We got dressed up and met Clariza and her kids at their house before going on to the church. It was a short walk through town. I was a little thrown off at the gate surrounding the building (though not too thrown, since everything else had been gated). As soon as we entered the building, though, I felt right at home. The building was a little different from the ones back home, but it was definitely recognizable as an LDS church, and the same Spirit was definitely there. Of course, I still didn't understand what anyone said, but it was nice to sit in a familiar place.
There was no pianist, so the chorister gave us a starting count for the hymns. It was so wonderful to hear melodies that I knew, and so wonderful to be able to take the sacrament in such a faraway place. I must admit to tearing up a bit here and there. The meeting ended with Bergs' favorite hymn, "In Our Lovely Deseret". This was a total coincidence, so Bergs and I were cracking up when I realized what we were singing.
We only stayed for sacrament meeting, so afterwards we went back to Clariza's to change and have lunch. She was going to make us ceviche, chicken style. Bergs was very protective of the food we ate, and she was also kind enough to mention to Clariza that I didn't like onions and peppers. I was really excited. And while Clariza prepared the ceviche, the children put in church movies and let me watch them in English! It was pretty great.
The ceviche was quite the experience. Overall, it was delicious, but Bergs didn't realize that I also don't like celery. Not wanting to offend anyone, I was determined to eat as much as possible. I tried to convince myself that it was raw potato and not celery. I did a pretty good job, but it eventually was too much. I did enjoy the chicken and the lime flavor. It was really good. Here are the pictures of my dish, and Bergs', which was made the correct way.
We also had yucca, which was really good, and mangoes! A whole mango, eaten with a spoon. That was the greatest mango of my life.
After lunch, some members from the ward came to visit. Their bishop, who wasn't much older than us, knew some English and spoke to me a little bit. Clariza's kids were also learning English, but they were better at writing, so they wrote me questions and I wrote them answers.
When the ward members left, we went to do some visits, including this stop at the apartment Bergs lived in.
There was also a lovely woman named Miriam who owned a pink salon in front of her home. She gave us Inca Kola and handmade napkin holders made out of gourds.
We went back to Clariza's to pick up our backpacks; I was slightly exhausted and ready to eat a granola bar for dinner and go to bed. We had decided to splurge and stay in a hotel that night in order to have hot water, plus the hostel the night before had been a little chilly. Clariza surprised us, however, by announcing that she and the ward members were going to give us a farewell pizza party! I was pretty excited because there was cheese involved (still a little homesick at this point), but Bergs advised me to be cautious because the pizza probably would have no cheese and sliced up hot dogs....but it did have cheese! And sliced ham! That pizza was so wonderful. And it was so great to be surrounded by so many fantastic ward members. They were all so excited to see Bergs, and so nice to me. Every one gave me a hug. I even got to watch part of Despicable Me 2 in Spanish!
And there's day four. I even got it all in one post!
P.S. The hotel clerk claimed that they had hot water 24 hours a day...except it needed to take 10 minutes to heat up. Ten minutes came and went...no hot water.
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