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.