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?