First Easter in León, and thoughts on why we are here

A note from Missionary Mike Hartman on Easter...

Two days ago I went with our Kingdom Worker volunteers to watch the Good Friday procession here in León, and bought a snack from a vendor. (Yes, they have lots of vendors who come to the procession, so you can watch Jesus get beaten and crucified while munching on some goodies. It makes me feel like a Roman gladiatorial spectator - I imagine there were very possibly vendors at Jesus' crucifixion. I mean, wherever you have a crowd of people, some enterprising capitalist is going to try to sell something to drink and eat... but I digress.)

So I'm watching Jesus get crucified and am in need of a snack when I notice a very popular stand selling what I come to find later are "Dori Locos". Basically, it is quite possibly the craziest thing I've ever seen anyone do to a bag of chips, and of course, I need to try it.



Here's how they made it: take a bag of Doritos (I had red nacho flavored) and cut it open with a scissors the opposite way from normal.

To my bag of Doritos the snack lady added:

cucumber chunks
cabbage
peanuts
jicama (pronounced HEE-ca-ma, a root, it tastes kinda like a sweet radish)
chunky red salsa
cream
carrots
another type of bottled orange salsa
a handful of Mexican orange chips (taste like Fritos)
pickled pig skin
shredded white cheese

Then she handed me a napkin and a fork!

Apparently this is a regional snack, and the ingredients vary slightly from vendor to vendor. Unbelievably, it is REALLY good.

So, the next time you pop open a bag of Doritos, why don't you consider making a meal out of it?

The sad part about the day: after Jesus was crucified, everyone went home. The church that sponsored the procession didn't even have a special Easter service (or at the very least they didn't announce anything.) They only advertised services on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and a Saturday evening vigil. It is so unbelievable to me that almost everyone in Mexico thinks that Holy Week ends with Jesus' death. It's like watching an action flick and just when you get to the climax and it looks like the hero isn't going to make it, you decide to get up and turn off the movie! Extremely sad, but also extremely motivating.

This has been a most unusual Holy Week for Rachel and me. It is very odd to celebrate Maundy Thursday and Good Friday gathered around the living room in a missionary home. After all, we just arrived last week and are starting from zero. But what a great time to remember why we came here. God willing, an actual Easter service will be celebrated in León next year. For some, it will be their first time celebrating Easter.

This Easter, please pray that God bless the work of his church in León so that others might learn of the positive and hope-filled ending to Holy Week.



Have a blessed Easter! (And please let me know if anyone is brave enough to bring Dori Locos to a church potluck.)

He is risen!
Missionary Mike Hartman