Week Ending February 28, 2009 Week # 6

Our newest AP, Elder Brown. Transfers are hard on all of us. When I got a look at him, I told him to take a nap. He looked at me like I'd suggested he give a sister missionary a big kiss. I assured him it was okay. He wasn't needed for anything else for 30 minutes or so and there he is in a noisy house SOUND asleep, exhausted. I do my best to take care of them mom.

My parents got up early for the drive to the Portland Temple where Jamie and Kim met us to start the long drive home. We took a picture together in the atrium before hugs and kisses goodbye.




Elder Leet cooks a pretty good breakfast. The last couple weeks he was here he could be found in different homes cooking breakfast for people he loved.





Each time we send a group home now it seems more difficult because we know them better. This time I cried off and on for two days. We do love our missionaries. Having the Dixons with us is always a special treat. They are such a great help to us in the office.






Our new arrivals. Another great group, although I will say they were much quieter than others we have had. I'm sure that won't last long. Give them a couple weeks with the other missionaries and lots of things change--for the better.

Again a family issue tops the highlight of the week – and since we believe that families can be forever that’s not all bad – right? Sister Macdonald’s parents visited us for a couple of days this last week. They have served three missions together. In their first one he presided over the Arizona Tucson Mission from 1990 to 1993. They were here when we had our incoming missionaries come in on Tuesday. I think they enjoyed watching some of that, and reliving the pleasant memories of their own mission. We were thrilled to have them here, and we are grateful to Kim and Jamie (Sis. Macdonald's sister and husband) who drove them out here in route to see their daughter’s family in Washington.

The incoming group of new missionaries this week was full of excitement and happiness to be here – as usual. As I get to meet them in person it becomes obvious that the trainers they have been assigned to go to are who they were supposed to go to. I can only learn so much from their picture and brief history that I have before they get here. The Lord knows them and loves them and guides me so strongly to put them with a specific companion and in a specific area where they will get started on the right foot. I have enjoyed the practice that Sister Macdonald suggested to me, of calling the incoming missionaries’ parents on the day they arrive. I am sure the parents feel a bit of assurance from that call, and I love making a connection with them as well.

On Wednesday / Thursday comes the downside of the transfer process. Sending home missionaries that we have come to love. This week’s group was all great – as they all are – but it also included one of my assistants, Elder Leet. I wish I could get as close to all of the missionaries as I get to the assistants, but it just isn’t possible. We, along with the entire mission, will miss him.

Stake conferences: It was a year ago that I was released as a stake president, but we are not lacking for opportunities to speak in stake conferences still. In the last three weeks I have spoken in nine sessions of four different stake conferences and I spoke at a fireside as well. Sister Macdonald has spoken at the appropriate sessions as well. The differences of course are I don’t know the people here like I did the good people of the Orem North Stake after living there for 30 years and being in the stake presidency for 15 years. The other difference is that we almost always speak together and on the subject of missionary work. I still enjoy the opportunity and Sister Macdonald is an excellent speaker and getting more comfortable doing it too. Although we don’t know many people we have run into several former members of our stake from home which gives us a touch of familiarity that is a tender mercy for sure.

When I started this blog idea I had to promise myself I would do it even when I didn’t have time for lengthy entries and I wouldn’t feel guilty if I didn’t have much to say. So I trust the pictures that Sister Macdonald will add will be sufficient to round out this week’s brief entry.

Week Ending February 21, 2009 Week # 5

Elder Sevigny and Elder Turner near the font (dreaming of a baptism?). Elder Turner is from Riverside, Calif. and has been on exchanges with our son, Clint.

The Sister's Zone Conference picture. We take one at every conference.

Not the best picture of my new grandson, Bennett and his daddy, but the only one I have so far. I took it from the computer screen as you might be able to tell. Isn't he adorable?!!!

The highlight of this week was hearing the announcement from Ryan and Rachel of their first child and our first grandson and sixth grandchild. Bennett James Macdonald was born on February 17, 2009 after over 24 hours of labor and a C-section. We were able to see pictures thanks to email and Sister Macdonald was able to see him on the web-cam. I hope to see him later today. All is well with mother and son – dad is still a wreck. :>) Actually, he is fantastic! We are grateful that Rachel’s Mom could be with them, but this was definitely one of the tests of our resolve to stay in the mission field and not run off to be with them. We're doing well too.

Last Sunday, February 15th we spoke in a stake conference in Monmouth, in the Salem area, with Elder Merrell who is now an area 70. He had served as the mission president in Utah Provo mission where we had met. We had a non-documented Elder from our stake mission serve under him for about 10 months, so we had become fairly well acquainted and it was fun to see him again.

Some of you may remember that a few months back I wrote about Sister Macdonald and I speaking in Florence and a man (named Bob) who was not a member of the church had come up to us and told us it was the strongest he had ever felt the spirit. I told him great – please let me know when you are getting baptized and we will try and make it to your baptism. The Elders told me they hadn’t challenged him to baptism yet. I told them, well we have now. Anyway, on Sunday we were able to go straight from the stake conference in Salem to Florence and witness his baptism. The Florence ward is going so strong right now. Last week the Elders there had 22 lessons to non-members with a member present.

This week we held three multi-zone conferences in Medford, Corvallis and Eugene. It was good to see all of the missionaries. Sister Macdonald spoke about how peaceful the temples were and all of the missionaries agreed. She asked what made those temple peaceful and of course got many great answers. When someone said because they were clean – she had them, and then told them how important it was to keep their apartments clean too. She was masterful. Everyone got the message and in a good way. I spoke on how a mission prepares us for life and how we ought to give it our very best. {(He was masterful too.)note from Sis. Macdonald}

One of my counselors spoke in each of the conferences on doing the right things for the right reasons (ranging from fear, to pride, to love.) The Assistants gave a great workshop on winning the hearts of those we teach. They always get me involved in role playing which I love. I finished with the need to study the right thing on our mission and afterwards. We experienced another lift in those conferences and I believe the missionaries did too.

This week we also finished transfer decisions and I made leadership calls on Friday and Saturday.

The more we help missionaries the more we are personally strengthened. This week seemed to have a few more special needs / concerns than usual, but it all ended fairly well at the end of the day.

Well, that's another wrap. It doesn't begin to tell everything that took place in our lives, but we are grateful for the safety of our missionaries and for their faithfulness. Until next week …

Week Ending February 14, 2009 Week #4

Oops! I distracted them just a little while they were being taught by their zone leaders.

Elder Kauvaka leads the singing with great gusto. It makes it fun to sing.

Even when it is stormy the scenery can be breathtaking as we drive from place to place.






For Valentines Day two of our elders had t-shirts made reminding them (and everyone who sees them) that their hearts are locked for two years.

First things first – Happy Valentines Day to my sweetheart. Tonight I am speaking at a leadership session of a stake conference and she is going to dinner with Elder and Sister Stratton and some sister missionaries here in town, so it is a little different than most of our previous Valentines Days, but the love we have for each other isn’t diminished any!

This week was very enjoyable as we drove to Klamath Falls and attended a baptism for a woman that I was able to meet a few months back. She was baptized by her husband. It was great to see the support of the ward. It is so far away I am guessing that is has been a long time since a mission president and his wife were able to attend a baptism down there. I was invited to stand in the circle when she was confirmed by the stake president. It was good to see the work in action.

After interviewing the missionaries in that area we drove up to Bend and I met with the stake presidents that night and interviewed the missionaries the next day. We look forward to seeing the missionaries and local leadership every bit as much as they seem to want to see us. I know they really want to see Sister Macdonald the most. One Elder saw me as I was going into a meeting alone with the stake presidents and said “Where is Sister Macdonald?” I assured him he would see her the next day at interviews and then he was OK. I regularly get reminded about who they really come to see. ;>)

This week we finished our interview process. We arrived home on Wednesday night in time for me to get sick with the stomach flu around 10:00 PM. Although I was feeling crummy I quickly realized how fortunate I was that the illness held off until I was home. In my weakened condition I knelt in prayer and offered a prayer of thanks. I was only down for a day or two, and I was still able to work on transfers a little, so I was truly strengthened. A blessing given by my assistants really helped. Today, although I am still a little weak, I am grateful for the good health I am usually blessed with.

Each few weeks sound about the same in my writing, but each one feels so different and the twists and turns are never the same. I am grateful for the spirit of the Lord that directs this work and gives us the strength to carry on.

Week Ending February 7, 2009 Week #3:

What do you make of those expressions? I wonder what they were talking about? Kind of looks like, "Are you crazy?"

Our "men in black"

The course of this week's travel for interviews was up to Corvallis and Salem on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was in the office on Thursday and then we left for Coos Bay on Friday. From there we went down to Medford for a Correlation Council meeting on Saturday and we had a very enjoyable dinner and evening on Friday night with David & Cynthia Wright. He is president of the Central Point Stake and they are delightful people. Kaye went to Ashland with Cynthia on Saturday and they thoroughly enjoyed their time together while David and I were in our meetings.

I continue to be amazed at how different each interview week is, because of course, each person is different. Many elders and sisters have no real need to see me, and we just enjoy a very pleasant visit where I feel of their spirit, and although I try to lift and inspire, I am sure that I leave feeling more refreshed by the experience than they do. Others may have a need to clarify something or ask a question, but again they help me as much or more than I help them. These types of interviews represent the vast majority of missionaries and I am so glad that they lift me and help to refill my “spiritual bank account” every bit as much as I do theirs. These are the missionaries who are the “high-yield, low-maintenance” servants of the Lord. I know they are being successful in what they do.

The few missionaries I need to help are the ones that keep me focused and for whom I try to stay inspired so the Lord can help me help them. I always pray that I can be a tool that may be able to help them and that they will learn to deal not only with mission challenges, but with life’s challenges as they move forward. These are good people who are in a different place in their eternal progression. I am sure they are on their way to becoming great servants of the Lord. It is fun to watch someone make the leap from being higher maintenance to lower maintenance and become better equipped to deal with the challenges that come to them. I will be forever grateful for people in my life, past and present, who help me improve as I move forward.

Well, this week is a bit light in unique events that would be worthy of taking your time to read, but nonetheless they are helping me become who and what I need to be. We are grateful to be here and pray that we will do what the Lord would have us do.

Week Ending January 31, 2009 Week #2:

The Lowry's have the missionaries over for breakfast on Pday the week of transfers. They have been doing this for !!!!years. Sister Lowry also packs lunches for those who will be in the transfer van all day. They love the missionaries and really go the extra mile to take care of them. The missionaries love them too.

Elder Dixon is one half of one of our office couples. He takes care of the vehicles in the mission--HUGE job. Here he is in his ninja turtle gear inspecting vehicles at a zone conference. We all love Elder and Sister Dixon. She takes care of the mail. What missionary doesn't love mail.

Have our elders gone hip-hop?!!!

Brother Bennion, a retired dentist and ward mission leader, is always looking out for the missionaries and their teeth. He has endless energy for missionary work.

We had the opportunity to have Alan in our home and get to know him a little. We are so happy he was baptized. Look at those smiles.







We started the interviewing process in earnest this week. I had about 70 “interviews” and Sister Macdonald did the same number of “visits” throughout all of Eugene and in Roseburg, Grants Pass and Medford. The main difference in these two discussions is that the missionaries know they are being interviewed by me and Sister Macdonald is just nice to talk to. We aren’t trying to play “good cop bad cop” but because she is so sweet and perhaps more non threatening (not that I try to be threatening) it is great for the two of us to compare notes afterwards. I think in this manner we are really able to help the missionaries much better than I could alone. Once again this is a good time in our lives to be so connected in the work we are doing and to be of one mind perhaps more than we ever have been before.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the medical issues that Sister Macdonald primarily takes care of. She was used to raising our children and having them ask if they should do this or that for this aliment or that. In more recent years she has also done a great job sharing this knowledge with our children and their spouses for the grandchildren. She now has about 170 young people who call her for the same advice. We are blessed to have willing help from Sister Andrea Stratton in the office who is a nurse, one of my counselors, Gary Stewart who is a retired doctor, also Elder Fife a wonderful area medical doctor who is extremely qualified and helpful when asked, and to have so many members of the church who are doctors and are willing to help the missionaries whenever they are asked.

Some of the medical things that have been done since we have been here include: knee surgeries – both in the field and at home, an Elder who came from one of the islands came missing a front tooth and a kind dentist provided a beautiful new smile for him at no charge (it has made such a big difference in his attitude and his smile), sprangs, colds, migraines, rashes, torn this or that, deep cuts, and a host of other medical needs. I would be lost without her –she is great!

Speaking about doctors I went to see one a week or so ago because of pain I was having in my left shoulder (this is the one that I have had surgery on twice.) The doctor is a member of the church and before I saw him I explained my history to him over the phone. When I saw him he was very impressed with the therapy I have been doing for the last 25 years and was shocked at what good shape the shoulder was in. All of this I was extremely happy to hear until he used the words that I have never previously heard from a medical provider, at least not directed at me. I am fearful I will now hear it more often. He had the nerve to say “For a man of your age …” While I am grateful all I needed was a cortisone shot and a few new therapeutic exercises, I am not sure I will be able to forgive him for the “man of your age” comment. :>)

Again this week, in addition to being the mission president and his wife, we had some opportunities to be missionaries. We helped teach an investigator in our home, and also helped teach a lesson at the baptism for a man we have helped fellowship who has also been taught some in our home. This work is great.