Two pictures of the variety in beauty that we take in as we travel through our mission. It often takes our breath away. The same roads traveled are new as weather and seasons change. What a beautiful world we are blessed with.This was the week of our long drive. It gave us an opportunity to see our missionaries and the stake presidents in Roseburg, Grants Pass, Medford, Klamath Falls and Bend. Each day we visited with and interviewed twenty or more missionaries and each evening we had dinner with one of the stake presidents and their wives. We see these missionaries and stake presidents quite often and each time we do see them it seems like it has been a while and there is so much to catch up on.
The church provides mission presidents with a vehicle, and we are on our second one. We took delivery of this car 11 months ago and have over 30,000 miles on it. We have learned to make good use of the driving time by listening to books on tape, conference reports, mission president seminars, etc. Sister Macdonald is always working on a baby blanket for our newest grandchild while we drive as well. It has been a blessing to have this “forced” time together and we have found we enjoy this extra time together. We have made a commitment to find a way to spend more time with each other when we go back home and get involved with life there.
On Saturday of this week we had our first Zone Leaders’ Council over the phone. The assistants and I were a little concerned about how this would work, since we would not be in the same room, but it went surprising well. We had scheduled two hours for the call, but thought we would only take an hour or so. However, we ended up using all of the time available. This is not a replacement for getting together, but when our normally scheduled council (which we usually hold on week one of transfers) isn’t near the first of the month, we will hold an extra meeting by phone – so in a year’s time we will be together for nine and hold three by conference call. The obvious trade offs are the loss of personal interaction, and Sister Macdonald’s cooking of course, versus significant time savings as most of the zone leaders require a night here in Eugene and about two days away from their area.
On Saturday afternoon I also stopped by the home of one of the High Priest assistant group leaders and watched a part of the Civil War. It was fun to interact with them for a quarter or so and see their enthusiasm for their Ducks. Sunday I enjoyed a dinner at the home of President Barnes while Sister Macdonald was out of town (more on that next week) and went to a baptism for the Cottage Grove Ward. There were so many people there supporting the young lady being baptized that I couldn’t get a seat. I stayed for the baptism but left before the program was over. It is a nice problem to run out of room at a baptism.
The church provides mission presidents with a vehicle, and we are on our second one. We took delivery of this car 11 months ago and have over 30,000 miles on it. We have learned to make good use of the driving time by listening to books on tape, conference reports, mission president seminars, etc. Sister Macdonald is always working on a baby blanket for our newest grandchild while we drive as well. It has been a blessing to have this “forced” time together and we have found we enjoy this extra time together. We have made a commitment to find a way to spend more time with each other when we go back home and get involved with life there.
On Saturday of this week we had our first Zone Leaders’ Council over the phone. The assistants and I were a little concerned about how this would work, since we would not be in the same room, but it went surprising well. We had scheduled two hours for the call, but thought we would only take an hour or so. However, we ended up using all of the time available. This is not a replacement for getting together, but when our normally scheduled council (which we usually hold on week one of transfers) isn’t near the first of the month, we will hold an extra meeting by phone – so in a year’s time we will be together for nine and hold three by conference call. The obvious trade offs are the loss of personal interaction, and Sister Macdonald’s cooking of course, versus significant time savings as most of the zone leaders require a night here in Eugene and about two days away from their area.
On Saturday afternoon I also stopped by the home of one of the High Priest assistant group leaders and watched a part of the Civil War. It was fun to interact with them for a quarter or so and see their enthusiasm for their Ducks. Sunday I enjoyed a dinner at the home of President Barnes while Sister Macdonald was out of town (more on that next week) and went to a baptism for the Cottage Grove Ward. There were so many people there supporting the young lady being baptized that I couldn’t get a seat. I stayed for the baptism but left before the program was over. It is a nice problem to run out of room at a baptism.
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