Oh Erron....What a beautiful serenade. (:
So I realized that I totally did NOT finish my Mexican love story. And now I've forgot all the little details, because the days have just mushed today! We'll see what I can do. I'm probably just going to tell stories about all the pictures I took...So here ya go!
The amazing part about spending two weeks in the Caribbean, is that we weren't rushing to do everything all at once! It was very laid back, and we just enjoyed our time resting and relaxing.
Our second Sunday there Erron and I wanted to take the collectivo to Playa, and attend church. The night before we had checked lds.org and found that church started at 10 am. So we quietly woke up and got dressed in our Sunday best, and started the very humid hike to the "bus stop." Along the way we ran into Bob & Kate, who were just returning from their morning walk. (They would walk along the beach every morning!) We greeted them, and continued our walk. We did not want to be late!
As soon as we reached the stop, we found a collectivo, and hopped aboard. This was the first one we took that was old, it was pretty much just a van with benches lining it right below the windows. I didn't get to sit by Erron, but that meant we could make googly eyes with each other until space was made to sit side by side. We eventually got to our stop, which wasn't all that close to the church, and started our (again, very humid) walk to the church. I knew where it was because it was one of the first things I saw when we were on our ride from the airport to our condo. I had noticed it was surrounded by a tall fence;which being from Utah, was weird to me. It looked like a church building you'd find in the heart of Los Angeles or somewhere like that. As we entered the church an overwhelming rush of cool air hit our hot bodies. I was in paradise. Erron wanted to find where the meeting was held, but I told him I NEEDED a drink first. We then made our way to the chapel, and found that we had completely missed the sacrament, but had come in time for Sunday school.
As we took a seat in the very last row, I looked around. This was not a usual chapel! There wasn't a pretty stand in the front with an organ or wooden podium. We weren't sitting on benches, rather in chairs. And the light fixtures weren't hanging like chandeliers, rather they were just average lights. We were pretty much in a regular room! The fact that it was a chapel astounded me, it was still incredibly nice, but very different than I was used to! Erron translated the meeting for me, and when we were supposed to split up for Priesthood & Relief Society, I decided to just stick with Erron-I wasn't comfortable sitting in room with people I didn't know and especially a language I couldn't understand whatsoever.
As most of the ladies walked by me, a cute girl, about my age came up to me & asked me in English if I wanted to attend Relief Society with her. I immediately said yes! I had wanted to attend the meeting, but without any knowledge of Spanish couldn't bring myself to it. She was a God-send! As we took our seats in the front row of the room she introduced herself, her name was Marbella, and she had lived in Canada for three years when she was a teenager. We spent time whispering to one another about our backgrounds and where we wanted to end up. Her fathers dream had always been to live in Canada, so for three years her family just packed up and moved North. She also translated a little bit of the lesson for me, and it was so cool to hear what they were learning!
After church I found Erron & we headed outside to take a picture--how could we not?? (;
As soon as we reached the stop, we found a collectivo, and hopped aboard. This was the first one we took that was old, it was pretty much just a van with benches lining it right below the windows. I didn't get to sit by Erron, but that meant we could make googly eyes with each other until space was made to sit side by side. We eventually got to our stop, which wasn't all that close to the church, and started our (again, very humid) walk to the church. I knew where it was because it was one of the first things I saw when we were on our ride from the airport to our condo. I had noticed it was surrounded by a tall fence;which being from Utah, was weird to me. It looked like a church building you'd find in the heart of Los Angeles or somewhere like that. As we entered the church an overwhelming rush of cool air hit our hot bodies. I was in paradise. Erron wanted to find where the meeting was held, but I told him I NEEDED a drink first. We then made our way to the chapel, and found that we had completely missed the sacrament, but had come in time for Sunday school.
As we took a seat in the very last row, I looked around. This was not a usual chapel! There wasn't a pretty stand in the front with an organ or wooden podium. We weren't sitting on benches, rather in chairs. And the light fixtures weren't hanging like chandeliers, rather they were just average lights. We were pretty much in a regular room! The fact that it was a chapel astounded me, it was still incredibly nice, but very different than I was used to! Erron translated the meeting for me, and when we were supposed to split up for Priesthood & Relief Society, I decided to just stick with Erron-I wasn't comfortable sitting in room with people I didn't know and especially a language I couldn't understand whatsoever.
As most of the ladies walked by me, a cute girl, about my age came up to me & asked me in English if I wanted to attend Relief Society with her. I immediately said yes! I had wanted to attend the meeting, but without any knowledge of Spanish couldn't bring myself to it. She was a God-send! As we took our seats in the front row of the room she introduced herself, her name was Marbella, and she had lived in Canada for three years when she was a teenager. We spent time whispering to one another about our backgrounds and where we wanted to end up. Her fathers dream had always been to live in Canada, so for three years her family just packed up and moved North. She also translated a little bit of the lesson for me, and it was so cool to hear what they were learning!
After church I found Erron & we headed outside to take a picture--how could we not?? (;
I was so happy that we had attended church, and looking back I think it was one of the best memories I have from down there. It was just such an addition to my testimony to hear the gospel in another language, and see the beautiful people who lived there & worshiped the same as me.
We met a man at church that worked for Alma's LDS Tours, and we talked to him about going on a tour the next day. He said he would give us a call that night.
The rest of our day was spent relaxing, swimming with Kaila & Miah, and enjoying the splendor of God's creations. What a perfect Sunday!
I love the GoPro video! Too funny! And what a blessing it was that you were able to find someone who speaks English and could take you to Relief Society. The Church is true!
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