Pictures of Sweet Creek Falls near Mapleton. We took a few minutes to hike one more time to this beautiful place we have come to love. This year it is especially spectacular because of all the spring rain and snow.
This is the drive into the missionary apartment in Florence. It was an unusually sunny day making the drive look much lighter than is usually does. Isn't is great?!
This is the bridge in Florence. I love the view from here, showing the dunes, the pines and the beautiful old pillars of the bridge.This week we received an email from one of my sisters who said, “I have been so excited for you to come home. However, I just read your last few blog entries and started feeling a little sad as I realized what sweet associations you have to leave behind. You both continue to be in my prayers. I hope the bitterness of goodbye is compensated for by the happy reunions!” In an effort to be fair to all of our family, friends, and former missionaries back home please know we are very excited to come home and see all of you. However, it will be more than a little difficult to leave this all behind.
Speaking of family we saw several of them this week. On Tuesday afternoon my youngest sister, her husband and some of their family stopped by the house on their way to Portland for a family member’s wedding (other side of the family). On Friday we saw Sister Macdonald’s oldest brother, his wife and most of their family. They were staying out on the coast for a family reunion. One of their sons lives in Newport. We even met a friend of President and Sister Young who was in town for a day on Wednesday and wanted to see what the mission home looked like. We enjoyed seeing all of them.
One day last week as I was working out in the morning, I had a distinct impression that I should cancel our zone leaders’ council that was to be held on Tuesday, and replace it with a conference call. As I discussed this with Sister Macdonald, she quickly raised the concern that many of the zone leaders were really looking forward to coming. We both knew this was true, but we also knew where the promptings had come from. We also thought of the Youngs coming and we knew they planned to hold a zone leaders’ council a week or so after they arrived. We didn’t want to create any conflict in any of our zone leaders’ minds. I mentioned this to my assistants and they both felt good about the revised plan. Last Saturday we held a brief conference call with all of the zone leaders and told them of the change. They were supportive of the conference call instead of getting together, and I asked them to come prepared to share what they had accomplished on the Monday they would have spent traveling to the meeting in Eugene. On Tuesday they all reported on the good they had accomplished on that “found day”. We held a productive meeting over the phone for just over two hours. It felt great to follow the prompting I had received and still accomplish what we needed to by conference call.
Wednesday the movers arrived and packed up the things we needed to send home with them. We had spent several previous days organizing and sorting the things we wanted them to take, and the things we would be packing in the car to come home. On Friday the movers delivered the Young’s belonging to the house. These activities have had a sobering impact on us, and have certainly highlighted the fact that we really are leaving.
We had another round of dinners with friends we will be leaving behind and others have stopped by to wish us well. We broke bread with the Lymans, the Bergshoeffs, the Barnes, the Salisburys, the Bennions, the Lowarys, and we will be with the Smiths tomorrow. We had a good time with all of them and enjoyed reflecting on many pleasant times working together.
Speaking of family we saw several of them this week. On Tuesday afternoon my youngest sister, her husband and some of their family stopped by the house on their way to Portland for a family member’s wedding (other side of the family). On Friday we saw Sister Macdonald’s oldest brother, his wife and most of their family. They were staying out on the coast for a family reunion. One of their sons lives in Newport. We even met a friend of President and Sister Young who was in town for a day on Wednesday and wanted to see what the mission home looked like. We enjoyed seeing all of them.
One day last week as I was working out in the morning, I had a distinct impression that I should cancel our zone leaders’ council that was to be held on Tuesday, and replace it with a conference call. As I discussed this with Sister Macdonald, she quickly raised the concern that many of the zone leaders were really looking forward to coming. We both knew this was true, but we also knew where the promptings had come from. We also thought of the Youngs coming and we knew they planned to hold a zone leaders’ council a week or so after they arrived. We didn’t want to create any conflict in any of our zone leaders’ minds. I mentioned this to my assistants and they both felt good about the revised plan. Last Saturday we held a brief conference call with all of the zone leaders and told them of the change. They were supportive of the conference call instead of getting together, and I asked them to come prepared to share what they had accomplished on the Monday they would have spent traveling to the meeting in Eugene. On Tuesday they all reported on the good they had accomplished on that “found day”. We held a productive meeting over the phone for just over two hours. It felt great to follow the prompting I had received and still accomplish what we needed to by conference call.
Wednesday the movers arrived and packed up the things we needed to send home with them. We had spent several previous days organizing and sorting the things we wanted them to take, and the things we would be packing in the car to come home. On Friday the movers delivered the Young’s belonging to the house. These activities have had a sobering impact on us, and have certainly highlighted the fact that we really are leaving.
We had another round of dinners with friends we will be leaving behind and others have stopped by to wish us well. We broke bread with the Lymans, the Bergshoeffs, the Barnes, the Salisburys, the Bennions, the Lowarys, and we will be with the Smiths tomorrow. We had a good time with all of them and enjoyed reflecting on many pleasant times working together.
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