Wood Stoves and Other Warm Things

Here are some pics from when we left up until this past week.

We've been having lots of fun seeing old friends!

We were with the Garrett's Sunday morning and the Wilkins Sunday night.

We had a blast with Alyssa and Cara...those girls are wild! ;)

Monday we were in Los Angeles...we got to hang out with some Burbankers (and Panorama City-ers too...) Then we got to see the Whites :) They had their fireplace going when we walked in the door. It was so toasty warm...

Speaking of toasty warm...we got a woodstove to bring back to Mexico!!

Our house is sooo stinkin' cold right now, you can see your breath INSIDE the house!

So we are extremely excited about this. 

Christmas Service in Puebla

Sunday the 12th was our last service in Mexico until January 2011. We had our Sunday school Christmas play. It turned out really nice! We had a full house and a beautiful service!

The youth class also sang a special then El Pastor preached. Afterwards we served bread and hot chocolate and had a good time fellowshipping.

Here are a few pictures...

A Gift From Heaven

 Saturday a few of us girls went to the mall in Arizona...

Cassia got me the best Christmas gift!

She took me to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and told me to pick out whatever caramel apple I wanted! Aww!

So I picked the one with Butterfinger crumbs all over it.

It was soooo GOOD!

My first bite...Mmm...

It was the perfect welcome back to the U.S. food!

El Paso, Texas

Today we traveled about 500 miles...Laredo to El Paso. I thought I was going to die, honestly. 

How much car can I take? Haha, I'm joshing. But I am extremely thankful to be out of the van. 

Fresh air really is lovely. So is the sturdy ground we walk on. 

A few funny things have been said so far on this road trip:

Nicole: "Did somebody spray perfume?"

Austin: "I just burped." 

I, Bethany Wakefield, am 20. My deepest inner struggle is not wanting to grow up and get "stuffy". 

While reading the Reader's Digest, I read a quote that just touched my corazon. 

"Maturity is a high price to pay for growing up."

Yup. 

Think about it. Haha!

That's why my favorite thing to do it the car is mess with the people that are trying to sleep. Especially Nicole because she can't ground me or whatever. 

Nicole: "Look out your own window."

Bethany (Me): "No, everything interesting is on your side."

(She finally got in the back and covered her face with a huge fuzzy blanket and slept the rest of the trip. Austin got in front with me and we partied all the way here...Punching each other and acting like retards).

Yesterday Austin asked me for the big ole road map so I passed it back to him. It was kinda heavy though and I (accidentally) dropped it. The corner of it hit him in the eyebrow. Ha! He cried and cried so I had to act like a dork and do stupid stuff for like an hour so he would dry it up. 

Austin was in the back seat playing with his little army men and talking to himself. (This is totally normal). 

We always listen to "clean" comedy on XM Radio...but sometimes it's not completely squeaky clean.
Which explains this:

Austin (talking to his toys): "Oh c***!! You got my finger!"

(C*** rhymes with rap...)

And the grand finale..........

Austin: "I remember the word 'prostitute' from when I was four. I wasn't allowed to use it back then, but I've reached a certain age where I can use it, but just not a lot. It's just another word for a girl criminal."

Guess Where We Are?!

We are in Laredo, Texas!!!

We're headed up to Northern California to see our Grandma and Grandpa...my mom's parents. 

We'll spend our holidays there, then we'll get to see some of YOU guys :)

Today we're trying to get to El Paso...500 miles. Ugh. Oh how I abhor driving. Especially thru Texas. It's too big. But this'll all be worth it once we arrive over yonder. :) 

Teohacan

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Fundraising for the Trip ~ Puebla to Belize

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We are planning on taking a trip with our youth to an international youth camp in Belize. We're hoping that youth from Mexico and Central America will be able to go...and even from the U.S!! Our young people are so excited. Some of them have never been out of Puebla...so this is a BIG deal to them. And I'm pretty excited myself!

Bolis and Random Useless Info

Javier, Nicole, and Bethany

We're eating bolis. Bolis is basically a popsicle in a baggy. They are SO good!

Nicole's favorite flavor is rompope (non-alcoholic of course :)

If you guys haven't looked at a calendar recently, we're in December now. 

Just to let you know. :-)

We're decorating the house right now. (Well, I'M not...I've moved on to more exciting pursuits...like blogging). It's looking good though...the house. 

As for this blog...I'm thinking it's totally gotten...

 Really when I look at it from a objective point of view, I'm thinking, "Umm...BLAH!" 

What's been going on lately has been totally awesome and FUN, but to ME, you gotta BE THERE to understand it's fabulous-ness. But what else do people blog about besides what they're up to?

I guess I could start a How To Series on here. You know, share ALL my expertise on here. 

Like how to say "bark" or "woof" in Spanish. (As in the noise a dog makes. It's "wow, wow"). 

Or "cock-a-doodle-doo" is "kee-kee-dee-kee". I know one day that this will become very useful information for someone. 

Oh, also I was talking to a friend the other day and she asked if "hahaha" in Spanish is "jajaja". It is! 

That's how you type a laugh in Spanish!

Also, if your dog starts howling, it means an evil spirit is passing over. I know this because a young lady in my church told me. :)) (I'm not sure what it means when a human howls...)

Alrighty. The end. 

For Cherie :)

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Here's some more pictures! (For those of you that couldn't see the photobucket one).

Man Am I Smart or WHAT?

Oh goodness gracious Lordy I did it!!!!!!!!! I really can't believe this. It wasn't that hard. I just kept guessing until I guess I got it right. WOW. Man it's late and I'm tired. But I feel like having a party.
I feel like a nerd...

I FIGURED OUT HOW TO POST A SLIDESHOW!!!!!

(see below)

We used to have the Be Safe filter on our computer and it would block these. We converted to K9...although...come to think of it, it blocked the blogs too. I was gonna say "if you can't see this, let me know..." But I guess it's all good. 

Good night!! 

More on Cajeles

**UPDATE**

Everyone is mad at me because I gave so little info about our trip. So here is some more:

The state of Guerrero, including this little village in Cajeles, are where they grow the plant called Amapola, which is used to make heroin. It is an extremely violent area with very little police protection. 

The pastor told us we needed to leave before 7 pm because anyone out on the streets after 7 is killed by the drug people. 

The people that live across from the pastor make this drug. They go into the forest and cut around the plant. The plant then drips some kind of juice, which is used to make heroin. We didn't have a chance to try any because we had to leave so fast. Just kidding. 

The pastor's wife has lost 3 of her brothers to the drug war and another has been recruited to work for the cartel. Men showed up one day and jumped out of their car, put bags over the heads of the men, and beat them with bats and threw them in the car. They were never seen again. 

Cajeles

Saturday we went to a little town called Cajeles in the state of Guerrero, to visit the church there. 

We had a good church service! It was weird to be sing and hear the preaching while feeling the breeze. 

The ministers...

Bro. Mario (Elder Wakefield's assistant), Bro. Cortez (the pastor of the work in Kajeles), Bro. Kiros (pastors in Acapulco, about 30 minutes from this place), Bro. Wakefield (Dad), and Elder Wakefield (Grampa). 

The pastor's wife

Look at the beautiful trees and the mountains!!

This is how we drove for 5 hours. A little cramped but we had fun!

We had to go down this terrible steep hill to get to the pastor's house. 

So scary :(

Elvira and Hayde

This where the pastor's wife does her laundry and washes her dishes. 

Me and Nicole washing our hands

Looking out the window of their house. A lot of the houses are built up about 3 stories, above everything so the wind can blow in the windows. It gets super hot and humid there and only the rich have air conditioners. 

They grind their corn in this machine and with the dough they make tortillas and tamales and all kinds of other yummy Mexican food. :)

Looking out the window of the house...GREEN!!!

When we were eating this cat came over. I gave him a piece of chicken and from then on he sat my chair meowing constantly. He was all skinny when he first came over, but after we were done his stomach was bulging. Haha :) 

Meow. 

Maribel and Nicole

Nicole caught this picture. Haha!

This thing is telling me I've used up all my space for pictures??!! My 1 GB. I have no idea what that means. I know a GB is unit of measurement for computers but...1 GB per post? Per day? Per blog? Per what? But it won't let me put anymore on here. I gotta investigate. I still have lots more to put up here! 

So...

Ya'll pray for this here blog. 

Or that I figure out how to fix my 1 GB. 

Thanksgiving 2010

The story behind our table decoration:

Gramma sent Grampa to town, telling him to get a nice flower arrangement for the center of the table. 

He comes back with this assortment. We laughed and laughed at his creative-ness. 

The middle piece that looks like a bundle of sticks...

...Because really it is a bundle of sticks. A broom. They sweep the streets here with those. 

Hahaha it looks like a Halloween decoration hahaha!

Elder Wakefield said to make sure and put a picture of it on here, so here tis:

Hayde carrying the beloved brocoli salad. 

Getting ready to give thanks, then pig out :)

OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS

Austin told Elder Sis. Wakefield, "This looks like a Grandma's lips."

Bahahah! It's a Chayote...don't know what it is in English. 

Fill 'er up!

Grampa and Nicole

The broom and me

Looking over the bush at the other side of the table. 

 Food fight anyone?

Duck

While everyone was eating, Nicole and I went inside and filled all the black olives with uncooked black beans. 

Olives are Grampa's favorite. 

Grampa - "I thought these things didn't have seeds???"

Then Hayde ate one and took the "seed" out and looked at it...and found a bean in her olive. 

Grampa's at the end, "I was wondering why you guys were hanging out around the table, looking suspicious! IT WAS YOU!!!" Hahah :))

Then everyone started throwing the beans that were in the middle of the table. 

OUCH. 

Elder Wakefield -- King Flicker of Beans

Then bigger table decorations were getting thrown. 

Hence the flying red chili in the middle of this picture. 

Gramma flickin'. 

Hno. Isai and his son. 

We played this totally fun game called Pass the Ring

Everyone sits in a circle and the ring has to be passed along the string without the person in the middle figuring out who has it. It's sooo fun. We laughed allll the way through it. :))

The ring

Elder Wakefield

Younger Wakefield

Abner and Josias

I am so thankful for all of the people in these pictures. I have a fabulous family here in Mexico. 

Of course my blood family is totally AWESOME, but the rest of these people...

They are my family. I love them so much!