The Papaw & Mamaw Journal

Monday – 30 minutes to the bus station, 2 hours on the bus to the airport, 2 hours wait in the airport, 2 hours back to Puebla, 45 minutes to drive home. I guess you get the picture of what this day was like. By the time we visited, gave out all the goodies they had brought and ate supper we were pretty much shot.

Tuesday – If you know us very well you know that long meetings to discuss philosophy and ministry are the norm for Pastor Pfleger and I. We did it for 17 years so why should it be any different in Mexico? Today we attended a team meeting together. Our team is taking its first steps in setting direction for our ministry here. For lunch he and I had another meeting with our team leader. Later in the day we visited Tecali a community known for its marble and onyx and bought a ton of souvenirs. I guess you have to have one late night conversation when visitors come – tonight was it.

Wednesday – The double-decker open air bus tour was the highlight of this day as we toured Puebla. In late afternoon the girls took their grandparents to Italian Coffee Company to hang out and play Dutch Blitz together. We also had our traditional pre-Thanksgiving Day piece of pumpkin pie. :o) I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Thursday – It was a nice, relaxing, conversational Thanksgiving Day. That is except for slaving over dinner and cleaning up, but it was a great meal. Afterward we enjoyed a family game of Battleship. There was a Thanksgiving Day first for us - hearing crickets.

Friday – Today was all about family traditions. We decorated our home for Christmas as we do every Friday after Thanksgiving. This evening we continued with another tradition – nutritious hot dogs, chips and coke for supper. Tomorrow we will skip ahead a few weeks and celebrate our traditional Christmas breakfast with Diana’s parents.

Saturday – After a delightful Christmas breakfast we headed over to the Park where Maria and Christina had opportunity to display their recently acquired horsemanship skills. Another highlight of the day was going down to the Carmen Market to watch them make and to eat their city famous Cemitas.

Sunday – Going to church today was a marathon. No, really, there was a marathon on the highway near the church which resulted in some pretty crazy creative driving to arrive for the service 45 minutes late. It was worth the extra effort to hear Pastor Steve Bell and his admonishment to follow the words of Mary in our lives, “Do whatever He tells you.”