First Night!

The eleven of us who came together on the plane arrived by caravan to the party hall. There were several brothers standing outside, when we arrived, dressed in the typical Mexican costume. As we entered, the entire place erupted into applause and ushered us to seats. There were roughly 200 in attendance. From there, they treated like we were family and ate till we couldn't eat another bite, including the most famous dish from Monterrey--cabrito (or kid). We discovered that seven congregations in the Apodaca area had been assigned to give us hospitality, and they would be throwing us three parties throughout the week.

From there we were treated to all sorts of entertainment that was representative of Mexico. The first was a piña dance, performed by the little girls of the local congregations in Apodaca (a borough, so to speak) of Monterrey.

There was a couple dances by the teenagers that showed the dance of Norteña (the region that includes Monterrey) and the state of Oaxaca (pronouned Wa-HA-ka):

As we talked, a sister turned to me and said "You are going to see charros" one of the local style of dressing. And then through the door walked a FULL MIRIACHI BAND! It was thrilling! A sister came up to me and asked if I liked to dance. I told her I did, but that I didn't know how to dance to miriachi. No problem, she grabbed me and led and I fell in a couple seconds. Ella me dijo que yo traigo la musica en mi cuerpo. :)

Then a highlight. The work of preaching the indiginous populations of Mexico is really increasing, and several friends showed us presentations and statistical information in two languages in particular: Nahautl and Tenek (sp?).

There was a dance by the adults that was incredible. I later learned they had practiced for only three weeks!

All told, they put on a spectacular production, we met several families that night that would go on to become our friends throughout the trip and quite possibly forever. We got back to the hotel around 1:30 and, after unpacking and getting in touch with loved ones back home, we hit the sack.