We did head out at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday evening to work at the E.A.T. program at the Barn. We surely thought not many would show up in that kind of wind and rain but what a nice surprise. The Barn was packed with people hungry for dinner. The lady pastor who is in charge of the welcome asked Elder Wels to bless the meal. I do believe that is an honor that she recognizes his spirituality. And, he gets a good introduction as “Elder Wels from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” Cool! It is very enjoyable to serve and clean with such a great group of people.
Wednesday we made lots of calls to go see people….. but everyone was either gone for the holiday, enjoying visiting relatives or home working in the kitchen to get ready for Thanksgiving. Bless Lynda Sessions….. she was happy to welcome us. In fact she called us! She was working out a problem and wanted Elder Wels’ input as to how to best handle it. She really has taken a liking to him and has great trust in his wisdom. He is sure it is the white hair that leads people to mistakenly think he is so wise. However, I do believe his advice was very helpful. We also visited with our lovely friend, Ida Cluff. We had received her Church records. Armed with her member number and her confirmation date we were able to get her up and running on the Church websites, especially new.familysearch.com. We hope she has lots of fun and success with that one.
President Stockford and his lovely wife, Marita invited us to join their family for Thanksgiving dinner. When I asked what I could contribute to the dinner…there was just a request for a forgotten jar of dill pickles and for us to pick up James Ornsby and bring him along to the dinner. That sure called for a lot of work on my part, didn’t it? What a lovely time we had. We got to meet their son Shaun, his wife, Kelley and their children Parker and Lauren.
Parker is 16 and he made the cheesecake for dessert (there were also pumpkin pies and an apple pie) Very impressive Parker! And there was a special gluten-free Cheesecake from the Bandon Bakery for me. Thanks President Stockford for the special trip to town just for me. So much fabulous food! Turkey, tri-tip roast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, macaroni & cheese, Cranberry apple salad, relish tray, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, and homemade rolls. Then add all those desserts! No one left hungry but we did leave with a big plate of leftovers! We also enjoyed the 5 dogs!
There was Conway and Bogart, the English bull dogs; Xylo, a King Charles spaniel and beagle mix; Cassie, a pit bull mix; and Drover, a English sheep dog who is as big as a horse! And he is absolutely gorgeous! We enjoyed the whole lot of them! Thanks Stockford family!
We sure did miss our own family this Thanksgiving! Though I am not sure they even thought about us. Would you think of your parents if you were touring the Caribbean on a catamaran? Well, that is where you will find the Skillmans this holiday. Would you miss your parents if you were spending your very first Thanksgiving with the adorable “love of your life” new husband? Yea, don’t think Steff thought about us either. And, the Shumways had a house full of people to celebrate with. Steve and Barbara Jenkins drove 12 hours from Utah to be with them, all the while knowing I would not be in town. Luckily they are forgiven as they gave me a promise that they would come back when I am back in town. And, I will hold them to it! I can see the Shumways had quite a feed. Just look what it did to Scott!!!
Newly engaged Kerry and Chris came down to Medford and we weren’t there either. Hope they had a great time visiting with Todd, Amy, and Mary! And I hope all of them missed us as much as we missed all of them.
We did a few visits on Friday and Saturday, but for the most part it was just Elder and Sister Wels enjoying the comfort and coziness of our trailer and each other. Sunday was a Spiritual Feast at the little Bandon Branch. We got to sit with our recent reactivated friends, Connie and Ida. It was so good to have them with us again. It was Fast and Testimony Sunday as next week is Stake Conference in Coos Bay. They may be few, but they have such strong testimonies! Our Gospel Doctrine teacher, Pam Hansen, is so knowledgeable and delivered a powerful lesson from The Revelation of St. John the Divine! She actually made me want to cheer at the end of it! She definitely helped me to want to be a better person. Stephanie Reed taught the Relief Society class a lesson about the Final Judgment. Just wish we really could applaud at the end! Thank goodness the Book of Life is written in pencil and each of us has the opportunity to use the Atoning sacrifice of our Savior to do a little eraser work in that book. I just hope my book comes with a BIG eraser and a willingness to recognize my need for the Savior.
Okay….. from the thrill of a little more victory over the cunning of satan…. To the agony of having an old brain with a very short memory! In the blink of a brain burp! While I was typing this I was hearing a strange noise… it was water but not a normal sound. A quick glance toward the bathroom confirmed the horror of an overflowing toilet. Guess who forgot to open the valve again as he was running water into the black water tank? Hmmmm? And now guess who gets to go back to the laundry room to, for the second time today, wash all the throw rugs and towels? Oh the joys of P-day!!!!
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