Bill Flood and President at the park waiting for Bill's band's turn to play.
Does he look proud? I think so.
The team: Peter Barnes, Elders Bauer & Christensen, me & Pres., Elders Newman & JestesIt was getting hot, but it felt so good to be outside at a ball park.
This one was a good hit. I only had to toss back a few balls. Good job Pres.
They all cheered me on. I did connect with the ball frequently. They just didn't have to go far to get it. Can you see our fan. He was a handicapped boy that cheered like it was a real game and he was truly disappointed when we had to go.
Some of the family enjoying the boat ride on the Rogue River. We saw lots of wildlife, even a big bear eating blackberries.
Posing under a Myrtlewood tree. It was a cool day so she certainly wasn't looking for shade! We enjoyed a tour of a myrtlewood factory.
Getting ready to ride the dunes. The little girls had some difficulty with the heavy helmets after a while, but they loved the steep hills--going up and down.On Monday July 25, 2010 we were invited to go with several of our missionaries and a recently returned missionary here (who served in the former USSR) to participate in a somewhat modified home run derby. Some of them played fairly well and they were kind to invite us along. The rules were modified for Sister Macdonald as she was credited for a homerun if she got the ball out of the infield (I will let her tell you how she did) but I was given no slack. I never hit it out of the park, but was happy to hit the fence once – ok it was a softball field - but I still felt good about it. In truth there were no all-stars in the group, but it was fun to play with them, watch them play and to interact with them on the ball field.
I forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago I went to a local park here with Elder Watson, from the office, to see a friend from Florence, Bill Flood, who is investigating the church. Bill was playing with his band along with several other groups in an open air concert. We weren’t able to stay until his group played, as I had a baptism to go to, but it was fun visiting with him a bit and to see him, his wife and his fellow band members.
On week two we toured the rest of the mission and taught some of the new curriculum lessons to the Corvallis, Salem, Eugene and Pacific zones. It is always good to see these missionaries and I feel like I understand these new lessons fairly well now. I pray that I can help teach this information to these good missionaries in the way the Lord would have me. On Tuesday night we had dinner with Karen (who used to work for me at Canyon Park and now lives in Salem) and her family along with the missionaries in their area. It was fun to visit with her again.
At the end of week 2 all of our children came into town to spend the week with us. Mission Presidents are strongly encouraged to take a small vacation each year and we were blessed to have all of the children, their spouses and our grandchildren here with us for that break. We stayed out in Bandon and enjoyed a little deep sea fishing, riding on the sand dunes, a river trip up the Rogue River and just hanging out and relaxing. Surprisingly the phone rang only a few times and we were really able to relax a fair bit. It was somewhat surreal to realize that this is the last time we will see some of our children and their families until we are back home. We are so grateful that they are so well adjusted in their lives. That lets us focus on missionary work, knowing they are all okay. We are now ready to get back to the great work we have been called to do.
Let me end this post with one lesson that I learned while deep sea fishing. I felt a fairly significant tug on my line and was reeling in what I thought was a fairly big fish. As it got to the surface I found it was actually two regular size fish along with a 25 to 30 pound cod. Since the line had three hooks I thought each one had bit at roughly the same time. The boat’s captain came over with a big net and grabbed all three of the fish when I got them to the surface and explained that the large cod was a “hitchhiker.” I found out later that this meant he was not caught on the hook at all but had a hold on one of the fish that was caught on a hook. He just wouldn’t let go. All this cod needed to do to be set free and live was to let go of the fish he was trying to eat. I wonder how many things I “hold on to” that cause me trouble or heart ache and I don’t realize that all I need to do to be free of those problems is to let them go.
I forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago I went to a local park here with Elder Watson, from the office, to see a friend from Florence, Bill Flood, who is investigating the church. Bill was playing with his band along with several other groups in an open air concert. We weren’t able to stay until his group played, as I had a baptism to go to, but it was fun visiting with him a bit and to see him, his wife and his fellow band members.
On week two we toured the rest of the mission and taught some of the new curriculum lessons to the Corvallis, Salem, Eugene and Pacific zones. It is always good to see these missionaries and I feel like I understand these new lessons fairly well now. I pray that I can help teach this information to these good missionaries in the way the Lord would have me. On Tuesday night we had dinner with Karen (who used to work for me at Canyon Park and now lives in Salem) and her family along with the missionaries in their area. It was fun to visit with her again.
At the end of week 2 all of our children came into town to spend the week with us. Mission Presidents are strongly encouraged to take a small vacation each year and we were blessed to have all of the children, their spouses and our grandchildren here with us for that break. We stayed out in Bandon and enjoyed a little deep sea fishing, riding on the sand dunes, a river trip up the Rogue River and just hanging out and relaxing. Surprisingly the phone rang only a few times and we were really able to relax a fair bit. It was somewhat surreal to realize that this is the last time we will see some of our children and their families until we are back home. We are so grateful that they are so well adjusted in their lives. That lets us focus on missionary work, knowing they are all okay. We are now ready to get back to the great work we have been called to do.
Let me end this post with one lesson that I learned while deep sea fishing. I felt a fairly significant tug on my line and was reeling in what I thought was a fairly big fish. As it got to the surface I found it was actually two regular size fish along with a 25 to 30 pound cod. Since the line had three hooks I thought each one had bit at roughly the same time. The boat’s captain came over with a big net and grabbed all three of the fish when I got them to the surface and explained that the large cod was a “hitchhiker.” I found out later that this meant he was not caught on the hook at all but had a hold on one of the fish that was caught on a hook. He just wouldn’t let go. All this cod needed to do to be set free and live was to let go of the fish he was trying to eat. I wonder how many things I “hold on to” that cause me trouble or heart ache and I don’t realize that all I need to do to be free of those problems is to let them go.
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