hello.hello.hola.

          Our Friends Dona and Lalo came over for dinner this weekend.  They brought us three bagfuls of pambazos*.  "The best pambazos in the city" they told us.

They told us about how the pambazo stand has been there ever since they could remember. They told us that when it started out, the owner would make the pambazos in a basement that had a tiny window that sat just above the sidewalk. Clients would crouch down and place their order through the basement window, and then the pambazo would be handed out through that same window once it was prepared.   

They told us that you don't have to crouch down to make your order anymore, but that everything else is basically the same. Pambazos keep being cranked out; people keep buying them.

We tasted the pambazos, and Dona and Lalo were right:  the best pambazos in the city.

But, this post really isn't about the pambazos. 

It's about Dona and Lalo - -  about how dear they are to us and about how much we need them:  we need them to share their city with us; we need them to tell us what they love about their city; we need them to knock on our front door laden with their favorite treats and tell us how their story intertwines with the pambazo stand; we need them to hug our kids when they go to bed and then stay late into the night talking with us - giving us culture tips, helping us evaluate our plans for this next year, and reflecting on how the hope of Jesus applies to their own lives and to their neighborhood.

These times are sweet for us; we need them.

  *you have probably never heard of a pambazo before, have you?  It's one of Mexico City's favorite street foods - a bread roll stuffed with potatoes and chorizo, and then deep fried.  oh dear.  my description really doesn't do it justice; you really should just come and eat one with us;  now we know where to get the city's best . . . . 

and these pictures - are not of pambazos and not from this weekend;  I was so busy licking my  pambazo greased fingers that I didn't even glance at my camera.  These pictures are from a different weekend - when Dona and Lalo took us outside of the city to their favorite zoo and country eats.