Pacto de Pureza

A few months ago we had a special youth meeting in Mexico City for the young people within the area. It is always a hassle going through Mexico City. We dread it with fear and trembling. The police there are awful and so corrupt. We have to be so careful, and make sure we follow every rule, make sure we are doing everything right. Because it is such a huge city, only certain cars can drive on certain days. Whenever we have to go to Mexico, we have to look at the last digit of the license plate number and match it up to the circulation calendar to see if our car is allowed.


Well...apparently they updated calendars without our knowledge. On our way to Pastor Isai's church, we got stopped FOUR times. The police did NOT want to let us go. The first one said they were going to have to take the car, we'd have to pay a chunk of money to get it back...blah blah blah. So nerve-wracking. I hate driving through that city. 

We were running short on time and the first policeman wouldn't let us go so I called up ahead to let my grandpa and the other group know that we were behind them. Turns out they were stopped as well! This story has a happy ending - Abner gave me his uncle's number who is a police officer. I called him and he said to pass the phone to the police officer. After a short conversation, the officer that had pulled us over let us go.
 

 This happened three more times. It was so so so frustrating - my stomach was in knots! The police situation there is just so stressful. You are basically at their mercy.
Thank God for Abner's uncle. Seriously. I don't think we wouldn't made it out alive without him. Later on the uncle told us that the first officer did NOT want to let us go without a little "tip". He was telling Abner's uncle on the line, "C'mon, these Americans never travel without money!" Ugh! How infuriating!

Anyways -
We finally arrived. We were so frazzled - lol! I felt like I needed to lay down in a quiet room for just a few minutes. Gaaaa! But we walked into church, right to the front where they'd saved us seats (oh, yay!) And we got into the service! 

The theme and purpose of this day was to talk about purity. There were two sessions in the morning and then a general service at night. Dad taught both morning sessions and Abner preached the night service.

Dad did so so good! The classes were so needed, so timely!

Between sessions, there were some fun things for the youth planned. We did a couple games and took pictures with these funny hats and eye gear.

As you can see, this happened before Nicole's grand departure :)

Montse and Nicole

After the two morning sessions, the young people were given a chance to sign what was called the "Pacto de Pureza" - a purity pact. When I was younger, my youth group did a Worth the Wait class. We translated what was written on my Worth the Wait ribbon and had these certificates made. 

This was a really special moment. 

There was a general service that night which Abner preached. 

He preached really well and we had a good service!

We had such a good time with the other young people. I wish we could do this more often - but next time not in Mexico City - ha! I'm still recovering from that traumatizing trip into the city :D

~Bethany~