Thursday, January 4, 2024
Betty’s leg is still a bit sore, and she’s exhausted, so this morning I went for a little run on my own. Alma and her husband Víctor live in a beautiful and peaceful and safe gated neighborhood, so I just ran around it a few times. It was good to sweat off some of the calories from the past week or so.
While I was running, I listened to some podcasts -- including one of my favorites: Church History Matters. This morning they were talking with Dr. Keith Erekson , who wrote a book on how to distinguish truth from rumor in the church.
When I finished running, I ran into Betty and Ian — who were just heading out for a walk.
Today’s discussion was particularly interesting to me because one of the show’s hosts, Casey Griffiths, along with Mary Jane Woodger, has written a book called 50 Relics of the Restoration. It sounds interesting to me because we almost never think of relics in our church. They are for Catholics ;) And yet, here is a book about relics of the restoration. I’ll have to look into it.
After my run, I took the boys over to Vale and Martha’s house to help Vale with a project in his yard. It was good physical work, and it’s always good to work hard with friends.
The highlight of the day today was a visit from Betty’s half-brother Marco Antonio. He and his 10 brothers are children of Betty’s father and his wife. Betty had very limited contact with her father when she was young (he died when she was 8), and even less contact with this side of her family. Betty learned things she never knew -- including the burial place of her father and grandfather -- in a church right here in Hermosillo. We were so grateful that Marco Antonio would come by the house and tell her about her father and some of her other ancestors.
The rest of the afternoon was spent getting caught up on email and work.
In the evening Betty went out to eat with Alma and Yolanda, another dear friend from high school. These three, along with a fourth -- Olivia -- have been best friends since high school. Betty loves them dearly, and it’s always such a treat for her to see them.
These are photos of the four in high school, and then on Christmas Eve in 2003, when I met Yolanda, Olivia, and Alma — the night before I proposed to Betty.
Víctor and I hung out with the kids. I took them over to the park to play basketball. It’s fun to see my kinds interacting in Spanish with native Spanish-speakers. The other kids here call all of my kids “gringo” or “gringa.” Only when they got back did I realize that Betty and her friends had gone out for Mexican sushi -- one of my favorite foods. I should have gone with them :)
After that it was movie night (Willy Wonka), and then to bed.