Week Ending January 25, 2010 Week # 5

Our wonderful senior couple missionaries, present and former. How we love them! We could use lots more just like them.

Part of the Autzen locker room. This place is huge.

Their workout and therapy facility




Nice jump elder!


Can you pick out the team member?

This week we held our multi-zone conferences on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Medford, Corvallis and Eugene respectively. This time of year we are always a bit worried about the snow level at the passes and are happy to report that all of the missionaries were able to make it into zone conference without any travel problems. On Monday night before the zone conference in Medford we were able to meet with the two senior couples who come in for that conference, along with a former senior couple who live in the area. It was good to visit with them and answer couple-specific questions over dinner. It is so good to have senior couples serving in the Oregon Eugene Mission!

At this round of zone conferences Sister Macdonald started the meetings off with a great talk about the need to stop looking back. She referenced Lot’s wife who was punished not for just looking back, but for not forsaking her old home and looking forward to her new assignment / responsibilities. She also spoke of Joan of Arc who in a play depiction said “we all give our lives for what we believe.” Whether we believe in a little or a lot, we give our lives for that which we believe in. She quoted Neal A. Maxwell who said we know we should have our homes in Zion, but some like to keep a summer cottage in Babylon. She set a wonderful tone for all of the meetings.

My two counselors took turns at the conferences and spoke wonderfully on the different choices David and Joseph made when faced with temptation. Since all of us will face challenges and temptations in life, we ought to decide how we will handle them. One emphasized a quote from Brigham Young that said, “The bells of hell toll when we complete another temple.” In like manner the bells of hell will toll when we do something good and disrupt the forces of evil on earth. Another emphasized the need to follow our map in life (i.e. the scriptures and the missionary handbook.) They both did great.

The assistants led a workshop on being bolder by following the spirit and talking to everyone we meet. What we have, the gospel, has eternal significance and we need to be sharing it whenever we can. These young men do so much to lift and love the missionaries! I am grateful for their inspired leadership as they fulfill their stewardship.

I spoke three times. Twice to the general group and once to the leaders of the mission on how to fulfill their duties. To the general group I spoke about the need we have to not "let down" after having a very successful year and to stay motivated for 2010 and beyond. I spoke about the “house” they are building right now that will house their future families and joyful spirits. They need to build it well and not skimp on any of the building materials. I quoted John Wooden who said, “Your reputation is what you are perceived to be, your character is what you really are.” I hope and pray, and truly believe that most of these missionaries are building strong character that will sustain them through life.

On Monday one of the zone leaders arranged with a member of the Oregon Football team who is a member of the church and a returned missionary to give us a tour of Autzen Stadium, where the U of O plays their home games. It is quite a facility! We got to see the indoor practice area and go onto the field. We also saw their locker rooms and their training and weight rooms etc. It was fun being with the missionaries, and I was quite impressed with the behind-the-scenes view of this magnificent facility.

Week Ending January 17, 2010 Week # 4

These are our wonderful missionaries in Reedsport. We love them. They made it to zone conference and he is healing nicely.

These are the ward missionaries in Reedsport. We love them and are so happy that they join us at zone conference.

Elder Jones has been up north too long. He is now here in Eugene and we are doing our best to convince him that it's okay to be a Duck fan. Not sure he'll ever give in.

We finished interviews this week with a trip to Coos Bay to see the missionaries on the coast. When we don’t have somewhere we need to head to right afterwards, we like to drive through Florence and pick up the Elders there. Then we can visit with them on the way to and from Coos Bay. I was also able to have a nice visit with the stake president out there before heading back. One of our great senior couples is serving in Reedsport. The senior elder in that companionship broke his leg about six weeks ago so they were unable to attend the district meeting. We stopped to see them on our way back through town. We hope we left them in better spirits and are glad that he was able to get his cast off this week.

This is the week that I work on transfers with my assistants for a couple of days. A couple of zone conferences ago we spoke on how each new team goes through the stages of forming, storming, norming, and finally performing. It seems like a few of our companionships have been stuck in the storming phase. This makes it difficult for one, but usually both of the companions. While there are no overwhelming concerns, I did take these issues into consideration when making transfer decisions. I hope that moving forward they will all be able to move quickly to performing.

When we first got here in June of 2008 we attended our home ward and the combined Eugene area single adult sacrament meeting. I remember that week well as an elder who had only been out about two weeks spoke in our home ward, and a sister who had come out at the same time spoke in the single adult ward. We were also invited to take a few minutes in the single adult meeting. I found out both missionaries were a bit nervous to have us there when they were speaking. My memory is they both did great, so there shouldn’t have been any concern. Well, this Sunday we were invited to speak in that same single adult group and when the sister serving there now heard that we were speaking she said, “Don’t mess up President Macdonald!” I fear from that comment that we might not be living up to expectations. :>)

Friday night we had another pleasant interchange of ideas and goals with the Portland mission president and his wife in Salem. The city of Salem divides our two missions and we get together every few months to enjoy each other’s company over dinner. It does so much for our spirits and I trust it helps them out a bit too. They have become such dear friends and we hope we can stay close in the years to come. That is the challenge of meeting so many great new people! We want to stay close to all of these missionaries and friends we are meeting along the way.

Week Ending January 10, 2010 Week # 3

Here we are at the entrance to the Blue River building. It was a cold, but beautiful day and we were excited to be there.

Here is the building from a distance. As you can see, it is very small, but there is lots of land on which to expand.

This week we were on the road the entire week in order to interview missionaries in Roseburg, Grants Pass, Medford, Klamath Falls, and Bend. I am grateful for capable senior office missionaries that allow us to be on the road. Their work, along with some automation from the Church which allows me to log in from where ever and approve and monitor the various business aspects required of a mission president, allow me to keep up while traveling. Knowing the office is running smoothly while we are gone is a huge relief to me.

We interviewed over 75 missionaries this week and traveled almost 800 miles. Happily my shoulder was well enough that I was able to do most of the driving and allow Sister Macdonald time to rest and work on blankets for grandchildren while we drove. We were able to make good use of our time on the road as we were given the general conference talks on CDs for Christmas that we listen to when we drive. For a multi-tasker, such as me, this makes for great use of my time “behind the wheel.”

In addition to our most important job of working with the missionaries, we were able to enjoy lunch with the stake presidency in Grants Pass, dinner in the home of the Central Point stake president (whose daughter had just returned from a mission), take the Klamath Falls stake president and his wife out to dinner, and meet with the stake president in Bend before his other meetings on Thursday evening. It is great to have built-in “friends” throughout the mission that we work so closely with. We appreciate their dedication!

Sunday we had the opportunity to speak to a small branch in Blue River as did the two full-time missionaries assigned there. They also cover two wards in Springfield. The building consists of a small open area used for sacrament meeting and for all other gatherings, with a few other offices and classrooms right off the great room, no hallways. The members were so appreciative of our coming that they made it into a branch social afterwards with a pot luck lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Sometimes at the end of the day, after we return calls and e-mails and follow up on things that require our attention (medical items for Sister Macdonald, and various other things for the both of us) we wonder how we can do it another day. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a complaint! For us it is a witness of all the Lord does to lift us when we are in His service. We gratefully acknowledge His help in all that we do.

Weeks Ending December 27 & January 3, 2010 - Weeks # 1 & 2

First Christmas! He's not sure he wants to be awake. "What am I supposed to do with this anyway? I can't even see!"

They look shy, but they sang like angels. I'm not one bit biased.

Instead of having cake for my (Sis. Macdonald's) birthday, we went for ice cream at Prince Puckler's. This made everyone very happy.

Of course, we had to make a trip to the coast. It was cold and windy, but the waves were tremendous, putting on a great show for all of us. The girls loved it and had their pockets full of various "treasures" they had collected by the time we left.

We have returned our efforts to being mission president and wife full-time. During these last two weeks we were blessed to have all of our children and their families come visit us. They were not all here at the same time, so we made multiple trips to and from the airport, each trip filled with new anticipation, or sadness of the pending goodbyes. Although our life was a bit hectic at times with two to three families here at the same time, it was WELL worth it to see them all and to grow closer together as a family.

During the first week of this transfer, while most of our family was here, I took time to interview the missionaries in the Eugene zone. We had our granddaughters sing a few Christmas songs to them while they were gathered together for combined district meetings and interviews. I think our family, and the missionaries, enjoyed the interaction. Simple songs of rejoicing and praise (both spiritual and fun seasonal ones) can do much to lift our spirits and help us remember the time and season and why we are here doing this great work.

On January 1st and 2nd, just after the last of our family left, we went to Corvallis and Salem for interviews. It was good to be immediately busy, with a lot of catch-up work. This way we didn’t miss our family so much. There are almost 60 missionaries in these two zones so we had two very full & enjoyable days of studying with the missionaries and doing interviews.

During the time before interviews when we have “companionship study” with all of our missionaries in the zone, we asked each missionary to come prepared to share something from the last general conference talks. As the regular reader of this blog will know, I normally assign a specific chapter or two from the scriptures for them to read and to focus our discussion on. This wider base of the whole conference to choose from allowed for some very spiritual “walks” down different gospel centered topics that has been most enjoyable for all of us. I will, no doubt, repeat this in six months or so.

As we enter a new year, we pause for just a moment and thank God, and all those involved in this great work, for the success we have had this last year. We also renew our pledge and commitment to do all we can to build the Kingdom in this area in 2010. Our children pointed out at Christmas time, that we are now halfway through our mission. It is hard to believe that this life, which has become such a part of us, will one day end. We pray we can do all we should while we are here to move this great work forward.