Bro. Dad's 43rd

This is how our Sunday service usually goes:

Prayer at 3:30pm

Sing one song, then dismiss for classes at 4:00

5:00pm song service, then the preaching. 

This is how our service went yesterday:

"Prayer" at 3:30pm (I think everyone was really thinking about what was about to happen.)

4:00pm We sang until Bro. Dad did the 'fist' (end now!) sign, which went with a befuddled look that said, "Why are you guys hijacking the service??"

...half of us voted to NOT cancel church for the party. (Have someone get the Holy Ghost, or eat cake?) But there were some pretty influential people on the other side that said, "It's only once a year..." So we compromised by having a mini-worship service. 

4:20 we dismissed for classes. Bro. Dad's new convert's class went upstairs and the rest of us went to decorating.

SURPRISE!!

Throwing confetti...(It looks like Israel is giving him some kind of birthday blessing). 

He really had no clue about this whole thing. 

(We were SO nervous that he knew what was going on). 

Feliz Cumpleanos, Pastor! 

Lots of hugs...

"The Girls"

Us

Eating tamales

MORDIDA!!

:)

Austin says he's going to marry this girl and the girl's older brother has Austin calling him "Brother-in-Law". 

Hum. 

Watching the the game

Playing soccer in the street (It really wasn't this dark out...)

Two years ago we came to Puebla and took this church. This was our youth group then (plus Nicole and I).

This is our youth group now. (Below)

"A pictures is worth a thousand words."

This one SCREAMS, "Look what God is doing in Puebla, Mexico!!!!"

All of the young people in this picture have the Holy Ghost, except for 2, but they don't stand a chance because this Friday-Sunday we are going to be having a conference. 

What do you get when you add together on-fire, determined young people and God?

Like I said...they don't stand a chance...

We are so excited about this conference, about who is coming. We know God is going to do great things!

There's a Killer On the Loose

   Sunday morning our assistant pastor's wife brought us over a little present. She had been promising this for a few months now, but then stopped mentioning it for a while. We figured she had forgotten about it and I have to admit, we weren't too broken hearted. But apparently she remembered yesterday because I walked outside and she was coming up the stairs and in her arms was...a baby duck. Like this:

Of course it was so stinkin' adorable...what are we going to say? "Sorry, but you'll have to take this back to the market." Actually, that is what Bro. Dad told her in a little bit nicer words. I guess she thought he was joking because the duck stayed. So it tweeted (or what is the noises baby ducks make? They don't quack...) allll day before church, then allll night after church. His reward was he got to sleep outside.
    All of Sunday I was too busy to take a picture of it. I had planned on doing it today, in the daylight, outside. Well, this morning we pull out a big bowl of water put the duck in it, and ooooh, it was so cute! He swam around and washed his beak. The whole time we're watching the duck, Bro. Dad is saying, "How can we get rid of this thing?"
I went downstairs to get my camera in the church and when I came up the dogs were inside. Long story short...
Bro. Dad had to pry precious little Beau's mouth open and Nicole had to reach in and pull the duck out of Beau's throat by its tail feathers. Yes, throat. He was apparently going to swallow the thing whole.

   Needless to say, the little guy is now in ducky heaven. Austin is a little traumatized by the whole ordeal, as he had a front row seat. I went outside earlier and was petting Beau. Austin looked down his nose at me, and said (in a totally condescending voice), "I CAN'T believe you're petting him." Like I'm some kind of traitor. Well, excuse me, honey child.
After Beau had his fun, he continued sniffing around the kitchen like he was some kind of angel dog.
Like I said...I didn't get any pictures. This is the only picture I got that relates to the duck. He had left us a little gift in his swimming water and it was there even after little Duck had got thrown in the dumpster...

The culprit, moments after his almost-meal. 

See? Living in Mexico is just so exhilarating!

Oh-So-Interesting Goings-On

Beau is really mean and has a terrible temper. He randomly lunges at Ranger and bites his tail or his ears or his flabby skin. 

I can now bounce a ball on a tennis racket 803 times. Wow.

I can also bounce it right on top of our neighbor's roof...which is what I did yesterday.

SO...Thanks to Nicole's great mind...

We stuck chewing gum on the end of stick to stick it to the ball, hung the stick over the edge and...

The neighbor's daughter comes climbing up the roof. I'm sure we had totally guilty looks on our faces, but she was kind enough to throw it back over for us.

Beau's needle teeth are staying sharp...

This is how the guys got their supplies up on top the roof. A pulley and muscles.

Our roof:

They built a mini wall around the top of our house so now when it rains the water won't come inside. 

Hallelujah!

The boys.

Sifting sand.

Israel's scary way of getting to this ledge.

This is what the guys are doing right now. They set up the scaffolding and are now 'repillando', which is...uhhh...splattering and smoothing cement on our walls so the water doesn't come in when it rains. 

Valentin, the guy in the middle, is scared of heights. So when he gets up on the ramp he kinda hunches and does this dopey laugh, like "ER, ER, ERRRRRRR."

Mixing cement.

Putting water into the cement volcano.

You know nothing's happening when we post dog pictures. 

(Beau's new favorite toy).

THEE end. 

Before and After

Our living room, before we painted:

We did the church remodeling 2 years ago, but this is what it looked like before:

And now!

The patio...Before:

And now...

Our First Youth Service

Elder Wakefield's assistant pastor's brother (Irvin Garcia), who pastors in Mexico City came over to Puebla to preach our youth service. It was so good! 

Bro. Dad, Hno. Mario, and his brother Isai. 

We had a FULL house. 

At the end, Hno. Irvin invited all the young people that hadn't yet gotten the Holy Ghost to come up front. About 8 kids went up. Then the the adults came up behind them and we started to pray...

And Erica got the Holy Ghost, and...

Daniela got the Holy Ghost, and...

...This young man got the Holy Ghost!! (I can't remember his name).

This lady's son, David, was first invited to church by Eduardo about 3 months ago. He came faithfully for about a month, then we didn't see him for a few weeks. Then he showed up last Sunday and cried and prayed in the altar. On Friday his mom and 2 siblings showed up. She was sooo close to getting the Holy Ghost, hopefully she comes back to church today.

Isai playing at alter call, then...

Shout, shout, shout...

...shout, shout, shout!!

We had a gooood time!

After the service we filled the baptistery and Eduardo,

and Erica,

and Ismael,

...

and Veronica,

and Alejandro,

and his brother got baptized in JESUS name!!

Then we hung out and ate nachos. 

Judah:

THEN...after everyone left, Hno. Irvin and his wife and family came upstairs. It was so late, there were no restaurants open or anyplace we could eat at and we really didn't have food in the fridge. 

(This is Irvin and Sandra and their 'boy and girl twins', born 2 months ago. Un-named, as of yet.)

(Am I the only one that thinks Irvin looks like a tanned Jay Leno?)

And their little son, Juanito. He's a doll!

So we sat around waiting for Bro. Dad to get home from taking all the wet young people home. 

Us: "What could we eat? There's nothing, really..."

Mario: "Your gramma makes this thing that I looove. What's it called? Uhhh...fre-anshh toesss?"

Us: "Huh?"

Mario: "It's like bread with syrup. Fre-ashhh toesss."

Everyone: "OH!! French toast!"

It was 12:30am, time for breakfast anyways. So we at french toast, eggs, Coke, and Mexican sweet bread. 

Bro. Dad, Sis. Mom, and Sis. Nicole went over to Mexico City this morning to preach at Hno. Irvin's church. AndSOthen...Elder Wakefield is coming over to preach for us. Yeeeee-haw!