December 10, 2023

It has been a busy, busy week! One of the busiest since we have been here but a good week too with seeing lots of missionaries. The week started out with our 1st holiday party at President & Sister Phillip's for the office staff. They were kind enough to host it at their house and served us Chicken Tikka Marsala and Nan bread. It was yummy! This was the party with the White Elephant gifts and it turned out to be alot of fun. I shouldn't have doubted that since the young missionaries were involved too. Below are some pictures of just some of the great finds.

Sister Jacobsen opened a homemade craft created by Sister Phillip's grandkids.

Elder Reil received a "put it together yourself" putting iron.

My personal favorite was the copy of Fascinating Womanhood opened by Sister Wilson. Sister Incze has been telling the young sisters all about the book so she found one on ebay to share.

And I can't leave out President & Sister Phillips. President Phillips got a baby picture of Elder Reil and an autographed copy of a piece of their Tacoma truck that was in an accident recently and Sister Phillips got a family of yarn dolls that we think represented that we are all different (we found it in our apartment storage closet).

The Mission Home is a beautiful house and it was fun to see the Christmas decorations from the back deck and then from the street looking up towards the back of the house. Someone over the years purchased the nativity scene which can be seen from blocks away.

Tuesday was MLC which meant that we prepared dinner for 50. We decided to have ham, party potatoes, green beans, salad, and rolls. We thought we could buy a boneless ham and have it sliced by the butcher. Turns out the butcher won't slice them for you anymore so it was a mission miracle that we found an electric knife and each took a turn slicing them. Julie Schupe sent some Christmas Peppermint Cookies and the missionaries gathered together to send a thank you song to her.

It was decided to send an email to all our missionary parents asking them to send at least one Christmas package for their missionary to the mission office. That way we would be aware of any missionaries not receiving something from home. The response has been tremendous and we have at least 200 packages in the office so far. We have also had parents who have offered to send extras to those who don't receive anything. It has been beautiful to see. Next week we will take on the task of organizing all the packages and delivering them at zone conference. Stay tuned on how that goes!

It was also transfer week so we had missionaries in and out of the office Wed, Thur, and Fri. It is so fun to have a chance to sit and visit with the departing missionaries especially. We talked about their plans when they get home, the best and worse food they had on their mission, dating tips, and more. Here is a pic of the winner of the worse food on their mission. This was from one of our Spanish speaking missionaries. And yes, those are cockroaches! Hard to believe they got that right here in Oregon!

We said goodbye to (4) of our local missionaries that we have become especially close to. Elder Weaver, Elder Henrie, Sister Garrett, & Sister Wilson. We also said goodbye to Sister Finlayson as she was transferred to a different area.

I also said goodbye to Sister Conrad! Her mother and I worked together in the Draper temple so I am sure I will see her again. I know how happy her mom is to have her home!

The sisters are amazing! It is so kind that they take the time to leave us with farewell notes that we will cherish forever.

And here is the whole departing group! They take a piece of our heart home with them. They are such an example of courage, testimony, perseverance, and love!!

Other happenings this week were an early morning airport run for Sister Larson and I. So grateful we were able to do it in dry weather. We also attended our Ward Christmas party and that was fun. They actually had a live band made up of ward members and they were pretty good! We even got in a dance or two! We also had a visit from a few of our missionaries who went home in August. My, how different they look when they are no longer missionaries. Pictured are Elder Williams, Elder Hyde, Elder Olsen, Elder Roits, and Sister Lynam.

We ended the week today with a visit to a Memory Center to sing Christmas songs with some of our zone, dinner at Sister Incze's, and then our Stake Christmas Concert. It has been a full week. I am tired!!