Happy in the Bronx

Day three of our New York excursion was one of the highlights of our trip. We wanted to go to church in one of Byron’s mission areas so we chose the Bronx. We were running too late for breakfast so we rushed straight to Grand Central and caught the green line. We hurried into the church and enjoyed what we could of the meeting in Spanish. It’s always fun to try to pick out the words I know, and Don translated what he could understand. Dominican Spanish is a little different from the Spanish he learned. A group of youth sang the Army of Helaman Sisters in Zion medley accompanied by one of the Elders on the piano. It was somewhat on key so Byron said it was deemed “successful”. We took a taxi to a downtown café where we ate lunch and then went back for the end of a second Sacrament meeting. There we met Luz and her daughter Adriannellys. We went to their apartment after church and spent the rest of the afternoon with them. I loved being there. The apartment was clean and cozy and I loved catching a glimpse into another world. Paige and Adriannellys soon became fast friends and the room was filled with their chatter. Then Adriannellys mentioned her math class and Don latched onto the conversation with a few questions of his own. Before you could open your mouth to warn her to stop he had her solving math problems on paper. Byron jumped in to save her in the end, but it was all in the nature fun and education and neither is bad. As the afternoon lingered on Luz left the room and soon returned with a plate of cheese and crackers. Byron and Paige told Luz how they tried to make fried plantains while we were in Belize, but that they weren’t as good as the ones Luz had made for Byron. As the cheese and crackers dwindled Luz left the room again and soon emerged with a plate of fried plantains! She invited Paige and I into her incredibly small kitchen and showed us both how to make them. The secret is the smasher and the hands of the cook. We loved our afternoon! A short taxi ride to the train station and one of those magical rides on the subway and we were back at our hotel. Happy for the memories we got to keep.