Minister's Meeting

A few weeks ago Elder Wakefield's church hosted a ministers meeting for the pastors and ministry that work within a reasonable driving distance of Puebla. Abner very bravely volunteered to make the food for lunch. Pork, no less. I would've been terrified to have that responsibility on my shoulders alone, especially with it being pork. Having been pork-poisoned once, the meat scares me to death. One wrong move and you've got worms eating your brains out. 

And no one to blame but Abner! HA. 

But anyways, apparently Abner is "totes profesh" because the pork meat turned out great, as did the beans, tortillas, salsas, and guacamole. I think we all left pretty impressed. 

When we arrived, he was outside with a giant vat of bubbling oil. I volunteered to help so he graciously let me sprinkle the magic sugar potion into the ominous pig fare. 

I'd tell you what the potion is, but I'm not sure if it's a secret. 

Once the meeting started, us kids made ourselves scarce. Nicole and I went upstairs to relax and have a nice chat. This ended in Nicole choking on her tea and spitting it all over the floor - thus the mop.

Pastor Cortez (yes, that's what the people call him here since they can't pronounce "Curtis") teaching. 

Little girl...she missed her paper and drew all over the back of her hands - lol! 

Praying for the ministers

After a couple sessions of teaching, it was time to eat. Abner got to chopping the meat and divvying it up while Nicole and I set it out on the tables. 

Like I said, the food turned out great. But most importantly, we had a move of the Holy Ghost in the minister's sessions and I think everyone left very grateful that they had made the effort to come.

This meeting was so uplifting and the ministers and wives left refocused on their callings to the people of Mexico! 

~Bethany~

Daddio's Day

Monday was Dad's birthday...we celebrated three times throughout the weekend! On Saturday we went to a Brazilian steakhouse - as always, it was quite an experience and we left totally stuffed. 

Grammers and Grampers

Coley

They give you these little wooden blocks that you are supposed to flip back and forth to signal if you want meat brought to you or not. We were hungry, hungry so we figured stacking all of our blocks on top of each other might get the meat man's attention! 

The good stuff...

Austin looks like he's contemplating whether or not he wants this measly chicken or if he should wait on a juicy steak... 

On Monday, a family in our church brought over a cake and we made a birthday dinner together for him. It was so sweet! 

Then last night after prayer meeting, the church surprised him with a party. We had a good ole time.

Happy birthday, Dad. We love you!!

~Bethany~

Sunday School Street Kids

This is Luis.

 He's really beginning to take up a special place in my heart. His life story is a sad one, but he has such a sweet personality and always comes into Sunday school with a big smile on his face. 

He lives close to Sis. Rocio and comes to Sunday school with her and her kids.

On his first Sunday ever, the announcement was made that all the new visitors with a star on their name tag could come pick a prize out of the treasure chest! Luis looked down at his name tag, and his face lit up when he saw that he had a silver star next to his name! I'll never forget the look of pure joy, excitement, and also a little uncertainty as he looked at me and pointed to himself as if to say "Me? Can I really?". He went to pick out his toy, and as he happily returned to his seat he caught my eye, once again seeking approval. It's as if he thought he was dreaming and was waiting for someone to pinch him! :)

Many of our Sunday school kids roam the streets either with no parents at all, or parents who just don't care what these little ones do. 

This is part of the group of "street kids" that come to Pasos Grandes. The little girl wearing the pink hat is the "Tia" (Aunt) of all of children in this picture. Paola is a good little aunt, and takes good care of all of her charges.

 This little 4 year old is Josue. He usually shows up with his Tia Paola...

A couple of Sundays ago, as Valentin and I were getting ready for Sunday school, we found this baby sitting on the front step all alone. He was there more than an hour early for class!

He can barely talk, but I was able to get out of him that he walked here alone, but yes, his family knew that he was at church! (A lie.) Stinker haha.

I popped a sucker in his mouth and sat him down to draw. I continued working and waited for someone to come searching for their little son. No one came looking for him... Finally his little Aunt Paola showed up with her group of chillens. But no one was worried for this little guy. From what I gathered no one even noticed his absence. Such a worrisome thought, But I'm glad he made it to church.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to spend every Sunday with these kiddos and 

 I pray that we are able to have an eternal impact on their lives!

*Nicole*

Marshmallows & Jenga

A couple of the girls came over the other day to make homemade marshmallows and have a little fun. They pulled out Jenga - one of their favorite games.

A very tense situation :)

Mari pouring the marshmallows

Sprinkling the powdered sugar

Later on the night I sat down to eat dinner and the game was still on the table. Mom and I started to play back and forth when all of a sudden............

The blocks collapsed right into my Pipian Verde! 

Jenga a la Mexicana! 

My recommendation would be to not play and eat....

~Bethany~

Roses from Adelina

Just a couple cute pictures of Nicole buying roses from our neighbor...

Beatrice loves to come to Sunday school! 

~Bethany~

Just a Day in the Life

Bro. Valentin has been teaching in our Bible class every other week. He is doing an awesome job! He has led a pretty interesting life so he always is coming up with great illustrations for the kids. More than a few times he's made me and Nicole's eyes almost pop out of our heads. 

We should start a new series on the blog called "Stories from Valentin" - Ha! 

Prayer time

It can get pretty cold in the church during the day - I have been enjoying my hot tea more than ever! 

At least once a week we play English-Spanish bingo. There's a hundred cards with English words and pictures in the game and the boys have almost all of them memorized. Just from playing this and practicing once a week!!

We are so proud of our boys - they are doing such a good job learning English and in their other studies as well. We will be moving to the new school in a short while so you can look forward to a post on that! The building project is almost done!!!

~Bethany~

Sunday School Work Day

We had a Sunday school team work day a few weeks back. When my family took a trip to the US a couple months ago, they brought back a much begged for projector. This thing has turned me into an artist extraordinaire! Since I can barely draw stick men, it has been a serious life saver. The theme for Sunday school this quarter is Alaska so I found some trees and a cabin to outline. They turned out looking pretty awesome.

The ladies formed a candy-bag-makin' assembly line 

Hno. Paco and Israel painted the ticket booth

The ladies also cleaned out and organized the Sunday school storage room

Sis. Rocio made new tickets for the kids

Choyo entertained us with his antics

Balloon volley ball

Dad made a cardboard 3D polar bear

To see how the set-up finally turned out, scroll back a few posts!

~Bethany~