Hitting the Family Search Jackpot!

Monday – Your Mission example will have a tremendous impact on your grandchildren. Thank   you! - Wendy

Thank you Heavenly Father…. No rain, no wind, beautiful sunshine and all day to get things done and play.  That is a wonderful combination and we took full advantage of it!  We got our work done around the trailer and then headed for the beach!  We met James down at the jetty and he taught us how to find agates among all the little rocks.  There were a lot of people down there looking for agates.  Dumb me, I just look for pretty rocks.  I was quite successful!  And, there are a couple of agates in the mix.  It was fun.  We ran into Mary and domino from our RV park  there also.  Then we got a dinner invitation from Tom and Liz Olive to come join them for Ham and eggs and Family Home Evening fun.  After dinner we watched a video about Porter Rockwell.  What an interesting character he was!  Good day all the way around!

Tuesday – Just put on your tags - Chloe
We got the Family History Library computers up and running this morning and at the precise moment of 9:00 a.m. there were 3 patrons waiting at the door.  Oh boy!  Time to see if we can put our scant amount of training into practice!  Elder Wels took Elton under his wing and I helped Juanita.  I had the easy one!  She was starting at point zero but by the time she left, she had a whole 5 generation pedigree chart filled with the names of her relatives, complete with dates and places.  She was very happy and I was thrilled to have been able to help her.  I would say our first day was very successful!

There was a really nice turnout at the E.A.T. Program tonight.  We served 70 people.  It was a delicious Ham dinner served in honor of Bernice who passed away while eating at the E.A.T Program the Tuesday before Christmas.  We didn’t write about that night because it was a bit traumatic.  But Bernice is in a far better place today.  She was 93 years old and had led a good life, filled with family and good friends and love.  You can’t ask for better than that.  So her son honored her tonight by supplying her favorite dinner for the community to enjoy.  There was a lovely duet singing tonight and they sang Bernice’s favorite hymn; Just a closer walk with thee, before the blessing on the meal . It was a grand tribute for a grand lady.

Wednesday – Read your scriptures - Connor
The alarm went off at 4:00 am this morning.  Ugh!  Too early to get up but get up we did and we were out the door by 5:30 am headed to Eugene (a three hour jaunt) to attend a Special Missionary Meeting with our mission President.  President Young is our biggest cheer leader!  And, for this Gramma, it is always so fun to find yourself surrounded by 60+ young Elders.  The highlight of which was to see our old Zone Leader, Elder Johnson!  He now serves in Springfield which is still in our zone.  That made this Gramma happy.  President Young introduced us to the 2012 Standards of Excellence.  We got to watch a 12 minute clip from the movie, Secretariat.  It was the clip with the actual horse race.  I am old enough to actually remember the horse race.  He won by unprecedented 31 lengths!  A feat that some 38 years later has never been equaled!   President Young came up with 43 points of comparison between this horse and his race and we missionaries and our race.  Be a Star, Be a Champion, Be a winner!   Pictured here is our mission symbol for a baptism.  Each baptism is filled with love!  It was 4:00 pm by the time our meeting ended. We were well edified and fortified and very tired.  We decided to spend the night in Eugene rather than try to drive the 3 hours back to Bandon in the dark.  We found a Comfort Inn for which Elder Wels still had some “choice privilege” points from his Lumber Products days.  We were so tired we decided to just have dinner at the Denny’s right next door to the motel.  Nothing against Denny’s, I enjoyed the meal, but it did not agree with me.  Lee ate the same thing and he was fine so I am thinking there must have been some hidden glutens in there that did not go over well with me.  It was a long night.

Thursday – Find those lost sheep - Danielle
We slept in a bit this morning as I was still not feeling my best.  Elder Wels took advantage of the free breakfast and came back with a yogurt and banana for me.  Then before pointing the car in the direction of Bandon, we hit Fred Meyer for gluten-free bagels, Costco for muffins and cookies and Trader Joe’s for anything gluten-free (they don’t do much in gluten-free foods!  How very disappointing!  How sad!)  

We arrived home in the late afternoon.  Our first and only stop in Bandon was the Post Office to get our mail.  BINGO!  Big rewards in the form of 2 sweet letters from our 9 year old granddaughter, Jenna!  There was one for Grampa Bear and one for Gramma Bear.   We were tired, bedraggled, and still feeling a bit yukky but give us some love from home and we immediately felt warmth in our hearts.  Thanks Jenna, you really made our day so much brighter!!  We love you so much.  That was really awesome timing as today was Thursday so I was already thinking about and missing our “Thursdays with G & G Bear” and all our grandkiddles.  So we really loved our little ray of sunshine from home. 


Once home in our little trailer I was done for the day.  I decided to spend the evening with a RootsMagic CD webinar.  Maybe not such a great idea……. The webinar was an hour and a half long.  It was a how-to course in getting Family Search to interface with RootsMagic.  Now armed with a little knowledge, (yes a little knowledge can be very dangerous!) I decided to try to input my FamilySearch genealogy into my RootsMagic family tree program.  Oh my stars!  I had no idea what was out there in FamilySearch!  The program said that if there was a lot of data to download it might take a while….. well, that turned out to be a great understatement!  The download started at 8:00 pm.  It was still going strong at 11:00 pm!  12:00 am!  1:00 am! 2:00 pm!  I dozed a bit during the process but by 4:00 am, I gave up and went to bed with the ancestor count already over 15,000!  When I got up the next morning the count was frozen at 16, 590 ancestors.  And, so was the computer!  I had to do a “hostile” reboot to get it running again.  I don’t know if you can see the list of names on the left of the computer screen….. but some of those birth years are in the 1400’s, 1300’s and 1200’s!  Can that be true?  Now I get to do a lot of investigation into my family tree!

Friday – Do you miss me? – Chloe (Oh boy, do I!!!!)
Our good friends, Byron and Nova Johnson traveled over here from Central Point in their adorable little red rocket Corvette to spend the day with us. 

I guess it has been a bit overcast in the Rogue Valley for the last few weeks.  They saw that we, over here on the coast, were going to enjoy a beautiful day of sunshine.  They could not resist the temptation to come enjoy the sunshine with us!  Who are we kidding guys?!  It was an opportunity to drive their new little rocket!  Whatever the temptation, we were happy to have them visit for a day.  As Nova is now trying her best to avoid wheat, we were happy to start our afternoon with a visit to Subway Sandwich for a gluten-free sandwich.  Then it was off to Old Town and the Cranberry Sweet Shop for some chocolate dessert…. We sampled all of it!  Next stop the Jetty for a walk on the beach and a bit of agate hunting.  Nova found a small one!  I just found some more beautiful rocks for our rock jar.  We gave them a tour of our branch building and made some stops along the coast to see “Elephant Rock” and “Face Rock” and the lovely homes along Beach Loop Drive.  Our final stop was a treat for Nova at Dairy Queen.  No visit to the coast should end without a Blizzard at Dairy Queen!  It was a delightful day.  Thank you, good friends for coming to visit us.  We love you!

Saturday – The Best bear is a Gramma Bear- Tanner (This one made me cry. .thanks Tanner!)
It was another awesome day here in Bandon.  Sunny and it warmed up to 63 degrees!  How we enjoyed our morning walk around our RV Park!  We met up with our lovely Ida Cluff who was on her morning run to the Jetty to walk her dog, Copper.  We had planned on visiting her today so it was nice that we could do it out in the sunshine in our park.  Then it was off to find some more of Bandon’s inactive Mormons.  We feel so blessed to have a GPS system in our car…. That having been said…… Bandon roads remain a mystery to us and to our GPS system!  We get sent down more dead-end roads!  After an entire morning finding no one home and just leaving our cards on doors, we headed for the Yates house, hopeful to find a smiling face and welcoming hand.  Yea, Fred Yates did not fail us and we enjoyed a lovely visit.  7 year old daughter, Cassidy, is a sweetheart too!  Home for lunch and a short nap (the joys of being SENIOR missionaries!).  Then back out on the streets of Bandon in hopes of finding someone home.  OK, this is just not our day.  We did stop by the Harbor View Events Center to volunteer to help with their big “Taste of Bandon” event.  We just heard about it today.  They were very nice and very thankful for our offer, but they were well taken care of tonight.  That turned out to be a good thing as we got a phone call from a sweet single sister in the Branch.  She had just had all her teeth pulled, was feeling miserable, and wanted someone to come clean her kitchen for her.  That would be us!  I do believe there was more than just a couple of days of dirty dishes there!  Elder Wels and I washed and dried dishes for almost 2 hours.  As we were leaving, her dog, Patches, got out the door and we got to enjoy a half hour of trying to catch the little cutie.  It ended in success, all the while we got to enjoy the setting sun in the warmth of a very nice day.

Sunday – Keep up the great work – Connor
We actually had a leisurely morning as we had no early morning meeting before Church today.  Elder Wels and I were asked to give the prayers in Sacrament.  As you can imagine in a small branch, that will happen quite often.  We had 3 inactive members come today and so we got to have a Gospel Essential class for them during Sunday School.  Oh my goodness…. Our class turned into a counseling session because two of our inactives have been living a lifestyle far different from the standards of the Church.  Their lifestyle has given them so much heartache.  We tried our best to open the door of faith and help them to feel the forgiving power of a loving Heavenly Father.  I once read a statement which rang of so much truth.  It read; “It is better to prepare and prevent than to have to repair and repent”.  This couple has much repair work to do in their lives.  I hope we were able to give them the hope they so desperately wanted.  Our sweet Ida Cluff was in our class today.  She was able to offer insights from her years of experience.  Thank you dear Ida!

Lynda Sessions, who has been sick with some kind of respiratory ailment for weeks now, asked Elder Wels to give her a Priesthood blessing after Church today.  I love to watch my sweet husband use his Priesthood power to serve the members of our Branch.  My eternal companion is well loved here in the Bandon Branch.  Please put me, his loving wife, at the top of that list!

Zack came to our Branch again this week.  He was excited about receiving the Priesthood.  And, even though his heart yearns for the Coquille Ward where his girlfriend attends, he is so willing to do whatever it takes to be worthy to be given the Priesthood.  He had his interview with President Stockford before Church and asked Elder Wels to be the one to ordain him a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.  Elder Wels felt quite honored.  We had Zack come by the trailer tonight so we could give him his Certificate with his Priesthood line of authority on it.  He was thrilled to know that the Priesthood authority he now holds can be traced back to our Lord Jesus Christ.

The sweetest part of our day came after Church when we were able to take the Sacrament to two elderly sisters who were unable to attend Church today.  Nancy Williams just lost her husband of 59 years this last Tuesday and she was too distraught to come to Church today.  And, Fay Quimby is too weak from a heart ailment to attend.  Sweet Fay is just counting the days until the Lord takes her home again.  She is so looking forward to that day.  It was precious time we spent with these two lovely sisters.  You just can’t beat being part of the Gospel in action!

A Very Blustery Bandon!

Monday -  I’m Proud of my G-Bears! - Sheralyn
We love our lazy Mondays, although it is always a day to get our trailer work and laundry done.  And, a day to go to town and do any errands we might have.  Note to ourselves….. now that it is the winter season we will have to remember that so many businesses in Bandon are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays!  A few things on the list are still on the list to be done later this week.  But good naps were definitely checked off our list of to-do things!  In the evening we went to Tom and Liz Olive’s for a delicious fahita dinner and some good old “Family Home Evening” fun.  We love spending time with them.
 
Tuesday –  Remember that we love you! - Madi
This morning was our first day to staff the Family History Library!  Oh My Goodness!! 

We are seriously lacking in our skills!  Not to mention that the computers are not communicating with the printers!  Do you think we have bugs yet to iron out?  May I say I am grateful no one from the community came in today.  The notice about our opening will not appear in the local paper until Thursday,  Oh, that is a good thing!  Elwin Bissell did come and we spent the first hour just getting his log on and password to work.  Luckily, we have an 800 number to call for help.  Sweet Elwin already had them but could not remember them.  When we were finally successful at getting him into New.familysearch,  he was delighted to see how far back he could see in his family tree.  Once we get it all straightened out, it is going to be amazing.  I just hope the community takes advantage of this wonderful service . Please notice that Elder Wels got to have his picture on the front page of the Bandon paper!   We had a lovely meat loaf dinner at the E.A.T Program tonight and very much enjoyed our shift in the dish washing area with Tom and Carol.  We are definitely a good team and everyone is so sweet to tell us how much they appreciate us.  To us it is a joy to work there!

Wednesday -  I’m glad you are serving a mission. - Jenna
I think I used the words “Holy Cow!” with the rain and wind storm we had some time back in December…. Well, today I will use the words “Holy Hippo!”   I am just happy I can report that our little home on wheels is still on its wheels!  And, we are still in Bandon!  But when we opened the blinds this morning, to our horror, we saw that the trunk lid of the car was wide open!  A quick trip out there revealed that our big box of Church supplies was drowned!  So now we have books and papers drying out all over the couch and chairs and counters!   I tried to capture the wind in the picture of the bush and the rain in the picture of the front window of the trailer. 

 That rain is absolutely going sideways!  No picture can do it justice so you will just have to take my word for it.  Those wind gusts are between 60 and 90 m.p.h. Schools in Bandon are closed today so I think today is a good day to stay put inside, stay warm and dry, and study.  And, when the rain ceases we need to go check on Ida.  We called her this morning and she said that she lost some shingles on her little home last night.  We can see her “Park Model” home right out our front window. 

 Her house is the one to the right and behind the laundry room.  “Holy Hippo!” some of those wind gusts are startling!   It howled and rained all day long!  We never ventured outside!

Thursday -   Did you remember to pray? - Chloe
Welcome to more wind and more rain!  We rocked all night last night and plans for today’s drive to Port Orford to help the members there with a big community dinner have been cancelled.  Sister Glemser called and said driving in all this wind and rain is dangerous.  The Sixes River down there was flooding and some roads were impassable.  Not to mention that part of the highway south of us is under water.  This has been a great storm!  We are still drying out things from the trunk of the car.  And, we tended to the leak in the front window.  I had more time to study the scriptures connected to Preach My Gospel.  In the afternoon when the winds died down for a while we ventured out to town to run a few errands and check on a couple of branch members.  We stopped by the Family History Library to check on things and while we were there a gentlemen, who had read about our library in the paper, came. 

Pam Hansen took him under her wing and in no time he had located several great grandparents!  It was exciting to see.   In the evening we sloughed through the rain to return to the Family History Library for more training.  Our little library is really taking shape!

Friday – Proselyte with Pride! - Tanner
Yea! The wind and the rain subsided enough last night that we were finally able to get some sleep.  The quiet was so nice!  But it was only a brief respite.  Today we decided we had better get out there before the next round of winter hit.  So we headed out to hand out as many “Family History Library Open House” invitations as we could.  First stop was the office of our very own RV Park.  We arrived just at “Coffee Time” at the office.  So we got to give a little group our great news about how easily they could find their own family history right here in Bandon.  We met with some great enthusiasm and we handed out some blank pedigree charts to help them get started.  Good start!  By afternoon the wind and the rain had returned.  Oh the joys!  But nothing could dampen the joy that surrounded the party at the Salt’s house late this afternoon where we got to award Patrick with his “Success Certificate”.  He has not had a smoke since we met one week ago to start him on the “One Week Stop Smoking” program!  He did it!  And, he was a different man today!  He was so pleased with himself and well he should be!  We celebrated with his favorite Little Debbie frosted fudge cakes and swiss rolls.  Then we “blew” ourselves home amid the 60 mph wind gusts and rain.  Yup, done for the evening!  We will just sit tight and enjoy the rocking of our little home on wheels!

Saturday -   I’m proud of you, G & G Bear - Jenna
It totally poured this morning.  No wind just a big downpour!  But then about the time we headed out the door, the sun peaked out and stayed out for the entire day.  Yahoo!   Love that sunshine!  We spent the entire day delivering more Open House invitations to less active members of our branch and a couple of our investigators.  We finally found someone at home at the Williams’ house out on Bates Road.  Jody Williams is the grown son.  He is a crab fisherman and we enjoyed at good visit with him.  He told us that his parents, Nancy and Bill Williams, had moved into town on Oregon Ave.  A short drive later we were enjoying a sweet visit with Nancy Williams.  She and Bill have been married for 59 years.   But this is a rough time for them as Bill is in the end stages of COPD.  She was so happy that we would come to see her.  We promised that we would return tomorrow after Church and bring the Sacrament to her and her husband.  Elder Wels will ask Chuck Salt to come along so they can give both Bill and Nancy a Priesthood blessing.  This is not an easy time for the Williams family.  It breaks our hearts to see so many branch members here in Bandon with such tremendous health problems.

Sunday -   Keep working hard! – Josh Moss
It was a long but very enjoyable day at Church today.  Branch Council meeting started at 8:45 this morning.  There is something so sweet about being in a group of saints as they try their upmost to meet the needs of members of our branch.  You can just feel the love in the room.  We are honored to be a part of that process.  Julie and Elwin Bissell gave the talks in Sacrament.  Both of them spoke on “Faith” and both of them gave superb talks.  I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we really did have a Spiritual feast today.  On a sad note, Nancy Williams called this afternoon to ask us not to come today as this was a really rough day for both she and her husband.  Could we come another day this coming week?  We told her of course we could.  After Church we had a very successful Open House for the Family History Library.  22 people from the community came to learn about doing their family history!  There was just a perfect number of patrons who spaced themselves out during the 2 hour Open House so that each one of them got one on one instruction at the computer.  Most got the basics of genealogy and left armed with a pedigree chart.  They will be back with names and dates so we can tap into the resources available to us.  But some of them came prepared with their ancestors’ names and dates and left with an amazing amount of new information about their family.  It was sweet to hear of their gratitude for this service we can provide to the community.  I do believe our service in the Family History Library will be packed with heart-warming moments and happy patrons!  What a marvelous way to end our week.  We hope your week was as lovely! 

Another Busy Wonderful Week in the Mission Field

Monday-  I’m proud of your example – Mitchell
We really scurried through our short list of tasks this morning in order to get on the road to Brookings to visit with our good friends and fellow senior (albeit, they are much younger than we are) missionaries, Elder and Sister Higginbotham.

 They are from Richfield, Utah and have been out on their 18 month mission for 15 months now.  We came to know them because they would come to Central Point to attend Zone Conference.  They were friends with our friends, Byron & Nova Johnson and would come the day before Conference to spend the night with them.  But once in a while the Johnson’s would be out of town and they would come spend the night with us.  Those nights were always a treat for us.  We knew they had so much experience and wisdom to share with us.  And, we were not disappointed. They have done so much and have had some great successes that they shared with us.  They took us to a lovely lunch at a Mexican Restaurant and filled our tummies.  We definitely left their beautiful home with our minds and hearts filled so many ideas and filled also with renewed dedication to be as great as and work as hard as they have.  Thanks Rick and Michelle!!  We love you!


Tuesday-  Keep making those house calls – Madi

The day started with a hair cut appointment for Elder Wels.  Can you imagine a barber shop that does haircuts by appointment?  Kinda nice!  He was in and out in no time.  We then spent time with the copy machine at the Church.  We received the updated “Stop Smoking Program” in an e-mail from the author of the program.  Yea…. Lots of copies and we are almost ready to get the program started.  Then we were off for a quick stop to visit with Barbara Murray.  Her Visiting Teacher called us to say that she was missing us and wanted us to come visit her again soon.  Well if you won’t come to Church….. we will take a little “church” to you.  She is fun to visit.  Next stop was “Billy Smoothboars”, a restaurant south of town.  It is home to the Tuesday meeting of the Bandon Kiwanis Club.  We were invited by Chuck and Lorna Salt to be their guests for the luncheon meeting.  It gave us a chance to meet more of Bandon’s good Samaritans.  The featured speaker was a gentleman from Ocean Spray Cranberry.

Oh my goodness.  I have seen the Ocean Spray plant here in Bandon.  I thought it was one of Bandon’s premiere businesses!  Wrong!  Although Bandon is touted as the cranberry capital of the world, for most of the year Ocean Spray only employs one full time and 2 part time workers.  For 6 weeks at harvest time in October/November they hire another 20 employees to help receive the harvest from local growers which is sorted, cleaned and sent to other facilities for processing into products. See, there is no industry in Bandon!  No wonder there is such poverty here!  Okay, we did learn a lot about cranberries.  So we are here to tell you that you cannot believe those Ocean Spray cranberry ads on TV!  Yes, they are called cranberry bogs…. But cranberry plants do not grow in water.  The bogs are only flooded for about 5 or 6 days during the harvesting process. Can’t wait now to see the cranberry bogs in bloom this spring.   In the evening it was off to the E.A.T Program.  Allyson is healthy again and was back in charge of things tonight like she usually is.  She is such a dear lady and a very hard worker.  We just had to greet her with a good hug tonight!  Howard and Audrey were our co-workers doing dishes tonight.  They work one week and Tom and Carol work the next.  And, we enjoy both couples when they work with us.  It is work, but it is a treat to work with such nice people from other Churches in Bandon.  We are all serving the same Lord.

Wednesday-  Be good missionaries – Chloe
Today we had a good visit with Chuck Salt and invited him to help us with the “Stop Smoking Program” by being the “friendshipper” for Patrick.  We went over the program with him and got him to commit to help us by helping Patrick.  Then we called Patrick to set a date to meet to get him going on the Program.  Patrick actually sounded excited about coming and said whatever date and time we picked would be fine with him and he would be there.  That’s a good start Patrick!  We pray this will be the blessing Patrick is looking for.  So we are set to meet this Friday at 2:30 in the afternoon.  We also had visits today with Ida Cluff and Susie Elliott and her grandson Nick.  We called Maggie Warren to check on her hubby, Ernie.  He is home from the VA hospital but he is still in a lot of pain.  We now just have to pray that the VA will approve his doctor’s request for acupuncture.

Tonight was the Relief Society Supper Club.

We were few in number tonight (Billie Sturtevant, Marita Stockford, Kathy Lecee, Liz Olive and Sister Wels).  Elder Wels came along as the Priesthood holder.  Elwin Bissell came to bring his wife, Julie’s BBQ ribs (she was feeling ill tonight) and we talked him into staying to eat with us and then President Stockford arrived too.  So there were 8 of us and we enjoyed the best pot luck dinner and great conversation.  We thoroughly entertained each other with our stories.  It was great fun.

Thursday-  Be Happy! – Josh Moss

We got to meet our new Zone Leader today at District Meeting.  First, may we say that we will miss Elder Johnson so much.  He has been with us since we first arrived.  He took us under his wing and gave us great care.  Thank you Elder Johnson, you will long be remembered.  So now we have Elder Fristrup from Minnesota as companion to our other Zone Leader, Elder Plumb (our Mitchell look-alike).  And, surprise, not long ago Elder Fristrup was serving in Ashland under the direction of Bishop Scott Shumway and having the big waffle feed every Sunday after Church at the Stacy Skillman house!  Our kiddles have always been our claim to fame!  Hopefully, they always will be.  We did two big role plays today.  First, each companionship wrote a synopsis on one of their investigator families and then we exchanged our write-ups and planned a lesson for the family.  Then we gave the lesson to the companionship as if they were the family. Elder Wels and I teamed with Elder Ewell and Elder Jones.  I don’t know how much we helped them, though we did share with them Scott’s ideas for bringing the Spirit into the lesson at the very beginning.  We do know Elder Ewell and Elder Jones helped us a ton.  Great ideas and great verbiage!  Second, Elder Plumb sat in the middle of us playing the part of “Maxine”, another investigator.  If “Maxine” looked at you, you would have to either ask her a question, quote her a scripture, or bear your testimony about whatever was going on in the discussion with her.  Wow!  That was a “think on your feet” moment.  It was pretty cool.  Elder Wels and I managed to come up with something each time “Maxine” looked at us.  I think Elder Ewell was the winner of that role play!

After the meeting we went to Staples to pay for the notebook we bought last week for which we were not charged.  Luckily I looked at the sales slip when we got home.  We bought 3 items and were only charged for 2.  We looked for Claire so she could help us again.  I think last week we were all so excited about her desire to hear more about the Church that things just got mixed up a bit and she did not ring up the notebook.  That taken care of, we again had a great conversation about her desire to learn more about the Church.  We again invited her to come on Sunday and we gave her the phone number of the Elders in Coos Bay where she lives.  Then we called the Elders to make sure that they would contact her this evening.  Bet we go to Staples again next week to check on her again.  I would go just to hear to talk.  She is from Scotland and has that lovely baroque.   From there it was our weekly grocery shopping at WalMart and then back to Bandon for lunch at Subway………THEY HAVE GLUTEN-FREE BREAD NOW!!!!!  Color me happy!  It was fabulous!  Thank you Subway!!!!!!!!.

We checked out the Kiwanis Thrift Store in town at the request of Lorna Salt, who just happens to be the President of the local chapter.  We didn’t buy anything, but I can tell her I was there.  The store just happens to be around the corner from Waterman’s Automotive.  So we stopped in to say hello to Franklin Waterman.  We are just trying to work our way into his heart.  He is the non-member husband to Traci Waterman.  She would love for her husband to join the Church.  We would too.  He is a very friendly fellow and we had a great little conversation.  From there we hit another thrift store as Elder Wels is actually looking for a bell to use as part of the “Stop Smoking Program” we are giving tomorrow.  He found a small one for 50 cents.  Yea, now home for a short rest before we head out to the Family History Center tonight. Kim Yates was our instructor at the Family History Library tonight and Elder Wels and I were her only patrons.  Yea!  We got quality teaching time with Kim!  We now know how to turn on the computers, register new Patrons and get into all the programs.  That’s a good thing because we just learned the press release is going out nest Tuesday and says that the Family History Library will begin operation on Tuesday, January 17th.  Whoa…. That is this next Tuesday!  And, it is our day to run the library.  Better go practice a bit before then.  It is all very exciting and we hope the community will come and take the opportunity to do family history.  The official Open House is set for Sunday, January 22nd at 2:00 p.m.

Friday-  Keep the Spirit with YOU! - Chloe
Most of the day was spent preparing for and then teaching the “Stop Smoking Program” to Patrick.  We appreciate Lorna and Chuck Salt who happily accepted our invitation to be “friendshippers” for Patrick and invited us to hold our program at their house.  Patrick is such a fine man with a sincere desire to rid himself of his addiction to smoking.  We presented him with the 15 step, one week plan to a smoke free life.  If he will follow each step to the letter for just 7 days he can be free of his addiction.  We know this will not be easy for him but he is so willing to try.  We opened our meeting with prayer and asked that Heavenly Father would bless Patrick with a good understanding of the program and with an increased ability to complete the program successfully.  Patrick is on total disability due to a horrendous injury received while in the military.  He suffers terribly from P.T.S.D.  He told us that the only place where he truly feels peace is when he is at church on Sundays.   We called on Patrick to give our closing prayer and it was the sweetest prayer.  He said he was so grateful to those of us, his good friends who were gathered there to give of our time to help him reach his goal.  Oh Patrick, you will be in our thoughts and our prayers so much in the coming week!

Saturday-  Preach on the Beach - Tanner
We spent our day time hours out visiting our inactive member friends who we thought might be home on a Saturday.  We had a nice day and enjoyed lots of fun visits.  But we most looked forward to our evening appointment with our Friend Ida Cluff.  Tonight was her appointment with Stake Patriarch Moyer to get her Patriarchal Blessing.  Patriarchal blessings are given to worthy members of the Church by ordained patriarchs.  Her blessing will include a declaration of her lineage stating that she is of the house of Israel—a descendant of Abraham, belonging to a specific tribe of Jacob.  It will also contain personal counsel from the Lord.  Patriarchal blessings are sacred and personal.  Ida will treasure its words, ponder them, and live to be worthy to receive the promised blessings in this life and in the life to come.  Ida’s daughter, Janelle drove down from Washington to be with her Mom and brought along 2 of Ida’s granddaughters and 2 great granddaughters!  That’s four generations!!!!  It was a wonderful evening and we were blessed to be a part of it!

OYM!***** – Bryce (Elder Bryce Shumway)
After a wonderful day at Church, we took Elders Davis and Gamez and headed for Coos Bay to attend a very special Stake missionary meeting with our Mission President, President Young.  There was a big turn out of Bishoprics, Branch Presidencies, ward mission leaders and missionaries.  You gotta love these “Shot in the arm” meetings.  It was a wonderful way to end a good week.   Hope your week was as good as ours!

*****End note….. OYM stands for “Open Your Mouth”… a missionary term meaning just start up that conversation and see where it leads.  It could be the best journey for everyone!

Our Assignment--5 Guiding Principals

In the last blog I mentioned that we were working on an assignment from the Mission President for this month.  It was to write our 5 guiding principles...  Lee and I thought we'd share what we came up with:

 

My Five Guiding Principles to Live By

1.  Perfect my ability to love –

• 1st John 4:8 “He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.”

• Moroni 7:47-48 “But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love which he hath bestowed upon all who are the true followers of his Son Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”

• I need to search my heart and rid it of any prejudice or “traditions of my fathers”.  I need to continually strive for that pure love of Christ toward all men. Hopefully when others feel of my love they will also feel the love of the Savior.

2.  Forgive others as well as myself –

• D&C 64:10 “I the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive but of you it is required to forgive all men.”

• 3Nephi 13:14 “For, if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you”.

• Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

• With the commandment to forgive all men I need to remember to include myself in that commandment.  I find it easier to forgive others than to forgive myself.  If Heavenly Father can forgive and love me, I should be able to forgive me also.

3.  Learn from my mistakes and be grateful for the repentance process—

• Alma 42:29-30 “And now, my son I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance.  O my son, I desire that ye should deny the justice of God no more.  Do not endeavor to excuse yourself in the least point because of your sins by denying the justice of God; but do you let the justice of God and his mercy, and his long-suffering have full sway in your heart; and let it bring you down to the dust in humility.”

• None of us are perfect.  We all make mistakes.  My mistakes can be lessons in wisdom as long as I learn from them and use the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ to overcome them.

4. To truly find myself I need to lose myself in the service of others— (Mohandas Gandhi)

• Mosiah 2:17 “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”

• I have learned that when I am feeling down, the best remedy for the blues is found in finding someone I can serve.  A phone call…. a visit…..a helping hand can do more to lift my spirits and if I lift the spirits of someone else at the same time, it is just a magnificent bonus.

5.  Live each day with integrity—

• Job 27:5 “God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.”

• Proverbs 20:7 “The just man walketh in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.”

• D&C 124:15 “And again, verily I say unto you, blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right before me, saith the Lord.”

• Because of past life experiences I have come to know that integrity is the second most important quality a disciple of Jesus Christ can possess.  I truly cried when I read that the Lord loved Hyrum Smith because of the integrity of his heart.  I want the Lord to love me for that same reason.  A person of integrity can be trusted in all things.  A person of integrity will be the best example for his children.  But perhaps the best quality a disciple of Christ can possess is a firm testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ and the truthfulness of the restored Gospel.  With a vibrant testimony and total integrity I will be the best person I could possibly be.  And, shouldn’t our goal always be to be the Best!

Another Great Week

Every morning this week we have opened one candy from our Inspirational Candy Jar from the Shumways. We are excited to see what they have to say to us each day. We do feel the love. And, yes, we usually break the candy in half and share it. We will post our fun inspirational message each day.

Monday-   Don’t get splashed by the ocean waves – Jenna
First and foremost, we are missionaries……Second, we are Oregonians (which is quite important on this 2nd day of January 2012), therefore….. GO DUCKS!!!!  We are so happy that this is our P-Day.  We scurried through our cleaning chores, the laundry, the ironing (Elder Wels did all of it this week!) and whatever needed to be done on this date.  So by game time we were ready to enjoy the Rose Bowl game between our beloved University of Oregon Ducks and the University of Wisconsin Badgers.  May I insert a little disclaimer here as I have to admit that my son, Scott, who just happened to spend most of his life in Oregon…… spent 11 years living just outside of Madison, Wisconsin which is Badger territory.  He has been back in Oregon for the last 9 years, but those 11 years screwed up his loyalty and he is rooting for the Badgers today.  The rest of the family is happily Duck fans.  The only thing I have in common with my son today is that this is a day for junk food!  Get out the chips and dips and the moose munch the game is about to start!!  And, what a game it was!  Yea Ducks!!!

But because we are first and foremost missionaries, we missed the third quarter completely and most of the fourth quarter as we had an appointment to go open the Church so that the Zone Leaders could come down and interview Zack before his Friday baptism.  We were more than happy to do that.  We love our Zone leaders and we love Zack.  We gave Zack a little tour of our Chapel while waiting for the Zone Leaders.  The interview was great and the Baptism is set for Friday.  And the Ducks won!  It was a great day!

Tuesday-  I love you! – Jenna
 We made lots of phone calls this morning for appointments and one to President Sturtevant for some clarification on some items.  In the late morning and afternoon we did some more checking on members who have been under the weather, so to speak.  Cindy Servantes is having some difficulties after her teeth were pulled.  She introduced us to Costco’s “sea salt caramels” as she gave us some for Christmas.  Thanks Cindy, now I have another favorite at Costco!  Neana Bergeret is finally in the hospital in Eugene where she can now get some great help for her infected and deteriorating back.  And Connie Jones is feeling better now that she is not eating wheat any more.  She was telling us her symptoms last week and I made the suggestion that she give up wheat for a while.  Nice to hear her say she is feeling good and she was able to come to Church on Sunday.  Yea Connie!  Then we spent a good part of the day trying to locate members off the Branch list.  Where do they come up with some of those addresses?!    It was good to be back with our new friends working at the E.A.T. program tonight.  We missed them when the program was closed last Tuesday.  It was a slow night and we only fed 44 people. No matter, 44 people got a good hot meal!

Wednesday-  I love you so MUCH – Sheralyn
We woke up to the most glorious sunshine and warmer temperatures but on the western edge of our RV park was some beautiful coastal mist.

The sunshine was so nice that for the first time in weeks we actually went for our 2 mile walk around our RV Park.  O, it was glorious.  Then we began to make phone calls and put together our schedule of visits for the day.  While I was making phone calls, Elder Wels decided to take advantage of the sunshine to get out and repair some rust damage on the trailer, part of the joys of being parked on the Oregon coast.  By the time he finished his project he was not feeling so well.  The congestion of the cold he thought he was over was back and vertigo was beginning to set in.  That always stops him dead in his tracks.  Even after taking an early nap he was no better and the day was cancelled.  I took advantage of the time to work on our January assignment from President Young.  Each month he gives us a writing assignment.  This month it is to write a one page summary of the 5 guiding principles that will help us make quality decisions throughout our lives.  What five principles would you choose?

We enjoyed coastal mist in the morning and a gorgeous sunset in the evening.  It was a very nice day in Bandon, Oregon

Thursday-  Keep on preaching! – Tanner

 District Meeting in Coos Bay this morning.  It was nice to be with the Elders again.  Half the meeting was run by the Zone Leaders; Johnson and Plumb and the other half by our District Leaders; Davis and Gamez. We discussed the pyramid of building faith:

DESIRE
TEST
BELIEF
FAITH

Desire to want to know about the Gospel

Test it by reading and praying about what you have read

Ah ha….Believe after you receive the Witness of the Holy Ghost

after you receive a witness comes Faith which leads you to action - Baptism

After the meeting we ran a few errands (I now have a lovely and very warm pair of bright red knit boot slippers and my feet are very happy!) and then we met Elders Johnson and Plumb at their apartment in Coos Bay to pick up “The Stop Smoking Lesson” packet.  We have a sweet man in our Branch who is struggling with a smoking addiction and he has asked for help.  We are hoping something in this packet will give him the strength he needs.  We will try to be quick studies and give this lesson to him as soon as possible.

Then it was on to Walmart for the weekly grocery shopping, though even Walmart has much higher prices than our Medford Food 4 Less, which I miss soooo much.  On a good note, they did have gluten-free spaghetti noodles which we delivered to Connie Jones on the way home.  Now she can have her beloved Spaghetti for Saturday dinner and still feel good enough to come to Church on Sunday.  In the evening we had dinner with the Waterman Family; Franklin, Traci, Shelby (11) and Seth (9).  They live way out of town on Upper Four Mile Road in the most beautiful house set in the middle of a forest.  Traci has intestinal troubles too and is off wheat at the moment.  It’s an epidemic!  She served us yummy tacos and a gluten free apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.  The evening went by way too fast as we were having such a fun visit with them. But we had to leave for an appointment at the Church with Elders Davis and Gamez, Bishop Elmer from the Coquille Ward, our President Stockford and Zack.  We finished up the details on Zack’s baptism Friday night at the Coquille Ward and his confirmation on January 15th at our Bandon Branch.  We are sharing Zack.  His heart lies in Coquille where he had been attending with his girlfriend, but his records belong in Bandon where he lives.  He is just going to have to enjoy the Saints in both Coquille and Bandon!

Friday-  You are building Zion one branch at a time – Tanner
 Elder Wels is still a bit under the weather today so we did not accomplish much.  We did get down to the Church to make copies of the “Stop Smoking Lesson packet” so that our branch, the Zone Leaders and Patrick could all have a copy. And we did stop to visit with the Vorwaller family.  We again approached them about having their almost 9 year old daughter baptized and offered to help in any way we could.  Zada was very receptive to the idea and talked about wanting to come back to Church.  She was still having good feelings from the Christmas party they attended at the branch.  Guess we will intensify our prayers in their behalf.  Elder Wels rested this afternoon so he would be feeling up to the drive to Coquille to Zack’s baptism.  We definitely don’t want to miss that one!  And he was up for it!

I don’t think I have seen Zack smile so much.  I think he was pleased at the great number of Saints who came to celebrate this great occasion with him.  Even some of little Bandon came to be a part of it.  The Lecce’s, the Noorda’s, and the Olive’s were there.  Zack’s mother came and it was good to see her support her son in his decision.  We all hope that her heart was touched by her son’s Baptismal Service.  Good work Elders Davis and Gamez!  You are a great example of the Lord’s humble servants! Zack’s girlfriend, Joselynn gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Here she sits with Zack doing some last minute revisions.

 After the service she told me she didn’t even give the talk she had written.  Guess the Spirit whispered something else in her ear because her talk was very spiritual and good.  During the closing song: “Come Follow Me” I found myself actually longing to go home to be where my Savior is…….. a very sweet feeling.

Saturday-  It is the responsibility of the strong to reach out and pull up the weak – Danielle
Look at the beautiful morning that greeted us today!

Even the colorful robin was happy to see us!  I think the warm sunshine is letter Elder Wels feel better today.  We are taking half of this day as our P-Day today as we are going to go Brookings to get some fun time and training from Elder and Sister Higgenbotham, the senior missionary couple assigned to the Brookings Ward.  So laundry and cleaning are first on the list and then updating our picture library and sending 2010 and 2011 photos over to the external hard drive.  Time to clean house everywhere!  We even got out there and washed the car!  With me just wearing flip-flops!  It was that nice of a day!  I know they are going to be yelling draught later this year and we will hate that, but today is just too nice to not enjoy!

This afternoon I got myself involved in studying Chapter 2 of Preach my Gospel.  I love the scriptures!  There are so many scripture references in the manual and I looked up every one of them and wrote the in the manual.  Do we realize how blessed we are to have to Lord’s words written for us by His Prophets?  I find I love and am even beginning to understand and appreciate Isaiah!  Pretty cool!  Elder Wels was busy working on Trailer things and we lost all track of time.  We even missed lunch!  So we had an early dinner so that we could get out and make a few visits tonight.

We stopped to see Leo and Ellen Lewandowski.  They are the couple who were referred by filling out a card while visiting Temple Square.  They are so fun to visit with.  We laugh a lot!  But no, they have not really read the Book of Mormon we left for them.  Ellen said she did flip through it.  We again asked them to read it.  We hope they will.  And, they invited to come back so they must have enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed them.  Then we went to meet Isabel Hayden.  She was referred to us by her boss, Ryan Bailey, a member dentist in Coos Bay.  We met her husband, Robby and their two children and her mother who was visiting.

 We did not stay long and made an appointment to go back on a Wednesday afternoon.  We tried to check on Neana Bergeret but no answer at her apartment so we left a note asking for a call so we could have an update on her.

Sunday-  I love you! – Scott
Today was welfare & PEC meeting before Church.  We can feel the love of the Branch leaders as they discuss those members most in need of help and as they truly strive to meet those needs.  It was also our yearly Branch Conference so most of the Stake leaders were in attendance.  Elder Wels and I were invited to sit on the stand and give the opening and closing prayers.  Our speakers today were the Stake Presidency so we heard 3 marvelous talks.  Sunday School lessons will come from the Book of Mormon this year.  Pam Hansen began her lesson with 2Nephi 31:19-21 and asked if that scripture sounded familiar?  Yea, I raised my hand and told her it was today’s reading assignment on the 40 Day Journey through the Standard Works she gave to us back on December 18th.  Thank goodness we are up to date on our journey.  She was pleased and had an opportunity then to invite others in attendance today to join us on the journey.  Her lesson today was on the first 7 chapters of 1st Nephi.  We certainly learn much about obedience in these chapters.

The Relief Society put on a wonderful luncheon for our Stake visitors and the members of our own branch council after Church.  It was nice to be able to linger with these wonderful Saints.  Elder Wels and I took our calling as “Service Missionaries” to heart and washed all the dishes after the luncheon.  Afterwards we went to deliver the Sacrament to Sister Quinby.  Upon finding no bread left at the Church we grabbed a left over cookie from the luncheon.  I don’t think Heavenly Father really cares what you use in the administration of the Sacrament as long as your thoughts and heart are in the right place.  It was even suggested by a branch member who saw us take the cookie that perhaps if we got out the word that we used cookies in our Sacrament Service we just might increase our attendance!  Sister Quinby was tickled to get a cookie.  She has a really bad heart and even walking across the room can take her breath away.  She is certainly a sweet lady and we enjoy being of service to her.

The late afternoon was spent going over the “The Stop Smoking Lesson” materials.  The 15 step plan sounds like it just may work for those who really follow it to the letter.  We hope we will be able to present it to Patrick in such a way that he will be able to kick his addiction.  We discovered some of the materials are missing so we emailed the author of it and hope to hear some good feedback from him in a swift manner.  Please…. Patrick needs help NOW!

We had an early dinner tonight and then began our studies of our materials on the Family History Library.  We are excited to have our little library open to the public come February.  Our Open House is set for January 22nd.  Since we will be running the library on Tuesdays between 9 am and 1 pm…… we had better learn all we can so we can be helpful to all those to come to use the library.  Families….. the most important unit in Heavenly Father’s grand design.  What interesting family members have you found hanging up in your family tree?

Happy New Year!

It is the first day of a brand new year so Happy New Year dear friends and family!  I think most of us are happy to be making a fresh start of things and wish for each other a very happy, healthy, and please could it be prosperous New  Year.  Do I have all your votes on that one?  Good, I thought so!

We arrived back in Bandon on Wednesday afternoon and after unpacking and finding new homes for our Christmas treasures, we succumbed to naps for our old bones and then decided we were too pooped to start anything else.  Those 6 day parties are brutal on old folks.  When can we do it again?!!!!  Oh dear, Elder Wels is thinking he might now have Mary’s cold.  Yea!  I did walk over to Ida Cluff’s to meet her family that came to visit her from Washington.  Ida had gone to Washington to have Christmas with her daughter and family and then a granddaughter, her husband and her great-granddaughter followed her home to visit for a few days.  Ida was sure a happy Gramma!

Thursday we were back on schedule and headed to Coos Bay for District Meeting.  I, personally, looked forward to being with those young Elders who would give me the mission boost that I longed for.  Hmmmmm.  Guess that “shot in the arm” will have to wait for another week.  We arrived at the Coos Bay Stake Center to find not another car in sight in the parking lot.  That seemed a bit unusual but we tried to be patient and waited a few minutes.  Then we called our Zone Leaders, Elder Plumb and Elder Johnson.  Elder Plumb was the lucky one to answer the phone and have the pleasure of telling us; “oops”, they forgot to call us to tell us the meeting had been cancelled.  Thanks Elders!  Elder Johnson called us later in the day to apologize some more and told us that would repent by taking us to lunch next Thursday when there would, for sure, be a District Meeting.  They are just too darn cute for us to stay angry with them!  So while in Coos Bay we ran our errands and did our grocery shopping as usual.  The last errand on the list is always a salad and root beer float at Wendy’s.  That made us happy with the day.  But by the time we got back to Bandon and did a couple of visits to check up on some branch members, both Elder Wels and I were not feeling so well.  Seems either Mary’s cold or Byron’s has definitely hit us both.  We were done for today too!

This is what Elder Wels looked like all day on Friday.

 What does that tell us?  Yea, I don’t think he was feeling all that well.  And Sister Wels was not all that wonderful either.   We decided that probably no one would want to see us in this condition either so we took the day off and got a lot of rest. 

Saturday was a lost day also.  Since I am a day behind him, this was my day to just lounge around the trailer.  It was a good day to catch up on paper work for mission and the Wels’ finances.  You can never be too sick to pay bills, can you?

Ida Cluff stopped by our trailer today and brought us this gift for Christmas. 

 It is made from things that wash up on the beaches of Bandon.  Even the cross was found on the beach, along with the driftwood and cute little shells.  Her next door neighbor makes decorative things from treasures she finds on the beach.  Ida saw the cross and asked her to make this for us.  Thank you dear Ida.  How did you ever know that Footprints is one of my very favorite poems?  We will treasure your gift and it now hangs in a place of honor in our trailer.

We were supposed to enjoy a fun New Year’s Eve party with the Olives and a few of their friends.  Brother Olive is so cute.  He said that when the ball drops in New York, which is 9:00 p.m. our time, it means that the New Year has landed in America and the party is over!  He was quite serious and he made me laugh.  But the party was over for us before it even started.  We stayed home and enjoyed our colds and a quiet time together.  We were in bed by 10:00 p.m. and slept right through the New Year celebration.  All was quiet here in our RV park so I think all of us went to bed early.  We all must be old!  HA!

We went to Church today but tried very hard to stay a bit of a distance from everyone.  No hugs or shaking hands today.  I hate that!   But our colds are still hanging in there a bit.   We had a great Fast and Testimony meeting so I am glad we made the effort to go.   After Church we drove to Coquille to join in the last missionary lesson for Zack.  His baptism is set for Friday.  Good work Elders Davis and Gamez!  We look forward to being part of the baptism!

Since today was the very 1st day of the year, tonight we opened the first of the candies from our inspirational candy jar from our Shumway family.  It simply read: “ I love you!,  Madi”.  What a sweet thought to start our year!  That made our day!  Thanks Madi!  You always bring sunshine into our lives.

Thank you family for all those photo Christmas cards!  They are all now wonderfully posted on the mirror in our trailer. 

I get to see your smiling faces every day now and you gotta know that makes me totally happy!