The Day of Love and Friendship

Our Valentine's dinner pictures have finally been recovered from the depths of our computer. (Thanks Brittany!) In Mexico, Valentine's Day is known as the "Day of Love and Friendship." By far, the most commonly sold Valentine's items were: yes, balloons. We sure couldn't afford them though! $8 for an 8 inch balloon and $14 or more for a larger one. Multiply that by five girls and we decided to pass on that idea. There were balloon vendors on every corner rather than just the usual spots on weekends in the parks and outside popular family restaurants.
We had oh so much fun with our neighbors during our "formal" dinner at our home! Our fancy dinner menu plans got scaled back considering the economy and though some unchurched people were surprised that we didn't serve alcohol, everyone was content with the homemade lemonade that Carolyn Ruiz made. The evening was a success. We haven't laughed that hard for a long time. We knew that some of our friends were teasers but wow. For example, while we were playing the "Newlywed Game", Marcel asked the question "What color are the sheets on your bed right now in your house today?" The wife would describe in detail the three color plaid while the husband would falter with "kinda bluish" sort of answers. Other husbands were yelling out possible answers to "help", things like "Just say that they're black because she never wants to do the laundry!" My, my!
The most difficult question to get a matching husband/wife answer for was "Where did you share your first kiss?" Surprisingly, only one couple had a matching answer! We were having so much fun that the atmosphere in the room was really happy. A few people were annoyed/embarrassed that their spouse didn't answer the same way but everyone turned it around into some sort of joke and we kept having fun. "Wrong" answers are completely what makes the game so entertaining! When people couldn't remember, we'd say, "Just make something up." They hadn't played this game before so they thought that suggestion was just ridiculous and it is but it's just a game.
We were grateful to have Angel come and speak. He and his wife began the Christ Lives Bible Church in Ecatepec along with the Barons and the Ruizes. They are now helping with another church plant in a different part of Mexico City but graciously helped us for the evening. Angel made a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet to go with his devotional. His topic was "A Love that Blossoms" and we learned how the Bible's teachings on forgiveness apply to a marriage. Angel is a very good speaker. He's animated and able to use Mexican examples and expressions to illustrate his points. People were interested and filled all their blanks in. One man folded his paper and tucked it into his shirt pocket to take home. Such are the small evidences that we are slowly getting through with our message.
Our next event: a marriage retreat at the end of March. We hear that the location is special in that it is a place in Mexico where there is a giant rock. Our neighbor was amused to have climbed all the way to the top to find: a pop/soda machine! The new mystery is not about the huge rock but how the machine was placed on top... Sounds like something interesting to check out.