A week of surprises

 Saying goodbye to elder Aguilar

 Tthe combined missionary force of the Los Altos branch and Turnbull Canyon ward

 tissue paper dresses

 the temple trip with Yuri

A trip to the local swap meet. We didn't buy the hats.

Every once in a while I have these ideas that I'm in control of my life and what is happening around me. And then weeks like this happen and it proves that the Lord is truly in charge. He works in a
mysterious way, but it is all part of a greater plan. That's what's been getting us through the past few days.

You might remember that last week I mentioned a cute little girl named Yuri that we are teaching. Well this week was all about getting her ready for her baptism. She was super excited, we were super excited, and her mom when we got the baptismal white signed, (basically a paper with information that says the person agrees to be baptized) her mom was super excited too. Then literally the next day we get a call from her mom telling us that it was too soon and she wanted Yuri to wait until August 28th. We were all really sad, especially Yuri, but the fifth commandment is honor thy father and they mother and so on there was nothing we could do. So we did the next best thing. Instead of having a baptism on Sunday we had a temple trip with Yuri and her grandma. It was a super good experience for them both, and now we are also going to work with her grandma to enter the temple as well. So it wasn't a complete loss.

Then there's Elena. We had a super good lesson with her on Tuesday where we cleared up some problems with the Book of Mormon. Then she also had invited us to dinner. The thing about Elena is that she has basically taken it upon herself to teach us how to cook. So we learned how to make gorditas. We definitely need more practice but they were super good. The next update was on Friday when we found out that she and her husband aren't actually married, which means that Elena can't
get baptized. Fortunately they both know it's important, so hopefully we'll be planning a wedding pretty soon. We're trying really hard to focus on the positive.

Probably the most heartbreaking part of this week was Elder Aguilar. He had some pre existing medical problems and it was a miracle he was even able to come and serve a mission. Then this last week he spent Monday through Thursday in the hospital. Then Friday morning he boarded a plane for home with an honorable medical release. So for the rest of the transfer elder Pugh is in a trio with the Samoan elders. It's been a little rough because we have been picking up some of the slack for the elders, covering lessons and the like, which has meant that we have been running around like crazy. It's all part of the Lord's plan though, and everything will turn out for the best.

There were also some bright shining moments this week. The first was a little day camp for girls between the ages of 8 and 11. We were asked to help out and teach about modesty and good grooming. So for an activity we made modest dresses out of tissue paper. A shout out goes to my mother and all other elementary school teachers who teach that age group every day. We were just with them for an hour and we were absolutely exhausted afterward. It was so fun and so rewarding though. They were so sweet and many of them said it was their favorite activity.

Another highlight was Sunday. They had put the missionaries in charge of speaking and the musical number in Sacrament meeting, and so Elder Pugh and Hermana Schmutz spoke, and I was in charge of the musical number. Fortunately Elder Pugh had to be on exchanges with the elders from the English ward, one of which is a pianist, so it was awesome. The only price was that I also had to play in the English ward because their musical number bailed. Oh well, that just meant that I got to play flute for longer, which I don't get to do as much.

All in all it has been a fun week, a full week, but a fun week none the less. We've been busy in the work of the Lord and that's what really counts. Peace and blessings!