Laura in Guadalajara: Week in Monterrey

Students here at the University of Guadalajara get 2 weeks off for spring break. The first week of spring break I went up north to Monterrey. The ministry I work with here in Guadalajara is called MIES, which if I had to describe it by comparing it to something, would be similar to the Baptist Collegiate Ministries in the US. Each year we have a conference called CONAMIES where all the different MIES groups come together. We had 4 days of worship, conferences, workshops, and time to fellowship with other students from around the country.

Most of this year's CONAMIES group

Worshiping together

Small group time where the students discussed what they learned in the previous sessions and prayed for different people groups and countries

The last picture of the 4 of us journeymen together. Amy has already returned to the States, but was able to come to Monterrey for the conference, Josh is returning to the States this month, and Nolan and I will be returning in August.

Misael, Marco, and Ceci.....part of our Guadalajara group

The first of several pictures of Amy and I

Me with Jorge and Manuel, the guys I work with on a daily basis. They always keep things interesting.

We of course had some free time to see some of the city.

The cathedral downtown

I loved how the city is surrounded by mountains

The newest thing in Monterrey, having only been open about 6 months, is the Paseo Santa Lucia, which is this canal they have built through the center of the city. It is about a mile and a half long.

The whole walkway is really pretty. I don't think I had ever seen anything this nice in Mexico before! You can also take a ride down the canal on a little boat.

Ingrid is one of my friends from Queretaro, the city where I studied Spanish. It was great to get to see her again and spend a few days with her!

Amy and I at the Paseo Santa Lucia

The last day of the conference we woke up to some crazy weather outside. The winds were really strong and gusty...they got up to 60 mph...but there was never any rain. Huge trees were being knocked over, signs and poles were falling on cars, we heard that cars were flipping over, much of the city was without power, and things got so bad that they closed the highway going out of the city because it was dangerous for people to be out. The wind storm lasted from early in the morning until about midnight and later we heard that a few people died during the storm.

Part of Monterrey at night. Monterrey is the third largest city in Mexico.

Amy and I stayed a few extra days after the conference just to hang out together. One night one of Josh's friends showed us around the city. As we were driving he said, "Did you know there is an IHOP here?" Amy and I had no idea it existed in Mexico! I think there is only this one in the whole country and we just happened to be driving right by it. So of course we had to stop in for a stack of pancakes!

One day Amy and I took an hour trip to this waterfall right outside of Monterrey. It is called Cola de Caballo because it supposedly looks like a horse's tail.