November 12, 2023

Last Sunday the leaves were so pretty we had to go for a drive after church. The leaves are starting to come down now but the hillsides are still beautiful. There are so many leaves on the ground we wondered how they picked them all up here in Oregon. We found out when we watched them clean our church parking lot. They blew them all into long rows and then came back with a vacuum truck and sucked them all up. Ingenious!! I wish I had a picture of that. But here are some pics of the pretty leaves.

Our grandson Parker arrived in his mission in Ventura, California a little over a week ago and it has been so fun to hear how he is doing. Fantastic, by the way! His first assignment is Lompoc, California! I have actually been there so it is fun to visualize where he is at. He posted this picture on his Facebook page so Elder Rowan thought it would be fun to create a similar picture. He put on glasses to try and look like Parker. I don't think he can pull off the look quite as well :).

We had MLC this week where we fed about 45 missionaries. We always try to have extras because there is nothing worse than not having enough food. At our last Spanish Zone Conference we had a taco bar and ended up with lots of hamburger and chicken left over. So we froze it and for MLC we made Chicken and Ground Beef Taco soup with cornbread and salad. (We are trying to be thrifty with our resources). But in the end we made too much soup and the down side of that is that we have been eating leftover soup all week. I don't want to see Taco soup again any time soon :).

Okay, so I didn't eat taco soup every day. One day Elder Rowan had to take a bike to some Elders in Keizer so I decided to go along with him. It was the 3rd time in a week he took bikes to them. The first time they had the bikes for less than 2 days when someone stole the front tire off one and the rear tire off the other. Apparently the missionaries put a lock on the bikes but failed to go through the tires. Lesson learned the hard way! He took them two replacement bikes but turns out the missionaries were shorter than he realized and one of the bikes was too tall! So the 3rd time was the charm and lucky for me I could go because look where I got to go for lunch! Keizer is the only place in our mission with an In-N-Out Burger. I am not a diehard fan but I do enjoy them from time to time!

Sometimes we have harder weeks and are saddened by things that our missionaries go through. This was one of those weeks. One of our newer missionaries went home this week. He was suffering from severe depression and even became suicidal. We had no idea of his struggles until Elder Larson was asked to accompany him on a flight home and stay with him until he was with his parents. It just goes to show that we can't tell what is going on in other people's lives. I would have said this missionary was happy and adjusting well to his mission. A few weeks ago I mentioned that some of our Sister missionaries were in a car accident. They suffered from whiplash and concussions but their injuries appeared mild. The damage to the car was more than met the eye, however, and in the end the car was totaled by the insurance company. The Sister missionary responsible for the accident could not seem to recover and ended up going home 6 weeks early. We assured her she was loved and that accidents happen but she felt this was the best answer for her. Again, we were saddened by all she was going through. Friday night our Assistants were involved in a car accident with someone standing in the middle of the highway. It was dark, about 8:30 at night, and they did not see her. They hit her with the front driver's side of the car going 57 miles per hour. She was taken to the hospital but they think she is going to be okay. We are still gathering information and hope that is the case. We are concerned for our Assistants also and the trauma they will experience from something like this. It is during times like this that I am grateful to my Savior Jesus Christ and for the gift of the Holy Ghost that can bring us comfort. In John 14:18 it says, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." As we worry and are concerned for our missionaries I know that comfort can bring peace to both us and them. More from Elder Rowan: Hi all! How times have changed. At one of our Zone Conferences I had the Elders and Sisters check the oil level in their cars. More Elders than Sisters had never done that before. The Dads had taught their daughters how to do it. I had to teach missionaries where the dip stick was and how to read it. I get calls from missionaries asking what do do when they have a flat tire. I have to tell them where to go to get the tire repaired. Even missionaries with bikes ask what to do with a flat tire. I tell them to call the ward mission leader to find the bike person in the ward who can help them with their bike. I have to remember most of the missionaries are still teenagers with very little life experience. But they have great big hearts, strong spirits, love the Lord, and they are enthusiastic about bringing others unto Christ.