Church in Mexico. Please bring your own WaTeR!

I usually never go to church while on vacation unless I am with my sister Teresa! What a great example she is to me and my children!

Teresa and her family once lived on a small island (seven miles long) in Alaska called Ouzinkie. There was no Latter Day Saints (LDS) Church located on the island, so her husband got permission from the church leaders to hold services in their home. So when I went to visit her I had to pack a dress. Yes a dress, so I could attend church in her house! I complained about having to pack a dress when I wasn't even leaving the house, but did it anyway. And guess what? It wasn't so bad after all!

As fate may have it, I was in Mexico on a Sunday, so once again I packed a dress for church. And once again I complained. I should know better when I am on vacation with Teresa that we will always go to church! My children actually like going to church so they enjoyed it. It was fun to see and hear my children's reactions while attending the service spoken in Spanish. None of us understood a word said, but we still sat and listened.

When they started singing my daughter looked over at me and said, "That is weird! I don't understand this song anymore." But the cutest moment was when the sacrament was being passed. My daughter pulled out a bottled water from under her seat and said, "Look Mom I brought my own water so I can take the sacrament!" I had to whisper in her ear and tell her it would be okay to drink the sacrament water. She got a tear in her eye and said, "I will get sick Momma." I smiled and told her it was such a small amount she would not get sick.

It was also fun to see one of the families we were building a house for at church. The teenage daughter was wearing a cute skirt she had chosen the night before while visiting us at the women's shelter. One of the ladies in our group, Jill, was such a sweetie. Her kind heart found her taking off the necklace she was wearing and giving it to this teenage girl. Later while we were leaving church Jill said, "I loved that necklace but it looked so beautiful on her! I paused and thought to myself, what a selfless act to give away something you loved yourself!