January 14, 2024

This week has been a strange one. On Monday we were able to meet back with the Phillips for our Office Staff Meeting after two weeks off for Christmas & New Years. It was nice to be able to discuss the mission needs and catch up with everyone. One of the topics we discussed was the new senior couple, the Breadys, coming in February and the fact that we have no housing available for them. Elder Larson presented (7) different solutions for housing but none of them were ideal. What we wanted was another apartment in our complex but the last time Elder Larson talked to management there were no openings and none expected. We settled on having the new couple stay in a hotel for 3-4 weeks until Sister Incze leaves but none of us liked that solution for obvious reasons. On Wednesday morning I had to call our apartment manager about some financial issues and decided to be extra friendly and ask how things were going and if the complex was still full. Miracle of miracles, the manager told me they had just received notice of someone moving so they would have an apartment available for us. Even on the ground floor like we were looking for!! It truly is a Mission Miracle!

Elder Rowan got his Mission Miracle on Monday when he was able to beat some of the young missionaries in pickleball! Our newer Assistant, Elder Jacobsen, has been razzing Elder Rowan about pickleball for weeks now. He really wanted to play against him and was sure he would beat Elder Rowan. In truth they only got to play (2) games and are tied at (1) to (1), but Elder Rowan will take that as a win that they didn't destroy him. Of course Elder Jacobsen wants to complete the set.

Tuesday Elder Rowan & I were able to go out teaching with the Assistants to Nancy's. I have been with the missionaries about (3) times now to see Nancy and she is just not making much progress. She says she wants to be baptized but has not truly had that change of heart to move her forward. Her mother was a member and her sister is currently active. I asked Nancy why she wanted to get baptized and she said she wanted to be right with God and that she wants to be sealed to her mother and other family members. I could tell that being sealed to her family was really her driving force. It is a strong motivator but somehow she needs to have that spiritual witness to change her heart. The missionaries promised her that if she read her scriptures and continued comining to church it would come. We are praying for her. She reminds me alot of my mom and her journey back to church. It made me go home and read what I had written about being sealed to my mom. The tears still flowed even though it was almost (2) years ago now. We had so many tender mercies that day.

It is time for the Mission's Annual Audit and as Financial Secretary I am in charge of overseeing that. This week I received training on it from Salt Lake because it is due by March 1st. Each area of the office has a section on the audit--Housing, Vehicles, Technology, Medical, & Financial. Each of us has been reviewing our sections for a few months now so that there are no surprises on the audit. I think we will all do fine but there is something about the word "audit" that makes everyone panic.

Tuesday was our Spanish Zone Conference and time to feed the missionaries again. The menu this week was Teriaki Chicken, Mac-N-Cheese, Salad, Rolls, & Heavenly Cake. It seemed to be a hit and we planned just right. Everyone had their fill but there was very little left. These Spanish missionaries are pretty close to each other since they are in the minority in the mission. We have about 21 Spanish missionaries right now. They always rearrange the tables so they can be closer together and look at this selfie they are taking.

I have mentioned before that the Sr Missionaries have been challenged to give away a Book of Mormon. Well, this week Elder Rowan met his goal! He had a meeting with Dave, a bike guy and non-member, to get some bikes and work on some of the bikes we already have. Dave worked with Elder Weed on bikes before Elder Rowan so he knew we had bikes for our missionaries but really didn't know much more than that. Elder Rowan asked him if he knew anything about what we did and when he said no, Elder Rowan gave him a Book of Mormon with a little handout (prepared by Elder Larson) in it that explained what the Sr Missionaries do, why we do it, and why the Book of Mormon is important to us. Dave happily took the book and it was so easy. Why can't we do it more often? This is not the best picture but I was taking it on the sly.

I am feeling really bad that I have not given a Book of Mormon away yet. I am the only Sr Missionary to fail now. As I explained before, I interact with non-members hardly at all. So I had this brilliant idea this week that I would try to put myself out there and meet some people who were not members. I decided I would go to the Senior Citizen Center. I looked them up online and found a calendar of their activities. On Fridays at 10:00 AM they play Hand & Foote. Perfect! I know how to play that. I played with my Mom & Dwight, my sisters, and my Canasta friends. So on Friday I bravely walked into the Center and joined (4) others in a game of Hand & Foote. I would love to say it was a great experience, that they loved me, and were really interested in who I was and why I was wearing the missionary tag. But the truth is that I felt like an outsider, they could care less who I was, and they didn't ask me one question about myself. In all fairness, this probably needs to be a long-term project to get to know people. But it was very discouraging and I am not sure it is worth the effort. I am still thinking about it. The game was (3) hrs long and I have work to do in the office :). It didn't help either that I walked in and won every hand!

This weekend the dreaded ice storms have finally arrived. School was let out early on Friday in anticipation, the stores were crowded Friday morning, and then we waited. For a while it looked like Newberg might not get it but it finally hit on Saturday morning. I woke up to the sound of ice rain hitting the windows. Missionaries have been ordered not to drive, church has been cancelled, and as of Saturday afternoon we have been indoors all day and it is 15 degrees outside. Part of me wants to go out driving just to see how bad it really is but that is not the example Elder Rowan wants to set. This is the post our District Leader put out only to be caught messing around on camera an hour later. Those missionaries!! But in their defense they posted later that they had given out 10 Book of Mormons and this was the best day ever! Our social media sisters were being obedient also about not driving so we invited them over to use our wifi so they could do some online work. I love how they are sitting side by side. Missionary rules state that you are supposed to see each others online activity at all times.

Since church was cancelled today the Larson's invited all the missionaries living in our apartment complex over to a Come Follow Me discussion and light lunch. There are 11 of us currently living in our complex. It was nice to get out of the apartment and even nicer to have a great discussion.

We found out today that Tracey and her family have been without electricity since early yesterday. Thank heavens they have a backup generator but it does not power the heater for their home. So here they are all huddled around a little space heater they have. With the temperatures in the teens it has got to be cold! We tried to get a picture of the freezing rain/ice and this is the best we could do. It is like little tiny pieces of pepple ice.