Hostessing

Thursday mornings I am involved in a women's Bible study from one of the local Baptist churches, and every week we meet in a different woman's house (which, by the way, has given my lots of practice in using directions to locate places in town!). This week was at my house, and I was very excited. They had a bit of trouble finding me even though it is an easy neighborhood, so everyone was a bit late arriving. Several couldn't come for various reasons. We sang, shared praises and prayer requests, ate, went through a section of the book we are studying, ate some more, prayed, talked, ate some more, and pretty soon 3 hours had passed and nearly all of the food I had prepared was gone. I guess that means they enjoyed my "American" recipes!

For Saturday, I had invited women from my neighborhood to come over. I prepared some snacks, but nobody came. While this is certainly a bit disapointing, I feel like I learned a few things from the experience and also have now at least met several and am therefore more comfortable going back to approach them and start conversations.

Fun note: Saturday night Emily and I went to a ballet with a family. The 12 year old daughter was performing and they invited us to come. I had only met the mom once, but that night I was instantly comfortable with her and really enjoyed the experience. The storyline of the ballet was rather strange, but they did a good job. Afterward we went out for dinner at a restaurant that features food that is typical in the Yucatan area of Mexico. The restaurant is located in a neat area of town, which added to the experience. The mom and I found a lot to talk about, and she was very natural at helping me build vocabulary. She is definitely the type of person with whom I need to spend more time! On the way home, language issues became more challenging. First, by 10:30 pm my mind was getting tired. Second, she was playing an English Christian music CD and asking me to tell her what the songs were about. Meanwhile, she continued the conversation in spanish. Add to that the fact that the girls in the backseat were trying to have a conversation in English and kept needing to ask me to translate a word or phrase for them, and you can imagine the challenge I faced. Fun though! I am thankful for this new friend and praying that we will be able to spend more time together. Also praying for some concerns she shared with me.