Spring Has Sprung

Monday – I’m proud of you – Chloe  (Thanks Chloe, that makes us happy!)We had time this morning to get the laundry done…. OK, forget the “we” part.  Lee did all the laundry while I got last week’s blog finished and sent off to Stacy for her to work her magic with it.  I also got a letter written to Grandson, Elder Bryce Shumway who is serving in Norman, Oklahoma.  I love email!  By afternoon I had a letter back from him.  You made my day Elder Shumway!  I love that we are serving the Lord at the same time!  Then it was out the door to get Elder Wels a haircut on our way to meet Todd, Amy and Mary at Brewed Awakenings in Bandon for brunch.  A last little visit with them and then they were on their way home.  We made one stop to visit with Connie Jones as she was not at church yesterday.  She is having a really scary health problem and we just want her to feel she is loved and not alone in the world.  She is such a sweet lady and my heart breaks for her.  Every time we see her we make her cry but then we can always make her smile too.   Then it was back to the trailer for a very lazy day of just doing whatever we wanted to do.  For me that included getting every 1930 census that pertained to my family and to Lee’s family downloaded from Ancestry.com while it was still free to visit their web site.  It is so cool that I can actually get the document onto my Rootsmagic program.  Thanks Steff!  Great Christmas present!


Tuesday – When I’m a missionary, I’ll be powered by CEREAL! – Connor (I hope you learn to eat something else by then)
Today at the Family History Center our director, Pam Hansen, reminded us how important it is to have the Patron do all the computer research.  We can assist them but they need to be the one searching the various programs for information.  That said; let me tell you how hard it is to do!  One gentleman came to us in search of his great grand-father.  While he is searching on one computer, I find myself searching for HIS relatives on the computer next to his.  I couldn’t help myself!  And, I was rewarded with some lovely family stories my research was helping him to remember.  Good thing Pam had gone home!  We were having enough fun to keep the FHC open a bit longer than the posted hours.

Lucas, our regular floor mopper at the E.A.T program was not feeling very well tonight.  So when Elder Wels was finished with his dish washing duties, he added floor mopping to his agenda.  That is one of the things that I love about my companion….. he jumps in where he sees a need.


Wednesday –  I need to watch AFV! – Madi (We miss watching it with you!)
We got a phone call from our granddaughter, Danielle today.

 It is always so wonderful to hear from family and especially to hear that they are doing well and they are happy!  BYU is hard, but we know that Dani is going to excel.  We do have to give a big SHOUT OUT to Andrea!  Mark, you seem to have hooked him on running!  He is planning on running in a half marathon and he has lost 27 pounds!  Way to go our very handsome Italian hunk!

We spent most of the morning here in the trailer working on our talks for Sunday’s Sacrament meeting.  Yes, we have been assigned another missionary Sunday topic.  No, it doesn’t get any easier.  I gave my children all the talking talents…. Well, at least Scott and Stacy.  They could give talks to the entire world and not be the least bit nervous and they would be fabulous, entertaining and informative talks.  Steff does well too but she gets way nervous.  Their mother gets totally petrified!  So it takes a lot of work for me to put a talk together.  Elder Wels did his own share of struggling with his talk today.  Once they were in rough draft form and after lunch and a bit of a nap, we were out the door to fill our brains and hearts with visits to Isabel & Robbie Hayden, Dave Dunham and Barbara Murray.  Home in time for a late dinner and more refining of the talks.  We intend to have them polished by Sunday!

Thursday – I’m proud to have Missionary Grandparents – Danielle (We are proud of our BYU married granddaughter)
Glory Be!  The sun was making a wonderful visit today and so many flowers are in bloom here in Bandon, including the tree right outside the trailer window. 

What a beautiful treat to watch as we eat our meals.  It felt so good to go for our two mile walk around the park this morning.  I have missed that lately!

Then we got in the car and off we went to see where the Lord would have us go today.  He always knows better than we do where we should go and who we should visit. We decided our first stop would be to check on Faye Quinby.  She no longer comes to Church because her heart is so bad.  We normally take her the Sacrament every Sunday after Church but last Sunday we neglected her as we had family in town.  Bad us!  We thought perhaps we would try to make it up to her today.  Instead she started us on a lovely morning of sharing the bounties of her overstocked pantry.  So after a lovely visit, with a promise to bring her the Sacrament this Sunday, we left with a big box packed with 3 dozen eggs, bananas, grapes, onions, peppers, butter & cottage cheese.  This treasure led us to visit our favorite single sisters with whom we could share our groceries.  First stop – Cindie Servantes, then Neana Bergeret, and Connie Jones and finally our very own Ida Cluff when we got back to our RV Park.  Give these ladies just a little food and the rewards of their bright smiles made our day.  Thanks Faye for making our morning so wonderful.

This afternoon we went in search of Mary Ann Ewing and we finally found her.  She moved to Bandon last November but we have had trouble tracking down her exact address.  Not only did we locate her today but we got to have a sweet visit with her.  She is an R.N. and works in Coos Bay.  Unfortunately she works on Sundays at the moment and isn’t able to come to Church.  But she just applied for a job that would give her regular hours and weekends off.  We will cross our fingers for her and keep her in our prayers.  We certainly enjoyed our visit with her. 

On the way home we stopped to visit with Jacqui Cooper, see the Seven Devils State Beach and then drove through the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.  Wow!  I had no idea it was that big and that posh!  No wonder it is the destination of the rich! 

Here, you read the brochure:

“At Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, you'll find four distinctly different courses built on a beautiful stretch of sand dunes perched 100 feet above the Pacific Ocean. Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes feature a dozen holes that run along the bluff overlooking 23 miles of sweeping, undisturbed shoreline. Bandon Trails begins on a massive dune, works its way through open meadows and upland forest, and then finishes in the dunes. Old Macdonald moves through dune to ocean revealing breathtaking views throughout. The courses here weren't built as much as discovered. Among the coastal forest, dunes and gorse, lie golf holes that yield fresh rewards each time they're played.

Accommodations provide a refuge of relative seclusion. Chrome Lake Rooms offer double king and two-room lofts. Lily Pond Rooms offer two queen beds, while the Lodge offers single rooms and three suites, many with dramatic golf course views. Our Grove Cottages are designed specifically for a foursome of golfers, with four private rooms and a shared parlor and patio. The Inn at Bandon Dunes provides single king and double queen beds just a short walk from the Lodge.

Located on the property are full service restaurants, lounges, golf shops, hot tub, sauna, exercise room and locker rooms. A 32-acre practice center allows you to hone every shot required at Bandon Dunes and features a one-acre practice putting green and bunker practice area.

Bandon Dunes is 5 minutes from the seaside town of Bandon, just off Highway 101, and just 25 minutes from the Southwest Regional Airport in North Bend, served daily by flights from Portland and San Francisco.”

We know you want to come to Bandon to see us, but if not us….. come for the Bandon Dunes Resort or my favorite place in the world….. Cranberry Sweets!


Friday – Heavenly Father loves you! – Jenna (Bet He loves you more!)
Another beautiful morning but with a promise of a storm headed our way.  So we took a walk around the park while the sun was shining.  Spring flowers have arrived here in Bandon already. 

As you can see we took a few pictures of them as we walked around the park.  It is God’s promise of warmer weather and beautiful days to come.  We can’t wait for the Rhodies to be in full bloom!  While on our walk we met our neighbors to the west of us.  Nancy and Loretta are here from Kent, Washington for a week.  They have 3 dachshunds with them.  The oldest one is 18 years old, deaf and blind but happy as can be. They keep a close eye on her and go pick her up and turn her around when she wanders too far.  The youngest is a very energetic 3 year old who loves to chase her ball.  I watched her run after that ball for more than 30 minutes yesterday.  Each time she would drop the ball at the feet of her owner and run out to catch it again.    I asked her (the dog) if I could borrow a little of that energy.  I think the answer was NO, but she dropped the ball at my feet and took off running!  She brought the ball back to me the entire time we were visiting.   Did I mention that she would drop the ball wherever you pointed?  If she dropped the ball in front of me, I would point to the right and she would move the ball to the right….. then I would point to the left and she would move the ball to the left.  Ha!  I know a few mothers who would like to borrow that obedience for their children!

We received an email from President Stockford this morning asking us to keep Susie Elliott’s good friend Mary Sturtevant in our prayers.  So we decided to go pay Susie a visit this morning and see if we could be of any cheer to her.  President Stockford forgot to mention that Mary was married to Stake President Sturtevant’s brother!  That gave us double reason to keep her in our prayers.  We had a delightful visit with Susie and her grandson, Nick.  She is worried about her dear friend and was grateful for our visit.  She promised to take us crab fishing on a warm sunny P-Day.  Crab fishing with her would be a complete hoot!  So it is a date for sure!

Elder Wels complained of a headache on our way back to the trailer for lunch.  He ate lunch, took a couple of aspirin and settled in for a bit of a nap.  And, that was the end of his day!  He is now settled into bed and the rains have settled into Bandon.  It is a good night to stay indoors.

Saturday – Return with Honor – Sheralyn (We definitely will try to do that!)
Thank goodness Elder Wels woke up this morning feeling so much better.  That was the good news.  The other most important news was not so good.  Our precious granddaughter, Cheyenne, wrote a most beautiful blog to tell her friends and family that she had suffered a miscarriage.  I used to wonder why they always phrased it with the word “suffered”.  I certainly know now.  There is much suffering with the loss of a baby and the dreams that once were.  Her blog, though sad, was filled with faith in a loving Heavenly Father.  Our hearts and our prayers go out to our sweet Dahle family.

So with a heavy heart it was a good day to get out of the trailer and throw ourselves into doing that which the Lord would have us do today.  Our first stop was to visit with Nancy Williams.  She recently lost her husband of almost 60 years and her heart is very sad.  She was so happy to see us and wanted to share the videos of his life and his funeral that was held in Utah.  She gave me such a sweet hug when we left.  We then were off with our list of inactives to find.  Okay, so the rest of the morning was a “no one answered the door so we left a note” morning.  We have to say that we are getting to know the streets and the back roads of Bandon!  It’s time to go home for lunch and Elder Wels’ nap.

The afternoon was only slightly better than this morning.  More unanswered doors and more note cards tucked in those doors.  We did find Jesse Crabtree at home and had a nice visit with him.  He again said he would be at Church tomorrow but then he is so sweet in person and we realize that he will say just about anything to be nice and have us leave happy.  We are on to you Jesse.  Someday soon you will have to do what you say you will do!  We also found some bad addresses which we will tell the Branch clerk about.  We got to meet Sharon Prigmore, though we did not get past her door step.  She loves Family History and that will bring her to meet a few more branch members.  Home for dinner and then we were off to wash a mountain of dishes again for Cindie.  We do believe Cindie has a phobia about washing dishes.  We are so happy to help her but perhaps we need to figure out how to help her help herself.  We arrived home very tired tonight which was probably a good thing so that we will sleep tonight even knowing that we are speaking in church tomorrow.

Sunday – Make way for the Super Bears! – Tanner (Thanks for the vote of confidence!)
The best news of this day is that Sacrament is behind us and so are our talks.  Thank goodness we placed Ida Cluff and Quin Tuma speaking on their reactivation or conversion story between my talk and that of Elder Wels.  There was great humor in their talks.  Thanks Ida, now we will forever be known as the Ken and Barbie senior missionaries.  After Church Kim Powell handed me the sweetest hand written note telling me how much my talk had touched her heart.  Wow!  Your note certainly touched my heart!  Stephanie Reed’s compliments to Elder Wels seem to have touched his heart also.  We got to teach a Gospel Essential class to Dave Dunham and we have an appointment on Wednesday to start the missionary discussions with him.  He has had a tough life and is having a hard time accepting that the Lord really can still love him.  That’s the best part of our message…. The door is always open and the Lord is always there with his out-stretched arms.

12 Years and Counting

Monday – If you get rejected, know that I love you! – Madi

We were so excited to get through our P-day list of chores this morning and get to the good part of our day….. well, there really were many good parts to this day such as the beautiful flowers my sweet Elder hubby somehow sneaked into our trailer.  We are never apart so it is amazing how he managed to snag these for me.  We celebrated our anniversary today, 12 wonderful years and counting.  Thanks hubby dear for all the love, the fun, the travel and especially for always helping me to be a better person.  You are the best part of my life.

For lunch today we met dear friends, Bruce and Sheri Hopkins for a Subway sandwich (my new favorite gluten-free place to eat!)  They came to the coast to play (golf for Bruce) for a few days.  So good to see them and pick their brains for ideas for help with our mission.  Bruce and Sheri have been on two missions now.  They are the missionaries we aspire to be.  It was so fun to spend a little time with them.  Their condo overlooking the ocean was really cute.  Thanks dear friends.

 Our stop at our Post Office box today brought us joy in the form of a letter from our favorite Skillmans.  Thanks family, we love the love you send us!  We finished our day with a scrumptious dinner at Billy Smoothboars out on Hwy 101.  It is one of the nicest eateries in Bandon.  Yummy prime rib and filet mignon!   A great 12th anniversary celebration!

Tuesday – Grampa Bear Rules! – Tanner
It was busy day in the Family History Center today.  We had 9 patrons come to use our facilities and since we only have 4 computers we were most grateful they all didn’t come at the same time.  They spaced themselves out very nicely.  Each time we work there, we learn a little more.  Someday we actually hope to know what we are doing!

Today was also bonus Subway sandwich day as we met our sweetest friends, Bob and Rita Phair for lunch. We love it when Bob has to come to this area to check on the Church buildings and that he can bring Rita with him.  So whether he is checking on Coos Bay or Coquille or Port Orford…. He and Rita come to Bandon to spend time with us.  And, since they showed up on Tuesday again, we put them to work washing dishes with us at the E.A.T. Program.  I think Bob secretly loves to wash dishes but don’t tell Rita or he will have to wash more of them at home.  Thanks BFF’s for the wonderful day.  We will hope some building’s heating system will go out soon....just kidding.  Our missionary efforts were not totally forgotten today.  We did have a visit with Connie Jones.  We love her so much and we hope we are giving her some of the sunshine she brings into our lives.

Wednesday – I love you!!! – Danielle
We joined Bob and Rita for breakfast at the Minute Café in Old town this morning for breakfast.  It was a fun way to start our day and then they were off to inspect buildings to the south of us.  Now it was off to be missionaries again. 
 
We made visits to the Noorda’s, Cindie Servantes, and met Don Durkee for the first time.  He lives on 5 lovely acres a little north east of Bandon.  He is a very nice man with the sweetest German Shorthair dog named Max.  Max is totally blind and I found myself trying to help him as he followed us around the property.  Sweet thing, he kept running into bushes and trees and tripping on rocks.  I felt so sorry for him but he just took it all in stride.  Guess there is much we can learn from our pets.  Don has 260 different conifers growing on his property.  Some of them were totally amazing.  His trees come from all over the world.  His place is going to be gorgeous when the spring blooms arrives.  We will definitely go back to visit him.  We stopped to check on Ernie Warren and found him doing a bit better.  He is the one with fibromyalgia of the face.  Sometimes he cannot even talk or eat, but today was a good day.  He is encouraged because he thinks the V.A. is finally going to approve acupuncture for his treatment.  It seems to be the only treatment that helps him.  It was a great visit with the best news!  His parting words to us were; “Just as soon as I have this under control I am going to join the Church!”  Okay V.A., you do your thing and then we will do ours!  Ernie will be a great addition to our little branch and his wife, Maggie will be so happy.

We finally had dinner with Connie Jones tonight.  We have had to postpone our planned dinner 3 times because some other commitments got in our way.  But tonight we enjoyed a scrumptious roast dinner complete with a gluten-free chocolate cake for me.  Connie is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. 

She also invited Neana Bergeret and James Ornsby to dinner.  They all live in the SeaCrest Apartment complex.  Neana just spent 42 days in the hospital.  She was really sick with an infection in her back that required 4 surgeries.  She is a walking piece of metal now but it is so nice to see her on her feet once again.  James is a man with a heart of gold.  He has had 3 brain injuries but then his heart must have gotten bigger with each one!  And, of course, Penny, our new four legged friend was there too.  Connie says that no one comes to visit her, we all come to visit Penny and Connie just happens to be there too.  I have to admit that Penny has a way of making you pay the most attention to her!  Thanks, Connie for a great dinner and for sending ALL the leftovers home with us!  Wow!  We will be eating your yummy dinner for a couple more days!

Thursday – Find those lost sheep! (But don’t step in manure) – Madi
We attended the Pacific District meeting in Coos Bay this morning.  I wonder if those adorable young Elders enjoy this old senior couple as much as we enjoying being with them.  Dumb question, right?!  They treat us so sweetly.  Today’s topic of discussion centered on Prayer.  How important is prayer in the lives of our investigators?  How can they know that our message about the restored Gospel is true unless they pray, asking Heavenly Father to allow the Holy Spirit to guide them in their search for the truth?  How important is prayer to you?  “Prayer is the key to the morning, and the lock at night.”  If we want His guidance during the day all we have to do is ask.  Then at the end of the day we should thank Him for His blessings.  Yes, life has its trials, but don’t we all have much in our lives for which we are grateful?

We had not been to Coos Bay for weeks so it was time to stock up on supplies while in the “big city”.  That is a joke!  But then Coos Bay does have a Super WalMart with better prices than our two grocery stores here in Bandon.  Yes, time to stock up!

Tonight we got called to work again in the Family History Center.  Thursday nights are open to members only.  And, since only one member, President Stockford, came (and he is pretty self-sufficient on the computer), Lee and I worked on Lee’s family history with a fun bit of success!  We had already discovered that his 3rd great grandfather was Jasper Sheppard but we only knew that his wife was Elisabeth.  Since wives tend to take on their husband’s name, their maiden names can get lost.  We were able to find Jasper and Elisabeth on an 1870 census and found a William McCool also living with them.  Clue #1 - It is usually other family members you have live with you.  At that time, Jasper was 29, Elizabeth was 28 and this William person was 26.  So we went to the 1860 census and found Jasper, age 19 still living with his parents (yea! one more generation back!)  We also discovered living close by was a McCool family with a William who was then 16 years old.  And just below that family was another McCool family with an 18 year old daughter named Elisabeth!  Bingo!  Jasper and Elisabeth met as neighbors!  How cute is that?! So we are pretty darn sure Elisabeth Sheppard’s maiden name was McCool.  So here is the fun part for me.  Don’t tell anyone but I am a big fan of Grey’s Anatomy on television (although I usually record it so I can fast forward the parts I really shouldn’t watch) and I have a secret crush on Dr. McDreamy.  You have to admit he is rather cute.  But now since I know that my sweet hubby is related to the McCool family….. I find myself married to “Elder McCool”!  And, that’s pretty  “Cool”, don’t you think?!

Friday – Don’t forget to read your scriptures! – Chloe
I got to work a bit with my new Roots Magic family tree program this morning while Elder “McCool” made a whole bunch of phone calls.  That gave me about an hour to play.  I have finally learned how to import pictures!  Now when you bring up someone you can actually see them!  And no, I did not feel the least bit guilty playing with my new program as I had already done my scripture and Preach my Gospel study.  Besides we do know that family history work is missionary work!  But then it was out the door and off to visit.  We returned left-over containers to Connie, checked on Neana Bergeret and James, went in search of Nancy Williams and finally found Jesse Crabtree at home!  He was just getting ready to go to work and so our visit was a short one.  He did say he would love for us to come back for a good visit and that he was; “wanting to come back to Church again”.  We felt so good about that until his home teacher, Tom Olive, told us that he says that to everyone but he never comes.  Well….. we will just have to put some effort into that one!

Todd, Amy and our 4 year old cutie granddaughter, Mary, arrived this afternoon.  They are staying in the Windemere condos very close to the beach.  So our first order of the afternoon was to get down to the beach and play. 

It was a bit breezy and cool but nowhere in sight were the rains that had been predicted for the weekend.  Yea!  For dinner we just walked across Beach Loop Drive to Tony’s Pizza at Bandon Bill’s Grill at the Inn at Face Rock.  How is that for a mouthful?  Great gluten-free pizza with no doubt the slowest service in town!  It must have been E.A.T. night at Tony’s Pizza as we ran into Allison there and then later Howard & Audrey.  It is fun to meet friends about town.  Back at the condo we played games until bedtime.  It doesn’t matter what the written rules might be, Mary has her own ideas as to how the game should be played and we were more than happy to play it her way!  She was so funny.  We are not bragging here but she is too smart for her age!

Saturday – I Miss your laugh – Madi
We got up early this morning so I could make a salad and some gluten-free frosted brownies for a dinner we get to attend tonight.  Then it was off to meet the kids at 9:30 am for breakfast at the Minute Café in Old Town.  Boy, the sun was still shining so we headed for the beach again.  When we were sufficiently wind- blown and cold, we went back to the condo and more game playing.  Todd and Amy took off for some alone time in the city while we stayed and let Mary entertain us.  She is quite good at that.  We played more games, read books and watched a movie.  Her parents enjoyed their time and we enjoyed Mary!

Kerry and Chris arrived in the late afternoon just as we had to leave for our Port Orford Branch dinner.  We promised to be back by 8:00 pm.  We had just enough time to stop by the trailer to change back into missionary duds and grab our food and head out to pick up Tom and Liz Olive and then head down Hwy 101 to Port Orford. Those Port Orford Saints are a fun and loving bunch!  We feel so welcome there!  It was a good thing we arrived down there on the hungry side as we didn’t get any lunch.  They had quite a Pot Luck spread.  I had no trouble filling my plate with gluten-free delights!

Well, I did miss out on all the desserts except for the brownies I brought.  Look at this dessert plate.  We snuck this picture before the lady cleaned the plate all by herself!  No one went home hungry!  And, everyone had a delightful time.  We made it back to our family party on time and enjoyed Kerry and Chris till well after 10:00 pm.  Mary got to stay up late tonight.  It was even past my bedtime!  Remember, we are senior missionaries!

Sunday – I Love You – Wendy
Elder Wels and I attended Church this morning while the rest of the Wels family went out to breakfast and played on the beach.  I love family but I would not have missed Church for anything.  It is where I belong on Sunday morning and I was well rewarded for my efforts.  The speakers in Sacrament were wonderful.  The Sunday School lesson was taught by Marita Stockford today as Pam Hansen is out of town.  Great lesson Marita!  Stephanie Reed taught the Relief Society lesson about President George Albert Smith’s thoughts on Joseph Smith.  She included in her lesson those doctrines restored by Joseph Smith that once were an important part of the Church when the Lord established it anciently.  Prophets, apostles, Priesthood authority, revelation, Temple attendance… and perhaps the most important doctrine of all….. the very nature of God.  We are His Spirit children, we were created in His image…. Therefore we look much like He does and He looks much like we do.  Jesus Christ is His literal Son.  In Acts 7:55-56 is recorded Stephen’s vision where the heavens open and he sees the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.  Yup, folks, two distinct and separate Heavenly beings….. God, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful for a young spiritually confused, (by so many conflicting churches in his day), young man who had enough faith after reading James 1:5-6 to go into a grove of trees to do what this scripture told him to do….. Ask of God with faith.  His answer; “I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me I the air.  One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other… This is My Beloved Son.  Hear Him!” I am grateful he shared this answer he received with the world.  

As soon as Church was over we headed over to the Condo to fix a Spaghetti dinner for the gang before Kerry and Chris had to head back up north.  They have to be in Portland tomorrow.  Yes, it was an all too short visit.  Fortunately, they got just enough of Bandon to fall in love with it (they all do!) and promise to come back in the spring with plans to stay for a much longer time.  We shared a fun dinner.  Mary gets to eat with her shirt off as she relishes spaghetti and by the end she was wearing as much spaghetti as she had eaten.  Darn!  Missed that photo-op! Chris and Kerry stopped by to check out our little trailer home before heading north on Hwy 101.  Hurry back children!  We love your visits! After a brief rest we went back to the condo to enjoy Todd, Amy and Mary for the evening.

Mary, Amy, Kerry, Todd, Chris & Elder Wels.  The Wels Family!

Our evening with Mary ended with the reading of the “True story of the 3 Little Pigs” as told by Alexander Wolf.  (and, masterfully read by Dad, Todd) It was his side of the story.  For you see, the wolf was only trying to bake a birthday cake for his sweet little Granny and all he needed was one cup of sugar.  Did we mention that the wolf also had a very bad cold? He never “huffed and puffed”, he only “huffed and snuffed and sneezed”.  One sneeze and the house of straw just tumbled down.  It wasn’t his fault that the dumb little pig died in the crash of his silly house.  And, one shouldn’t waste a ham dinner!  He was  still in need of a cup of sugar but when he sneezed at the second pig’s house, it fell also killing the second dumb pig.  The wolf just considered that a second helping.  But all his huffing and snuffing and sneezing at the third little pig’s brick home only caused such a commotion that he got arrested……. It wasn’t his fault he had a cold…… HE WAS FRAMED!

The Best Bears Come in Pairs

Monday – The best Bears come in Pairs – Sheralyn
What a lovely day we enjoyed today, sunny and 68 degrees! It was a lazy day, a laundry and cleaning day, a get-a-haircut day, a run some errands day…… so nothing great to report.  So thought you might enjoy a bit of Bandon history:

Upon his arrival in Oregon in June 1873, Irish immigrant George Bennett (1827-1900) and a handful of other colonists decided to establish a new community at the mouth of the Coquille River.  Bennett named the future community after his home town Bandon, located in County Cork, Ireland.  Bennett brought with him an ornamental shrub (Ulex europaeus)—known variously as gorse, Irish furze, and Irish hedge—that soon became a common sight in the new town.

On September 26, 1936 a forest fire burned several miles east of town, far enough away that the residents of Bandon were not particularly worried. A sudden shift in the wind, however, drove the flames swiftly westward. Ignited by the forest fire, the town’s abundant gorse exploded into an inferno. One Bandon resident told a Coos Bay Times reporter shortly after the fire: “That Irish hedge was the worst thing—when the fire hit it right across from my house, the flames shot up high into the air. It was just as though there had been gasoline poured on the fire. And water was just no good against it—wouldn’t touch it! The stuff seemed just full of oil.” Ironically, just a week before the fire a state plant pathologist had warned Bandon’s residents of the fire hazards posed by the gorse.  The fire quickly swept through the town, laying waste to the business district along with hundreds of homes. Only a handful of structures were left standing by the time the fire died out. Most of the town’s 1,800 residents managed to reach safety, though ten died in the flames.  (Pictured here is gorse.  This time of year it blooms with lovely yellow flowers.  But it is a stiff prickly weed and it grows EVERYWHERE! It grows all around our RV Park!)

Tonight we were blessed to take our Ida Cluff to another birthday celebration dinner, this time at the home of Tom and Liz Olive.  Yesterday in testimony meeting Tom Olive said he enjoyed having the missionaries (and me in particular) over for dinner because he could always fix steak and potatoes because of my gluten intolerance.  He was true to his words and we had steak for dinner.  It was very yummy and Liz made a decadent chocolate gluten-free dessert.  Dinner at their house is always scrumptious!  For F.H.E. Tom gave us a lesson on the Priesthood.  It was a fun evening as always.

Tuesday – Follow His example – Connor
The question of the day….. were the computers working at the Family History Center today?  The answer…. Not in the beginning!  Pam Hansen spent a lot of time on the phone working through the problems with Oscar Morales in Coos Bay.  Between the two of them they finally had the computers nicely matched with Salt Lake about 30 minutes before the center closed.  No one from the community was there so we worked on Lee’s family history and got one line back another couple of generations.  Next Tuesday will be fun and hopefully they will come!

From the F.H.C. we headed back to Tiffany’s Drug Store to iron out our purchases of yesterday.  We bought 80 gold coin candies, some birthday cards, and 4 padded envelopes for mailing.  Somehow our cashier got side-tracked and forgot to charge us for the candy.  So she had to do a second checkout just for the candy.  This morning I happened to look at the receipt and saw that she only rang up 40 candies.  So then I looked at the other receipt and saw she only rang up 3 padded envelopes when we had 4 of them.  It must not have been her day yesterday.  The manager of the store was more than happy to help us get it all straightened out.  We celebrated afterwards by going to Dairy Queen for a Choco-cherry Blizzard.  James came in while we were ordering and we got to treat him to his lunch.  James is disabled and on a fixed income so we felt good that we could pay for his meal.  Tonight was the E.A.T. Program.  Tonight it was Spaghetti.  We had a great time washing dishes with Tom and Carol.

Wednesday – Be strong! – Josh Moss
It was Zone Conference in Eugene today.  That meant the alarm went off at 4:00 am this morning.  Ugh! We left our RV Park at 5:00 am with 54 degrees in Bandon!  We caught up with the rains in Coos Bay, some fog and cooler temperatures. In Eugene at 8:00 it was a warm 39 degrees!  Luckily with the warmth of 60+ Elders and our Mission Presidency and their wives, we were feeling toasty in no time!  The theme for our conference was “Choose you this day”.  There is danger in the word “someday” when it means “not this day”.  Even the Savior knew he had to work while he could: In John 9:4-5 we read; “I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  So let us say; Lord, what would you have me do? Let me serve THIS day.  We drove through pouring rain on our return trip until we hit Coos Bay… Bandon was dry!  We arrived home at 6:00 p.m.  It was a long lovely day!

Thursday – Heavenly Father is almost as proud of you as ME! – Sheralyn
Karma Ellgen flew into Medford from Las Vegas and then drove all the way over from Central Point to visit us!

Thanks Debbie Barber for loaning her your car.  Karma lived in Central Point for 5 wonderful years and then her husband, Ken, decided to quit his job at Crater Lake National Park and take a better job at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We were not happy about that.  But then they have penciled us in to work at the North Rim for the summer of 2013!  Could be fun!  So today we got to show Karma the sights and sounds of Bandon By the Sea.  We did up old town and introduced her to Cranberry Sweets.  We went there after lunch to enjoy dessert!  We also introduced her to rock and shell hunting along the Bandon coast.  It is amazing that you can spend hours walking the beach and it just seems like minutes.  She was hooked!  And she has the bag of shells to prove it!  She also learned to keep one eye on the waves as they tend to chase you up the beach once in a while. We shared lots of giggles as we ran from the waves.  That made us hungry so we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town.  Then we spent a whole wonderful evening just catching up on old times and new happenings.  The lovely thing about old friends is that you can be apart for a long time but when you get back together it is as if you were never apart.  This evening the rains began and the wind began to blow so it was a good evening to stay put and talk.

Friday – I love you more than all the M & M’s in the world! – Madi
Boy!  The rains were fierce today and the winds were even better!  So glad that we walked the beaches yesterday!  We enjoyed a leisurely morning and a late breakfast.  Today was a good day to stay put and get out a new puzzle.  Karma is a master at them and we are getting better. 

We did venture out in the late afternoon when the rains subsided for a bit.  We took Karma to see the painting of Elephant Rock that hangs in the Wheelhouse Mercantile.  Jill Stockford’s painting certainly makes you grasp the vision of the famous rock.  We took her to Tom Olive’s myrtlewood factory and to Dairy Queen for the mandatory Blizzard (in place of lunch).  Then back to the trailer to work on the puzzle.  We told Karma she could not go home until it was finished.  And Darn!  By late evening we did finish it!  I guess it is true that even good things (or fabulous visits) usually come to an end.

Saturday – I love you – Connor
Karma left about 8:30 this morning.  I hated to see her go, we were having so much fun.  Okay… back into missionary mode!  We got a referral from the Coquille missionaries to go see a gentleman who lost his wife a couple of years ago and now he is dying of cancer.  They thought we could ease his spiritual pain with a lesson on why bad things happen to good people and the Plan of Salvation.  We found him not to be at home.  So we will try again at the first of the week.  Then it was off to extend an invitation or a reminder about a baptism for 8 year old Seth Waterman being held this afternoon.  We thought it would be a good reminder of spiritual times for some sweet inactives.    This afternoon we attended a worldwide Leadership meeting that was broadcast via satellite to the Bandon building.  These meetings are a shot in the arm and we leave wanting so badly to try harder and love these members more, if that is possible.   Seth’s baptism was wonderful.  Such a cute 8 year old!  Glory Be!  We had one inactive gentleman come and we were so grateful.  Kim Powell gave an amazing talk on Baptism and she gave me her notes.  That talk is now filed away for future use someday.  Thanks Kim.

Sunday – I never thought you’d serve a mission before ME! – Tanner
I put my coat on this morning at 8:00 am when we left the trailer headed down to Port Orford to attend their Branch Council Meeting and their Church service.  I am so impressed with the men and women of their Branch Council.  You can actually feel their love for their branch members.  We, as missionaries, try to work with the inactives to help them come back into activity in the Branch.  But it is the members themselves who have the most success with reaching out and loving their members back into the fold.  The Port Orford Branch has had a lot of success with reaching out in love.  After Church we made several visits to inactive families.  All of them welcomed us into their homes where we enjoyed lovely visits and as we left we gave them invitations to a Branch Valentine social set for next Saturday.  We arrived home about 8:00 pm where I took my coat off for the first time today!  It was chilly here today and NO ONE turns up their heat here, not even the Church!  Our propane heater is happily pumping heat into the trailer.  It is a warm 73.4 degrees in here and I am warm and happy and coatless.

The first Counselor in the branch Presidency conducted today in Sacrament.  Justin has M.S. and uses a scooter to get around.  Each time he approached the podium he struggled to stand at the microphone.  He is in his early 30’s.  What a dedicated sweet young man he is.  We could all learn much from him.

Quote of the day to ponder: “We are not mortal beings in search of a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings who have been placed in a mortal existence.  What are we here to learn?”

An Early Spring in Bandon

Monday – Kendra loves you too!  Chloe (I’m holding her right now)P-day rolls around again and we have a list of things we want to do.  Work first…. and then we have an appointment to go do our hometeaching with Dave and Pam Hansen.  They have been so busy, as have we, that we have had trouble finding a time to get together.  We promised them we would keep the visit to 30 minutes.  Not!  We were having such a good visit….. we would mention leaving and they would tell us to stay a while longer….. a while….. turned into a four and a half hour visit.  But it actually did feel like just 30 minutes!  By then we just had time for a few errands, the most important of which was a trip to the book store in Old Town for postcards to send to our grandkiddles.  We miss them so much and want them to know that.  Plus they need to know how much we love our daily candy with the message of love attached.  Love you sweetie-pies so much!

Then we were off to join Bandon’s “empty nesters” for Family Home Evening!  We feel so loved in our little Branch to be invited to have this evening at Stake President Sturtevant’s house with his lovely wife, Billie.  Also there were Branch President Stockford and his wife, Marita, Dave and Pam Hansen (and they thought they had seen enough of us this afternoon!), Elwin and Julie Bissell, and Ron and Kathy Lecce.  We enjoyed a delicious pot luck dinner followed by a very beautiful lesson on the Atonement by President Sturtevant.  And, of course, there was lots of fun visiting with sweet Bandon friends.


Tuesday – I love you! - Tanner
We were down at the branch early this morning to get the Bandon Family History Center up and running…… albeit up and running were not great words to choose for today.  The computers would not connect with the internet today at all!  There was a big glitch in the system.  Seems we got a new phone system this last week and Salt Lake does not recognize us now.  Hey, Salt Lake we need you!  Our F.H.C. director, Pam worked on the problem with our computer expert in Coos Bay and they conferenced with Salt Lake.  The problem will be fixed…. just not today.  So we had to disappoint 4 community members who came with big expectations today.  They were so understanding and sweet and promised to return next week.  We couldn’t do much family history work for them, but we did hear some of their fun family stories and we had some good visits.  We hope we will see you next week!

Good friends, Bob and Rita Phair arrived this afternoon.  Bob is the Physical Facilities Manager for the Church.  Bandon is one of his areas so it was fun he got to show up here to look at our alarm system.  Yes, another system that seems to have a mind of its own.  It goes off whenever it wants to and the beeping surely disturbs our Branch neighbors.  So while Bob and Elder Wels worked on the Branch problems, Rita and I worked on some serious shopping problems.  Is it a problem to like to shop?  Not when the first stop is the Cranberry Sweet Shop!  We met boys and went up to the Bandon Inn where Bob and Rita were spending the night.  Nice view from their room high above Old Town!  Not much time to visit before we had to head for The Barn and the E.A.T. Program dinner.  Bob and Rita joined us and we even enjoyed their wonderful help in the kitchen washing the dishes.  They just added more laughter to a fun evening!  Thanks guys!

Wednesday – I’m proud of you - Madi
We met Bob and Rita this morning and went into Old Town to the Minute Café for a delicious breakfast and a fun time with good friends. Then Bob got a call and had to rush back to Central Point to now solve a problem with the font in the Temple that seems to be a bit temperamental now.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast but hated to part with them so quickly. We definitely appreciated them while we had them!  Come back soon!  After parting with the Phairs we headed out to make some branch visits.  1st stop was with Connie Jones.  Oh, Connie we are so sorry to have to postpone your sweet dinner invitation AGAIN!  Seems this time it is being preempted because we have a Mission Zone Conference in Eugene to attend that day.  So now the dinner is planned for the 15th.  They say the third time is the charm….. that saying doesn’t seem to apply to this dinner because I think it about our 5th attempt to get it scheduled!  We also visited with James Ornsby.  He seems to have some confusion with his family history.  He thinks someone deleted his genealogy but I think it is just the difference between the PAF system of years past and the NewFamilySearch program of today.  We told him to come to the Family History Center next Tuesday and we would try to solve his confusion.  I sure hope we can!

We headed home for a light lunch and a rest and then a nice visit with our Ida Cluff.  Late in the afternoon we went to Cindy Servantes’ to help her put together a dresser she had purchased at BiMart.  Elder Wels is a jack of all trades and as Service Missionaries we are there to help you, whatever your needs.  That little project took us several hours.  Our dinner didn’t get fixed until well after 7:30 pm.  Think we are done for the evening.  It is time tonight to check in with family members so they won’t forget us.  Elder Wels’ brother John is first on the list tonight.

Thursday – Lengthen your shuffle! - Stacy

We woke up to a beautifully sunny morning and the sure knowledge that a great walk around our RV Park was in our day’s schedule!  Then it was get in the car and see where the Spirit wanted us to go.  We often head out with a set agenda only to find that the Lord has other places for us to go.  I think the only thing definitely on our schedule at the beginning of this day was that we were going to hit the car wash.  And, that we did.  The local weather report says that we are going to have mostly sunny days for about a week.  The promise of so much sunshine just screams for a car wash!  And now I can almost hear my little car purring again and it looks like someone loves it.  The coastal mists and salt air do not do wonderful things to a car. We had several nice visits today.  We visited with a sweet sister who trusted us enough to bare her soul about the happenings in her life for the last few years.  Now we will pray to find a way to help ease her burdens and bring her back into the fold.

We stopped by the Family History Center to check on the status of the computers.  They are still not on board with Salt Lake yet.  Now the phone system is not working right.  Charter Communications, what have you done to us!  Let’s hope the problems are solved by next Tuesday morning!  Tonight we watched the DVD entitled To Turn the Hearts, which is about family history work.  We definitely know the “why” of it, now to just hone the “how” of it!

Each time we drive back to our RV Park, we pass a building on our left, just before our driveway into the park, that has a sign on it that reads “HOME”.  Every time I see this sign, I smile because I know I am home.  Hwy 101 runs between the building with the “HOME” sign and our RV park sign on the right.  I enjoy our little welcome “HOME” sign!

Friday – When life gets too hard to stand, kneel. - Madi
We are running a bit slow this morning after a night of sleeplessness.  How can you not sleep at night when you are tired?  I don’t know…. But I can.  We did get in another nice walk around the park this morning.  It is another gorgeous day!  With that in mind, we got out this morning and made a few visits.  A couple of members have moved leaving no forwarding address.  But a few were home and we had some lovely visits. 

This afternoon we decided to take some time for ourselves in exchange for the hours we worked on our P-day.  We went for a leisurely walk on the beach at Bullard’s Beach.  My little rock collection is growing.  I got so caught up in the search for rocks that I forgot to keep my eye on the waves.  We purposely chose to go at low tide and the waves were a good 20 feet away……. until the big sneaker one came that went a good 20 feet past me.  I didn’t stand a chance…… I didn’t stand at all!  It knocked me right off my feet!  As I sat there in the cold surf I began to laugh!  It was a deep down inside belly laugh and I found myself filled with joy and sand!  A bit wet also but still joyful!  That was me, a big sandy drip, albeit, a happy one.  Back at the trailer I had to undress in the shower!

Once beautified again, we were off to a fabulous Spaghetti dinner at Ron and Kathy Lecee’s house.

Ron, who is very proud of his Italian heritage, invited us to have his famous Spaghetti the very first Sunday we were in Bandon.  When I told him I was gluten intolerant and could not eat the noodles, he was very sad and had, to this point, not invited us to dinner again.  Last Monday night I went to the F.H.E. group armed with some gluten-free corn spaghetti, which I gave to Ron and I asked HIM for another chance at his famous Spaghetti.  He was so delighted!  And, tonight was our night. I will admit his Spaghetti lived up to its reputation.  It was very Yummy!  And, the evening was a lot of fun.  Pictured here are Ron and Kathy Lecce and their 3 grand daughters.

Saturday – Preach the Gospel today! - Chloe
It is another gorgeous day here in Bandon.  Spring seems to be coming early around here.  The tree right out our dining area window is going to be covered in little pink blossoms soon.  The daffodils and tulips are getting tall.  The owner of the RV park was out mowing the park area this morning.  Last Thursday on a visit to Steve Nielsen, he gave me a small bouquet of branches from his Australian Fern tree.  It was covered in tiny yellow blossoms and I remarked how pretty the tree looked. They have been sitting on our table happifying (thank you for the word Mary Ellen Edmonds) our little trailer. 

After washing a tub of sandy laundry, I have been in the kitchen most of the morning making a salad and a dessert to take to an 80th birthday dinner party for Ida Cluff tomorrow after Church.  This afternoon we made a visit to Zada Vorwaller and family,  She told us about some exciting news for hubby, Brian.  He has been invited to a big Chain Saw Sculpture Conference as one of the only 3 sculptures to do demonstrations.  Nice honor for Brian!  From there the call of the surf was too much for Elder Wels and with a force beyond his control, the car just headed for Devil’s Kitchen.  Don’t ask me why they call it that.  I have not found a soul who could answer that question.  What I do know is that the view is fantastic there!  Looks pretty flat in this picture, but Elder Wels is actually sitting on a bluff about 80 feet above the ocean.

 We ran into Mike and Diana Oliver there.  How fun to greet friends from home.  They are in town to celebrate an anniversary with family. From there it was off to see the view at Face Rock.  We love to watch the waves as they crash across the rocks.  Love the rocky Oregon coast!

Sunday – You’re a great example - Mark
Nice day at Church today.  It was Fast and Testimony meeting.  The Zone Leaders sent us a text last night, as they did to  all the missionaries in the Pacific Zone, with a challenge “to be the first to bear your testimony.”  That is not hard to do in a small branch as we get to bear our testimonies almost every 1st Sunday of the month.  I have noticed there is something intimate about a small branch.  We KNOW each other and the testimonies revolve around the members in a very loving way.  Today’s meeting was invigorating!  Afterwards, we had a brief meeting with one non-member and 2 less active members during Sunday School but it was not really a class as they had to leave early for personal reasons.  We, at least, had enough time to check on the happenings in their lives and to invite them to a youth baptism scheduled for this next Saturday.  I hope we can bring them so they can feel the Spirit that fills the air at a baptism.  Then we joined the Gospel Doctrine class already in progress.  Pam Hansen gives such excellent lessons!  I really miss her class when Elder Wels and I have a Gospel Essentials class to teach.  Her lesson revolved around Lehi (Book of Mormon Prophet) and his final counsel to his children before his death, most especially to his wayward and disobedient sons.  Lehi gave some really good counsel for all of us.  But I was most moved by a quote given by Apostle Henry B. Ewring in a talk to BYU students in 2001: “One of the effects of disobeying God seems to be the creation of just enough Spiritual anesthetic to block any sensation as the ties to God are being cut.  Not only does the testimony of truth slowly erode, but even the memories of what it was like to be in the light begin to seem like a delusion.”  Wow!  We see that in so many of otherwise wonderful inactive members we visit with.  They are past feeling.  After Church we took the Sacrament to our sweet “shut-ins”.

Today is our little Ida Cluff’s 80th birthday.  You have to celebrate that one!  And, since Ida’s family lives far enough away that they could not be here for her, we stepped in and became her family.  Let me back up the truck on that one… as brothers and sisters in the gospel we are family.  But today we are going to be extra special family for her.  So her Home Teacher and Visiting Teacher, President and Sister Stockford and their daughter, Jill had us come to their house for dinner along with Ron and Kathy Lecce.  What a lovely totally gluten- free dinner it was and how much we enjoyed the stories and the laughter as we sat around their table. I think Ida felt the love that surrounded her this night.

Happy 80th Ida!