Some Family, Some Friends, and a Lot of Service

Sunday, October 23, we attended our first Branch Council Meeting at 8:45 a.m..  We learned that this was primarily a missionary meeting…we had better be a bit more prepared to take control of most of the meeting.  We are learning “Line upon line”.  We went to meet Karsten & Yiena Salin, an inactive couple in the afternoon.  He is Dutch and she is from Hong Kong.  They are a very delightful couple.  He is much older than she is and could probably run circles around all of us.

Monday we got our laundry and ironing done and headed for Central Point to swap out the truck for the much better gas mileage car.  We also had a list of things to get from the house.  Things that never dawned on us until we were in Bandon and found a need for them…like propane bottles.  We brought the little BBQ but forgot the propane.  It is all part of our learning experience.  We wondered how we would feel going back to our little house.  Strangely, or perhaps miraculously, we felt nothing.  It felt like Gentry’s house not ours.  That was a good thing.

We had dinner with our good friends Byron & Nova Johnson and Bob & Rita Phair at a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix.  Another note to self…No ground beef, it is not gluten-free!  It was nice to do our Monday Family Home Evening dinner again.  We miss our friends.

Then it was off to the Shumway’s to help Tanner celebrate his big #16th birthday.  Tanner, you are getting too tall! We can’t wait to hear that you passed your driver’s test on the 8th!   We had a delightful time with the Shums and the Skill’s.  My favorite part of the evening  was “Favorite Day”, I love that part of hearing about everyone’s day and then having family prayer.  Thanks family!

Tuesday we ran errands in and around Medford and then headed back to Bandon to be here in time to work at The Barn serving dinner.  Such sweet people there!  We used our travel time to home and back to study Preach My Gospel.  We hope someday soon we feel ready to do that!

Wednesday the Zone Leaders (Elder Jones and Elder Johnson) came to our Branch to go over our Area Book and answer any questions that we had.  Picture these two adorable 20 year old Elders teaching this 60+ year old missionary couple.  And taught us they did!  We invited them back to the trailer for lunch and had a delightful visit with them.  Elder Jones is a real cowboy!  He works on his Grandfather’s million acre cattle ranch!  He was even wearing cowboy boots!  He wants to take over the ranch some day.  Elder Jones wants to be a landscaper when his mission is over.  He loves being outdoors and working with plants.  Whatever they do, they will be successful.  You can just tell that by getting to know them.  In the afternoon we went to several inactive member homes and met with little success.  But we are getting to know the town better.  We called Tom and Lizzy Olive to see if we could see them in the evening  (we had an ulterior motive) and got an invitation to come for dinner.  Tom BBQ’d us a wonderful  steak dinner with his famous mashed potatoes.  We waited until after dinner to ask Sister Olive to talk with us at Sacrament on the 13th.  She said she would “be thrilled” to do that.  You just gotta love members that are so willing to do whatever is asked of them.  They are an amazing couple.  She has only been a member of the Church for 4 years but has the testimony that seems so much wiser than that.  It was a fun evening!

On an interesting side note...Brother and Sister Olive have three children: The oldest is a boy named Scott.  Next is a girl named Stephanie. and youngest is a daughter named Stacee.  We had a good laugh over that one!

Thursday we went to our second District Meeting.  I tried to take my new “role playing” attitude with me.  Again the meeting was conducted by Elder Plumb (my Mitchell look-alike).  The absolutely worst part of the meeting for me is at the very beginning when everyone arrives.  Those cutie-pie Elders go around and they each just give the other a big back slapping hug.  Elder Wels even gets a hug from each one of them.  Oh, how this Gramma missionary loves hugs… but DARN….. they can’t hug me and I just get handshakes!  Unamerican and just not fair!!  But mission rules are rules and I completely understand though I do not have to like it.

After the marvelously instructive meeting we ran our errands at WalMart and Bi-Mart. Just inside the door at WalMart I came face to face with these bags!

Nightmares from my past engulfed me.  When I moved to Oregon and went to the bank for the first time I was greeted by not one, but two doors to pass through to enter the lobby!  Two doors!!  I knew what that meant!  It gets cold in Oregon!  No building had two doors in So. California!  I was not ready then for the cold of Oregon.  Now I was looking at another nightmare!  Bags for wet umbrellas!  We don’t even have those in our part of Oregon!!!  So what does that say about being here in Bandon?  I don’t even want to go there yet!

On the way home we had time to go visit with Sharon Nazer , a lovely older member who is the only active member of her family.  She definitely sets a good example for them by having her son bring her to church every week.

Then it was home in time to meet Bob and Rita Phair.  How cool that one of our best friends is the PFR (Physical Facilities Rep) for the Church in this area.  Of course, he had to inspect the Bandon building!  And Rita got to come too.  We had so much fun with them!  In the evening we went with them to visit their ex-neighbors, Tammy and Jerry Greer, who had moved to Bandon earlier this year.  We had an enjoyable visit with them and their goldendoodle, Macie, and her 9 puppies.  How cute they were!

Friday morning we took Bob and Rita on a tour of Bandon beaches and the “Face Rock” right near their hotel, the Inn at Face Rock.  We literally had to point out to Bob the features of the rock that gave it its name.  Can you see it looks like a face in the picture?

 If not, Bob can explain it to you.  We did up Old Town Bandon with our first stop at Cranberry Sweets for chocolate samples.  I had best not go in that store very often!  We had lunch at the Minute Café in Old Town.  Bob & Rita got their fish & chips and Bob got some clam chowder.  Lee was content with a hamburger and I got a delightful hash brown, vegetable and cheese breakfast platter.  The fish lovers, the fish avoid-er and the celiac were all very happy.  And, then the Phairs had to leave and get back to their Church building inspections.  Bye Phairs, we love you, can’t wait until the next inspection tour!

In the afternoon we worked on our calendar, made lots of calls for appointments, and worked on our talks for Sunday.  In the evening we went back to the Olive’s on the pretext of checking on the progress of Sister Olive’s talk for Sunday.  But if we are honest here…. It was also the night that Extreme Home Makeover was doing their story about the McPhail Family in Medford.  We were so involved with all the happenings while the show was being filmed that we really wanted to see the end result.   Sister Olive, as an elementary principal of a Grants Pass school several years ago and a participant in the Sparrow Program, knew the McPhail family.  It was fun to have her commentary on the family during the show.


Saturday we had a 10:00 am appointment to meet with Lynda Sessions.  She was the first name I had in my head when we arrived in Bandon.  She works at the Temple 3 days each month.  One of those days is the very same day that Byron and Nova work at the Temple.  So Byron had told me that she would be leading the music in Sacrament and there she was!  We had a lovely chat with her that lasted for 3 hours.  She has 3 inactive sisters on her visiting teaching route and she gave us the scoop on each one of them.  Armed with info maybe when we visit them we can touch their hearts.  In the afternoon we met with more disappointments as all our calls were met with “you can’t visit us right now excuses”.  So we did some good exercise and worked to polish up our talks.

Today at Church I recognized a few more faces and could even put some names on them.  That felt good.  Bro. and Sis. Cooper talked on fasting today.  They were both excellent.  Lee gave a very good talk on the power of one in missionary work in the Priesthood/Relief Society meeting.  He far outshined me!  I was so pleased for him.  And, so happy that is behind us.  I am afraid that in this small branch we are going to have ample opportunity to talk……  Someone  out there want to please send me some of their “talking talents”!!!!!

A Full Week

Hello Everyone!

Sunday afternoon we had a visit with Bro. & Sis. Salt.  She could not be at Church as she has had recent hip surgery and she wanted to meet us.  She is very active in the community of Bandon.  It didn’t take her long to get us to volunteer to help out at The Barn!  The Barn is the name of the community center here in Bandon.  Not surprising, it is a building remodeled from an old barn.  Every Tuesday  E.A.T. (Everyone at the Table) serves a dinner to those in need.  We arrived on Tuesday at 5:00 pm to help serve the meal and then to clean up afterwards.  We got home about 8:00 pm feeling very tired and every inch the senior couple!

Monday was our “P-day” and true to the missionary schedule we got our laundry done.   Note to self… stock up on quarters!  We studied Preach my Gospel between loads.  In the afternoon we met with Pres. Stockford to go over the Branch Member list.  In fact we met with him at our tiny branch 3 days this week for that purpose.  It is always nice to know something about our Branch members when we meet with them.

Then it was off to the Post office, bank and the Chamber of Commerce to get the low-down on Bandon.  That’s the personal errands part of “P-day”.  Old Town Bandon was close by so of course we had stop at Cranberry Sweets to stock up on chocolate. 

That place is dangerous!  So many samples just sitting there to tempt us!  And we did partake! 

We drove to the Bandon Light House and walked a bit on the beach.  Nice afternoon and beautiful weather. 

We stopped by Norris the Tailor to get a pair of Lee’s dress slacks shortened.  He noticed our name tags and told us he was once a member of the Church.  We had a nice little discussion with him.  Two days later we stopped by to pick up our slacks and we gave him a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet and an invitation to come to Church.  Yea, one Book of Mormon down and countless numbers to go!

Brother Olive is a member of our branch and the Stake Mission Leader.  It was important for Elder Wels, in his new capacity as Branch Mission Leader, to meet with him this week.  He owns Woods of the West, a myrtlewood factory and store. 

We got the royal tour and got to see his computer laser machine in operation.  Very impressive.  He sweetly gave us a laser cut plaque of the Prophets of the Church. Pretty cool, huh?

We tried to divide our visits between active and non –active members.  The Hansen’s (a part member family) live right on the beach with a glorious view of the ocean.  I just parked myself at the window! Who could get tired of that view? 

Brother Ornsby lives in a small apartment and has the biggest fish lure collection!  The Shaw’s own Coastal Mist a chocolate and sandwich place in Old Town.  Bro. Shaw is a chocolatier!  His chocolates were fancy and unusual. 

The Powell’s own the Bandon Baking Co. in Old Town.  They love to feed the missionaries so they said lunch was on them whenever we wanted it.  I told her I was a Celiac and that a bread place was not really for me until she introduced me to her Cheesecake that is gluten-free!  She is my new best friend!  The invitation was sweet but we will use it sparingly.  

Bro. Vorwaller is a chainsaw artist!  A really talented man who is just getting started in the craft he loves.  Last may he took  4th place in a 4 day chainsaw carving contest in Reedsport.  They gave him a big piece of wood and he had to design and carve it.  The shark piece is his winning design. 

The Roufs live south of town.  He was adopted but just found his biological family through the television show, The Locator.  We had a brief visit with his wife as part of his family was there to visit.  We can’t wait to hear the whole story.  Every family has a story and every story is fascinating!  We have met some truly lovely people!

We attended our first District Meeting in Coos Bay. 

We met with 8 wonderful Elders from Coos Bay, North Bend, Coquille, and Reedsport.  Elder Johnson, the missionary from Klamath Falls who was with us during our hospital duty with Sister Cox last week, has been transferred to Coos Bay and is now our Zone leader!  It was nice to recognize a friendly face there.  He took us under his wing.  Thank goodness, because District Meeting is “role play” torture!  When I told them I did not particularly like to role play, they tended to pick on me even more!  If they weren’t so darn cute and knowledgeable, we might think of skipping that meeting next week.  Guess I am going to learn to role play!  I am going for the Oscar!

Here we are with President Stockford:

Have a great week!

Our New Home in Bandon!

On Friday October 14th we traveled up to the Mission President's home in Eugene for a wee bit of an orientation and a good "get-to-know-you" chat.  President Young is a very loving and dedicated man.  He asked lots of questions about us and then he threw out the curve ball by saying..

"Sister Wels can you tell me what happened in 1820?" 

Gulp!  It was at that exact moment that I truly felt like a green missionary!!!  Can't remember a thing I said but I must have passed.... he did not fire me!  He was using me as an example of letting the spirit guide what I said.  Lesson learned.  Stay close to the Spirit so the Spirit will stay close to me.

The two Mission Assistants then took us to the mission office where we were greeted by office staff headed by Elder and Sister Watts from Grants Pass.  They were once our Baptismal Coordinators at the Medford Temple so it was fun to see them in a missionary setting.  We were given our new name tags and now we look at bit more official.  Plus we were given a lot of materials to read and all of the missionary handouts.  We have a lot of homework to do!  The truck was definitely a few pounds heavier going home.

Saturday about 10:30 we pulled away from our house and towed our home on wheels to its new location in the Bandon By the Sea RV Park.  The afternoon and evening were spent getting us settled.  About 8:00 pm we called the Bandon Branch President and reported for duty.  Oh boy, our first meeting would be in his office at 9:00 am.

Oh my goodness.... cultural shock hit this morning.  Tiny branch!!  Tiny building!!  There was a whopping 32 people at  the 10am Sacrament Meeting this morning.  Both of us were invited to speak at Sacrament this morning.  We just jumped into this mission with both feet and then some today!  

We met with the Branch President Stockford during Sunday School time.  He gave us a newly printed ward list.  We only had time to go over the first page of 8 pages of ward members.  14 families on that first page and 12 of them are inactive!  Do you suppose we have some work to do?  Elder Wels was immediately made the Ward Mission Leader!  And we now have 5 meetings to attend before next Sunday.  I think we are going to be busy. 

There were 12 ladies in Relief Society this morning.  12 strong sisters!  I met President Wright's sister in law.  She is a hoot! Cynthia Wright said I would enjoy her sister.  I think she is right!  

Elder Wels said there were 5 men in the High Priest group.  They may be few in numbers but they are really good members.  We felt loved and wanted but a bit overwhelmed.  I was feeling swamped until Heavenly Father reminded me that I could eat an elephant if I just did it one bite at a time.  Please pass the salt!

The Power of Prayer--Our First Zone Conference

We got to attend our first Zone Conference last Friday, and boy, as amazing as it was, we certainly hope that it will not be what normal Zone Conferences are going to be like, for sure!!!!

President Young was coming down for a Zone Conference and he called and invited us to attend so that we could meet and get a little orientation.  And since we are not going to the Missionary Training Center, we need all the help we can get!!!!  Little did we know that we were about to see the gospel in action when that Zone Conference took a scarey turn just before they were going to break for dinner.

The theme of the conference was Prayer, specifically the effectiveness of a missionary's personal prayers and helping investigators learn how to pray.  It is hard for me to imagine that there are people out there who have never ever prayed before.  But that is a fact.

During the conference we enjoyed beautiful talks by the Mission President, his wife, a visiting area seventy, and his wife,  and also our very own Stake President, who called us to serve our mission.  Near the end of the talks, the Area Seventy asked the missionaries to choose one missionary from each companionship to come forward and bear a one minute testimony.  After about six Elders had shared their testimonies,  a Sister of an Elderly Senior couple, who was sitting on the front row, suddenly gasped for air and fell over! Oh my goodness it was a frightful moment.

All of us were immediately asked to leave the chapel and gather in the cultural hall while a few stayed behind to help and call for medical attention.  As the rest of us were entering the cultural hall one of the Elders spontaneously began to sing "Nearer my God to Thee".  Thoughts of the Titantic immediately came to my mind and the tears began to flow!  As the missionaries came out of the chapel, they all joined in the song.  There had to be at least 60 of us.  When the song was over the entire group spontaneously fell to their knees and one of the Elders gave the most glorious heart-felt prayer asking for assistance for this sweet senior sister missionary.  It was so amazing.  It was a prayer you could feel... you could almost touch.  It was so tangible!

After the sister was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, one of the Assistants to the President had us all gather into the Relief Society Room.  Once in there one of the Elders took it upon himself to play beautifully spiritual hymns on the piano while the rest of us quietly sent up our own personal prayers on her behalf.  The Mission President soon came and got Grampa Bear and I and asked us to go to the hospital with Elder Cox (the husband, as the ambulance had taken Sister Cox away already).

We stayed at the hospital with Elder Cox until late in the evening (he is 81 years young and just so sweet and adorable and was so worried about his wife).  Elder Cox visited with his wife, and then came to report to us that she did not recognize who he was and was having trouble understanding where she was.  He then went back to stay with his wife at her bedside.  After about 2 hrs Elder Cox came and got us and had us go with him to his wife's room.  And she was perfectly fine!!!!!  As if nothing had ever happened.  And so cute!  They kept her overnight and ran tests on her and was given a clean bill of health.

She was so apologetic for causing such a comotion and for interupting Zone Conference.  Know what I told her?  I told her that after a marvelous lesson on prayer, she blessed all of us missionaires to know first hand what a heartfelt prayer can do!  It was the prayers of all those beautiful young Elders and Sisters that Heavenly Father just had to answer.  Sister Cox went home from the hospital doing just fine yesterday.  It was sure a testimony builder for me!

But if that is what Zone Conference is going to be like..... I may skip them!  Just kidding!  I gotta say that it was very emotional yet very amazing!

Set Apart!

It's official! Tonight Lee & Pat were set apart as full-time missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  They will head up to the Oregon Eugene Mission office before setting up their permanent residence for the next year in Bandon Oregon.  All of us back home are so inspired by their faith and willingness to leave everything behind and make this commitment to serve the Lord.  We look forward to their letters home, which will be posted here, as they share with us the many experiences that await them in the mission field.

The new missionaries with their Stake President, President Wright

 A few of the grand kids savoring every last minute 

with their "Gramma and Grampa Bear"

Connor, Madeline, Chloe, & Janelle

Lee and Pat with Lee's son Todd

G&G Bear with Pat's Son Scott, Scott's wife Wendy,

and two of their six kids, Madeline and Janelle.

G&G Bear with Pat's oldest daughter Stacy, 

Stacy's husband Mark, two of their four kids, Connor and Chloe.

 Lee & Pat with their longtime friends Fred & Donna Clark

Lee & Pat with Ken and Debbie Barber

Lee & Pat with Byron, Nova, and Gentry