President and I were on the coast and took time for a walk near the Spouting Horn. It was a perfect day, no wind, but early in the year for flowers.
Couldn't resist taking a picture of this great tree. Just wish the lighting would allow you to see more of the ocean. The view was fantastic.
It was a beautiful day to welcome new missionaries to Oregon. We were so happy to see the sun. They had no idea how happy we were to see the sun!This was a strange transfer week as we only had missionaries coming in, and no one going home. We only had a few scheduled to go home this month, and they all went home a few weeks early to get into school at the beginning of the semester. With this influx of new missionaries and no outgoing, we were able to open another two areas this transfer. It also created a couple of three-somes. Due to not having a trip to the temple and no missionaries staying here on the way home, the week sounded like it was going to be quite light, but things seemed to fill in and keep us busy. Some of the “things” that filled in were not straight missionary work. I had a follow-up visit with my doctor and I am progressing as I should. My office work is a bit more caught up, and Sister Macdonald and I are both a bit more organized for now. In addition she had a lot of missionary medical things to follow up on, and I was able to enjoy a non-hurried presidency meeting with my two wise counselors. I so appreciate their fresh look at issues and their sage advice.
In addition to being able to witness several baptisms this month, we were also able to attend and speak at four sessions (they added a youth session Sunday morning) of stake conference in the Central Point Stake down near Medford. All the sessions of conference were great and the spirit was there in abundance. We leave much better people for having attended and we were touched by several of the messages and the songs. I hate to mention just one speaker as they were all great, but a young mother spoke that had been in a car accident within the last year. In that accident she was seriously injured and took months to recover. She lost her husband of just over a year, but her new born baby was not hurt. She spoke so powerfully and I know even more now about the Lord’s love for us even through our challenges. We were able to stay in the stake president’s home, President Wright. We enjoyed their family and our interaction with them very much.
This is the first of six straight weekends where we will have the opportunity to speak in stake conferences. Each of the stake presidents has asked us to address things a bit differently, so we also enjoyed the extra time this week to plan for each of these conferences. We love seeing all of the members across the state, but we really love seeing our missionaries whenever and where ever we can.
I have been e-mailing a couple of friends who have recently received their calls to serve as mission presidents and have asked me a few questions. It has been fun to reflect a bit on our own call two years ago and to realize that we are now in the "sweet spot" of our mission life. I have also mentioned to them that a mission is a great place to have your love grow as a couple (after some adjustment of being together 24-7.) I do know this much, I don’t plan to go back to being so engrossed in my business and church life that Sister Macdonald and I just see each other for an hour or two per day again. This mission experience has made be want to be around her a lot more.
In addition to being able to witness several baptisms this month, we were also able to attend and speak at four sessions (they added a youth session Sunday morning) of stake conference in the Central Point Stake down near Medford. All the sessions of conference were great and the spirit was there in abundance. We leave much better people for having attended and we were touched by several of the messages and the songs. I hate to mention just one speaker as they were all great, but a young mother spoke that had been in a car accident within the last year. In that accident she was seriously injured and took months to recover. She lost her husband of just over a year, but her new born baby was not hurt. She spoke so powerfully and I know even more now about the Lord’s love for us even through our challenges. We were able to stay in the stake president’s home, President Wright. We enjoyed their family and our interaction with them very much.
This is the first of six straight weekends where we will have the opportunity to speak in stake conferences. Each of the stake presidents has asked us to address things a bit differently, so we also enjoyed the extra time this week to plan for each of these conferences. We love seeing all of the members across the state, but we really love seeing our missionaries whenever and where ever we can.
I have been e-mailing a couple of friends who have recently received their calls to serve as mission presidents and have asked me a few questions. It has been fun to reflect a bit on our own call two years ago and to realize that we are now in the "sweet spot" of our mission life. I have also mentioned to them that a mission is a great place to have your love grow as a couple (after some adjustment of being together 24-7.) I do know this much, I don’t plan to go back to being so engrossed in my business and church life that Sister Macdonald and I just see each other for an hour or two per day again. This mission experience has made be want to be around her a lot more.
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