February 25, 2024

I DID IT!!!!! I finally passed out my first Book of Mormon!! I was so excited!! I don't have any pictures to document it but I promise it really happened!! We have a Family History center in our building. If you google Family History Centers it will show that ours is open on Tuesday mornings but it really isn't. We have had several people show up over the last year thinking that it was. Since I am the only one in our office that knows how to do Family History I am the one to usually help them. Last Tuesday we had (2) women come in who wanted to use the Library. As I walked them to the Library they told me they were not of our faith and that they were mother and daughter. They were older and very nice. The mother commented on how beautiful the pictures of the Savior were in the hallway and I told her she was welcome to walk around and look at the pictures. Pretty soon she stopped at the picture right outside the Family History center. It is a large picture of the First Vision. As she looked at it she turned to me and said that she did not understand what it was a picture of.

This is the picture she was looking at. There was no way to explain the picture except to tell her of the First Vision and what it means to our church. As I finished that story I also told her about the Book of Mormon and that it is another testament of Jesus Christ. I told her I had one in our office I would like to give her and that if she read the introduction it would tell her a little more about our church and what we believed in. She said she would like that and after they were done in the Family History center she stopped back in our office and I was able to give it to her. It was so thrilling!!! Now that I have had that experience once I am excited to find other opportunities :).

The rest of this week was the lull before the storm. Next week we have transfers and then zone conferences but this week was quieter. That was good because it allowed us time to work with the Bready's and help get them oriented to the office. Monday was President's Day so President Phillips took all the office staff out to bunch to welcome the Breadys. There were 18 of us. We continue to be amazed at the generosity of the Phillips. We have eaten often enough now at Black Bear Diner to feel at home.

Last Sunday night we had District Council at our house and the Sisters stayed behind to enjoy the luxury of sitting on a couch. Who knew that sitting on a couch would be considered a luxury?

Elder Rowan's week was quiet also. The week previous all the missionaries in the mission were in the green which means that no one had any driving violations. That doesn't happen often so it is always exciting. There was a small fender bender and a bike was stolen but that is all par for the course. We received a new Mission Transit last week and as Elder Rowan was studying the paperwork he realized that they sent us a van without All Wheel Drive. Since we have to drive it over the mountain in the winter with icy and snowy conditions that is not acceptable. Elder Rowan was able to get on the phone with the Area Vehicle people and work out a trade. It turns out they sent Portland an All Wheel Drive van and they really don't have need for it since their boundaries are so small. So we will trade with them when their Transit comes in and all will be well.

We did some cleaning and some shopping for the mission this week too. The kitchen in the building was really in need of some attention and I just couldn't stand it anymore. What we really need is for the (2) Ward Relief Society's to come in and clean house and organize the kitchen. But without their input we did the best we could and it looks much better now. We picked up some paper products for our dinners, some office supplies, some floor mats for the Bready's, and best of all, some office chairs for the Bready's that ended up being only $19.98! Another mission miracle!

Saturday night was busy with both a Sister's Devotional and our District Council. We love these opportunities to spend more time with our young missionaries. The Sister's Devotionals are always so sweet and tender and this one was no exception as the Sisters shared their love for the Savior and what he has done for them. District Council was excellent too and I especially enjoyed our discussion on how to help get the members more excited about missionary work.

I would also like to give a shout out to the angels we have here on earth. When we left on our mission we were really worried about Rachel and how she would do while we were gone. We have prayed often that people would rise up and be there for her when she needed them. We have seen that happen over and over again. Sometimes it is her sister-in-law who has them over for holidays, sometimes it is Chris' mom who enjoys talking to her, and sometimes it is people we don't even know. Rachel often needs to have her pants hemmed because they are to long. I usually always do this for her. Rachel learned to sew in high school but has not had much practice since then. Recently she had several pairs of pants that needed hemming. She had a sister she ministers to that needed company who also happens to be a great seamstress. Rachel asked her if she would teach her how to hem her pants. This sweet sister spent 3.5 hrs with Rachel teaching her how to thread her sewing machine and then how to pin her pants to know how long she wanted them, and then how to cut and sew them. Rachel was thrilled with the results and so proud of what she learned.

It was beautiful weather Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Since it was our "P" day on Saturday we decided to drive out to the coast and do some exploring. We have figured out we can get to Lincoln City in 1 hr 10 min so we really need to go out there more often. We went towards Lincoln City and made a loop going north up to Pacific City and then back. We found a waterfall, Drift Creek Falls, that we want to hike at some point. It is a 3.1 mile hike so we need to get in better shape first. We drove through the forest towards the trail head and we know that it will be beautiful. Then we checked out the area near Three Rocks before making our way to Neskowin Beach. There is a Ghost Forest we were hoping to see at Neskowin Beach but it was high tide and you can only see it at low tide so we will have to try another time. But it was a beautiful little beach and we enjoyed walking on it.

From there we went to Pacific City and had lunch at the Pelican Brewing Company. It is a popular place so we waited a long time and then ended up being disappointed in our lunch. But it had beautiful views and was a fun day just being out and enjoying the sun and the ocean so it was still a win!!

Finally, I will end with a sign we saw driving along the coast. I would like to say, "Only in Oregon," but who knows, maybe they have Seal Crossing signs everywhere. I just know it was a 1st for us!