Final thoughts (on dinner and languages)

I think yesterday was my favorite day, but it's for a reason that most people probably wouldn't expect.

Yes, we went to Revolucion and played with the kids, and had a song battle. (We sang "alelu, alelu, alelu, aleluia," and they sang "gloria a Dios." We were both trying to br louder. They won.) We watched Miros give a lesson, and then we played games with them, giving them lunch afterward. It was really fun, and it was another place for my Spanish to be useful. But it wasn't the best part.

And yes, we went to the market, which everyone really loves to do. I got almost everything I wanted to get, and spent all but 7 pesos, which is the best I've done there so far. It was also fun to walk around the place with everyone, and to feel like I knew where things were after being there two other times. But it still wasn't my favorite.

Where I think one of the coolest things of the trip happened was at on of the church member's houses. We went to a birthday party that a family was having for a girl at Sonya's house. Sonya's sister in law drove us there and back, which was approximately 2 hours round trip. I was pretty grateful for her doing that. David and Aurelia's daughter, Rut, and her husband, Erik, were also there, along with a man who is on the praise team at Gilgal and his wife. Sonya's husband's parents were also there.

We ate dinner and just kind of enjoyed the night with them, and they were so nice and gracious and glad we were there. If my love for the Mexican people needed any more support, than this would definately be it. There were some really funny times when I would understand something in Spanish that they didn't expect me to. Once, Sonya was joking with someone that she needed money from us for the dinner, and then I laughed. She saw me, and said, "Ah! He understands me!" Then she said,"Okay, put your money here."

The specific thing that I liked so much was when we prayed for dinner. Sonya's mother and father in law are deaf. The father had been joking around with us all evening, miming things like drinking salsa, and how the Pepsi Light was skinny instead of fat. When we were going to pray for dinner, they asked Lance to pray, and said that our driver (Sonya's sister in law) would translate the prayer into "Lingua manual" (spanish sign language), and that her husband would translate it into Spanish.

It was unique for me, and I don't think it's very likely that I'll be able to see people praying in three languages all at once again. It strongly reinforced the idea that many people realize their first time in Mexico: that God speaks everything. He will understand, no matter what language you speak, even if you use your hands to speak it. It was really awesome to see.

After dinner, we gave Sonya and her husband the gifts we had brought for them, and they were pretty touched. We left, even though no one really wanted to, with Sonya's sister in law. We actually got an opportunity to go to Parque Fundidora, a place I have wanted to visit since first seeing it two years ago, and it was really cool. We also went to this restaurant that all the famous people apparently go to when they visit Monterrey, which was interesting.

We came back and went to sleep, and now it is the day we leave. I think all of us are sad to go. I know I am. Don't get me wrong, I love you guys. But I love Mexico too, and I definitely wouldn't say no to more time here.

We'll see you in the airport!
-Ian