Sunday

Gizmo stuck

Today was Ulises's confirmation.  I went with him to church.  Afterwards, we came back to my house.  Lately I've been letting Gizmo go outside in the backyard.  I always shut the door afterwards because I don't want to let cold air/animals/dust into my house.  I also often forget that he's out there because I spend the majority of the time in my house upstairs.  When I remember Gizmo was outside, he had already decided he was not only ready to come in, but not willing to wait for me.  Instead, he got himself jammed between the screen and the bars on my door.
By the way, there is this bumper sticker that I've been wanting ever since I moved to Juarez.  It says Amor por Juarez (love for Juarez).  I'm the kind of person who tells everyone when I want something like this.  Yesterday it paid off because the missionaries knew where to buy one, so I finally got it!  Hooray!

Still stuck and feeling blue because instead of helping
him, I'm laughing and taking pictures.

Gizmo trying to say warm under Ulises's leg

Same thing

Amor por Juarez sticker

Baptism

Ulises and the Elders that first taught him

Ulises was baptized today!  It was pretty exciting.  He had invited some friends from work, so I met up with them at the Consulate to drive to the church.  We arrived on time . . . Ulises did not.  A little after noon, the missionaries asked me if Ulises was coming.  I called him and he said he was coming, he was just purchasing a while shirt.  I expected it to start on Mexican time, so I wasn't too worried. :)
The service was nice.  Afterwards, Ulises and I went to Soriana's to get food.  We had invited our friends over to my house for dinner, but only one person could make it.  But we still needed to get the food.  We went to Soriana's because Ulises's dad works there and he always gives us advice on the best meat to buy.
We returned to my house and cooked dinner, just in time for our friend to make it.  It was a nice day.

Ulises and I with the other Elders (from his ward)

Roses from Ulises - he gave me one on
Thursday and one on Friday

Ciudad Juarez

Things have been pretty normal around here.  Today Ulises and I went to his church.  After church, we decided to drive nearby and take some pictures of the area.  I've included a picture of Gizmo just because I didn't want to make a post just for that picture, but I thought it was a cute photo.  Enjoy!

Gizmo sitting in his toy

View of Ciudad Juarez

Ciudad Juarez: view including the Bible is the Truth Mountain
(On the far left - vaguely can see the white
lettering on the mountain).  It actually says, La Biblia
es la verdad, lealo, or the Bible is the truth, read it.

More Ciudad Juarez

Another view of Ciudad Juarez - these were all take from the
same mountain, just different angles

Friggatriskaidekaphobia

Do you suffer from this phobia?  If so, today is NOT your day. :)
Friggatriskaidekaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th, and today is Friday the 13th, if you hadn't already noticed.  I didn't realize that until I saw someone post about it on Facebook.  I've never been afraid of Friday the 13th, but I was reading a little about the origin, just because today is that day.  Apparently it is a combination of two prior beliefs, that Friday is an unlucky day, and that 13 is an unlucky number.  I also read that in Spanish speaking countries, it is Tuesday the 13th that is unlucky.  So I guess as long as I'm in Mexico, I have nothing to worry about, right?  And when Tuesday the 13th rolls around, I can just hop the border to the U.S. and once again be safe :)

Dinner at My House

Molletes from McDonalds

Today was a busy day.  This morning I needed to take a friend to the airport, so I didn't really get to sleep in.  I also was invited to a rhythm fitness class that my friend was guest instructoring.  After taking my friend to the airport, I didn't have time to go home before the class, and I was starving.  Since I hadn't been to McDonalds yet in Mexico, I decided to stop by and see what interesting additions they had to the menu.  I was delighted to see molletes on the menu, so I ordered them.  If I had realized that instead of using the normal bread that they use for molletes, they put their molletes on english muffins, I would have thought twice.  It just wasn't as good as the real thing.  But at least I didn't faint during the class.

The rhythm fitness class was really fun.  It is kind of like aerobic dancing.  I really enjoyed it and it was a good work out.

After that, I went back home.  Ulises had invited one of our friends over to my house for dinner.  I invited one of our other friends to join us, but she wanted to get out and do something during the day as well.  We ended up going to central park to just walk around.  It was a lot of fun.

Then we stopped at my friend's house.  I needed to go get gas, so Ulises stayed to watch a football game, then when I got back, we went to get the food to prepare for dinner.  By that time, both of our friends were waiting in my house.  Ulises made up some meat, one of my friends made guacamole, and then I made a salad.  My other friend watched the game upstairs.  Making dinner together was fun, then we ate.  I really enjoyed tonight.  The friend that didn't help cook was nice enough to do the dishes at the end.

Walking in the park