Friends from the US July 7, 2009

It’s been a busy and fun week for us this past week.  It started out with me finishing my class at UNAM on June 30.  It’s ALWAYS a good feeling to have finals over with!  Then our friends Jay and Abby Koontz and Ruth Ann Roney (Abby and Ruth Ann lived on my floor at Moody, and Abby and I were roomies for several years in Chicago) came on July 1.  Thursday we went to Coyoacan, a colonial neighborhood in Mexico City.  Friday we went to the Mexican market and then headed off to an overnight leadership retreat north of Mexico City by the pyramids.  We stayed at a very nice large home, that is owned by the parents of one of the team members.

All of us on the church planting team watched  the DVDs from a leadership summit at Willow Creek Church.  Jay, Abby, Ruth Ann, and Liliana got to visit the pyramids.  Sunday after church and Liliana’s nap, we headed to Chapultapec, a huge park in the middle of the city that has gardens, museums, a castle, and a zoo.  Unfortunately, everything was closed, but we had fun walking around and took shelter from the pouring rain in a Dunkin Donuts.  Monday we went on the touribus, as the name implies, a bus tour of the city. 

Abby and Jay, who had never been to Mexico City before, got the full effect yesterday when we had to smash into one of the metros during rush hour to come home and then got caught in a deluge, which are very common this time of year during the rainy season.  Ruth Ann, who lived here for 3 years was able to give us some helpful tips on living in the city.  They all left this morning and we were sad to see them go.  We had such a good time with them.