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.
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.
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