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!
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