Missing: my son

Hello everyone! Holy cow this has been one of the craziest weeks of my life. Let me explain.

First of all, Sunday and Monday we were planning a baptism for our friend Cielo! She finally wanted to get baptized and we were able to do it on Monday night. But basically it was just super stressful because she only wanted her family, the bishop, and us missionaries present at her baptism. Which, in reality, is not really a problem at all but for some reason all of the leaders in the ward were super against it and bothered by it. Not sure why but it made it all very stressful.

Next, on Tuesday, we had transfer calls! They assigned me to be a trainer in a new area called Los Pinos 2! I was super excited, and also a little nervous to train. So on Wednesday, we had my final day in Puerto Paita, my birthplace. It was a great day! Definitely gonna miss the area and all the people there! But excited to start in a new area!

Thursday morning we woke up at like 4:45 AM to go to our new areas, which was brutal. We got there, and I just stayed the whole day and night at my zone leader's house with like 5 other missionaries. It was super fun but we also got like barely any sleep hahah. Anyways, that morning we all ate some breakfast and headed out to Piura the city. I went with 3 other trainers to the mission home for a meeting and to meet our new kids!

The training was good, we had some delicious grub and then it was time to meet our kids! I personally was very nervous to meet my son because I was gonna be with him for a while and train him as a missionary. So basically the moment came, and they were supposed to call his name and then I would go up to him and meet him and everything. But when the time came....they never called his name. So there I was in the midst of everyone meeting their new companions, alone with nobody.

I was very confused and depressed so I asked what had happened. They told me that right before my son was supposed to hop on the flight to Peru, he got sick and couldn't travel, and he wouldn't get here until the next transfer. My son had abandoned me, left me all alone, without even a warning. I will definitely be grounding him when he gets here.

But anyway, that night I stayed in the office, and in the morning, my new companion from a different area came! His companion had to go home for some problems, so they put us together for this transfer. His name is Elder Del Toro, he's from Lima and he seems pretty chill. That's three Peruvian comps row for me hahah, which is rare these days in my mission. But it's kinda funny because he was supposed to be district leader, and I was supposed to be trainer, and now we're neither hahah.

But yeah, if you see my son, looking lost and confused, tell him to come home, his Dad's here waiting for him. Hahah but it's all good, they told me there's a chance I'll train him next transfer when he gets here, which is what I'm hoping for. For now I'll just be depressed, but work hard and enjoy my new area.

Amidst all this craziness, something that I've learned is that Heavenly Father has a plan for me, and all this has been part of his plan all along. Even though it's been kinda disappointing, I know I can trust in the Lord's timing and remember that all this is happening for a reason. I just gotta push forward, and do what the Lord wants me to do.

Anyways, that's all that happened this week. I hope you all have an awesome week and enjoy life! Love you all so much!

Elder Spangler

Sorry not many great photos this week, but you'll see that I finally have a real bathroom which I'm very happy about. Also there's a huge house across the street from my new place.