April 30, 2023

Look who came to visit!!!

It was Tracey's birthday this weekend and Tom was out of town for a dental convention. So Tracey decided it would be fun to fly Rachel up to spend her birthday with her. Since Tracey lives so close to where we are serving we were the happy beneficiaries of her visit too! Rachel & Chris are doing great with us being gone so don't think Rachel came because she was missing us so much. She assured us that was not the case :). We had a wonderful day together with Tracey & Rachel. We started the day by doing a session at the Portland Temple, then came back to see our apartment, had lunch, and toured the mission offices. Then our granddaughters joined us to hang out with their mother on her birthday and we went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. It was beautiful! Very different from the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. This was acres of different tulips growing out in the fields. Then we finished the day off at Red Robin where everyone was happy!

This has been a great week at the office. The other new couple, Lisa & Gary Larson from Fruit Heights, UT finally arrived and we have loved having them here. The Weeds & Stewarts will be done with their service in the next few weeks and it will just be us and the Larsons in the office. We already know we are going to love them and have a great time serving together. We are finally starting to feel like we know what we are doing and that has been a great feeling. It was a slow week with no meals to prepare, no transfers, no zone conferences, no mission tours, and even the Mission President was gone for half the week at the Mission President Conference.

Tonight we had a Sisters Devotional. It was incredible! The spirit during the meeting was so strong. It was 16 young sister missionaries and then 6 of us older sisters. The theme for the devotional was taken from D&C 6:36, "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." I think it is going to become my new favorite scripture. At the beginning of the devotional we read the opening pages of a book titled "Look Unto Him, Finding the Love of Christ in Our Lives." It addressed many of the thoughts I had been having just in the last few days. It was like the devotional was just for me. Then everyone shared experiences on how our Savior has helped them overcome doubt and especially fear in their lives. Our Savior Jesus Christ is real, he loves us, and with that love we can do all things!

April 23, 2023

What a great week we have had! This week was our Mission Tour which means that a General Authority came to tour the mission and give the missionaries instruction. Our visiting General Authority was Elder Peter Johnson and his wife. He was so great and so personable! On Thursday night the senior couples got to go out to dinner with him and his wife. It is not every day we get to dine with a General Authority and it was pretty awesome! The rest of the week was busy with Elder Rowan getting 14 new cars ready to switch with older cars that the missionaries brought in to the mission office when they came for special Zone Conferences with Elder Johnson. Then on Friday the transport company came and took away 12 old cars to sell so now we have a little more room in our parking lot. We have an additional 14 cars ready for transport and only 5 more new cars to trade out. It will make a total of 50 cars changed out. What a big job this has been for Elder Rowan but he has done great! We prepared meals for the missionaries on Wed, Thur, & Fri. 100 on both Wed & Thur, & 70 on Friday. This was Sister Weed's last week to be in charge of meals and it was bittersweet for her. I let her take charge and was just there to help and support all I could. My turn is coming soon enough.

Last night on one of our mission facebook pages I saw the following:

It is a great question to ponder. Our missionaries were given several talks by General Authorities to pre-read in preparation for the Mission Tour. One of them was "Peacemakers Needed" by President Nelson. During the Mission Tour I had the opporturnity to sit in on a discussion with the missionaries and our Mission President about this talk. IT GAVE ME HOPE! The Mission President invited the missionaries to share their thoughts on the talk and one by one their hands went up to add their thoughts to the discussion. It was absolutely beautiful and powerful to hear what they had to say. I sat and wept as each one expressed a desire to follow our prophet and to try to follow the doctrine he taught. And what beautiful doctrine it is as our Prophet taught about the need for peacemakers in the world. Our missionaries talked about how they could apply the talk in their companionships, in dealing with people they meet, and in their future families. One missionary said that before his mission his philosphy was "My way or the highway!" but as he has served and tried to become a better disciple of Christ his heart has been softened and now he understands the doctrine of being a peacemaker. The growth these missionaries experience on their mission will change their lives forever!! And that gives me hope. They are the rising generation and they will be incredible!

In one of the discussions Elder Johnson lead he told our missionaries that the greatest potential for finding "friends" to teach was the members. He also said it was the most under-utilized. It made me think about what a failure I have been in helping the missionaries find someone to teach. He told the missionaries that when they teach "friends" if they want to show charity, the pure love of Christ, they need to have HIGH LOVE + HIGH EXPECTATIONS. I think that is the problem many of us have. We love our friends, family, and neighbors so we have HIGH LOVE, but we have LOW EXPECTATIONS. We don't even offer them the opportunity to accept the gospel. He shared the story of Christ telling the rich man to go and sell all his possessions and give to the poor. He knew that it would be a hard commandment for the rich man to follow but he still told him to do it. Why? In Mark 10:21 it says, "And thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Christ did not shy away from the invitation, he still issued it, because he loved the man enough to want the very best for him.

Yesterday we went for a little outing to check out some of the local sights. I love getting out and having the chance to talk to random strangers. We went up to Oregon City, about 20 miles away, to check out Willamette Falls. We found a fun little path to walk after riding up the Oregon City Elevator. It is an elevator tower in the middle of the city that takes you from the bottom of a cliff up to the top. It looks a little like the Space Needle. It is so random! Along our walk we even found a beautiful Magnolia Tree.

April 16, 2023

Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit the Portland Temple. It was the 1st time since we have been here. It was so good to be back in the temple! I have missed it. Now that we are starting to get the hang of things better with our duties we hope we can go on a more regular basis. I have been to the Portland Temple twice before but it was the 1st time for Jack. It is only 25 minutes from our apartment.

When we were in the MTC we received instruction from Elder W. Mark Bassett of the Seventy. In his remarks to us he talked about the covenants we make at the temple. For some reason I had always thought these covenants were sacred (which they are) but also secret. That we could not talk about them outside the temple. Elder Bassett said we were not alone in that thought but that it absolutely was not true. He directed us to pull out our phones and go to Gospel Library/Temple and Family History/Temple Ordinances/Temple Endowment. Right there it talks very specifically about the covenants we make. I wish everyone knew about this section because it is amazing. Right below the picture of an endowment room the words "specific covenants" is highlighted. If you click on that you are taken to a section that talks about each covenant individually!! Incredible!!! Our missionaries are also incredible! I can learn so much from them! They are given the opportunity to attend the temple occassionally too. A few weeks ago they were able to go and were excited to come back into the office to discuss something they had learned with Elder Weed. Elder Weed is the Sr Elder that I am replacing as Financial Secretary. He worked for the church for 30 years as a Seminary and Institute Director. He knows so much about the gospel and the scriptures! I love listening to him!! Anyway, the missionaries told him that they had noticed that when we make the (5) covenants in the temple, with the 1st (4) we promise to "KEEP" them, but with the Law of Consecreation we promise to "ACCEPT" it. I had never, ever noticed that! See how smart they are! Elder Weed then gave us instruction about the Law of Consecration and how it is a celestial law. The section in the Gospel Library helps to explain that too.

This week has been a little rough. It was bound to happen. There is so much to learn and sometimes things just don't go right. Instructions are misunderstood, the church software is slow, etc. It is easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated. We have been working long hours, usually 8:00-6:00 and some nights until 7 or 8:00. We even worked most of last Saturday trying to get on top of things. I think we were also a little exhausted. I was feeling that way and by Thursday I was just not looking forward to going into the office. As we knelt that morning to say our prayers the distinct impression came to me, almost like a voice, saying "You are not alone." It was so strong I was instantly brought to tears at the reminder that we were here doing the Savior's work and he is and will be here to help and lift us when we need it. It was exactly the reminder I needed!! Instantly my mood was lifted and the rest of the week was good! A good lesson for me to remember.

Happy Easter! What a great week it has been leading up to Easter. It has been so great to have Come Follow Me to use as a resource for our study this week on the Atonement and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the testimony that I have that I can see my loved ones again some day and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ I can someday return to live with my Heavenly Father again.

We are grateful that we are close enough to Tracey to be able to spend holidays with her. We had a yummy Easter dinner and finished it off with an Easter Egg shaped fruit pizza! Thank you Alyssa!

It has been an incredibly busy week as we continue to learn more about our duties. On Tuesday we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) again and prepared a meal for 40 people. This time I prepared the dessert and made (4) pans of Eclair cake. My 1st real contribution to the meals! We picked up more cars in McMinnville and brought them back to the mission office. Then Elder Rowan had to prepare to switch the new cars with old cars. Just to show you how busy it was we were invited to dinner on Wednesday night with the other office couples. We were supposed to be there at 5:30 PM. We were in the office on Wednesday afternoon so that some more cars could be picked up and taken away for sale. We were working away and before we knew it, it was 5:50 and the phone rang. They wondered if we were coming to dinner! I have never in my life forgotten an appointment! To say we were embarrassed is an understatement. They were very kind and gracious and waited for us to arrive.

It was also Zone Conferences this week which are a big deal. We have (8) Zones in our mission and the conferences are spread out over 3 days in different locations. This time they were in Keizer, Salem, and Bend. They were Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday. On Wednesday it was local and we could come and go back to our apartment. But on Friday they were in Bend which is 3.5 hrs from here so after the conference in Salem on Thursday we drove to Bend to spend the night. We had (6) new cars to deliver to the missionaries in Bend so Elder Rowan was busy arranging drivers to take those as well as preparing for all he needed to do for car inspections. Car inspecions and giving a safe driving presentation are part of his responsibilities as Vehicle Coordinator. We began zone conference at 8:00 AM. All the missionaries were there with their cars with their hoods up. We gave them a clipboard with a car inspection sheet and they inspected their cars while we went around topping off windshield wiper fluid and checking the thread on their tires. We also looked for any visible signs of damage. The missionaries headed into meetings at 9:00 AM while we completed the rest of the inspections. It was cold out there and it rained some of the days (:. But it was a beautiful drive out to Bend and we look forward to going back out there and doing some exploring. :).

The zone conferences were amazing!! We loved seeing all the missionaries together and the spiritual maturity they expressed is inspiring! For this zone conference the missionaries were asked to prepare by reading a talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks from October 1984. It is "Why Do We Serve?" The talk identifies (6) reasons why people serve. It was very thought provoking. The (6) reasons are: 1) Hope of an earthly reward 2) Personal desire to obtain good companionship 3) Fear of punishment 4) Sense of duty or out of loyalty 5) Hope of an eternal reward 6) Charity, the pure love of Christ

Obviously #6, Charity, the pure love of Christ, is our goal while we are here. This means that our service should be for the love of God and the love of fellowmen rather than for personal advantage or any other lesser motive. Right now I would say that I am somewhere between #5 and #6 so I have some work to do. Elder Oaks says that if we have difficulty with this idea we should follow the counsel given in Moroni 7:48, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ." I guess I know what I will be doing....

April 2, 2023

We are happy to report that we made it through our 2nd week in the mission office. We continue to learn more and become more comfortable in our duties. There are so many things I want to report that I hope I can remember them all. We are continuing to receive new cars and traveled over to Hillsboro and McMinnville to pick them up this week. We are getting 3-5 at a time. When we get that many we have to take that many drivers with us to help drive them back to the office. When we went to Hillsboro we recruited (2) of the Elders here in town to help drive them back, Elders Reil & Bain. When we got back to the office Elder Reil was here with his car but we waited, and waited for Elder Bain to arrive. Turns out that the Elders share a sim card so Elder Bain did not have GPS much of the drive to find his way back. As we became more worried about him the (2) young Sister missionaries working in the office gathered us all around and announced that we were going to say a prayer for him. They said a simple, sincere prayer that he would make it back ok. It was truly inspiring to see their faith and how quickly they turned to prayer when presented with a problem. Not long after Elder Bain made it back and all was well.

It was transfer week so that means missionaries were coming, going, and moving to new areas. Elder Rowan got a taste of this when he had to get up at 2:30 AM to take an Elder to the airport at 3:15 AM. The airport is about a 45 minute drive from here and opens at 4:00 AM. When missionaries are flying out early and are going international they have to be there (2-3) hrs early. We have missionaries that are called "reassigns" who are only here temporarily while waiting for visas, etc. This missionary had been here for months waiting to go to Columbia. He was excited to be on his way! On Tuesday the transfers started and we had missionaries coming and going in the office as they changed locations. It was fun to watch how excited they were to see each other. On Wednesday the new missionaries arrived from the MTC and had a day with President & Sister Phillips and received training from the Assistants. We served about 24 for dinner (Hawaiian Haystacks). Sister Weed (the office secretary) is doing the meals right now with the help of a friend who is called as a Service Missionary to assist her. When she is released on May 2nd, Sister Larson and I will be in charge of the meals. For right now I am helping in the kitchen as much as they need me. Then on Thursday the trainers for these new missionaries came to the office to meet them and have training together. We fed about 24 for lunch (Cafe Rio). You can just see the light of Christ in the faces of all these missionaries. I loved all the hugs and the I love yous!

This week I have been thinking about how we will be affected by our mission here in the Oregon Salem Mission. In the MTC we are taught from Preach My Gospel what our purpose is as a missionary. Specifically it says our purpose is to, "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." I really hope we have some experiences to "invite others" but with working in the office those experiences may be limited. But I can tell you that we will go home as changed people!! We have never prayed more, studied more, and relied on the enabling power of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Every gospel subject is exciting and it is hard to narrow down what we want to study next. Having General Conference this weekend was especially exciting! So many good talks we can't wait to study more. I especially liked the talk by Elder Evan A. Schmutz - Trusting the Doctrine of Christ. In it he quoted President Nelson who said to new mission leaders, "More than anything else, we want our missionaries....to have the doctrine of Christ engraved in their hearts-rooted in the marrow of their bones." That is what I want for us--to have the doctrine of Christ engraved in our hearts!!!

For those of you wondering about the in-active sister I met last week (her words, not my mine), we did get together and go to lunch. We had a nice time and plan on getting together again. She has some interesting beliefs but they just tell me she is searching for answers in life. I was pondering whether to pursue a friendship with her when I was inspired by Elder Gong's talk at conference. I just need to build a relationship with her and see where it goes.

Listening to Conference in Lincoln City

One of the reasons we wanted to serve in Oregon was because of the beauty and diversity of the landscape. We are only an hour from the coast, multiple waterfalls, forests, and green everywhere. Yesterday we decided to drive out to Lincoln City while we listened to Conference and then sat at the coast to listen to the afternoon session. It was beautiful!! We even found a beach where you are allowed to drive your car right onto the beach!

Pictures of our new home

Our new home consists of a (2) bedroom, (2) bathroom apartment. It is a medium sized apartment complex and we are on the bottom floor which is nice so we don't have to do the stairs when bringing home groceries. I am actually liking it quite a bit since it is so easy to keep clean and it feels very homy. The mission provided it furnished and we have only had to get a few things like a TV, a table for the TV, an ottoman, and some throw pillows.