August 18, 2024

And so the goodbyes and hellos begin! It has been a busy week with Transfers and New Arrivals. This is the last time we will participate in these events. It is hard to believe that our time on the mission is winding down.

The week started last Sunday with Sister's Devotional. Last Sunday I was having a particularly hard day thinking about all that Ryan is going to have to go through. Our Relief Society lesson was on trials and eventually I just had to get up and leave the lesson. When I got to Sister's Devotional later that night I was still having a hard time holding it together. One of our sweet Sister missionaries, Sister Bodily, saw that I was struggling. I told her why and she came and sat with me. She said that every time she saw me struggling she would reach over and hold my hand. Our devotional that night was on having the image of Christ engraved on our countenances. That night I saw his image on her face and on all the faces of our sweet sister missionaries! These Sister Devotionals have been such beautiful, spirit filled meetings and I have loved them!!!

Early in the week we got good news regarding Ryan's PET scan and oncology appointment. Prayers answered! Originally the appointments were scheduled two weeks out which seemed like an eternity when we just wanted answers and it was hard not to think about the cancer just growing during all that time. But now the appointments have been moved up almost a week and the PET scan is tomorrow and the oncology appointment Tuesday. Tender mercies for sure!

With Departures on Wednesday the office started to get busy on Monday with departing missionaries coming in for their interviews with the President. Elder Rowan had to leave for his final appointment with Tom to have some dental work done and Sister Larson & I went shopping for the New Arrival dinner on Wednesday. My last shopping trip with the mission credit card :). The energy and buzz in the office started to build that afternoon and it was fun to visit with some of the departing missionaries. The President buys dinner for all of them Monday night and he is always quick to tell them to buy for the office couples too!

Tuesday was Transfers so a busy day for Elder Rowan & Elder Larson. Sister Larson and I held down the office and visited with all the missionaries in and out during the day. The departing missionaries attended the temple with President & Sister Phillips in the morning. Sister Elzinga was the Family History Specialist the 1st half of our mission and knows the missionaries well. She always likes to come in and say goodbye to them when they get back from the temple. It was bittersweet to know this was my goodbye to her also. She truly was AMAZING! She provided every missionary with a birthday treat and taught them to love Family History (especially during Covid). She is an expert and then some in doing Family History. It was a sad day when the missionaries could no longer work with her except on their P day.

One exciting thing that did happen on Transfer Day was that we got Elder Nielsen back to Newberg. He is now one of the Assistants and we will love having these last few weeks with him!

When the young issionaries leave on Departure day it is tradition to have a group picture with everyone leaving. This time it was our turn to join in the picture as departing missionaries. Sister Larson prepares a folder for each missionary with their flight itineraries, boarding passes, letter from the President, etc. She also does her Matchy, Matchy thing so of course she had to prepare one for Elder Rowan & I.

Once the departing missionaries are off it is time to prepare and greet the arriving missionaries that same day. It was the last missionary meal I will prepare before leaving. It also happened to be Sister Phillips birthday the next day so it was fun to celebrate her.

The young missionaries were not the only ones to arrive in our mission this week. Elder & Sister Kanzler (from Sacramento California) also arrived. Sister Kanzler will be my replacement and I am excited to get started on our training. When I first arrived I did not have very good written instructions. The previous Referral Secretary created a great training manual for the General Secretary and we have used it often, even referring to it as the "Bible." I wanted to leave the Financial Secretary with her own "Financial Bible" so I have been working hard on it the last month or so. I think it will be helpful to her, especially since we only have about 9 days to actually train together.

We started training on Friday and that evening President & Sister Phillips took us all to dinner at La Sierra to welcome the Kanzlers. This is the Kanzler's third mission but first office mission. I think they are going to do great! The Lord is in charge and everything always works out!

Saturday we visited the Portland Temple for the last time while we are here and enjoyed the spirit we feel there and the beauty of the temple grounds. Later in the day we we went for a long drive through the hills and winding roads of the back country and just tried to soak it all in. We did soak it in, because in true Oregon style, it poured rain on us :).