Week Ending May 29, 2011 Week # 3

Oregon scenery as we travel.

The hillsides along the coast are covered with flowers. It was a beautiful day!

During the last couple of weeks we have had several reasons to call upon our Heavenly Father in mighty prayer in behalf of some of our missionaries and/or their families and friends. We had a senior sister diagnosed with cancer that required the couple to go home so she could receive treatment. As they were making hurried preparations to leave, they seemed to be more concerned about leaving their area without another couple to replace them than they were about their own well being. We had an elder who needed shoulder surgery, another who dislocated his ankle and broke his leg while playing basketball and needed surgery right away that required nine screws and a plate. Another couple of missionaries received sprained ankles while playing basketball. I would like to outlaw basketball. We have an elder serving here from Joplin Missouri whose mother’s home was leveled during the tornado there and she lost all her worldly posessions. However, her life was spared. Another one of our elders had his best friend from home, serving a mission in Chile, die of a heart attack while out jogging. In each of these cases the Lord sustained our missionaries and their families. We have been able to visit with each of these missionaries, and in some cases I have been able to give a blessing before their surgery. We also have talked with their families and found them in good spirits in spite of the significant challenges they were experiencing. I am grateful for a loving God who hears our prayers and cares for us and our wonderful missionaries.

This week we visited with our missionaries in the Corvallis, Salem, Eugene, and Coos Bay Zones. As we did last week, we focused on chapters 2 and 3 of Ether and enjoyed additional insights from all of the missionaries in these zones. The opportunity that we have to visit with these good young people regularly will certainly be one of the things we will miss the most in the years to come.

This week we received letters from the First Presidency, the Quorum and the Twelve, and the executive director of the missionary department thanking us for our service and extending our release. Our missionaries often tell us how they don’t like it when the office sends them information about their travel home, or calls them to clarify something about their return home, as it makes them face the reality. In the past we have always told them that these inquiries are normal and that they need to plan on returning and not feel bad about it. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, we know a little more about what they were saying and how they felt.

In the more calm moments that come every now and then, we are taking time to try and prepare information that we hope will help the Youngs have as smooth an entry into this assignment as possible. I am sure we will end up missing several things we should have included, but we hope what we have prepared for them will be useful to them when they arrive. We are also 100% convinced that they will do spectacular regardless of what we do or don’t do.