Sunday School in Puebla!

I am LOVING this quarter's new Sunday school theme! The theme is plants, garden, etc. and it sooo colorful! We have a consistent 20 or so kids, and on a good, hectic Sunday we can run around 40. 

Lives are being touched, and progress is being made little by little. Through this endeavor God has brought in so many young children and their family members. Not all have lasted-- many have visited for one Sunday and then are never seen again, but there are those few that have remained faithful and and have brought sisters, brothers, other family members, etc. Thank you Jesus!

Here are just a few pictures from the past few Sundays:

Beatriz and her two little neighbor friends

Building the Garden of Eden!

This past Sunday the lesson was on Noah's ark! 

It was Pastor's turn to teach the lesson, as Noah. The kids loved it!

This is Noah, talking to God. (As we all know, he really did talk to God by means of telephone, while holding a cheetah print umbrella!)

Rainbow cake for the rainbow lesson!

Kiddos lined up to get their candy bags

Bro. Valentin teaching the kids about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus!

Sis. Marisol helping the kids learn the memory verse.

Hna. Elvira helping the children with their craft!

Thank goodness for our Sunday school team! We could not do this with out them.

More to come soon! We are back in the business of blogging! :))

*Nicole*

Uriangato - April 2014

Last week, Dad, Austin, and I went to Uriangato to take care of Pastor Voan's church while he is traveling in the US. I really like Uriangato. It is a tiny little town, everyone is zooming around on motorcycles, and the people are so nice! You can walk to pretty much any place you'd like to go. The first time we went to Uriangato, the Voans had only been there a few months and they were having services in their garage. When we arrived this time, we saw their new church. It is beautiful! It is actually a part of their backyard and has a tin roof, but they have plants and trees all over the place and Bro. Voan did a really cool cement job on the floor. It is pinkish red and just looks super neat! 

We got there Saturday evening and stayed until Wednesday.

El Pastor on Sunday morning

Last year, this young lady in the orange shirt was visiting for the first time the Uriangato church for the first time. She was stand-offish in the service and everyone said she was very Catholic. I don't remember all the details of the story, but her husband had just started coming and had gotten baptized and gotten the Holy Ghost. I was very happy to hear that she now has the Holy Ghost and has gotten baptized! It was good to see her in the altar praying.

This little guy has dimples even when he's not smiling - aww!

The church

This is how people ride around town

Tuesday night Bible study

A man and his dog....so cute!!!

Austin and his new little friend

Best buddies!

The ride home was supposed to last 5 hours. It ended up being almost 8! Yikes. But it was an adventure...and this little guy is a good traveling friend. He likes to snuggle! :)

Remember to pray for Mexico, please! Not just the Wakefields in Puebla, but for all of the Apostolic churches throughout Mexico - including the church in Uriangato. Bro Voan and his wife are doing a good work there are we are looking forward to hearing of more souls being won to the Lord.

~Bethany~

One Year of Our Princess

 April 15, little Miss Elissa turned one! We celebrated her birthday this past Saturday. I can't believe a whole year has passed since she was born. At this time last year, we were just beginning what would turn into more than three months of bad news. Heart problems, eye problems, lung problems...and on and on. We were devastated! We asked you all to pray for little Elissa and you did. We are so very happy and thankful to God for touching Elissa's body and bringing her and the Garcia family through such a difficult time. And now, for giving her a year of life! She is so beautiful - our little princess!

She was oh so serious on her birthday...But what what a gorgeous baby!

Abner loving on his sister

Nicole and I

Nicole made this adorable cake!

The "smash cake"

Dig in!!

Yummmmm!

A nice little chat :)

Present-opening time! Again, the little Miss was not very excited :P

I walked into the kitchen and found this guy making salsa.......what?! He very proudly said that everyone tells him he makes the best salsa. Me - "Since when??" Ha! Thank you, Toluca, for giving this boy some skillZ!

Grampers and Nicole

The out-of-this-world deeeeelicious tostadas

Señor Austin

Dad and Jack

Sistah Nicole and Elissa

And this, my friends, is my favorite picture of the day!! Nicole was trying to get a smile out of Elissa and she just was not having it! Awwww... I just want to kiss those chubby cheeks!

~Bethany~

Easter Sunday 2014

 Here in Mexico, we don't really celebrate Easter. It is considered a Catholic holiday. However, yesterday was a pretty special Sunday! The whole Garcia family came over and Tio Mario preached. He did an awesome job! The church was packed out and we had an incredible altar service.

This young man, Samuel, got the Holy Ghost!

Joni got the Holy Ghost in December, and got another goooood touch last night!

Several people came up and prayed and cried that have never been to the altar before.

As the altar service was ending we were singing and Abner, Valentine, Samuel joined up. We were singing a song some of you might recognize. "Llename, llename, Señor. Dame mas, mas de tu amor. Yo tengo sed solo de ti, llename, Señor." It says "Fill me, fill me, Lord. Give me more, more of your love. I'm thirsty only for You, fill me Lord." These three guys were belting it out!

After altar call... :))

After church, Samuel said he wanted to be baptized. We sat around visiting while the baptistry filled up then gathered around as he climbed in to the cooooold water :)

And down in the water he went!

Good things happened on Easter Sunday! 

~Bethany~

Little Guy Got Skills!

This post has been a LONG time coming!! I'm over the moon happy to be able to tell you all that this little guy right down here is reading ALL on his own!! We struggled together for so long (a year and 4 months to be exact!), and honestly, in the back of my mind, I might have been thinking that this child was NEVER going to get the hang of it!! But a couple of months ago little Nan woke up one morning, came to school, and just started reading like a pro!
He really knocked my teacherly socks off. :))

Let's give a huge round of applause to Nan!

I am so proud of him!! I was practically bouncing off the walls with joy the day this happened...

I do have a bone to pick with this curriculum that we're using though.... Little guy here is in 1st grade, and they're using words like exponentially and indispensable. 

I mean really?? Is that necessary??? 

....We're still at "caaa-aa-aat" and "doo-oo-og"... -__- 

Teaching this little guy is just a roller coaster. One day I am singing his praises, and the next... Well, there's just some days that ain't that good, and 2+2=5. Pray for us folks! :))

*Nicole*

My Friends Came and Visited Me!

This past week was our spring break and it was quite special! Cherie and Stephanie came and visited us! Cherie had been wanting to visit for a loooong time! It was very easy to have these girls down - I did not have to plan anything because they already knew everything they wanted to do and the places they wanted to visit.

In Mexico City, picking them up at the airport and about to get on a bus headed back to Puebla.

Their first morning here, we went downtown.

We ate tacos :)

Their first day here was also a Saturday "Sunday school prep/decorating" day. The girls were a huge help!

Cherie and I making the backdrop for the platform.

After working on Sunday school stuff, we went back across town to stay at my grandparent's house. There were some things on that side of town....like go to church! 

My Tio Mario and Tia Hayde were both sick with a cold so I was asked to take care of Elissa during church. I was sorry they were sick but oh so happy to get to love on my little princess!

The Garcia family, Cherie and Stephanie

A very special day!

After church on one side of town, we jumped in a taxi and headed over to my church for service that afternoon. It was a crazy, but wonderful day!

After church we decided we wanted to take the girls to our very favorite tacos de carne asada place. So we all crammed into the van and headed out.

YUM!!

After church and tacos we headed back to my grandparent's house. We woke up nice and rested the next morning and ready for a nice big breakfast of Swedish pancakes. Ohhhh yum!

Cherie and Stephanie on top the roof of Elder and Sis. Wakefield's house.

After breakfast, we hung out at the house until we regained a bit of an appetite. We then walked down to the market to show the girls our very delicious fruit drinks. They loved them!

Armed with our delicious, ice-cold drinks, we walked over to the lake for a perfect day in the sun.

We rented a couple paddle boats - so fun! Nicole and Stephanie apparently took on the responsibility of "entertainers" during the week. Here, they are paddling backwards, trying to tan the backs of their legs...haha!!!

They also were acting out different scenes from stories... This one is Anne of Green Gables, when Anne is drowning in the boat and Gilbert saves her. Nicole is paddling and Stephanie is laying down in the back of the boat, pretending to be Anne. 

Cherie and I were in our boat across the lake rolling with laughter!! 

Unfortunately there was no knight in shining armor to save Stephanie so she had to get up on her own :)

"Titanic" - Lol! These girls were being crazy!

On to the next day....we woke up not so bright and early and headed downtown for breakfast.

Nicole and Stephanie

Me and Cherie

After breakfast, we walked around downtown sight-seeing. Again, Nicole and Steph took on the roles of "entertainers". 

Cherie took on the role of "pro photographer". I was shocked at the places she would suddenly drop down on her stomach. Dirty...... but hey! She got some very cool pictures!

We sat in the cathedral talking and watching people for a while. It is always nice and cool in there and is the perfect place to come in from the sun and just relax.

Again... Haha!

For dinner we went to one of our best Italian restaurants - Italiani's.

I'm losing track of the days, but on ONE of them, we went out to Cholula.

We also took a trip to the market - what an experience!

Us and our raspados

We went to the mall here in Puebla...yes, we have Burberry...and a ton of other expensive American stores!

We wanted to ride La Estrella de Puebla, but when we got there, they were having a benefit dinner/play/fashion show. It was interesting, but we were disappointed to not get to ride the ferris wheel with the girls! Oh well....next time!

Verrry early Friday morning (or should I say very late on Thursday? 2am!) We headed to the bus station take the girls back to Mexico City. What a sad thing, having to say goodbye!

We had such a wonderful time! Many dreams came true for all of us during this week and I am SO happy that my friends came and visited me!