Day 94 – What time is the meeting?

The Tenayuca Congregation (Elsa's)

We were up by 6:30 which normally would be plenty of time for Erik to practice his talk and get ready for the meeting but not when it starts at 8am. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who thought it was early for a public talk because when Erik started there were 25 people there (I’m not kidding) and by the end of the meeting there were 170! The flip side is, while all you slackers were just getting to meeting we were done by 10am.

Jose Luis' Family

We went home to change quick and then headed off to have lunch at Jose Luis parents’ house. They live on the south side. Erik had been waiting for days, not just because they were going to serve us lamb barbacoa, but bc we were gonna pass by a place that sold “real” delicious coffee, according to Elsa. She was right; Erik got some beans and a cappuccino to try. He was very happy. We got to his family’s right around lunch time. The majority of his family was there (and he has a big family). And they had a ton of food. First, a soup made with the broth from the lamb drippings with garbanzo beans and rice. You add in onions, cilantro, squeeze of lime and salsa if you want.

Chicharron

Then, a huge plate of chicharron (crispy pork skin), a mountain of tortillas, red and green salsa and tons of lamb barbeque. It was delicious, unfortunately, I didn’t have much of an appetite. Then they busted out the tequila. Out of everyone, only Erik, I and Jose’s brother-in-law did a shot. It was good. Whether it was good for my belly that’s up for debate. But Erik managed to ask enough cuestions about tequila that we left with 2 bottles.

We headed back after lunch: Jose Luis had to work and we had to go to a family in the congregation’s house for a get together-more food! We passed by some of the big, old buildings in downtown.

Palace of the Arts where they have a ballet going on right now.
It's in the downtown of the DF

The square of the mariachi's.

We walked to their house around 4 and it seemed like half the hall was there. They had made yummy Mexican food for us (was there any doubt). I managed to stuff in a little more (Erik too). Afterward, the brother got everyone quiet to listen to our experiences and ask us questions (you can imagine how much I loved that). But then a dozen or so of the friends shared their experiences of how they came into the truth. One older brother who was a professional singer before learning the truth sang with his wife, then Erik sang with a bunch of the friends. It was a really nice evening. The congregation here has been incredibly hospitable.