What's Up, School?

 We are into our second week of school and enjoying this classroom more than ever. We are one of the tallest buildings around here so we have a pretty great view of the city, especially at night when everything is lit up. We leave the door and windows open for the majority of each school day. The way the breeze blows through - it is so relaxing. Last Saturday evening, I was working in the school when a wave of sleepiness hit me. I grabbed a stack of notebooks to use as a makeshift pillow... I must've been really tired because it was not comfortable at all, but I slept for an entire hour under my desk. My first thought when I woke up was, "Wow. This floor is hard." 

Anyways - it is really nice. We never have to turn on lights, with all the windows we have. The carpet, the cute tile, the colors we chose...it all just feels so nice and cozy. We are so happy with how it turned out! 

The dogs also love the school. We forbid them to enter, but somehow Jack always sneaks in. This time we didn't notice him until he was snoozing on the tile...too cute to kick out.

He looks innocent, and he is - when he's sleeping. But for some reason, he is really attracted to going to the bathroom on the carpet. Eww.

Another time, Jack snuck in and stretched beside Austin's chair. It's funny how he knew right who to go to.

After lunch we have been having "reading time". We have acquired a small selection of Spanish books in the past year and are steadily working to grow that collection. We feel pretty satisfied when we see the kids lost in the world of reading. Reading is fun!

During lunch break we have a stack of board games that the kids like to play. Last week they were on a Chess kick. It was pretty quiet in the classroom when Austin busts out about this amaaaazing move. He demanded a picture of it.

I don't really like showing this picture for all the junk on the right....eek! We are working on getting that cleaned up and out of here. But on the left you can see the weight bench. Austin and Bryan are trying to get 'buff'! Bro. Valentin was in the army when he was younger so he's assists in showing them terribly difficult exercise moves.

Tuesday morning we were all quietly working when the school door busts open, Bro. Valentin pops his head in and announces, "I don't want to interrupt, but....YOU HAVE A VISITOR!!"
In walks Abner. 
Wow. Thank you for not interrupting! (Apparently we have a new school butler!)

So Abner stayed for the day, helped out at school, went to P.E. with the boys, entertained us, played checkers with us....
 

Turns out Abner is a prolific checker player. Or he was just having a lucky day becuase he whooped all of us. Checkers was never my strong point, however, UNO is another story. Heh heh.
After school we turned on Deitrick Haddon's "Well Done" and had non-dominant-hand handwriting contests.

You guys notice my decorations?? It is Independence month here in Mexico and it is exciting to be able to finally decorate our classroom!

Last week we got a notice that there was a package waiting for me at the post office. I tried not to get excited because I knew of maybe three people that actually have my Mexican address. I doubted any of those people had sent a package....
I figured some business had gotten my address and there was going to be a stack of boring envelopes and junk mail waiting for me.
However! When I the postal worker pulled this hunk off the shelf, my eyes about fell out of my head. It's a bit of a deal picking up mail here..sign here, sign there. I couldn't see the return address...
Finally he handed it over annnnnnd.....it was from Washington!
Washington?
WASHINGTON?

Oh my!
"With love, from Amanda, Andrea, and Bethany, to Bethany and Nicole"

From Amanda and Bethany Diaz and Andrea Martinez, our friends in Washington!

 The box was full of all kinds of treats and school supplies.
Bath and Body Works, Sour Patch Kids, Carmel Apple candies, pencil holders, stickers, cut-out letters, notepads...so much stuff! We had a ton of fun going through everything. Best of all - it was a complete surprise!

This adorable and luscious apple - it is fake! But as Amanda said, "Every teacher needs an apple on their desk!"

 Thank you girls for thinking of us! You definitely put a smile on our faces.
You all are too sweet.

And that is what's been up with the school lately!

~Bethany~

Molotes with Carmen & Girls

This summer, Sis. Carmen took Nicole and I to her favorite place to eat in downtown Puebla. She raved about this place! She was so excited to take us there. She warned us ahead of time to not eat a lot in the day because that night we were going to need to be starving our heads off to be able to eat the big portions they give. 

We decided to meet at the corner to catch the bus together. Nicole and I got there early and waited...and waited...and waited a little bit more.

After arriving downtown, we walked around for a bit until it was time for the restaurant to open.

We arrived at seven on the dot, but there were already a ton of people waiting in line!

While Sis. Carmen waited in line, we saved some seats.

Delicious AND healthy....heh heh...eeek!

Sis. Carmen did not let us down. The food was delicious! This place is famous for their molotes. A molote looks sort of like a quesadilla, but it is sealed all along the edges and fried in oil. There are all kinds of fillings to choose from to put inside. Chicken, potato, cheese, tinga, mushroom, or a mixture of any of these...and more! My favorite is potato and white cheese. Another family favorite is the tinga which is chicken in a red sauce. 

On top of the molote they put sour cream, lettuce, and salsa. Woah! Tasty!

After eating we rode back home on the bus. And that was the end of our evening.

However, when my parents got back from the US, they also wanted to try this place out. So once again we trekked down to the center of town for a late dinner. 

Austin loved his molote!

Jerameel

Nicole

This was a big hit! We like finding new restaurants (I use the word loosely) to add to our repertoire. In case there are any adventurous visitors that want a taste of true Mexico... :)

~Bethany~

First Fruits

 "Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:"

Proverbs 3:9

 "..Bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD:"

Nehemiah 10:35

Here in Mexico, people take these verses seriously. Many saints in our church have fruit trees, gardens, or some sort of farm animal. It has been a long-standing tradition that whatever that plant or animal produces in the beginning is given to Pastor. If the fruit tree produces a lot, we get big bags full! If the plant just produces one little bean, it is also given as an offering. I can't say that we don't get a kick out of this - it is pretty special to us. It is not something that has been taught by us to the people, but something they have adopted many many years ago.

The other day, Sis. Elvira brought over the first blackberry her bush had produced. She was very pleased to present it to Pastor!

Look at that luscious little morsel!

She wanted Pastor to eat it right then, probably to see if it was as good as it looked!

Sis. Francis' chicken also laid its first egg. It is the little brown one on the right.

The next morning, Dad had a hearty breakfast of eggs and toast. Yum!

Are there any of you out there that also have this tradition? Do you give your pastor the first fruits of your produce? Or is there anyone that has been on the receiving end of a tradition like this?
If you have, comment below! We'd love to hear your stories!

 ~Bethany~

Sunday School 3rd Quarter Ice Cream Party!

A couple of Sundays ago we finished another quarter of Sunday school! At the end of each quarter, we always throw a party and reward kids for attendance, bringing their Bibles, memorizing verses, bringing visitors, etc. This gives them motivation and something special to look forward to!

We started off the party with a scavenger hunt!

Although it looks like I am directing traffic here, I really am separating the kids into teams.

Once the two teams were picked they started reading their riddles and cards!

Team #1

Here's Ailyn reading a card to her team members

Team #2

The teams raced around the church grounds searching for clues! They had a blast.

This was one of the funniest parts. One of the cards referred to one of their lessons about evangelism. The instructions told them to find Pastor, ask him for some church flyers, and to go find someone to give them to on the street. When I planned this, I expected Pastor to be downstairs during this part of the game... But when we arrived at this step, Pastor was no where to be found! Turns out he was eating a quick lunch upstairs! LOL. We told the kids where he was, and the mob of Team #2 ran up the stairs to the house screaming and yelling "Pastor, Pastor!!!"

Pastor gave them their flyers and off they went, handing them out. Our kids LOVE handing out flyers!! There is no shame or shyness in them!

The dogs were quite interested and a little bothered with all of the commotion that the kids were making!

This game was more for the big kids, so little Ana was a bit lost during all the running around!

^Rainboots on backwards :)^

For the grand finale they had to sink Paul's boat! Team #2 won!

This is one of our Sunday school boy's dog. This is what we see above the gate doors each time this kid comes. His loyal friend!

Because our kids really do love passing out flyers, off they went again after the scavenger hunt ended.

Me and my little princess Beatriz!

Big smiles!

Bro. Baltazar planned a fruit eating contest for the kids. Whoever finished their slice of fruit first, won! This was so fun and hilarious!

1st round: The boys!

Out of this whole line of boys, ALL the girls were cheering LOUDLY, "Bryan! Bryan! Bryan!" ...I think we have some crushes going on! LOL.

These kids LOVE fruit so this was a treat for them!

And well, well, well... I guess all that cheering from the girls helped, because Bryan won!

Round 2: The girls!

Their style was a little more dignified than the boys.

Round 3: The Babies!

Now who would you guys think won this round! Surely the oldest of these girls...

And the winner is........

...not Tania.....

Ana!! The smallest of them all! She's a little cantaloupe-eating scrapper! :))

Round 4: The Men

And the winner.... is NOT the pastor. It was actually Valentin. But here is a nice picture of Missionary Wakefield with his watermelon. :)

Next, the winners got to choose their prizes.

To end the celebration, we had an Ice Cream Party!! This might have been the most exciting part of the day. There was so many sugar toppings and we did not hold back.... We were just waiting to see kids drop from a sugar overload.

Mom and Beth were the ice cream scoopers.

The kids tried to wait patiently for their ice cream...

Mmm.... here we have cherries, M&Ms, sprinkles, oreos, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, bananas, gummy bears, and a half bald sucker bouquet. :)) I'm loving the girls' facial expressions.

This is shy Joni with his ice cream creation.

These boys won prizes for never missing a Sunday in the quarter! (There were more kids who never missed but these won the drawing.)

 

Eddy (left) was SO excited about his HUGE 5LB bag of candy that he picked! We have no idea how he is going to finish this huge bag... He's going to have to have help. :))

We had a blast with the kids, and are now into our new quarter of Sunday school. 

This quarter's promotion/focus is on Bible Quizzing! We're going to get these kids learning their Bibles and memorizing verses! This will be a totally new experience to 99% of our kids, so I am so excited to see the competitiveness rise to the surface and to see Bible champions made! 

We currently do not have a Bible quizzing buzzer, but would LOVE to have one. If anyone has one to donate, we would be so, so grateful.

 For the meantime, we will be quizzing old school Puebla style, using our little silver school bells. :D 

Well peeps, it has been a pleasure to spend a little time out of my day to share this Sunday school news with you all... I love Sunday school! How about ya'll?? 

God Bless!

*Nicole*