Monday, April 07, 2014

          It was a busy day preparing for a week on the early schedule.  Glade went to the fitness center and I walked outside since the temple was closed.  Then we called David and taxied for groceries.  Two new grocery stores are opening here soon, so for the last several weeks remodeling and renovation have been bringing our store up to standard—I’m sure—so they can be competitive.  It's great!

          Before purchasing edibles to keep us going for three weeks, we went to the City Mall across the parking lot to get cash for taxis and miscellaneous expenses like bread from the bakery, etc.  There are lots of ATMs around, but for some reason, they are not user-friendly for us.  So we ended up finding a bank and waiting in line for a chance to get money that way. 

While we were waiting a women next to me handed me a pamphlet and starting talking and talking about something.  I was just telling her that I didn’t understand when Glade finished and came to my rescue.  She happened to be a Jehovah Witness and was telling me all about her faith.  Glade told her we were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were serving here as missionaries.  She said, “Well, at least we both read the bible.”  It made us smile!  We kept the pamphlet, exchanged pleasantries, and wished her a nice day!

          We found a GNC in the mall so Glade could get his Whey Protein.  Just like at home, there is a good discount if you purchase products during the first week of the month.  Then we went into a store new to us called Lady Lee where we found a fan for Glade to use with the elliptical he uses under the stairs where there is no AC.  So he had a great day.

Glade at Lady Lee buying his fan and a couple of pillows.

It's difficult to shop without a car because we have to carry everything and most stores won't allow you to bring packages inside.  Lady Lee had lockers, so we used those here.  When we got to La Colonia, we had several bags to check.  Each store has guards at the entrance that point you to a place to leave your things.  We were pretty loaded down by the time we added groceries to the mix.  But we made it!!  It's great to always have taxis available, but we miss having our own car and being independent.