A bit of faith restored

So you know that dance I've been complaining about? The one my youth group threw together two days in advance, with much infighting, which I was convinced no one would attend?

It was a smash success. We actually made a good chunk of money from it, which we can use for an excursion to the beach. The casa comunal, where the dance was held, was full, everyone had fun, there were no security incidents, the police showed up to prowl around even though we were sure they wouldn't, I actually had fun taking money at the door, stayed up till 2 and danced a bit.

The funny thing was, we did it all without the support of the (somewhat worthless) guy who is officially in charge of the group. He was mad about our decision to go forward with the dance before. Now that it went over so well, we'll see what he says at the meeting today.

This has taught me a valuable lesson: not to underestimate our youth group. We had a couple of failed projects before which made me think there was no way we could pull this dance off. But there are a few delightful youth who really get things done, and I know now to trust and support them and everything will turn out beautifully.

Someone's daughter Yesenia, who lives in the United States, sent a big display of lights to the church that night to celebrate the end of fiestas patronales. My Spanish speakers, see if you can spot the mistake here. Yep, saluda is spelled wrong, and God knows how much poor Yesenia spent on this.

Que bonito, the people said when they saw the display, even when I laughingly pointed out the embarrassing mistake. None of them majored in print journalism, I can tell.

Here is a picture of the sweets that kept me fed all week. Along with the pupusas and pasteles, or fried spiced corn flour filled with mashed potatoes, I didn't really cook at all during fiestas patronales.Paz y amor.