DAY SEVEN

Hello to all from beautiful downtown Tijuana. Have you ever noticed we all pronounce that name as though it has an "a" in front of the "j"?, but it doesn't. The English major in me obviously dies hard :-). Tijuana is a very large city - it has 20 LDS meetinghouses, if that gives you some idea.

Today I went to the Independence Ward. They meet in a proper meeting house - my taxi driver didn't know exactly where it was, even from the address, and tried to drop me off at a Pentecostal Church down the street. I assured him it wasn't the right one - you could tell from the blue paint. And the name.

The people were friendly, and 2 or 3 spoke English. I didn't understand any of the service, which was the Primary Presentation, which was really sweet (of course). I did recognize the Primary songs, and the spirit of the meeting was a great deal like a Primary program at home. Lisa said her Ward did theirs today too. Gotta love that world-wide Church thing :-).

Taxi's are interesting here. You negotiate the price before you get in. Here at the Clinic they have an arrangement with one cab company, and the drivers all speak at least some English. I asked the driver if it would be $10.00, and he said "$10 there and $10 back". I countered at $15.00, and we settled at that. I think gringos pay a lot more than the natives. He says he rents his cab for $100.00 a week, so if he gets a few significant fares, he can pay for it in a day, and the other 6 days he takes the money home. I think the Clinic is a plum assignment.

Once back from Church Evan and I walked to the Mexican Cultural Center, which is maybe half a mile away. It's a complex of buildings, some of which are very modern and beautiful. All the exhibits were very well done. I especially liked a large one about the settling of Mexico by the Spanish. Lots of replica's of missions and (especially) different types of ships. Very very detailed. Astonishing really. It took somebody years.

Some of you have been looking for pictures to spice this blog up. Evan and I took some today, and he's going to try to put them on the blog tonight.

Anyway, we left the Cultural Center around 4:00, as it starts to get dark shortly after that, and you don't want to walk around much after dark. During the day it's no problemo.

So the Sabbath was a physically demanding day (sort of like the YSA Branch :-), and I'm whacked. Skyped with Lisa, Squinch and Moogie, and Steven phoned, and spoke briefly to Jacalyn, who had the Sisters and Jessica over. Anyway, I'm whacked and on my way to bed. I'll leave it to Ev to do photo's. Then tomorrow another 6 days in a row of treatments.

Love you all very much. God bless and keep you.

Grant