July 14, 2024

The patriotic celebrations continued this week when we served dinner at MLC. We don't usually have MLC in the same week as Zone Conferences but that is the way the calendar worked out this month. Since it was still close to the 4th (okay, actually the 9th) we decided to barbeque hamburgers and hot dogs like we did last year. Who knew that it would be the hottest day of the year so far at 103 degrees? Elder Bready is a master barbequer (is that a word?) so we enlisted his help this year. Elder Rowan was very happy as he does not like to barbeque for a crowd! He did a great job with Elder Larson as his assistant and we were grateful for his help.

Zone conferences started on Wednesday and continued through Friday. We love to attend zone conference because it gives us a chance to visit with so many of the missionaries. We are always spiritually uplifted and motivated by the instruction given. This time Sister Phillips gave excellent instruction on how the missionaries could have more success in finding people to teach. In so many instances it is just a matter of opening your mouth and talking to people. And the more people you talk to the higher your chance of success in finding someone. We also had instruction on giving and receiving constructive criticism to and from others. President Phillips told a memorable story of walking like a duck that I am sure the missionaries will not soon forget. For the 1st time we had instruction from the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders and they did a great job too. They instructed from the Missionary Standards guide and we loved it!

One of the items on our bucket list since early in our mission was to rent ebikes and ride the Vernonia to Banks Bike Trail. We finally got to do that on Saturday! It was spectacular! Vernonia is a small city at the northern part of our mission. It is 20 miles up a beautiful canyon from Banks, OR and they have created a very popular bike trail between the two cities. The trail is mostly in a beautiful canopy of trees and because it is shady and up the canyon the weather was perfect even on these hot July days. We started in Vernonia because there is an ebike rental shop right at the beginning of the trail which is perfect. The entire trail is 22 miles each way but going down and back would have been just a little too much for us so we only did a total of 22 miles, 11 down and 11 back, which was perfect. My body is sore because I have not been on a bike much in our mission but it was worth every ache and pain. The Larsons and Sister Bready went with us and we all agreed it was a great day!

This week we received our first correspondence from the church regarding our going home. It was reimbursement for our travel costs when we go home so that is starting to make things seem real. I have been thinking about some of the things we have loved on our mission. In our mission call letter it says, "As you devote your time and attention to serving the Lord, He will bless you with increased knowledge and testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel." We have found this to be so true!! Our knowledge and testimony HAVE grown so much as we have spent time studying and learning more about our Savior. Our mission has been such a blessing in our lives!

I will end this blog post with a Happy Birthday shout out to my sister Sharon. She and I are only a year and 5 days apart and she has been like my 2nd half most of my life. I love both my sisters so much and don't know what I would do without their love, support, and example. I am not sure we would be on a mission without Sharon & Paul's example of showing us how it could be done. Last week I was scanning some pictures from my cousin and Sharon asked about a particular picture from our childhood. Here's to you Sharon!