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!
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!
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