday we had a game night at the Cluffs, which we do every couple of weeks or so. The Wrights always come and the Davises do occasionally. This time, the Zapatas came too. They taught us a Mexican game, which was kind of like Bingo. They are such a fun couple. Genny speaks about as much English as I do Spanish. After a couple of rounds, which I lost, we swapped cards and she got mine. She won the next two rounds. With a big grin on her face she looked at me and said in her accented English, “Sorry my friend.” That made us all laugh. One day last week Ron had to go to the Zapatas apartment to ask them something. When he came back, Genny sent some Esquites, a dish made of corn which is kind of like the Mexican corn you can buy at the fair but isn’t on the cob. It was really good, and I let her know we liked it. So Saturday afternoon, she showed up at our apartment and asked if I wanted to come to her place and see how she makes it. Ron had to translate the invitation for me, but he stayed home to watch the Jazz play while I went to the Zapatas. Between my little Spanish, her little English, charade-like gestures, and an occasional check with the translation app on my phone, we were able to communicate well enough that I think I could make Esquites now, though I know I didn’t understand everything she tried to tell me about her family. Talking with her is good practice for me.

Saturday morning we went to the tiangis to get produce. I’ve said before that there are booths selling just about anything there. One booth in particular has caught my eye several times. It sells women’s shoes that are really cute and fun. I’ve wondered if they were comfortable and how much they cost. Yesterday I stopped and asked about them. The girls said they are made in Michoacan, which is a state west of here. They were around 450 to 500 pesos, which is $22 to $25. I thought that wasn’t bad for such cute shoes and figured the only way to see if they were comfortable was to buy a pair. The girl pulled out a folding camp chair for me to sit in to try them on, but have you ever tried to change your shoes sitting in a folding camp chair? I went through quite a few gyrations trying on several pairs until I found the ones I wanted. I wore them the rest of the day. The verdict—they’re comfortable and cute, so I’m pleased with my purchase.

Saturday evening Pat Wright organized a Seder Dinner for the senior missionaries at Teca Once and the Manzana. We’ve been looking forward to it for weeks, and it didn’t disappoint. She chose a format which had been modified to reflect Christian beliefs but still maintains the symbolism of the Jewish tradition. It was good to see the couples who came over from the manzana—some of them we see often on Zoom, but it’s always nice to visit in person. Pat led us in the Seder, and it felt like a sweet way of celebrating Easter. Pat also had to speak today in Sacrament meeting. Her talk was on symbols, and she used some of the symbols from the Seder to show how before Christ’s crucifixion, the Passover was to help the people look forward to his sacrifice. Now we partake of the sacrament as a way of remembering his sacrifice. It was a wonderful talk. She ended it with a quote from “The Living Christ,” which ends with, “God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.” She choked up reading those words, and I choked up listening to them. They express so eloquently my feelings on this Easter day. Easter was different for us this year—no Easter Egg Hunt, no Easter bunny, no grandchildren. However, it has been a sweetly joyous celebration as I’ve contemplated the atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son!