Elder Tui'one is home and he took his mom on a date to the temple. What a wonderful son!
This little waterfall is unmarked and on the side of the highway. Just one of the many treats we see as we drive around for interviews.
A view from the bridge in Mapleton on the way to the coast for interviews.Sister Macdonald returned to Oregon on Monday and with her came a degree of normality back into my life and the mission. She flew into Portland (as the flights there are less expensive than flying into Eugene) and our friends, who are serving as the mission president in the Portland mission, picked her up and drove her to Salem. The four of us enjoyed dinner and a wonderful visit together. Then Kaye and I stayed in Salem to begin interviews there on Tuesday morning. It was fun catching up with everything that went on this past week and hearing first hand how things went with the wedding, luncheon, reception, family, etc.
The interview schedule this week took us to Salem, Corvallis, Eugene and then Coos Bay. Sister Macdonald was fully back into the swing of her duties without missing a beat and was happy to be with her “family” here. We had the opportunity of having dinner with the Salem stake president and his wife on Tuesday night and then meeting with their high council later that same evening.
We had one transfer this week. We have had three wonderful temple square sisters come into our mission for 12 weeks each over the last year. The temple square mission typically sends the missionaries who serve there out into various missions so they can see the full spectrum of missionary work. At temple square they become excellent at teaching introductory lessons, but don’t have the opportunity while they are in SLC of seeing someone’s life fully change as they accept the gospel completely. Their transfer schedule is three weeks off what our transfer is, so when we send them back to Salt Lake and they don’t send us another sister, we have to transfer sisters mid-transfer to straighten things out. Sister Macdonald and I brought a sister back from Corvallis with us (who had been serving with two other Sisters there) to serve in Springfield. She is taking the place of the sister who returned to Temple Square. Both of these sisters have been out just 9weeks and knew each other at the MTC. I am sure they will do great together.
Interviews with our good missionaries, of course, cover a wide range of topics and concerns. Normally there is an opportunity for us to lift and build them up after they have had a challenging experience of two. There are also insightful glimpses into the great work they are doing. When I asked one elder what he had learned from his first companion he told me he learned to “man–up” and work hard, from his second companion he learned manors, and from his current companion he learned to better follow the promptings of the Spirit. As he and I discussed this evolution of who he is and what he can become I think we both better understood the essentialness of learning and applying these principles as we go through life. I then told him it would soon be his job to teach these principles to others. The cycle of life and learning is great. See it, Do it, Teach it.
The interview schedule this week took us to Salem, Corvallis, Eugene and then Coos Bay. Sister Macdonald was fully back into the swing of her duties without missing a beat and was happy to be with her “family” here. We had the opportunity of having dinner with the Salem stake president and his wife on Tuesday night and then meeting with their high council later that same evening.
We had one transfer this week. We have had three wonderful temple square sisters come into our mission for 12 weeks each over the last year. The temple square mission typically sends the missionaries who serve there out into various missions so they can see the full spectrum of missionary work. At temple square they become excellent at teaching introductory lessons, but don’t have the opportunity while they are in SLC of seeing someone’s life fully change as they accept the gospel completely. Their transfer schedule is three weeks off what our transfer is, so when we send them back to Salt Lake and they don’t send us another sister, we have to transfer sisters mid-transfer to straighten things out. Sister Macdonald and I brought a sister back from Corvallis with us (who had been serving with two other Sisters there) to serve in Springfield. She is taking the place of the sister who returned to Temple Square. Both of these sisters have been out just 9weeks and knew each other at the MTC. I am sure they will do great together.
Interviews with our good missionaries, of course, cover a wide range of topics and concerns. Normally there is an opportunity for us to lift and build them up after they have had a challenging experience of two. There are also insightful glimpses into the great work they are doing. When I asked one elder what he had learned from his first companion he told me he learned to “man–up” and work hard, from his second companion he learned manors, and from his current companion he learned to better follow the promptings of the Spirit. As he and I discussed this evolution of who he is and what he can become I think we both better understood the essentialness of learning and applying these principles as we go through life. I then told him it would soon be his job to teach these principles to others. The cycle of life and learning is great. See it, Do it, Teach it.
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