Marriage Conference with Martin and Rubi

Yesterday we celebrated a Marriage Conference at Abundant Life Bible Church here in San Juan del Rio. Couples from Celaya, Queretaro (a BUNCH!), Salamanca, and San Juan joined us - over 150 people. There were about 30 children of all ages, and Rosy and her crew of helpers did a fabulous job of keeping them entertained while the conference was going on.

But the preparations beforehand were almost as interesting as the conference! Almost!

Ivonne came to my house Friday afternoon and made the "sopa" - I merely assisted! Here in Mexico sopa can be rice, spaggeti, or "real" soup. We made noodles with cream/mayonnaise/onion/ham and pineapple. As Bethie said, it sounds awful, but WOW! Wow! Was it good! So good that today the ladies at church asked us to make it again next week for the Father's Day dinner! Her hands were CLEAN when she mixed the noodles and sauce! Really!

Here's our final product - two big tubs full of delicious sopa! I stored it in Bethie's and my friges overnight - and had to take out several items to make it all fit!

Ivonne's granddaughter was along, and what do you do with a 5-year old when you're trying to cook?? Get out the Legos, of course! She had a ball!

Saturday morning we arrived at church at 6:30 to get ready. Chop the fruit for breakfast, set up the tables, put out the sweetbread, yogurt, granola, juice, set up the sound system, get the coffee going. It was quite a crew working hard!

Here Linda, our official church decorator, made and set out the table decorations. A small basket with a variety of typical Mexican candies. It was hard to get a picture and you can't really tell how pretty they were - but the candies were luscious - not that I got any! Those round colored pieces are obleas - like the rice circles used at communion in some churches only much bigger - and people here (including me!) eat them like candy! The couples at the tables munched on these goodies during the conference!

Later, during the conference, some of the ladies made mixiotes, some of the best chicken you've ever tasted - or at least that I've tasted! I though that it would be an easy recipe to try in the States, then Estela told me how to make the sauce - easy it is NOT! Labor intensive it IS! Mixiotes are chicken in a special sauce, wrapped in aluminum foil and put in a big double boiler - or in this case, several double boilers - and cooked for a couple hours. The end result is wonderfully flavorful chicken.

Dinner was mixiotes, our macaroni "sopa" and a salad made with lettuce and jicama with a delicious dressing on top. Jello for dessert. Very simple, very delicious!

Had to get a couple proud grandmas in there! Yola on top with her first granddaughter Jade and Linda below with her second granddaughter Renata.

As folks arrived between 9 and 10, they helped themselves to a nice breakfast of coffee or tea, fruit, yogurt, granola and sweetbread.

Our church, which isn't real large, was pretty well packed out.

Jason and Kristin, who study the Word with Alan and Beth, were there and really enjoyed the conference. Bethie was there as well - Alan wasn't feeling well, so stayed home. Lo que te perdiste! (See what you missed!)

Martin and Rubi Sweany from Mansfield, TX are with us for three weeks. We've enjoyed having them in our home since last Wednesday. Martin preached today - his first time preaching! It was great and the people enjoyed it so much - so did I! Later we all had dinner together at the church - eating the leftovers from yesterday and bringing more goodies! I took frijoles charros that Bethie had made. On the way to church they spilled (just the first layer fortunately!) in the trunk, making a huge mess. Not to worry, when I got home I took the rug out, laid it down for Peanut to lick up, the hosed it down! Peanut thought it wasn't quite enough of course!

For the next two weekends Sweanys will be at Salamanca and Queretaro, but during the weeks, I'm hoping some of the folks at church will invite them over! I'm encouraging them to, not so much because we don't want them with us, but because I think they can have a wonderful ministry with these families. They've been a blessing so far and I know will continue to be.