Week Ending Dec 27, 2008 Week #3

Boy, do Tom and I look tired. They say pictures don't tell lies, but I don't remember feeling tired. Being around my missionaries always energizes me, even those who come back to say hello. We miss you Elder Hall!

Christmas again! Averi is wondering if this is indeed a "present". "Where are the toys?"

Macy is definitely confused by her gift. "I know it's a toy, but what is it?" "Should I show glee?" "Someone please explain." Hopefully now that she's home and has had a chance to really open it, she is pleased rather than confused.

Camrie loves opening presents and being older understands that you have to open every part of the present and explore it to really understand what you have. She really digs in. I love to watch.




Have to play with Grandpa. That's what he's for.




Averi believed this horse was hers and not to be shared. However, peace was made and the horses back was almost broken as he gave all three a ride. He better keep smiling. This is what Grandpas are for.

This week we finished up this round of interviews in Corvallis and Salem. When we went to Salem we drove through some of the heavy snow that has been crippling northern Oregon for the last week or two. The Portland airport has been closed on and off for 10 days or so and the Portland Trailblazers even had to take a bus to Eugene one time and fly out of that airport to get to a game. Anyway, the dividing line between what has been rain and snow was about 5 miles south of Salem so only that area of our mission has been plagued with the real bad ice, while the whole Portland mission has had to deal with it.

There are about 60 missionaries in the two zones in the north and that always means long days when we go up there. This time we had the extra treat of welcoming in a new senior couple – the Kirkham’s – who had braved snow and ice to drive here. We visited with them for an hour or so before they headed into their first area of labor, Lincoln City, on the coast. They were so upbeat and it was fun to get to know them and feel of their excitement for the work. Not too many couple missionaries would choose to come out the week of Christmas when they could have been home with their family and come a week later. They are going to be great.

We finished up around 5:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. It was surprisingly fun to wish these great missionaries a Merry Christmas and see how excited they are to be engaged in the work of the Lord. As we drove home we talked to the Strattons (who work in the office and our neighbors of ours in Orem) and ended up having dinner with them at their apartment. It was good to be with friends on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day we had breakfast with the Strattons and the assistants at our home and enjoyed some great whole wheat waffles that Sister Stratton had a recipe for. It was the first time we have not been with family on Christmas Day since my first mission, but it was good nonetheless. Later in the day we got together with them again and enjoyed an evening at the Barnes home and several other members of the ward. It was fun to be included as one of the group and feel of their spirit.

We had other visits and phone calls with various missionaries here, but the highlight of the day was talking to our missionary son and all of our other children on a conference call. It was fun to have all of the kids on the phone at the same time and just interact with all of them as though we were all sitting in the same room even though all of us were in different places. I sure do love our family and how comfortable all of us are together. I hope we will always stay close together and interact that way.

Two of our children, Chalisa and Ryan, and their families were scheduled to fly here and were to arrive in Eugene at about 10:00 p. m. on Christmas Day. However, heavy snow in SLC delayed their coming by about six hours and they sat on the plane in SLC for about five of those hours getting deiced and then getting snow out of the engine and then getting deiced again. Fortunately the children slept through most of that, but when we got to our home at about 4:00 am on the 26th they were all ready to get a few hours of sleep.

Tommy and his family were going to drive here, but as the snows increased that became increasingly questionable. Unfortunately the thing that really put it out of the questions was when Tommy ended up in the emergency room on Christmas evening with an apparent appendix attack. He and Ashlee headed home at about 2:00 a. m. with medication but no real answers and his appendix still intact. The coming days have not answered the question clearly either, so they remain in our prayers and a part of our concerns. We hope he will be healed quickly and completely.

Since we have family here, Kaye and I have both tried to take some time off to just visit with them and enjoy their company. Intermingled have been some needed calls with various missionaries, starting the work on transfers, and various other events.

Camrie – our oldest granddaughter - wanted to see the missionaries and we had four over for dinner on Saturday night and it was fun to have the grandchildren see some of what we do as we interacted with them. Macy sang Christmas songs for them.

Another bonus came on Sunday evening when Elder Hall (who went home in October) came by with his parents and brother and had dinner with us. He comes from great stock and I can see why he turned out so great. Difficult to not wish he was still here.

Week Ending December 20, 2008 Week #2

Here is our front yard blanketed in snow. We are the only ones we know of that shovel the snow. They also don't drive in it or do school. Just different.

Here is a view of the backyard. I was fearful that I would not see snow for three years, but here it is, a wonderful early Christmas gift. I love it!




I reported snow last week, but now we have really seen snow and how it cripples this town and state. It doesn’t snow like it does in Utah as there always seems to be a sheet of ice along with the snow. Also since it doesn’t snow nearly as often, nor does it last as long as it does at home, they haven’t invested in the tools to fight the snow. Their solution is to just close schools down and wait it out. Although we had received several inches of snow throughout the mission, by the end of the week it was warmer and the rain had come and cleared out the snow in all but the high country, but not before we had six car accidents as a mission and made various body shops happy. According to the weather man it doesn’t look like we will be having a white Christmas, but we did see snow in December.

Tuesday we started our trip south to have interviews, after we had received a pretty heavy snow fall on Monday and even the freeway had been closed for a while that day. Fortunately as we headed south, we were not one of the six accidents we had in the mission and although it took a fair bit longer to get to out first interview city – Roseburg – we did make it safely and enjoyed seeing the good missionaries there. We then headed on to Grants Pass for another set of visits.

When we arrived in Medford there was no sign of the snow we had been experiencing as it had melted very quickly and I was happy our missionaries there were no longer experiencing hazardous driving conditions.

We were lucky enough to get back in town before the snow came on Wednesday night. On Thursday and Friday our interviews were in the greater Eugene area. We needed to drive very slowly to get off our hill, but all went well.

This next week we have three missionaries going home mid-transfers to get back in time for school (and Christmas might have had an impact on the chosen date to go home too.) They participated in all of the going home things a few weeks ago and we will not even be in town to see them off as we will be heading north for interviews. We were supposed to welcome in a senior couple while we were in the area, but they are going to wait until the next storm passes before they head out this way. This will probably delay them a week or so.

We went to church today (12-21-08) in a small town just south of Eugene called Cottage Grove and took Elder Jaynes with us – he is one of the missionaries leaving this week. It was the first area he had served in and a young man he had taught there almost 2 years ago gave his farewell address before leaving on his mission. It was really nice to be there and see the cycle of conversion at work.

This week we delivered some of Mom’s famous homemade fudge to all of our neighbors. We were a bit apprehensive as very few of them had been by our home to welcome us. As the new kids on the block we decided to just go and welcome them. It went good and some invited us in and we visited and felt much more at home. We look forward to getting to know them all better.

In our discussion with the missionaries before interviews this round it has been good to reflect on my own mission. I remembered how good it was - and is - to be in the service of my God at this time of year. I know our Savior lives and I hope to be able to give my heart completely to Him.

Week Ending December 13, 2008 Week #1

Sister Sterzer learned how to make fudge and was a huge help along with Sister Toomey and Sister Wood. We accomplished a lot in a very short time.

Take the Zone Leaders from around the high council table and they start looking just a little strange, but nothing like.....

Poor President is always trying to look dignified.

It snowed today – Saturday 12-13-08! I got up to go to the gym at 6:00 am this morning and I found about 2 inches of snow on my car. By the time I drove down the hill and hit Williamette there was no snow on the ground. This little hill we live on is just enough higher than the office and town to get snow even when they don't. Eugene is only at about 400 feet above sea level and our little hill is just enough higher. It looks great. In the higher areas of the state, like Bend – about 3,600 feet above sea level – they will get more snow and the mountains between here and there are expected to get a foot or two with this storm.

Although this week is normally not an interview week, we decided to start early so we could see all of the missionaries before Christmas and give them a small gift and some of Sister Macdonald’s home made fudge and short bread. Unfortunately I have been having some with each group (just to be sociable of course) but I need to stop this or I will end up looking more like Santa than I want to!

We did interviews this week in Klamath Falls, Bend / Redmond, and Coos Bay. Since the snow didn’t come until Saturday we were lucky to get the traveling done on the roads that are more subject to heavy snow early in the interview process.

Christmas is a great time to be in the mission field. We feel so much closer to the Savior as we are doing His work full time. It is nice to be able to put up some of the decorations and have some help since we are trying to fit in extra visits right now. Several missionaries have given service to us: one companionship put up the lights on the house, another helped decorate the tree, some sisters will come today to help with a little more cooking and wrapping, and several companionships have helped us eat some of our food and goodies. It has been fun to have about 15 different missionaries (in addition to the arriving and departing missionaries as well as the zone leaders) come and share the holiday spirit with us in our home.

I received a letter telling me that our compliment of missionaries will be increasing. It is scheduled to go up by about 13 companionships. It will be both a challenge and a blessing to prayerfully determine where to put the additional missionaries.

We also found out that two new sets of senior missionaries will be coming. One couple will be coming the week of Christmas and the other one in late January. We are excited to have them come and help build the kingdom here.

While I am well aware that the real signs of success in this type of work are the inner changes that are made in individual people, it is fun to watch the great growth in lessons being taught and people joining the church as missionaries do their very best to become "Preach My Gospel" missionaries. The office missionaries found records by individual month in the office for the last five years and we hit a record in November in the key indicators related to lessons taught, people with a baptismal date, and baptisms. I am so happy that our missionaries and the people here are being blessed to teach and receive the gospel.

I am so lucky to have the companion I do! Sister Macdonald is the best.

Week Ending December 7, 2008 Week #6

It was too cold to take pictures outside the Portland Temple with our December departing missionaries. This was taken in the atrium just inside the temple.

Our Dec. 2, 2008 arrivals. We hardly knew what to do with such a small group. Small in number, but large in personality and spirit.

We have had a very unseasonably dry winter thus far – just typing that statement increases the likelihood that all of that will change now.

This week was another of our “Best of times and the Worst of times.” For the best of times we welcomed in eight new missionaries – six Elders and 2 Sisters. (The worst of times is sending home missionaries we have come to love.) They arrived on Tuesday. All went well in their arrivals and this was the first “normal size” group we have had (our first transfer week we didn’t receive any incoming missionaries and the last two incoming groups were very large groups of 22 and 19.) Dealing with 8 missionaries was very calm. Elder Turner from Riverside (who had gone on exchanges with Clint) arrived safely and was all he was built up to be and he seemed excited to be here. He said my personality was very similar to Clint’s. That is great news for me, but likely not so great for Clint. :>)

Wednesday we enjoyed going to the Portland temple with the group going home the next day. One of our returning missionaries has a cousin serving in the Portland mission and he was able to come to the temple that same time and visit a bit with his cousin. It was quite nice. The going home testimony and “last supper” was held that evening with the group, and it was very enjoyable. They all went home safely on Thursday, but there was a mix up with one of the sisters who was traveling to Palm Springs and when we went to the airport they didn’t have a ticket for her. That took a few calls and about 45 minutes of waiting time at the airport to work out with the travel group in SLC. I was glad we had arrived early enough to resolve the problem that same day.

Friday we had Zone Leaders Council (ZLC) here at the mission home instead of starting here and traveling to the chapel. It was a bit tight, but I think everyone liked the homey atmosphere.

At the end of the ZLC – one of the zone leaders who jokes with me from time-to-time came up to me and put his arm around me and asked “How is the best mission president in the church?” He had been joking around with me about him and me going to a Portland Trailblazers basketball game. So I told him no he couldn’t go to the game. He then got a bit more serious and told me he had received a speeding ticket on his way to the ZLC. I asked him how fast he was going and he told me 96 mph in a 65. I was sure he was kidding me, but the long story short is he wasn’t kidding. The fine will cost him about $500, which I determined is punishment enough.

We went to a couple of baptisms this week – one for a man our assistants had tracked out and taught. He is a solid man who is excited about what the gospel can do for his family. He is the first in his family to be baptized but he has support from everyone. He and his wife are divorced, but they are seeing each other again. She came to his baptism along with her older son from a prior marriage. Their six year old son wants to wear a badge like the missionaries. Today he was confirmed (I was able to stand in the circle) and ordained a priest. He bore his testimony and said he had lived in SLC for 17 years, and said he was determined if an LDS person ever asked him to learn more he would. I am sorry he had to move to Eugene to be tracked out by missionaries to have that opportunity, but glad that he found it eventually. Also when we was baptized one foot came up and he had to be baptized a second time. His 6 year old son was confused he was "only" baptized two time, because he thought he had to be baptized three times - once for the Father, once for the Son and once for the Holy Ghost.

Mom is wrapping a small present for each of the missionaries and cooking a little treat for us to bring to them while we are doing interviews the next few weeks. Once again I think she is overdoing it, but she does so great!

Although this calling is still the hardest thing we have ever done, we are loving it more and more each week.

Week Ending November 30, 2008 Week #5

One of the many impressive and beautiful bridges that we cross in our travels. It reminds me of a cathedral. I'm sure my photo doesn't do it justice.

We fell in love with this houseboat parked by the side of someone's home. Had to take a picture!

I wish I knew the name of this lake and this old volcano, but I don't. I only know that the view was especially breathtaking on this particular day.

This week was fairly light as we had our zone conferences (that we usually hold this week) two weeks earlier to accommodate the visiting general authority. We were happy to have two of our sons – Tommy & Ryan and their families here for Thanksgiving. We also finished up transfer assignments and I made leadership calls.

All of our missionaries had one or more meals with a ward family on Thanksgiving. They followed tradition of past years, which I am now questioning, of playing in the various ward turkey bowls throughout the mission.These football games are, in theory, “non-contact.” Based on the pulled hamstrings, sprained ankles and other injuries that occurred, I am rethinking what the events for the day should be. Anyway, I am so grateful for how the members treat these great missionaries.

The kids left for home on Saturday and we left to drive to Coquille – about 2.5 hours away. We attended a baptism Saturday night and then stayed the night at Bishop’s Hladky’s home. He had invited us to speak in the ward on Sunday and overnight in Coquille. It was a pleasure to be able to do that. After we spoke in Coquille we also attended sacrament meeting in North Bend and visited with the Elders there.

On Saturday night, after the baptism and dinner with the Elders and the Hladkys, I went teaching with the Elders to a single sister and her four children. We were scheduled to teach the 3rd discussion and I was to teach on enduring to the end. When we got there the 2 boys ~ 11 and 13 or so weren’t there as they were watching the “Civil War” (the football game between Oregon State and UofO) at the house of Pastor Lee. We really had a good discussion and the woman and her daughters had read from the Book of Mormon and had a very good understanding. When we were almost done – I had even taught my part - the boys arrived home along with Pastor Lee and his wife. Pastor Lee is a man in his 40s or 50s who has tattoos on his arm and was wearing biker apparel - as was his wife. He had on a cap that said “Bikers for Christ.” We exchanged pleasantries but it was still just a bit uncomfortable. She committed to come to church again and to hear Mom and me talk the next day, but sadly she didn’t make it. I really feel bad when someone I know doesn’t come and I get a better understanding of how the missionaries feel when their investigators don’t come.

Other than the normal routine of reading a lot of great letters from the missionaries that pretty well sums up our week. This coming week we will look forward to welcoming in new missionaries and sadly sending some missionaries home as well.