Week Ending January 30, 2011 Week # 4

Here is one tiny view of the Wildlife Park in Winston. We were treated like royalty with a guided tour by a seasoned guide. What a wonderful place and what a wonderful time.

The new presidency: Thales Smith, Tom Macdonald, Richard Lowary

Way too much humor! But they are all wonderful, dedicated men who know how to lead out and get the job done.

Last September I had a very peaceful feeling come over me that the man who would preside over this mission next would be exactly who the Lord would have come here and that he and his wife would be right for the mission. I remembered thinking how sweet that experience was, but wondered why that feeling would come to me so soon. This week when I heard that the mission assignments for next year had been made by the First Presidency and would be mailed out to the new mission presidents this next week, I reflected back on that feeling of a few months ago. I was grateful that although there will be a myriad of emotions that will come over us in the coming months, it was good to have that assurance come when there were no emotions at work, and that thought hadn’t even been on my mind. Another of the Lord’s tender mercies and one more sign that He loves us and is willing to direct our lives if we will let Him.

It was another nice experience to work on transfers this week. They seemed to go smoother than ever. Smooth does not mean that there were not some inspired impressions that came into my mind and subsequent changes made after the initial assignments were made, but it was a very calming experience to work on them and see the Lord’s hand in the work.

Wednesday we had a meeting as a new presidency after releasing one counselor and calling a new one. President Gary Stewart, who had been serving as the 1st counselor, was called to an area assignment, and President Richard Lowary was called as the new 2nd counselor in the presidency. I have been so blessed to have good men to work with and look forward to my continued association with President Thales Smith and to forming a new relationship with President Lowary.

Thursday evening we received a call from Bill and Donna Flood, who live in Florence, as they were driving down from Portland. (Note his picture, and a short story about him, can be seen on our August 8, 2010 posting.) We had the chance to meet them in February 2010 when we were speaking at a stake conference in Corvallis. Also speaking at that conference was one of their daughters, Tami, who had joined the church in May of 2009, and they had come to support her and listen to her speak. We hit it off with each other right away. After the conference I told them that what they had felt that day was the spirit of the Lord witnessing to them of the truth of the messages. They told me they too had felt that. Over the ensuing year several missionaries have taught them, but they had not yet been baptized. On Thursday when they called us we invited them to stop by for dinner and we had a nice visit. They told us they had stopped into the temple that day while they were in Portland. They loved the spirit they felt there. After we visited with them for a couple hours and having a wonderful gospel discussion, we invited them to be baptized. They accepted and committed to be baptized but they wanted to set a date when their daughter could arrange to come back from BYU to attend their baptism. On Friday he called to tell us the date they had chosen and he invited me to baptize him. It has been wonderful to be involved in missionary work on a one-to-one situation and see some lives change.

Saturday we took a preparation day and went with the two office couples and President and Sister Smith to the Wildlife Safari in Winston. It is the most "open zoo” we have been to, utilizing over 400 acres. We had a good time there and with the company we were with. We wished we had discovered this attraction earlier and had taken our grandchildren there.

Week Ending January 23, 2011 Week # 3

Elders Knight and Newman turned out to be good cooks AND good missionaries!

Winning at Paper-Rock-Scissors gave you first choice of Presidents used ties. Yippee! They are a hot commodity.

Look how fast those hands move. They're only a blur.




No prizes for the basketball contest--just the thrill of winning. I was thrilled to get a shot with my camera that wasn't a blur.

Elder Perez showed up for a surprize visit. He's been home for a long time. He had two of his baptisms with him who are now serving in a branch presidency and as a branch mission leader. He was very happy to be back for a visit and we were very happy to see him.

This week my assistant, Elder Jestes, traveled with me to teach the Doctrine of Christ to the missionaries in the Corvallis, Capital, Eugene, and Pacific zones. Although we have now taught this lesson nine times in two weeks, I believe that with the help of the Spirit of the Lord, my assistants and I were able to be “charged up” each time we met with the missionaries. Of course, some individual missionaries received what was taught better than others. I believe that missionaries in every zone were able to be blessed and lifted as we studied this principle together. We pray this will make a difference in their lives and the lives of those they are teaching.

I had a wonderful first this week. On Tuesday I met with the stake presidents in the Lebanon, Monmouth and Salem stakes. Since the zone leaders in the capital zone are assigned to work with both the Monmouth and the Salem stakes, they went with me to both of those meetings. We had about an hour in between these two meetings and I offered to take them out to dinner. They said they had planned to fix me dinner in their apartment if I was willing to go to their home instead. I said “Willing? I would be thrilled.” I told them that missionaries had never invited me for dinner. Elders Newman and Knight fixed a great salad and some eggs for the three of us. I was honored to be their guest and I ate very well that night. Thank you men!

Friday, after teaching in the Pacific Zone we stayed for a baptism in North Bend. On Saturday we attended three other baptisms in the Eugene area, and there were two additional in these areas we couldn’t get to because of scheduling conflicts. We were happy to be able to witness so many people enter the waters of baptism this weekend.

Early on Sunday morning we drove to Central Point as we were scheduled to attend two sacrament meetings with Elder Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy as well as two firesides he gave that evening, one to the youth and one to new members and investigators. As we drove we were able to talk to our daughter’s children as we knew we would be tied up during our usual time to visit with them on Sunday afternoon. As I talked to our eight year old granddaughter I joked with her about how quickly she was growing up and mentioned that she would soon be older than the two of us. She knew I was joking, but couldn’t figure out my logic. I told her that we had decided not to have any more birthdays and so when she turned 55 we would be younger than she was. She said, “No, you will be dead then”. Later when our daughter got back on the line she said she had only heard the other side of the story and asked when we would be dead. I told her the story and added that I was a bit concerned about how matter-of-factly our granddaughter had talked about our demise. No doubt a funny family story that will be shared again.

Now back to Elder Clayton’s visit. There was some fog in Medford on Sunday morning, and after flying from Seattle (where he had been attending other meetings) to Portland and then on to Medford they couldn’t land and flew back to Portland, where he rented a car and drove to Medford. He missed both sacrament meetings, but made it in time for the firesides which were wonderful. Sister Macdonald and I had been prepared to speak at the two firesides and we thought we would be called on, but we had been told to only share our testimony at the sacrament meetings. It turned out we had the opportunity to speak at both sacrament meetings and only answered a few questions at the firesides. So we came home with two talks prepared for another date and with a couple of new talks given. We were so pleased to attend these meetings and feel the Spirit work through us, President Wright (who also filled in at the sacrament meetings), and through Elder Clayton.

Week Ending January 16, 2011 Week # 2

President Rau gave us a wonderful gift--umbrella hats! If you don't care what your hair looks like, they are perfect for the Oregon weather. How very typically humorous of him. We've actually already put them to use. The Raus have become very good friends.

The newly wed couple look very happy and everyone seemed to happy for them. We will miss having Janice around.

Regular readers of our blog will recognize this week’s travels as the route we often take at the start of a new transfer cycle. This week’s road trip included stops in Roseburg, Grants Pass, Medford / Central Point, Klamath Falls, and Bend / Redmond. While in the Medford area I inspected one of the missionaries’ apartments that had been reported to be less than perfect. Although it was still in need of some work, it was much better than I had heard it was. They seemed to have taken their promise to Sister Macdonald to heart and had given it a good cleaning.

This transfer one of my assistants, Elder Groskreutz, and I have been training the missionaries on the Doctrine of Christ. This training includes the scriptural background on that doctrine, as well as training and practice on the application of inviting people to come unto Christ through the waters of baptism. As we taught the missionaries, Sister Macdonald visited with each missionary for a few minutes to see how things were going with them, their area and their companionship. I am so glad that she is able to travel with me, and take such a hands-on approach with the missionaries. If in her visits she uncovers an issue or two that she thinks I need to visit with a specific missionary about, I will do that after we complete our teaching and before we leave to go to the next town. As the schedule for mission presidents now has us doing more teaching and less interviewing, Sister Macdonald’s involvement helps to make sure critical issues are not left unresolved for too long.

The teaching we did this week, and will do in the other zones next week, is part of the emphasis on some of the fundamentals of Preach My Gospel that the missionary department has asked mission presidents to teach to missionaries and help them to understand. Since we started this in July some of the missionaries have heard and/or taught this lesson several times. Others who are new have never heard it before. This makes teaching it a little of a challenge to keep it interesting for everyone, but I think it was well received. Elder Groskreutz was a great partner to teach with, and although I have now heard, studied, or taught this well over a dozen times I was personally strengthened each time we were able to teach.

In addition to being with our missionaries we were able to visit with most of the stake presidents in the stakes we visited. A couple of the presidents were traveling and unavailable, but we again enjoyed our time with those we were able to meet with. The presidency in Grants Pass invites all of the missionaries together once a month to let the presidency know how missionary work is going in their stake. Then they have lunch together. When our travels align with this meeting, as it did this week, they invite us to join them. We went out to dinner with President and Sister Wright from the Central Point Stake and the Perdues from the Redmond Stake had us and the Raus from the Bend Stake over for dinner at their home. We will miss our regular association with these good people that we have come to love.

On Saturday we stayed over in Bend for an extra day and attended the wedding of Janice and Guy. Janice has worked as our housekeeper for a few months and agreed to marry Guy after a fairly short whirlwind courtship. It was good to be there, although it was quite a departure from our normal missionary efforts, and I think they were pleased that we had come.

Sunday I felt impressed to travel out to Junction City and attend church there. It is only about 30 minutes away, but we had never been to that ward, and it was fun to be there. It was also fun to see the missionaries there – particularly Elder Bauer who had served as my assistant, and will go home next month. That evening we attended a baptism for a good man that my current assistants have been teaching.

Week Ending January 9, 2011 Week # 1

I don't remember how this tradition got started!? I think it used to be under control.

I think you parents recognize them better in the first picture. This is how they behave most of the time--I think. I'm sure!




So good to be surprised with a visit from our Elder Johnson. He looks good and hasn't lost his contageous smile.

Elder Boadbent owns every piece of Ducks clothing ever made. He loves those Ducks. It was great to see him and part of his family.

We had our Zone Leaders’ Council at our home on Tuesday – versus the conference call council that we did last month. During the council we asked the zone leaders how effective they thought last month’s conference call was versus our in-person meetings. We received favorable feedback saying that if an in-person meeting was a 10, they thought the conference call was only going to be a 1 or 2, and in reality it actually turned out to be a 7 or 8. While I have no intention of replacing the regularly scheduled meeting with a conference call, I was grateful that they thought it was as effective as it was. This will give us the option of having people call in if travel conditions make attendance difficult for some of our outlying areas. For yet another time I will state how pleased I was with the zone leaders’ preparations and for their contributions.

During the zone leader’s council I received a call from the missionary department asking if we would be willing to take another two missionaries awaiting their visas, this time for Mexico. We currently have two awaiting visas to go to Brazil. We are happy to help out, but since we have to be ready for them to go within a day or two, it limits their assignment areas to the greater Eugene area. I picked them up at the airport on Saturday and Sister Macdonald had a meal ready for them. They were with their companions and ready to start being a “real” missionary within two hours of stepping off the plane.

Ric Ferguson (who lives here in Eugene, hailed from Orem, Utah and his mother lives in the stake where I was stake president) sent me an e-mail reminding me that much of Oregon, and particularly the Eugene area, would be effectively closed on Monday night. The University of Oregon Ducks play for the national championship in college football that night. After thinking about this for a little while, and conferring with my assistants, I decided to allow a modification to this Monday’s schedule that will allow the missionaries to switch their evening proselyting time to the afternoon and enjoy the game with members or people they are teaching. I went to the Eugene District meeting this Friday and when this Monday’s schedule change was announced, it was warmly received.

Two of our former missionaries stopped by for a visit this week. Elder Johnson from Kanab stopped by the house with no advance notice. He told us that he had decided somewhat on the spur of the moment to make the drive to Oregon alone and see some friends here. We were so glad that we were home at the time he stopped by and that we had the chance to visit with him. Elder Broadbent had connected with Sister Macdonald via facebook a few weeks ago and let her know he was going to be in town and we were able to have him, his sister and cousin with us for Sunday dinner. We are always happy to see these missionaries of ours.

Week Ending January 2, 2011 Week # 6

Outside Kings Vineyard after our tour. It was cold! Lots of fun and we learned a lot too.

Our new missionaries. So nice to have a new group of sisters to add to our ranks.



Elder Lenz, I have no idea why your head is a different color from everyone elses. I didn't change a thing. Were you not feeling well?!



Elder Chord's family came to pick him up at our home. It was good to meet them.

Elder Michel's family also came by the home to pick him up. His little sisters were in tears with the excitement of seeing him. It was great.

This was the first time we had one of our children staying with us during a transfer week. While we did all we could to “divide and conquer,” we are fearful that we somewhat ignored our guests. However, they were kind and didn’t complain. We so enjoyed having our youngest and his wife with us, and we hope they had a good time. We did one unusual thing with the two of them; we toured the King Family Vineyards. The tour guide was shocked that none of us drank alcohol. This vineyard started in 1992, with no grapes harvested until 1996 and no product sales until 1998.

This is a business that requires a very long-term look at things and a lot of upfront funding. While I wasn’t tempted to drink alcohol, I think I did learn a bit about taking a longer view of things.

On Tuesday we had twelve new missionaries come in, including three sisters. It was fun again to see the excitement of these new missionaries. With storms in the east this week, I was grateful it didn’t affect our incoming missionaries. Perhaps it is bad luck to even write this, but we have been blessed to never have had a significant delay with an incoming flight. This sure makes transfers run a lot smoother.

On Wednesday I went alone with the five departing missionaries to the Portland Temple, so that Sister Macdonald could spend time with our family. This was the smallest group we have ever had at the temple. It was last December that Sister Macdonald went to the temple with the departing missionaries without me as I was recovering from shoulder surgery. It is hard to believe that over a year has passed since then, and I am doing great now.

Two of the five missionaries were picked up by their parents at our home on Thursday morning, and the other three flew out that same day. We were glad that the road conditions (which are a real gamble this time of year) were clear enough for their families to travel here, and we trust they will all make it home safely.

Friday (which was New Year’s Eve) our son and his wife left to fly home. Since they were flying out of the Portland Airport, we stopped and had dinner that night with our friends, the Dyches, who preside over the Portland Mission. It was great to be with them again and share ideas with each other.