July 23, 2023

Birthday weeks are the best! I definitely feel loved here in Oregon! My birthday was on Saturday but the birthday celebrations started on Friday when the local missionaries surprised me at the office. They decorated my office, bought me a birthday hat, and then waited to jump out and surprise me. I was definitely surprised! They made pancakes for all of us and one of our sweet sisters even gifted me with one of her special handpainted cards!

The next morning they continued the fun when they heart-attacked my front door and our car.

For my actual birthday we decided to rent ebikes and go on a 22 mile bike ride that was advertised along the Columbia Gorge with stops at a few waterfalls. The Larsons joined us but they are real bike riders and I am truly impressed with the riding they did. There was a 1 mile uphill section of the ride with a 7% grade and they did it! It was amazing! The whole ride was amazing and absolutely beautiful!!! I loved, loved, loved it! I couldn't ask for a better way to spend my birthday.

We finished the evening off at a Pioneer Music Celebration put on by our Stake. They invited the missionaries to sing so we had to go :). Today we get to celebrate my birthday with Tracey's family so that will be fun. I heard from family and friends throughout the day yesterday and it was just overall a great day!

My birthday was not the only great thing about this week. On Monday my friend Janet Larson came to visit by way of Costa Rica. Janet has a daughter who lives in Portland so while she was here visiting her we had the chance to get together and go to lunch. It was a 3 1/2 hr lunch and it was soooo good to see her and catch up. We both meant to get a picture together but were so busy talking we forgot. I love you Janet!

In the mission we talk a lot about miracles. The missionaries are encouraged to share miracles they see daily as they search for people to share the gospel with. We love to hear their stories. We also feel like we experience miracles daily in the mission office. They are often little things like putting people in our path that can help us, getting a phone call about something right when we need it, figuring out how to solve a problem, the food we prepared stretching far enough to feed everyone, etc. We have all gotten quite vocal about saying, "it's a miracle!" Jack was teasing the other day about our "miracles" so my heart was warmed when he returned from an outing with Elder Larson to take care of some housing problems and had to tell us about their "miracle." They went to install an air conditioner in some Elders apartment and give them a new SIM card because theirs was not working. They installed the air conditioner easily (1st miracle) and then tried to reach the Elders so they could give them the new SIM card. Since the old one was not working they were not answering their phone. The Elder's car was at their apartment so they figured they had to be close by somewhere so they decided to get in their car and drive around looking for them. Elder Rowan told me he said a quick prayer that they could find them and they started driving. As they drove Elder Rowan said he felt prompted to say go straight, turn right, etc. Suddenly they could see a large group of people in front of them. It looked like they had short sleeved white shirts on. As they got closer they realized it was the missionaries in orange vests passing out food at a food bank. They had driven straight to them! It was a testimony builder to Elder Rowan that the Lord was mindful of them. The next day Elder Rowan had another "miracle" when he was giving the local missionaries a ride to an appointment. He dropped them off but when he had to go back to get them his GPS could not find the address. The missionaries told him they would meet him at a location 4 blocks away and when Elder Rowan got there they were deep in conversation with a woman they met as they walked there who had met with the missionaries before and was very interested in meeting with them again. They made an appointment with her and were very excited. If the GPS had worked properly they would not have run into her. Such simple little things but we know there are no coincidents with the Lord.

I also have to write about our District Council on Friday so I can always remember it. It was a moving, powerful experience. On Fridays we can choose to attend District Council with our young missionaries. They are so amazing! This Friday our District Leader, Elder Place wanted to do an activity he felt would be inspiring to us. He read from Preach My Gospel, Ch 1, where it says, "As your understanding and testimony of the Savior and His Atonement grow, your desire to share the gospel will increase." He then showed us 5 different Bible videos depicting events in the Savior's life. After each video, (2) missionaries were invited to share their testimony of the Savior, until we all had shared our testimonies. The spirit in the room was so strong and the experience so powerful in bringing us to our Savior. I would encourage everyone to do this with their families or extended families if they can.

On Friday we started getting phone calls from friends and neighbors about our house. In our yard at home we do not have trees (except one pine tree) in our yard but our neighbors all have trees along the fence lines that surround our yard. Our neighbor to the south had 25 very large oak trees along the fence line that we had a love/hate relationship with. We loved the greenery and the shade but we hated the acorns and leaves in the fall. Apparently she felt the same way because on Friday she had all the trees removed!! Our backyard is going to look so different when we go home!! We may have to finally plant trees of our own.