Brent Carl visits Mexico

Brent Carl visits Mexico

We’ve had a pretty crazy week. Brent Carl, the Vice President of Training Operations for Youth Ministry International visited this week to teach an intensive course to the youth ministry majors at the seminary. I’d tell you more about it, but I’ll let him (click here to go to his site).

VIDEO: Making a Snowman

Next to the ice skating rink in downtown Mexico City, they have a little place where kids can make snowmen.

So, while we were waiting to go on the ice at the rink, we went and made a little snowman. Here’s a quick video of Nathan and me making his first ever snowman with “imported” snow. It was a lot of fun.

Click here to watch the video on Vimeo.

La Virgin de Guadalupe

Today is the day that Mexicans commemorate the day in which the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego. Many people make pilgrimages to the Basilica and there are various celebrations. They say to be Mexican is to be Guadalupano (or a follower of Guadalupe).

I wrote a paper called, “The Early Foundations of Mariology” for one of my seminary classes. You can download it here (PDF). It talks about Mary in early church history.

I’ve also visited the Basilica many times. Each time I’m there, I take a some pictures. Here are some pictures I’ve taken, uploaded to Flickr and tagged with Guadalupe.

I’ve read and written many things about the Virgin of Guadalupe. Here are some previous posts I’ve written about this day:

Resources about the Virgin of Guadalupe

Christmas in Mexico City

Christmas in Mexico City

Mexico City is home to the largest artificial ice skating rink in the world (Spanish site). The rink, which they built for the first time last year in the zocalo (downtown center square), is back this year. We went yesterday to skate on the gigantic rink.

They have done a great job of making it a very family friendly place. First of all, entrance to the rink is free, so everyone regardless of economic status, can attend. They also have a place where kids can make snowmen and go sledding down an artificial hill.

We arrived downtown at 11, and we got into line so they could give us our bracelets that we needed to go on the ice. Our turn was at 4 in the afternoon! Luckily, we had gone with Jon and Nicolle, so we had help taking care of the kids.

Since we had to wait, we went to McDonald’s, Nathan and I made a snowman (but he was an inch too short to go sledding). Then, in a stroke of genius, someone suggested that we go up to the restaurant at the Majestic Hotel on the corner of the zócalo and got something to drink. The view from the restaurant was incredible. From there, you could see the skating rink and the entire downtown square.

Finally, it was our turn to skate. Nathan made it around once. He had a great time, but he was so tired by the time it was our turn.

Overall, we had a great day. Check out our Flickr set from yesterday.