What a Christmas!

We hope all our friends and family had the merriest of Christmases!  It was so good to be able to come home and have Christmas with our family.  It was quite the 6 day party for us!  But first let me back up the mission car, so to speak…. We did have a few days this week back in the mission field called Bandon, Oregon.  Luckily, we had P-Day on Monday so we were able to get the laundry done and the last minute Christmas shopping.  We had another lovely dinner and Family Home Evening with Liz & Tom Olive.  Tuesday and Wednesday were spent delivering the last of our Christmas treats and Christmas message to our branch families.  It was coming down to the wire so if they were not home, they got their treats taped to their front door or the gate across their driveway.  They just needed to know that we loved them.  Christmas is such a lovely time of year for people are festive and bright and more than ready to talk about the birth of the Savior.  That was cool!  How often have we wished for the great “peace on earth” feelings of the season to last the whole year long?!  May 2012 be the year!

Okay… off to the 6 day party!  We arrived Thursday in Central Point just in time to stash all our gear at our house (Thank you Gentry for letting us stay with you!) and we headed over to the Skillman’s to help Mark celebrate his BIG 50 birthday!  Mark, we should all look so good at 50!  I think you will forever be young!  It was so good to see Cheyenne, Justice, and baby Kendra.  8 month old Kendra is so stinkin’ cute!!  And, it was fabulous to see Dani and Andrea again.  They are still the happy newlyweds! It is so fun to have Mitchell home from college again. Yea, now the Skillman computers will all be running smoothly.  Stacy had a lovely dinner for everyone and then we settled into playing “Family Feud” with questions about Mark’s life.  We learned all about the cars Mark has owned over the years and the places he has worked.  And, the many states in which he has lived.  There is always lots of laughter when the family gets together!

We came back to the Skillman’s the next night to celebrate Connor’s 13th birthday.  Oh boy, another teenager in the house for Stacy!  Connor and family had spent the entire day out at the Sharp’s house playing pretty hard at go-carts and such.  They were a pretty pooped bunch.  Connor had a bit too much pizza and ice cream to be feeling the greatest and Chloe just conked out on us!  But the rest of us partied hardy!  “Favorite Day” tonight was our favorite story about Connor.  Everyone had a good story to tell!

During the day time hours Lee and I kept busy catching up on happenings in our friend’s lives.  It was fun to get in really good visits with Byron and Nova Johnson, Bob and Rita Phair, Ken and Debbie Barber and our sweet next door neighbors, John and Kathy Garner.  I also checked in on Pat Beck and found her a bit under the weather from her recent operation but on the mend.  She will be good as new soon and she is in remission!  Way to go Pat!!  We got all of Lee’s prescriptions filled as he is going on new health insurance the beginning of the year.  Yea…. End of the year stuff to complete as always.  We also stopped by the bank to see my old fellow employees and get a supply of $2 bills for birthdays.

We spent the night on Christmas Eve at Stacy’s.  It is tradition!  I helped Cheyenne finish the 9 Christmas stockings she was making for the family.  I pinned, she sewed!  Good teamwork there!

The Skillman kiddles in their new Christmas p.j’s and Chloe and Kendra having a great time!

For family time we gathered and read the Christmas story from Luke and then a chapter in the Book of Mormon.

Then attempted to play some Christmas carols on the Skillman's new set of Chimes.

 
And I got to play with Kendra!!!  So fun to give her a bottle and rock her to sleep.

Then it was time to chase the kids off to bed so that Santa could come.  And, come he did!!!  We were all up early…. Cheyenne was the first!  We had time to open gifts before heading to Church for the Christmas Sacrament meeting. 

At church, wow, there were a lot of people there!  It was so fun to meet special friends that I have not seen in a long time.  And, the program was so beautiful!  I love the music of Christmas.  Each song is a sermon in itself.  When I arrived at Church I found Dani and Andrea sitting together and so I wormed my way right in between them!  I had a whole hour worth of loving there!!  Thanks Dani and Andrea!!!!

After Church we headed for the Shumway’s and a lovely breakfast that Wendy made for all of us.  They had not opened their gifts yet.  So we ate breakfast first and then the phone began to ring with family who lived far away.  We were all gathered together (Skillman’s and Clark’s included) when Elder Byrce Shumway called.  It was so good to talk to him.  He sounded so good and said that his mission in Elk City, Oklahoma was going well.  He was really enjoying his new companion.  He said he is in the “belt buckle” of the “bible belt” and work was slow and hard.  But he is learning lots and he is happy and well.  Wendy had tears in her eyes the whole time, which only means she really loves her son!  You did good raising him Girl!

Finally about 3:00 p.m. we gathered to open gifts!  It was a fun 2 hour process as only one person at a time could open a gift.  That way we got to see the reactions.  Best gift opening moment of the day…… 16 year old, 6 foot 3 inch TANNER and his RED FOOTIE PAJAMAS!!!  He was hysterical!!!  He simply could not get them on fast enough!!  Then Sheralyn opened a gift that contained pink bunny footie pajamas.  Then Madi…. Then Jena… and finally even 21 year old Danielle got some footie pajamas!  What a happy bunch of Shumway kiddles they were!

Gramma and Grampa Bear were pretty happy too.  We felt showered with love from all of them.  We love our homemade fuzzy new pillow cases from Madi and Jena.  Great blanket stitch girls!!  And we will enjoy our “Inspirational Candy Jar” for weeks to come.  We will unwrap one candy a day to see what words of wisdom you have to tell us and each day we will feel the love that comes with it.  Grampa Bear will be warm and cozy in his new long johns and Gramma Bear will not hate the cold wind so much when she wears her new warmer stockings!  My sweet new teddy bear, complete with pearls, now sits in a place of honor in our little Trailer.  Thank you Jena!! It was just a great Christmas morning!!!!

The fun continued as we ran down the hill to have more gift opening and then a delicious dinner with Fred and Donna Clark.  I will always feel blessed to have been adopted by them.  Just call me Patty Clark Wels.  The highlight of this great gift opening moment was Andrea who was made to feel like a real “Clark” in his Grampa Clark flannel shirt!  It came complete with a stocking hat and a giant candy bar in one pocket and a Dr. Pepper in the other.

Yup!  You are looking like Grampa Clark much to the chagrin of his now Italian cosmopolitan wife, Danielle.  He definitely was not looking too Italian at that moment!  He is certainly a sweet good natured fellow!  You have yourself a winner there Danielle, no matter what he wears.  Fred and Donna showered us with gifts too!  How I loved all the gluten free goodies, including bread and dessert!  They do spoil me and how I appreciate that!

Monday we were supposed to have Christmas dinner and fun with Todd, Amy and Mary but little Mary was sick and so it was postponed until Tuesday.  Stacy came to the rescue with a dinner invitation.  She had never gotten around to the Christmas dinner on Christmas so we had it Monday night.  I am glad she waited so she could fix it for us!!  It was so delicious!  Mark BBQ’d a Costco Tri Tip roast!  Excellent!  With twice baked potatoes and a yummy salad.  Yes, I again ate too much.  But then we exercised it off with a rousing couple of hours of puzzle working.

On our way home we stopped by the Shumway’s (who were off camping at Camp Esther Applegate) to snitch the package of gluten free coconut and peanut butter balls that Wendy had made for me . Byron made me promise I would bring him some of her special candies!   We broke into the house and searched the frig by flashlight to find them.  Then we figured we had better stop by the Clark’s to keep them from calling the police on us.  Our stop lasted for a wonderful 3 hour visit!  We do love the Clarks!

Tuesday we finally got to go see Todd, Amy and 4 year old Mary for all too short of a visit.  Mary is quite the character!  But she still was not quite feeling herself.  Luckily, Amy had to go back to work and Todd had a couple of errands to run so Grampa Lee and Gramma Pat got to stay and play with Mary.  We did puzzles and read books and talked up a storm.  It was so fun and ended way too quickly.

Tuesday night we attended the Medford Temple with Scott, Wendy, Andrea, and Dani.

What a nice way to end our fun visit home.  I got to sit between Dani and Wendy and just soak up the love.  Perfect ending to a perfect visit!

Wednesday morning we packed up and headed back to Bandon.  We are now sitting in our cozy little trailer that is being rocked by the wind and the rain of coastal Oregon.  Tomorrow we are back in the missionary saddle, so to speak and will be off to District Meeting in Coos Bay.  I will so enjoy being with the fun Elders again. It is time to rededicate ourselves to the Lord.  May He bless us all with a healthy and happy New Year.

Merry Christmas!

For P-day after laundry and housekeeping chores were done, we decided we had better get serious about Christmas.  With 10 children (Yes, the spouses are our children too!), 18 grandchildren, and 1 adorable great-grandchild we had a lot to accomplish in one day.  We would tell you what we decided to do for Christmas this year, but then the children read our blog and that would spoil the surprise now wouldn’t it?  Sorry kiddles, you will just have to wait.  We will tell you we had an enjoyable day doing whatever it was that we did.  We spent the evening wrapping for our family and then putting together treats to take to the Branch members of Bandon.

President Young gave all the missionaries in the Oregon Eugene Mission the challenge to take a Christmas message to our Wards and Branches that begins with the scripture found in  

Matthew 22:42; “What think ye of Christ?”  

So we begin our message by asking; “What think you of Christ?"  Who is He and what does Jesus Christ mean to you?”  We were so blessed to hear some beautiful heartfelt testimonies of the Savior!  Isaiah, a prophet who lived some 800 years before the birth of the Savior foretold of his birth in Chapter 9, verse 6; “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”  
Our next question: "what are some titles by which our Savior is known?"  They had fun trying to think of all the names by which the Savior is known in the Scriptures; Redeemer, Son of the Living God, The Lamb of God, The Savior of the World, The Lord, The Bread of Life, The light of the World, The Good Shepherd, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, The Holy One of Israel, The Only begotten of the Father, Our Advocate with the Father…….  In John, Chapter 6 it tells how many of those that followed the Savior just couldn’t grasp his teachings and verse 66 tells us “from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”  Then Jesus turns to his apostles and asks; “Will ye also go away?” to which Peter answers him by saying; “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.  And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

This Christmas season may we, like Peter, be glad to tell to the world that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. We join with fellow Christians around the world in proclaiming His divinity!   We have had a very spiritual week of going into the homes of the Bandon Branch to deliver our Christmas message and our small bag of Harry and David Truffles (a sweet little taste of the Rogue Valley).  Each with a tag that read; “Sweet is the peace the Gospel brings!”

Tuesday night at the E.A.T. program we found the little Bandon Community Center (The Barn) dressed in Christmas cheer with a brightly lit Christmas tree adorning the room.  We ate our dinner while listening to a husband and wife merrily singing Christmas carols to us.  The love that comes with the season was felt by all.  We were a little more cheerful, a little more friendly, and little more grateful for the bounties we were receiving.  Don’t we all wish the feelings of love and gratitude that the birth of Savior brings would last a whole lot longer!

Thursday our District Meeting was canceled because President Young is coming to our area on Sunday to do interviews with his missionaries.  But we still had to run to Coos Bay to do some last minute Christmas Santa stuff.  We especially wanted to deliver our truffles  to all our special District missionaries.  So we met up with our Zone leaders, Elder Johnson and Elder Plumb at Wendy’s where we treated them to lunch.  And they treated us to a very fun hour of much laughter.  They will distribute our little gifts at District Meeting next week.  We will not be in attendance as we are blessed to be able to come home to join our families for the holidays.

We had several Family History Consultant meetings this week also.  We are working hard to get the Family History Center up and running for our members and for the community.  Elder Wels and I are going to run the Family History Library from 9am to 1pm each and every Tuesday.  Now we just have to figure out all those computer programs!  We love www.ancestry.com!  Now to find time to learn to navigate the programs……practice, practice, practice.

Friday night was our Bandon Branch Christmas Party.  President Stockford’s non-member brother, Dave, and his wife were in town for an early Christmas visit.  Marita called last week to invite us to sit at their table so that we might help convince them that we LDS saints are actually Christians.  People… it’s The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…..we are some of the BEST Christians.  Okay, I'll get off that soap box.  They were a lovely couple and we did have a nice visit with them.  They were from Michigan so we sweetly argued the case as to which state was the loveliest.  No competition there, it is Oregon!

The highlight of the evening, aside from the delicious food, was the fun entertainment.  The Primary children (impressed as there were just 7 of them!),  dressed as either shepherds or angels, sang some Primary Christmas carols.  Chris and Kim Powell did a funny skit about a happy mom who got a wee bit more harried as the holidays got closer… she went from all smiles to valium to bedridden.  So hilarious!  Patrick Lowe read a heartfelt Christmas poem about our military while Kathy Lecee played patriotic music.  James Ornsby read the Christmas story while the members of the branch provided the carol singing at certain spots in the story.  And then Julie Bissell, dressed in her flannel P.J.’s and a Santa hat gathered the children at her feet and read them  “The Night before Christmas” as only Julie could do it.  “…..Now Dasher, now Dancer, Now Prancer and Vixen!  On Comet, On Cupid, On Dunder……DUNDER?  Oh sweet Donner…. Your name will never be the same in that poem ever again!  I had to work so hard to swallow my laughter!  Thank you Julie for that forever Christmas memory!  It was a grand party for everyone.  A great group of Saints there!

Saturday we spent most of the day delivering our Harry and David Truffle Christmas treats to branch members and then at 2 p.m. we gathered at the Church to help with the annual distribution of Christmas goodie bags.  We had 7 bags to deliver and in doing so we made new friends.  It was the first time we got in to see Ted and Norma Malin and we had a delightful visit with them.  He is almost totally deaf and she is from England with the most adorable accent.  They live on 2 really well manicured acres.  Can’t wait to see their place in the spring when things are in bloom.  Luckily, we got a warm invitation to come back to visit them.

In the evening we picked up Tom and Liz Olive and headed down to the Port Orford Branch for their Christmas Party. It was yet another lovely pot luck meal.  This is truly the mandatory “put on a couple pounds” season of the year!  Our Christmas entertainment was having the book; “How the Grinch stole Christmas” read to us by Ginger Snaps (her legal name) all while passing secretly wrapped Christmas ornaments around our circle of chairs.  Every time we heard the name of Grinch we would pass our ornament to the right.  At the end of the story you got to unwrap and keep the ornament you held.  As we have no Christmas tree in our little trailer we found a good home for the ornaments we received.  Thank you Port Orford Saints, you are a delightful group!

Sunday was amazing on several levels!  It was High Council Sunday and our High Council speaker was a Brother Young from Charleston.  His companion speaker was our very own James Ornsby.  James is a single gentleman of 69 years.  We have been working with him, not because he is inactive for he is the most dedicated member of our branch, but because he has had several brain injuries and does not have a full grasp on the “iron rod”.   We have some tender feelings for James and it was so heartwarming to listen to his talk and his testimony of the Savior and his sincere gratitude for the things we have taught him.  He made me cry.  James said you can always depend on the Savior!  Thank you James.  James was a great introduction to Brother Young’s talk about the sweet peace that comes from knowing the Savior.   He reminded us about the story of the Savior calming the angry storm on the Sea of Galilee.  He told us about the author of the song:  “ Master, the Tempest is raging”.  The first verse is a reminder of that story of long ago:

 Peace Be Still by Arnold Friberg

Master, the tempest is raging! The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o’er-shadowed with blackness.  No shelter or help is nigh.
Carest thou now not that we perish?  How canst thou lie asleep
When each moment so madly is threat-‘ning A grave in the angry deep.

Chorus:
The winds and the waves shall obey thy will:  Peace be still.
Whether the wrath of the storm tossed sea or demons or men or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies The Master of ocean and earth and skies.
They all shall sweetly obey thy will: Peace be still; peace be still
They all shall sweetly obey thy will: Peace, peace be still.

The second verse was written out of the author’s own deep despair:

Master, with anguish of spirit I bow in my grief today.
The depths of my sad heart are troubled. Oh waken and save, I pray!
Torrents of sin and of anguish, Sweep o’er my sinking soul,
And I perish! I perish! Dear Master.  Oh, hasten and take control!

The third verse is what the Savior did for her and 

could do for us if we put our faith and trust in Him:

Master, the terror is over.  The elements sweetly rest.
Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored, And heaven’s within my breast!
Linger, O blessed Redeemer!  Leave me alone no more.
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor and rest on the blissful shore!

Brother Young then shared with us a well -known hymn written by two sisters.  One poetically wrote the words of her heart and then she asked her musically gifted sister to write music to go with her words.  This amazing song was written over the telephone as they lived miles from each other!

Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace?
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger or malice,
I draw myself apart, searching my soul?
Where when my aching grows, where when I languish,
Where in my need to know, Where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand? He only One!
He answers privately, reaches my reaching,
In my  Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace He finds for my beseeching.
Constant He is and kind, Love without end.

Dear friends and family, may the joy of this Christmas season and the Peace and comfort we find in the Savior be with you now and in the coming year.  We send our love to each and every one of you.  And, we give thanks for Savior’s trust in us as His missionaries here in the beautiful city of Bandon By the Sea. 

( Elder Johnson & Elder Plumbs Christmas card to us)

Merry Christmas to all!

Friends, Family, and Fantasitc Lights

Monday (P-day) late afternoon we gathered up our lovely friend, Ida, and treated ourselves to a trip to Charleston to visit the Christmas lights spectacular of Shore Acres.  The weather was lovely.  Not a cloud in the sky and an almost full moon,  albeit, a bit cold….. okay, its December so what should I expect?  We arrived in time to head down to the pavilion to watch the sun set into the ocean.  From there it is a short walk to the Shore Acres garden.  We were welcomed by a sweet volunteer who actually greeted us with “Merry Christmas”.  Ida and I both gave her a big hug!!  The gardens were ablaze with so many tiny lights!  I did ask the volunteer how many lights she thought they used and her reply surprised me… she said 300,000 lights.  I think she was way low in that estimation!  There were a lot of lights!  There were also several animated light displays….. A breeching whale, a spouting whale, some jumping frogs, a hummingbird, and some diving seals.

The Caretakers Cottage was so adorable!  It was all festive with lights on the outside and so “Christmassy” with decorations on the inside.  Upstairs we even caught Santa in the bathtub!  Luckily, he was taking a big bubble bath. One of the two bedrooms upstairs had a teddy bear Christmas tree in the corner.  Guess which Gramma Bear really liked that one.  Downstairs in the parlor they were serving cookies and warm apple cider.  This was a good night for warm apple cider.

I think my very favorite spot in the garden was the big pond which reflected the colorful lights in a display that was very dazzling.  Of course, the picture does not do the scene the justice it deserves.  It was so pretty.  It was a wonderful evening. We had planned to take Ida to dinner on the way home but I think we tired her out with all the walking around the garden so we took her home.  How about a rain check for the dinner?  All these lovely Christmas lights just made me want to put Temple Square in Salt Lake on my bucket list.  Someday I will get there to enjoy that incredible sight.  Loved this one. It was a good night.
 
Tuesday we made phone calls and visits.  Neana Bergeret is not doing well.  Her back is really bad and she is going to a Surgeon on Thursday.  Her apartment is a disaster!  And her three dogs are so scroungy!  Not sure how to help her but we will work on it.  We got Connie Jones to commit to working at the Family History Library.  I think that will be good for her.   In the evening we did our work at the E.A.T. Program.

Wednesday late morning we headed for Medford as Elder Wels has not one, but 4 appointments tomorrow.  Our little car had a 3:30 appointment today at the Ford dealer to get an oil change, a tire rotation, and some much needed new windshield wiper blades.  Maybe even more important than all that… it got a bath!!!!  Color my little Lincoln happy! We also made a stop at Harry and David to pick up some truffles to give to our friends here in Bandon.  A little treat from the Rogue Valley for them.  In the evening we got to go to dinner with our good friends, Byron & Nova, and Bob & Rita.  They took us to Tim’s BBQ. That was some yummy spicy stuff!  Afterwards we went to the Johnson’s to watch Seventeen Miracles.  Wow!  That was a real tear jerker!  We have so much admiration for our pioneers!  So enjoyed our good friends for the evening!  We spent the night in the guest room of our own house.  Should have felt weird, right?  It did not.  Gentry was so sweet and he is taking such good care of our house that at this time it feels like his house.  Thanks Gentry!

Thursday morning I dropped Lee off at Dr. King’s and while he was getting his teeth cleaned, I was off to Bank of the Cascades to visit with my friend Peggy.  She was one of my first supervisors at Valley of the Rogue Bank 25 years ago.  So good to get a visit with her.  She is counting down the days until her March 31st retirement date. Go Peggy!  Then off to Dr. Tribblehorn so get a few spots on his old bod frozen.  Other than that, a clean bill of health there.  Next was the eye doctor.  Yea, he still has good eye sight and no need for new glasses.  Must be a missionary blessing.  Thank you!  Last appointment was with Robin McBee.  Elder Wels’ COBRA Insurance is ending and we need an intrem health policy to tide us over till he can go on Medicare August 1st.  All that accomplished, it was off to the Shumway’s for some fun!

Wendy and Stacy put together a most marvelous fahita dinner, with a little help from Cropper Medical’s newest employee, Miguel.  Miguel put in lots of jalapenos!  Warm stuff but so good!  Such a fun evening for us and so good to be with family!  The Skillmans entertained us with tales from their recent catamaran Thanksgiving adventure.  Lots of great memories for them on that one!  And we enjoyed the stories!  Connor and Chloe are bronzed and beautiful from their fun in the sun.  They are so cute!  We got caught up a bit on the kiddles activities.  Congrats Sheralyn on your 2 P.B.s!  So I remember in my old age… that is Personal Bests in two swimming events.  She is a fish!  She will ony get better as the season continues. Go Sheralyn!  We are going to miss the Littles piano recital so they sweetly gave me a little private recital.  They are so good!  Tanner grew yet another inch since we last saw him.  He is over 6’2” now!  Okay Tanner you can stop growing up now and start growing out!  And nice to have newly baptized Nick with us too.  He is just a part of our family now.  “Favorite Day” was my favorite day!  So sweet to hear my grandkiddles say they were happy to see G & G Bear.  How blessed we are to have such a sweet family love us!

Friday morning it was last minute errands in Medford.  A much needed stop at Food 4 Less for my gluten free bagels and bread.  Prices for those are way too spendy in either Bandon or Coos Bay!  And then a stop at Costco in Roseburg to refill some things.  Bought a Costco broiled chicken.  We also made a quick stop at Siskiyou RV for some thoughts on our trailer leak which is still plaguing us!   Got home in time to go to a lovely Christmas dinner at the Stockford’s.  The Sturtevants came too.  Boy, dinner with the Branch President and the Stake President all at once.  We were definitely on our best behavior!  Marita is a wonderful cook and went way out of her way to make sure the whole dinner was gluten free, even dessert!  Thank you so much!  We had a lovely time sharing our favorite Christmas memories.  Some funny and sweet stories there!  And, they got to be the first families to whom we gave our Christmas message.

Saturday morning Elder Wels was again on the roof of our trailer trying to fix our leak.  I think he has a handle on it now. But I guess we will have to give it some time to know for sure!  While he was doing that I worked on Preach my Gospel and wrapped gifts for the branch.  Then it was off to see some members.  We stopped by Neana Bergeret’s and actually found her on her feet.  That was a first!  Her surgeon appt did not happen as she didn’t get approval for it yet.  Maybe next week?  But I did have good news for her in that I found someone who would wash and groom her dogs for her.  Jill Stockford sweetly volunteered as she is trying to become a dog groomer.  That is a good match up!  Thanks Jill, Neana was happy to know her dogs would be groomed.  Finally caught the Tuma’s at home and had a nice visit with them.  They are newly baptized members who end up having to work at their jobs at Bandon Dunes on a lot of Sundays.  They miss the little missionaries!  We have found that a lot.  Those boys were really loved and we are having a hard time stepping into their shoes.

Sunday was our first day to attend Church at the Port Orford branch.  What a sweet and dedicated bunch of Saints there!  Church was 3 very spiritual hours long as we felt the spirit so strongly the entire time!  We attended their Branch Council meeting at 8:45 am.  They so badly want to reactivate those who have fallen away.  And, it was fun to help them work on their Sacrament speaking assignments for 2012.  Each talk for the entire year will begin; “If ye love me……..”  Of course, keep my commandments came instantly to mind.  But then they began to think of so many other topics… “If ye love me….. love one another, be an example, pray always, share the Gospel, learn of me, feed my sheep (service), follow the prophets, attend the Temple, Do unto others, be prepared, seek for the spirit, teach your family, magnify your calling, Believe me, use the Atonement, live within your means…… etc.  We certainly felt  very welcomed.  It was a nice day.  After Church we headed for the harbor to eat our picnic lunch.  Then it was off to visit with a couple Branch members.  We chose the Glemsers because she is Relief Society President and he is Elders Quorum President and Branch Mission Leader.  They gave us lots of Branch information.  Then we visited with the Durhams.  We met them when Sister Durham was in the Bandon hospital when she fell and broke her hip a few weeks ago.  We just wanted to check on them and bring a little Christmas message to her since she has not been able to attend Church again yet.  And, then we went to the Martin’s.  They are old time Port Orford residents and they know everyone and every thing.  We had a delightful visit with them.  We left our little trailer at 7:45 in the morning and we returned to it at 8:00 p.m..  A long exhausting and exciting day for us.  But by the time we got to the trailer I was SICK!  It came on suddenly and sent me to bed feeling really cold and without dinner.  I was cold enough to wear clothes to bed and a take a microwave heated towel to bed with me.  This morning I am weak but oh so much better.  Perhaps I am just a bit old for those 12 hour days?!  No…. not gonna think that!  I am way too young to be thinking about being old!

Our First Care Package!

This week we received our first ever missionary care package!  A small little box that put big smiles on our faces and a lot of love into the hearts of these two old missionaries!  It contained a small box of white Christmas lights and a whole bunch of handmade snowflakes that Madi cut out for us.  Christmas decorations!!!  Cool.  So up went the snowflakes on the only surface that is safe from moisture in the trailer, our big mirror.

 And, the lights went on the little pine tree just outside the trailer.  There is no room in the Inn…… or trailer for a Christmas tree.  So we are enjoying the twinkle of little lights right outside our window.  Thanks Shumway family for brightening our holidays!
 
Wednesday we made the trip south to “Port Awful”…… that’s Port Orford to those coastal town residents who live there.  I had to laugh at the name the locals here in Bandon call it.  Very reminiscent of my early days in Oregon when I would head north from Ashland to do errands in the big city I called “Dreadford”.   There was no good shopping in “Dreadford” in those days (pre-Mall days) just as there is not much at all in “Port Awful”.  We went to meet with President Brown of the Port Orford Branch.  We are now assigned to go down there one Sunday a month and perhaps every other Wednesday to work with the inactive members there.  It is a 90% inactive member branch too!!  They have a tiny branch building with an oversized Relief Society room they call their Chapel.  Very cozy.  We hope we can be of help to them.

On our way home we stopped by the Stockford’s.  When we were at their house for Thanksgiving we got to see Marita’s beautiful Cypress Knee Santa carvings.  Elder Wels expressed an interest in buying one for me as we had no Christmas decorations and he would like something from Bandon.  She told him that she made them to give to people to make them happy.  Marita invited Lee and I to stop by and pick one and keep it.  He picked the one he had taken a liking to when he first saw it that Thanksgiving night.

Thanks Marita, you have a beautiful talent which we will enjoy for years to come!








That evening we attended the Relief Society Supper Club for their special Christmas dinner.  The evening was entitled; “Touched by an Angel”.  Their small cultural hall was beautifully decorated in Angels.  Pam Hansen and Kim Yates made 12 of the most adorable angels to brighten the tables.  There were 3 angels of various sizes on each of four tables.  Kim introduced us to each angel and told us how each little angel had developed a personality as they were being made.  There was the “harried Relief Society President Angel” who had thinning hair from pulling it out in her attempt to help all of her sisters.  And, the “Forgetful Gramma Angel” who couldn’t find her wand because she had forgotten she had tucked it in her silver hair.  There were 10 others whose story I have already forgotten, which is why I really took a liking to the forgetful Gramma Angel.  Pam Hansen directed a sweet and funny play about Visiting Teachers being the Lord’s angels here on earth.  Kim Yates played Sally who had a really hilarious conversation with the Lord when He interrupted her prayer.  I got to play the part of one of the three angels.  The dinner consisted of a meal of an asparagus and tomato combo on Angel hair pasta, a lovely salad, rolls, and an Angel food cake dessert.  At the end of the evening they had a drawing for the angels that were on the tables.  They put the name each sister in attendance in a Christmas bowl.  There were 32 sisters in a drawing for 12 angels.  Drum roll here….. the very first name Kim pulled out was Sister Wels!!! Yea, it was me!  I got to pick the very first angel so guess which one now graces my little trailer!  Yup, the forgetful Gramma!

Elder Wels was there to work in the kitchen so that the ladies got to enjoy their evening.  The Y.M/Y.W. kids (all 6 of them) were the servers.  It was a really great evening.

Thursday was District meeting in Coos Bay.  Oh Oh….. transfers happened and we lost our Zone Leader, Elder Jones.  How we will miss our Elder “Buckeroo”, his rope and his cowboy boots!  They sent him to Burns!  A perfect cowboy spot!  But I got to keep my beloved Zone Leader, Elder Johnson!  And now his new companion and new zone leader is our old beloved District Leader, and my Mitchell look alike, Elder Plumb.  Color me happy!  Great meeting but they pick on the senior missionaries!!!!  It’s got to be the gray hair thing.  We have tried to tell them that gray hair is not a sure sign of wisdom!  It is a sure sign of memory loss!!!  Now at each meeting we get to do a 10 minute senior missionary teaching thing!  And it started today!  We bumbled through something up there in front of the group.  Next time I hope we are better prepared!  But I still love the Elders!

 After District meeting, grocery shopping at much less expensive Walmart, our seemingly “Must” stop at Porter’s RV for trailer parts, and lunch at Wendy’s we had time to stop to see Claudia Briggs.  She is a mostly inactive sister who is completely deaf.  We had tried to call her several times through a hearing impaired operator with no success.  So we got her email address and wrote and told her we would stop by that day.  We rang her doorbell and I could see through her window a long string of Christmas lights that blink when the doorbell rings.  And she answered her door.  I was nervous about the visit but it was so delightful.  She can read lips very well.  We sat at the dining room table so we were opposite her and she was bright and funny and very entertaining.  We had a grand time.  Her knowledge of the scriptures is a bit lacking and she asked lots of questions.  So would you come to Church if you could not hear what anyone was saying or singing?  Your faith and obedience to follow the Savior would have to be monumental to come when you had no idea what was going on there.  I could emphasize with her and I wish with all my heart I could fix it so somehow she could understand.  Scott we need your sign language abilities here!

We tried to concentrate on the inactive members that no one knows this week.  We met with zero success.  It was several days of either no one home or no one wanting to answer the door.  You could hear the TV or even see the curtains move…. But the door stayed unanswered.  We don’t even want to talk about how they name their streets here!  Did you know there are two Lexington Avenues here….. or four 12th streets!  Not  fun days!  So at the end of one day before the sun went down we treated ourselves to a view of Elephant Rock.  Can you see an elephant in this rock?

 Neither could I until we found this painting!  Wow, it really is the top part of an elephant!  And when the waves come in, it is like a tear coming from the elephant’s eyes.  Can you see the tear drop in its left eye? See his trunk and the tusks?  Lee is standing on a 128 step stair case to the beach.  I enjoyed that climb last week.

OK, here is some help....

We saw this beautiful painting of Elephant Rock hanging on the wall in the Bandon Baking Company.  So we stopped by to take this picture of it.  We waited to talk to Kim Powell who owns the place to get her permission to take the picture.  What a nice surprise we got to find out that the picture was painted by our own Jill Stockford!  When we were at her parent’s house for Thanksgiving we saw some of her art work.  Wow, there is a whole lot of talent there.  This picture certainly solved the mystery of Elephant Rock for me.  How about for you?

Friday we had to take the day off to do some much needed repair work on the trailer.  The two graying missionaries who live here are not the only things growing older.  Our sweet little home on wheels has some problems of its own.  And for some strange reasons our problems here seem to be water related!  We lived through the flood of last week without much damage.  Today's chore list includes:

1. A leak in the forward window that necessitated the removal of the window, some blow dryer work, a new caulk gun and some patience.  
2. New gutter extensions so the rain will not cascade right down the windows.  
3. Unstopping the drain tube from the refrigerator so that the moisture there will actually drain and not partially freeze and partially flood the refrigerator.  

It was an entire day’s worth of work.  It was late when we finished and we were tired, so we rewarded ourselves to the Oregon Ducks championship winning game.

Saturday President Young called for a Zone wide fast in honor of Elder Walker and Elder Strong who recently lost their lives while riding their bikes in Texas.  He wanted us to dedicate our day to them; to fast and to pray for a miracle to happen in their honor and we would see what the day would bring.  We prayed that our young proselyting missionaries would have miraculous doors open for them.  We also prayed for our own tiny miracle to happen and we believe it did.  We tried to call Ernie and Maggie Warren this morning.  We have called them many a time to try to set up a visit.  She is a member, he is not.  But we have thus far been met with excuses that put off our visit till another time.  Today their phone would answer but it just made strange noises.  So it was decided to just drive to their house and see if we could get in.  They live on a rural dirt road with a gate across their driveway and a big barking great-dane to guard it!  I dared to get out of the car and approach the dog only to find that he was barking in wild anticipation of some play time with me. All that barking caught the attention of Maggie Warren.  She came from behind the house.  She told us that they were busy cutting firewood and that we would have to come another time.  She is a friendly lady and we got her to talking all the while I was praying.  Heavenly Father, please get her husband to come looking for her.  It took about 15 minutes but all of a sudden here he came.  I immediately sent up a giant “Thank you Prayer” for the miracle of getting him to come out from behind the house.  We had a delightful hour and a half visit, standing at the gate.  My feet were totally frozen by the time we left but my heart was warm and grateful for the opportunity to meet them and the miracle is that we are invited to come back and visit again.  On a funny note we discovered Sunday that our cutie little Zone Leader, Elder Johnson forgot to call us to tell us that the fasting date had been switched to the 10th.  Elder Johnson!!!!

Saturday and Sunday we attended our first Stake Conference for the Coos Bay Stake.  President and Sister Young of the Oregon Eugene Mission were speakers.  At the Saturday evening Adult session President Young asked all the full time missionaries to stand.  It took a minute and some coaxing from President Young before Elder Wels and I stood up.  Guess we still find it amazing to think we are full time missionaries just like the young Elders.  It was a great conference!  The wives of the Stake presidency put on a lunch after the Sunday session for the missionaries and President and Sister Young.  Yummy soups, breads and desserts.  Sweet sisters for whom we got to sing the mission thank-you song.  And, we were blessed with a short missionary meeting with President Young.  He has such love for each of us.  It was at this meeting that I asked for stories about the miracles that might have occurred with our fast on the 3rd only to be told the fast was changed to the 10th.  You should have seen Elder Johnson turn red and try to hide his face!

In the late afternoon we went with the Coquille Missionaries, Elder Gamez and Elder Davis to teach a lesson to Zach Verrastro.  He is a 17 year old high school senior who lives here in Bandon.  He works part time at Price N’ Pride here in Bandon.  But his girlfriend, who introduced him to the Church, lives in Coquille.  Jocelyn Smith is also a high school senior.  They met at a track meet between their schools last year.  The missionaries thought we Bandon missionaries should be involved and we were delighted to come.  They gave him the 3rd lesson and the taught about the Word of Wisdom.  Elder Wels and I had a little input to the lesson.  Zach is a really nice young man.  During the lesson I could really feel the Spirit there with us.  Several times I actually had goose bumps come.  I told Zach how I was feeling and asked him if he could feel the Spirit there.  We talked about how the Holy Ghost can communicate through our feelings.  He said that he was feeling warm and happy and that he knew those feelings were telling him that what was being taught was true. At the end of the lesson they asked him if he would like to be baptized and he said “YES”.   That was cool!  We will make plans to go visit Zach and his non-member mother this next week.

But as for this week….It had a very happy ending.