Happy Mother’s and Father’s Day from El Maizal (belatedly)

Welcome Dear Mothers

A heartfelt serenade to the Moms

Gangnam Style at Mothers Day

Happy Dads

Master of Ceremonies, Gloria

They danced better than us Dads who joined them

Not bad for my 1st time

I apologize for the lack of posting and communication. We spent the last 3 weeks in Los Estados Unidos. One week with our family and 2 weeks at training for new missionaries. Although Mothers and Father’s day have passed I wanted to share these important community events with you.

 

On Sunday May 19^th and Saturday June 1^st we celebrated Mothers and Father’s day respectively. Yes Father’s day was early but the community knew of my travels and planned it so I wouldn’t miss the fiesta. I said no but they insisted and I was truly touched by their caring.

 

These celebrations are community wide and are a lot of fun. The agenda for both were basically the same but with some twists. 1^st of all the young girls and the older girls display their baile talentos (dancing talents). They danced to gangnam style, new kids on the block and Latin American favorites (I assume they are favorites because adults and children knew the words). The girls enjoy dancing and have confidence in front of groups of people. Its fun to watch them dance and they appreciate the applause.  Not just the ladies dance, we have a young man David who knows how to cut a rug. He just turned 11 and knows that it’s all in the hips when it comes to Latin American dancing. He also happens to be our tortilla delivery boy, his mother sells us tortillas weekly.

 

At the Mother’s day celebration the mujeres (ladies/women) had the pleasure of Deacon Alfredo Lopez serenading them with a few songs. I knew enough Espanol to know that the songs were about loving our mothers and our mother’s loving corazones (hearts). He has a good voice and it was a touching moment to be part of. We also had raffle drawings during the fiesta where all the ladies won a gift and in some cases two. Dianne won a set of 4 drinking glasses.

 

During the Father’s day fiesta they also had drawings and I was lucky enough to win a coffee cup, drinking glass, shampoo and candies. Even though the ladies didn’t sing for us they did have a few tricks up their sleeves. When the young ladies danced, they danced into the crowd of dad’s and took a few of us onto the dance floor to show our moves. Yes, I gladly danced even though I don’t have “the moves like Jagger”.  The ladies also had us play musical chairs for one of our drawings. I didn’t fare well in that one but it was great fun.

 

At both celebrations we had special ordered cakes that I believe were tres leche torta (3 milk cake), very sweet, very moist and beautifully decorated. They were delicious. Then the finale of each event was very special. We had piñatas for both fiestas.

 

These aren’t the safety made piñatas that has you pull strings for safety sake (and alleviates any fun). These are real piñatas that are hung from the ceiling with ropes, the contestants are blindfolded and given a stick (I wouldn’t want to be hit by this stick). When it starts the piñata is raised and lowered, as the participant swings and everyone is yelling out instructions IZQUIERDO (left) or DERECHO (right). The important safety tip is stay away from the participant swinging. These aren’t light taps, these are swing for the fences swings meant to break open the piñata.It’s chaotic and fun but the mayhem starts when the candy drops. Children and adults dive into the scrum. Dianne and I wisely stayed to the side picking up the odd piece of candy that bounced our direction. The kids were so sweet because some came over and gave us a few pieces.

 

To sum it up, it was two great days of community revelry. The adults had fun, the kids had fun and the sense of community for new members like Dianne and I, it’s wonderful to witness and be part of. We all set up, we all party, we all take down and then we talk about it for a few days. It’s a good reminder that when a community lacks resources, you can’t overlook the best resource we have. That’s the community and each other. A little food, music, dancing, each other and a whole lot of love is all you need. As the song says.

 

There's nothing you can know that isn't known.

Nothing you can see that isn't shown.

Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.

 It's easy.

 All you need is love, all you need is love, all you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Lennon & McCartney

 

We know this is where we were meant to be.

 

Salu

 

Tom & Dianne