Greetings from the Oregon Salem Mission

 Welcome to the blog of Jack & Robbi Rowan, also know as Elder & Sister Rowan.  We are currently serving as Office Assistants in the Oregon Salem Mission.  We began our service on March 6, 2023.  We spent two incredible weeks at the MTC and have now been onsite in the mission for a week!  It has been an amazing first week as we have observed all that needs to be done in the mission office.  It has been a little overwhelming but I am sure we will catch on in time. I asked Elder Rowan how he would describe our 1st week and he said, "intense"!  Elder Rowan is serving as the Vehicle Coordinator and I am serving as the Financial Secretary.  I will also be trained on some of the General Secretary duties.  The outgoing senior couples, Elder & Sister Weed and Elder & Sister Stewart have been very kind and patient with us 😀.  We are living in a (2) bedroom, (2) bathroom apartment that is more than adequate for our needs.  The other senior couple, the mission nurse, and (2) apartments of sister missionaries are in our same complex.  We have unpacked and spent some time this week picking up a few extra things the mission does not supply.  We feel at home now!  

Last Sunday we were able to attend church in the Newberg 1st ward and felt very welcome.  Since our records will stay in our home ward we can choose to attend whichever ward we want.  There are (2) wards here in Newberg.  At least 20 people introduced themselves to us at church and between them and the missionaries we feel overwhelmed trying to remember names.  At least the missionaries wear name tags! We attended Stake Conference today and I am so impressed with the members in this area.  It was a great conference! The wards seem pretty big with good attendance.

We have about 160 missionaries in our mission and about 66 cars in the fleet.  Elder Rowan is feeling overwhelmed because Salt Lake is in the process of switching out almost all the cars in our fleet for newer models.  It is a big job getting them from the dealership, collecting the older cars from the missionaries, giving them new cars, transferring AIO systems, and keeping track of all the paperwork.  When this part of his job has been completed he will be happy.

Next week is transfer week and the beginning of a 6 week cycle.  On Tuesday the missionaries will all transfer to their new locations and those going home will be taken to the airport.  On Wednesday new missionaries will arrive and they will have orientation and we will feed about 20-25 people dinner.  Then Thursday they will have more training and meet their new companions.  We will feed lunch to 20-25 people again and then they will be off to their new assignments.  The week after is Zone Conferences which will take up 3 days.  Elder Rowan will inspect all cars at each conference and give a short presentation on safe driving.  Our furthest zone conference is 3.5 hrs away in Bend, OR so we will go out and spent the night since car inspections begin at 8:00 AM.  The week after that we will have a visiting General Authority, in this case, Elder Johnson of the Seventy, and he will spend the week touring our mission and visiting in the office.  This will only happen 1 or 2 times in a year.  

That is what I know so far about our schedule for the next few weeks.  The departing missionaries will be with us until May 2nd so we have a few weeks to learn from them.  The other new couple that will work with us in the office arrives around the 25th of April so they will only have one week to train 😕.  We need to learn all we can so we can help them.

Our mission president's wife, Sister Phillips spoke in Stake Conference last night.  She talked about perspective and shared the story found in 1 Nephi 17:1-7, 20.  In these verses Nephi and Laman & Lemuel are describing the same series of events.  Nephi says, "And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us," while Laman & Lemuel said, "And it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions."  I hope we can always keep the perspective of Nephi and find gratitude in our hearts every day that we have the blessings of working with these incredible missionaries.  I know that our Savior will help us to accomplish all that we need to do!

            We found a great walking path around a golf course only .25 miles from our apartment!

The Oregon Salem Mission Office

Our mission office is in the church located in Newberg, Oregon.  The door to the Mission Office is in the back of the building.

This is part of the mission office.  The office holds (6) missionaries and is divided into (3) sections

                                                 This is the door to the mission office.

 

Wearing the name tag

Today we have been thinking about our name tags.  Returned missionaries have told us how hard it is to take off the badge.  I think we are beginning to understand why.  Yesterday was our 1st P-day.  We were instructed in the MTC to wear our badges any time we leave the house, even on our P-days, so of course we do.  As missionaries we are representatives of Jesus Christ and his church and our actions are supposed to reflect that.  It is amazing how deeply that has affected us.  I find myself smiling more, going out of my way to be more kind, more helpful, and more friendly.  I know I should always be that way but somehow it just feels different now. We went to our granddaughter's volleyball games, then ran some errands to DI, Costco, and to pick up some furniture we were buying through Facebook Marketplace.   Every where we went our name tags attracted attention! At the volleyball games a member of the church we didn't know made a point to stop and talk to us.  At DI a cute worker ran up to us to tell us she had just joined the church 7 months ago.  At our 1st stop for furniture the woman made a point to tell us that there was a "Mormon" church close by and how she had friends in high school who were members of the church.  At Stake Conference a member of the Presidency went out of his way to introduce himself and welcome us to the mission.  Other members stopped to chat and ask where we were from.  At our last Facebook Marketplace stop the woman realized we were missionaries and was very excited to tell us she was "an inactive member of the church."  Knowing who I was representing, I said a quick prayer in my heart that I would say the right thing to her.  We ended up having a wonderful conversation and instant connection.  I am going to lunch with her next week to learn her story.  I think there will be power in these badges!