So much to do, so little time

Hi again - I figured I'd better record some of our adventures of the last three weeks, since they have been so full.  We visited a really old Japanese garden in Saratoga on August 3rd.  It was the first traditional one in North America.  It's very pretty.

It doesn't have all the "bling" of the gardens in San Francisco, but is more reserved, patterned after older traditional gardens.  Fun.

We traveled with a mid-single up to the temple again.  It has just re-opened, and we were excited to see the changes they had made.  We couldn't tell what they had done!  They are putting in a new water feature in front, but hadn't completed that yet.  Here we are in the Visitor's Center

Then we traveled to Monterey once more with the Busks, a senior couple who work in the mission office.  We went to say goodbye to the Fairhursts, who are military liaisons for the church on the military base there.

We delivered some things to the missionaries that serve in Seaside, whale watched, and had a great day.

On Saturday night of that week, one of our mid-singles got married, so we went to his reception with Claudia.  It was so fun.  We got to dance, and sat and watched our MSA dance for 2 hours!  Claudia didn't want to leave, so we actually got Dad to stay for the whole thing! 

They are a very sweet couple.

For our FHE that next Monday, we wrote letters to God.  We were supposed to tell Him what we wanted for the next  year, and make commitments to Him, write these things down, and keep the letters for a year and then see if we had been successful.  It was a very craftie activity, and I was surprised how many of the brothers got into it.  It was fun.

The next week, we saw the guy from India that had been here last year.  He has since married and moved to San Jose, and he decided to look up his old friends in Saratoga, and introduce his wife to everyone, so he showed up at church.  We said we wanted to come and visit them, so they invited us to dinner.  His wife is an amazing cook; she served us a chicken curry, fruited rice, a very spicy vegetable dish, and herbed potatoes, with a custard for dessert.  We got there at 7, talked to over 2 hours, and started dinner about 9:30!  I didn't think I would sleep that night, but I did, and the evening was so wonderful. 

They told us about their marriage.  It was an arranged marriage, which about 80% of people in India still do.  They only saw each other 4 times before they were married, and one week after their wedding, she hurt her knee, had surgery, and was bed ridden for several months.  It has been very hard on their relationship.  They looked for the church in India, and were able to attend and have some more missionary discussions there.  They are going to resume their lessons here, and have been coming to activities.  They are a great couple, and invited us to visit them in India when they return.

 

Their names are Sirshindu and Parometa.

Our days have been very full.  We have a long list of people to visit before we come home, and have kept busy with that, we've started to pack, and people suddenly want to have us over for dinner, so it's been a whirlwind.  We met a guy who works for Facebook, and he has arranged a date to take us on a tour of the facility, and to eat lunch there next month.  We are very excited for that.  His girlfriend was baptized last Saturday.  She is from the Ukraine, and her name is Tanya.

That was an exciting day and she is very happy.  We think they will tie the knot in the near future.
Those sweet missionaries taught her.  Elder Li is from China, and Elder Jenson from Highland, Utah.

We got to bear our testimonies at the outgoing missionary devotional last Sunday.  It was a great meeting, and we are sad it's the last one we will attend.  The spirit is always so strong, and we love being with those young missionaries. 

We are looking forward to our return, but it will be so hard to leave our friends here.  We will miss them so much, and miss the beautiful weather and the ocean, etc.  But life goes on, right?  The next weeks will be very full and will go by very fast!  Hope all is well with you. 

Love you all!

2 more months

As usual, time is going by too fast.  We are trying to get in one last visit with each of the mid singles in our ward.  We feel so close to them, and love them so much.  We took one sister to the Sacramento Temple last week to do baptisms for the dead, and it was a wonderful experience.  She has made so much progress, and we have seen her learn to handle some huge stresses in her life.  She recently had her car stolen, and her mother has colon cancer, with this sister being the only family member available to care for her.  A year ago, either of those circumstances would have put her in the hospital because her mental health has been so fragile, but she has gotten so strong, she has handled those experiences really well.  Dad and I both feel like she is the main reason we were called to serve in San Jose in the mid singles ward.  It's very rewarding.

Last Saturday we went to the Spanish Branch's open house where they had tables with displays from the countries of their heritage, and food and costumes from them as well.  We tried a lot of different foods, most of which were quite spicy!  But one taste of chili I had was so good, I couldn't stop eating it even though it was hot!  Here are some cute kids making music, and some of the costumes and displays.

Such nice people

 

Last Sunday we had a fireside, and it got 2 of our mid singles to pose with me for a selfie, with another photo bombing it!

 

This is Brook and Debra, with Janelle in the back.  Love it!

We met Paul and Linh at their home in Hayward, where Linh once more fixed a wonderful Vietnamese meal for us

Doesn't that look good?  We don't know if we will get to see them again before we leave, but it has sure been great getting re-aquatinted. They seem very happy.

We did lunch for the missionary leadership again yesterday.  Taco Salad.  We served 60, and bought enough pre-made taco meat for 160.  And guess what?  They ate it all!  We think they starve all week, and then try to eat enough to get them through the next week!  But we sure do love them.  They are so full of energy and faith.  Here are some of the Sister Trainer Leaders, and the other senior missionaries who came and helped us in the kitchen. 

There will be a lot to miss out here, but we are also anxious to be home with our family again.  I hope you are all having a great time at camp, and am glad there were medical people there for Cailee when she fell on her bike (and non-medical family who supported her).  Hope she is recovering; thanks to everyone for taking such good care of her.  Glad she was able to get to an Instacare and get stitches and such.  What a brave little lady! 

Happy Birthday to Tracy.  Hope you have a great day, and a fun trip to Seattle.  Post pictures!  That goes for all you campers also.  If not here, at least on Facebook, k?  We love seeing what everyone is up to.

Bye for now.  Next post will say "one more month!".