Praise Report

Earlier this week, we blogged about the young man who was changing our tire when the van fell on his wrist. Well, El Pastor went to visit him yesterday to see how he was doing. Praise the Lord, he does not have one broken bone! Thank you all for your prayers!

Toluca

 This past weekend, I accompanied Tio Mario and Abner up to Toluca. Abner was invited to preach their youth services and I would get to see Dacia! Toluca is about 3 1/2 hours by car. 

We took one city bus, 2 traveler buses, 1 taxi, the metro in Mexico City, and walked a ways. 

It total, it was an eight-hour trip. 

We were so happy to get there! We had church that night...I was a little tired, but Abner did a good job preaching.

Bro. Loa talking to the people

After church, there was a youth get-together...yay for food!! 

Lupita and myself...This young lady is such a sweetheart! And she speaks perfect English :)

I loved seeing these godly young people!! The Loa's have some really great young people.

Me and Dacia..I was so happy to see this girl! She is hilarious and we always have a good time when we see each other. Because we both live in Mexico, we understand the culture and the struggles that go along with living in a foreign country. It's great! Lol!

I love it and I love this young lady! 

I like that we can tell each other weird stories and feel completely normal. No weird looks or questions about "why"! It's just Mexico, that's why!

 Bro. and Sis. Loa and the food table :)

Me and Dacia

Saturday morning we all went over to the park for a day of sports and fun.

This policeman was doing his duty, making sure no one jumped off the bridge or got too crazy.

Trying to look fierce

Not gonna let the tunnel collapse! :D

The guys playing soccer

After kids played for a while, a bunch of us went to find something to drink. We found this interesting looking food...the lady called it a churro. It definitely didn't taste sweet though. It was salty and dripping in grease! :-/

 We had church Saturday night, after our day at the park...

The girls praying

Dacia singing!

Abner preached his heart out and the young people really responded. It was the best service!

Dacia and I

Sunday church service was awesome--Tio Mario preached.

This little girl's mom came up to the altar to pray..and she did not like it!
I bribed her with some candy and this picture of herself on my camera and got her to sit in a chair and let her mom pray. What a doll!

Q: How Much *Does* a Dodge Grand Caravan Weigh?

 A: A Dodge Grand Caravan weighs 3,763 pounds!

 

 

 

This past friday was an eventful day...

Austin had been staying with the grandparents while our parents were on vacation, and we had planned on meeting up with them to pick him up. On our way out of our colonia we stopped at the gas station to put air in the tire... While they were airing up the tire, the air valve broke off, and all of the air whooshed out, suddenly leaving us with a very flat tire! One of the attendants offered to change the tire for us, and he got to work taking off the tire as all the other attendants stood around watching, laughing, and joking with him...

The way our car is designed, the spare tire is located underneath the car near the front seats. The workers had a hard time figuring out how to get it out. The attendant, Marcos, was next to the car trying to pull it out from under the car...

^Here is Sis. Mom loosening the spare tire from underneath the car.^

(I never imagined that I would actually use this picture haha... Thanks to my having my camera open due to boredom, I have the following pictures...)

 

 

Then suddenly things went from bad to worse, and the laughing stopped... The jack slipped and pinned the young guy's arm between the spare tire and the asphalt so that the entire weight of the car crushed his wrist. My mom and I jumped out of the car as fast as we could, and everyone in the vicinity ran towards the car, gathering around it, lifting it, as the poor guy was screaming out in pain. We really don't know how we were able to lift the car enough for him to be slid out from under it. It was a miracle.

 

  The people were finally able to get him out from under the car, and he stumbled away from the car and fell on the ground. It was an awful scene and all we could do was just pray and pray that everything would be okay.

 

 

With him barely conscious they carried him over to the shade and sat him down at a table...

He was so close to passing out here.

 

This story really has no spectacular ending-- we left even before the ambulance got there. We offered to take him to the hospital but the ambulance had already been called, so we left. The guy had work insurance, and there was really nothing else that we could do for him.

 

 

We did learn a lesson today though-- never let a Pemex gas station attendant change your tire-- turns out its against the gas station rules and they're not supposed to do it!! The guy whose arm got pinned and crushed is named Marcos. He could probably use all the prayers he can get, so please remember him when you pray!

 

 

*Nicole*

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving 2012!

We had another wonderful Thanksgiving here in Mexico last night!

This one was special in a different way though-- Beth and I hosted it at our house! Our parents had accidentally planned their 25th anniversary vacation right on the week of Thanksgiving! Oops! :)

So that left Beth and I to do all of the work... And boy was there a lot of work! But it was fun, fun, fun! We spent 3 days cooking, cleaning, and making sure everything was ready... and 5 minutes before the doorbell rang, we deemed everything party-worthy!

 

Austin giving thanks... Or who knows... :))

^^Austin just being Austin!^^

Scalloped potatoes, ham, green beans, homemade rolls, olives (minus the black beans), Watergate salad, punch, broccoli salad, yams... 

 

 

A funny thing happened when the company arrived-- We started bringing in the food, setting it all out on the counters and tables, reheating food, and just settling in for a nice evening together... and then Gramma mentioned that she could not find her scalloped potatoes... and then she suddenly exclaims, "Oh no! The potatoes! They're in the oven at home!" And every one's reply, "Aww bummer, whats Thanksgiving without potatoes!" (Or at least that may be what ran through MY mind hahaha.) But then she adds, "And the oven is still on!!" Well that got everyone into a tizzy, and we hurriedly began thinking of who on the other side of town could go break into my grandparents house and turn off the oven... But Bro. Grampa was very quickly elected to rush home and keep the house from burning down... This somewhat dampened the lively spirit, and we continued putting every thing in it's place. Then we hear from the kitchen, "The potatoes!! I found the potatoes!! Glenn!!!" And then everyone was thrown into a bigger tizzy, rushing to the front window to keep Elder Wakefield from driving off! Turns out the potatoes had been sitting on the counter the whole time! :))) We all had a good laugh about this, and were also very relieved that the oven really hadn't been left on.... :)

The big boy serving up his own plate ;)





And what did he serve himself? Bread and ham. Plus a 2-inch thick slice of butter on each half of his roll. I don't know how he is still living and breathing with all of the butter that he consumes... Haha!

 Here we all are!

 

Atleast 5 times there was mention of my marriage (non-existent LOL), or the fact that I was ready to get married... All because of the homemade rolls that I made!! :)))

--That is how you are deemed  ready for marriage here in Mexico! Make a good dish, and you're all set!!

Hahaha.

The dessert table... 

Pumpkin pie, chocolate mint patties, a pumpkin roll, eggnog cupcakes, blackberry cupcakes, a 3-layer cheesecake/pumpkin/nut pie, gluten free apple cobbler (hallelujah!!), and some interesting date fudge... Interesting as in "never again". LOL.



 After eating, the women headed into the kitchen to wash dishes and put everything away...

....and the guys headed outside for a game of soccer "to help the food settle down"... In other words, make room for more food! :)

 

A little while later, everyone ended up in the living room for coffee and dessert....

...and Pictionary!! We aaalways end up playing this when we get together! :))

 

It can get pretty lively!

 

Abner gettin' into it! :))

 

I love the facial expressions!! Haha!

 

Being entertained :)

 

...and when its a group play, things get crazy :)) 4 teams all trying to act out "roller coaster", hoping their partner will guess the right word first!

 

After games and visiting, we called it a night and everyone headed off to their own houses! We had such a fun time with our friends and family. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day as well!

 

 

*Nicole*

San Francisco

Saturday morning after West Coast, we got up bright and early to head out for San Francisco. We got UP bright and early...but sat around and visited in the hotel lobby for a long time. It's alright, we were having a good time!

Caleb and Kassia

The bay...

The beautiful hills and windmills :)

Driving over this loooooong bridge...

I love tunnels! It's weird though, every time I go through one I think of Princess Diana..

Alcatraz

The city! What a beautiful day...

When we finally arrived in San Francisco, the guys had to go to the bathroom...they were almost in tears. When I got home and showed this picture to my family, we all laughed until we were crying.

Peir 39..everyone look at the camera?!

Kassia and Cara

In the Biscoff store!

Kassia, Me, Cara, Jacob, Marvin, Caleb, and Sammy

Walking to the end of the pier

Barrels of chocolate everywhere!

There are a couple people in this world that can say just about anything and make me laugh hysterically. One, Stephanie Marchbanks, and two...Cara! Oh my word, this girl is hilarious!

Of course there are a ton of weirdos in San Francisco...

This guy was one of them. He was laaaaaaaughing his head off all by his lonesome. 

He was pretty entertaining! :D
Pretty sure he was on something...

The seagulls trying to steal Marvin's corndog

How low can ya go?

 

...not very low, apparently!

On my last day in the U.S. I got to go to church at Elder Morton's church in Fresno. After church, we went out to eat at Olive Garden. WOW. GOOD FOOD!!
Then the Klanns invited us over. They had a fire going in their front yard. It was freezing cold outside, but we sat around and ate ice cream and hot chocolate. We had a super fun time!

All in all, I had the best time in the U.S.! I forget how good things are over there and when I go back to visit, I'm always pleasantly surprised at the nice, English-speaking people, and woaaaaah-wonderful food! There's nothing like it, I'm telling you!

~Bethany~