Taxes and Storms and Pains, Oh My!

For P-day this week we took a little 300+ mile and almost 6 hour roundtrip jaunt to Grants Pass to get our taxes done by Chris Morehead, who has been doing them ever since I made a slight error on our federal taxes that resulted in a letter from the IRS informing us we owed them an additional $19,000!  It was a wakeup call that perhaps figuring taxes is not one of my stronger talents and we should really let the experts work their magic. 

We love Chris because even in a year that I really thought we would be owing the government money, she was able to work that magic and we get a refund!  She is definitely worth whatever the bill is going to be!  Thank you Chris!

Our weather cube this morning said that we were going to enjoy a major storm with rain and strong winds with hurricane force gusts.  We thought our drive to Grants Pass was going to be a bit rough but it turned out to be a lovely drive on just a cloudy day.  No rain…. No wind…. No problems.  Our son Todd and family live in Grants Pass so we made a date to meet Todd and 4 year old cutie-pie granddaughter, Mary for lunch.

 It was all too short a visit before we had to head back to Bandon.  Ashland lies just another 45 minutes south of Grants Pass but there was not enough time to head down there to visit other well-loved family members!   As it was we left the trailer at 8:00 am and arrived back in Bandon at 7:00 pm.  For two old missionaries, that is a long day!  And were we ever glad that is was still daylight when we returned.  That promised storm was bearing down on Bandon!

We have enjoyed a couple of windy rain storms since we have come to Bandon, but this one was the best so far.  I get to add that “so far” part because locals tell me it can get even worse than it was this night.  Past storms have made me nervous….. this one actually scared me!  It felt like several of those gusts actually picked up the trailer and set it down with a thud!  I told Elder Wels after one of those hurricane force gusts; “I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore!”  Then along about midnight it grew calm and quiet.  Oh thank you!

Look what all that quiet brought us!  What a surprise when Elder Wels opened the door to head out for his morning shower at the shower house!  I wasn’t dressed to get a picture right then, but I did get this picture of him as he was coming back to the trailer.  I was totally taken by surprise.  I didn’t think it ever snowed on the Oregon coast but I guess I was wrong on that thought. We must have gotten between 3 and 4 inches of snow.

 It was very pretty to see.  By the time we got ready to head to the Family History Center we knew that the roads would be fine.  Which leads to the next surprise, Hwy 101 had actually been plowed!  A snowplow in Bandon? Whoda thunk?!

It seems to have snowed enough to keep the citizens of Bandon from coming to the Family History Center.  Elder Wels and I were alone for most of our shift.  It gave us time to work on our personal family history.  And then I studied and wrote in my Preach my Gospel manual.  Long about 11:30 Ron Barnakoff came.  Guess we were lucky we got one patron today!

When we returned to our RV Park for lunch we found another surprise!  A big branch of a tree was lying smack on top of the Office roof. 

 I took a picture of it and then went inside to ask if there was any damage from it.  Once inside I did not have to ask.  You can see for yourself! 

 Bob, the owner of the RV park said that his insurance was sending out repair crews to remove the limb and repair the damage but if it didn’t get done before December he would just hang Christmas lights on it!  I will say the sight of it made me gasp when I opened the office door!

Here are a few more pictures of the beautiful snow:   This one was taken looking out the front door of the trailer.

Notice in the picture to the left that the moon was still  peeking out from behind the clouds.  Notice also that my fushia baskets were left out on the table last night.  Normally we tuck then under the trailer at night.  Guess we will just have to wait to see if there was frost damage.

Elder Wels became the officer “mopper” for the E.A.T. program tonight.  Lucas, who has mopped floors for them for 8 years, has been become too sick to continue.  Allyson couldn’t find anyone to volunteer so my sweet companion has taken over the mop.  He washes dishes until everyone has left the dining area and then he grabs the mop.  I have always said that he is at his sexiest when he has a mop or a vacuum in his hands!

My sweet companion woke up this Wednesday morning with a blazing headache, scratchy throat, and over all aches and pains.  We decided no one needed to have him around in that condition so we got him to rest for most of the day.  He was feeling somewhat better so that we could go to the Relief Society Birthday Dinner tonight.  Since I am invited to always be at Relief Society events, Elder Wels has been appointed our assigned Priesthood representative.  I voted twice for that one!  Relief Society turns 170 years old!  We had a lovely potato bar dinner.  Yum!  Who doesn’t love a good potato?!  After dinner we rushed over to the Bandon Inn because our sweetest friends, Bob ad Rita Phair were in town.  Bob has business in Coos Bay and Port Orford……. Oh goody, Bandon in right in the middle so that is a good place to stop for the night.  We so enjoy any time we get to visit with them.

Thursday morning we met for breakfast at the new Café Sunrise on Hwy 101 in town.  Service there was the slowest we have ever encountered!  Then they brought breakfast to Elder Wels and I but not the Phairs.  Maybe 10 minutes later Rita got her breakfast and poor Bob still had another good 5 minutes to wait.  The rest of us politely tried to wait until all of us got served but our breakfasts were getting cold.  Sorry Bob, it is every man or woman for him or herself!  Oh, by the way…… Bob and Rita got treated to another of our lovely wind and rain storms!  It blew and sputtered all night and was still going strong when we met for breakfast.  Welcome to Bandon!  Weather did not stop us from a little tour of Tom Olive’s Woods of the West myrtle wood shop and then the Misty Meadows Jam factory.  A trip to Bandon calls for Cranberry Jam!  By noon the Phairs were off on their way home and Elder Wels and I were back doing the job for which we were sent to Bandon.  We started with a couple of visits and then we got a phone call to go to the Bandon Hospital to give a blessing to Amy Lowe.  Did you know you could drink too much water?  Poor Amy is suffering from congestion and the flu.  She was only trying to flush out her system, but she seems to have flushed out more than just the bugs!  She flushed out some much needed nutrients in her body which reduced, in her words…. her body to jello!  She couldn’t even stand up on her own!  Some good help from the E.R. and a great blessing, followed by a couple a days in bed and she will be as good as new!

Home for dinner and the evening was spent preparing a talk about “Enduring to the End” that we were asked to give at our Missionary District Meeting tomorrow.  Scott, you could probably give this talk with no preparation, blindfolded and with one hand tied behind your back.  For us…. We labored several hours preparing our talk.

It is now my turn.  I awoke with a great headache, scratchy throat and some assorted aches and pains.  But Hooray and Hallelujah it is a glorious Friday morning.  I had forgotten how beautiful sunshine could be!  I didn’t even want to wait until breakfast was over…… And I didn’t care that my head hurt.  I just wanted to enjoy the sunshine.  So we got out and went for a nice walk around the RV Park before breakfast!  We had fun meeting our neighbors who were also giddy about getting out and enjoying the sunshine!  Back at the trailer, when our late breakfast was over, we polished our talk and then headed to Coos Bay for the meeting.  Our 45 minute drive to the Coos Bay Stake Center was amazing.  There were so many downed trees along the road side. 

Wind damage was terrific!  And there was still snow along the road side on the higher altitude parts of the highway.  Okay… so the higher altitude on Hwy 101 is about 300 feet.  It was still high enough to have saved some snow for our enjoyment.

Our District Meeting was moved to Friday this week so that President Young could be in attendance to do interviews.  He and his sweet wife are such a great inspirational couple.  He started the meeting with a few thoughts to get our hearts and minds in tune with the Lord and then off he went to conduct his interviews leaving the meeting in the capable hands of the Zone Leaders.  Seems the Zone Leaders had called each set of missionaries and assigned them a talk for today.  Our subjects were: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  Lucky day for us today!  Our talk was last and due to interviews, long winded missionaries, and a caring President who yearned to leave us with some words of encouragement, they ran out of time and we did not have to do ours!  Yea!  But they always say that the preparer learns more than the hearer and I would bet that is very true in our case.  We were well fed!

President Young’s parting thought came from the Joseph Smith History, verse 19.  After reading in the Bible, 1st James Chapter 1 verse 5 & 6, Joseph, confused by many different religious sects in his day, retired to the nearby woods to literally ask of God which of all the many sects was right.  Which should he join?  Now; Verse 19: “I was answered that I must join none of them for they were all wrong; …….that those professors were all corrupt; that: ”they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”  President Young called that “Lip Service”.  So when we promise to obey the commandments such as keeping the Sabbath Day holy; do we give the Lord “lip service” or do we give him “heart service”?  “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Ex. 20:8–11).  “From the days of the early apostles to the present, the Sabbath has been the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, in commemoration of the fact that Christ came forth from the grave on Sunday (Acts 20:7).”

“Our observance or nonobservance of the Sabbath is an unerring measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward his suffering in Gethsemane, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. It is a sign of whether we are Christians in very deed, or whether our conversion is so shallow that commemoration of his atoning sacrifice means little or nothing to us” (“The Sabbath Day”, Elder Mark E. Peterson ” Ensign, May 1975,  p.49).  Do we use the Sabbath for Spiritual feasting or do we do our feasting in a restaurant somewhere thereby necessitating those employees break the Sabbath to satisfy our hunger?  President Young gave us much to ponder in one little thought.  Do I pay the Lord “lip service” as I try to live His Gospel?  Or do I render unto Him my greatest “heart service”?

No shopping in Coos Bay for us today as my head was still splitting after our meeting.  Home, dinner and bed was on my schedule.  Saturday was another “call in sick” day, only I don’t have anyone to call when I am sick.  But I did call my sweet Sis, Lynda Stevens, to wish her a happy birthday!  She holds a special place in my heart.  But otherwise, we just stayed home and rested and studied in the Preach my Gospel manual.  Wish I could commit to memory that fabulous manual!  Maybe tis better to be called on a mission at 19 or 21 when the brain still functions.  Well, perhaps I can’t teach from my head the way I would like to be able to do, but I can teach from my heart.  Even when my head can’t remember, my heart can still feel.

We also had some more rain and wind and found a little proof of it right here in the RV Park.  If that tree had not gotten hung up on the two trees next to it, it would have gone over for sure.  Just pulled those roots right up out of the ground!

Last night I enjoyed a wonderful case of pleurisy and did not get much sleep at all.  My mother suffered a lot from that so I was feeling very close to her last night as I was awake for most of the night.  It hurts!  But that did not stop me from going to Church today.  I just loaded up on the ibuprofen and off I went.  I needed my spiritual feast!  And, as usual, I got fed very well.  But my very favorite part of Sunday comes after Church when we take the Sacrament into those who were not able to come to church today.   Connie Jones & James Ornsby were sick, Kathy Lecce is in the Southern Coos Hospital recuperating from knee replacement surgery, and Fay Quimby’s heart won’t let her walk across a room much less get to Church.  For me it is a double blessing.  I get to help my fellow Saints and I get to watch my handsome husband as he uses his Priesthood power.  We had lovely visits with them and we left a spiritual message with each one of them.  If you can’t come to Church…. We try to bring a little Church to them.  It was after 4:00 pm by the time we got home.  We were tired and hungry, but happy.  It is time to give our weary sick bones a rest.  Elder Wels is sniffling again tonight.  May tomorrow be a healthier day!  Hope your week was good!

A Stormy Week

We start off our week without any more sweet inspirational notes from our kiddles.  Wow! That was the best Christmas gift ever!  We opened one candy a day for over 2 months!  We enjoyed each and every one of them and found so much comfort and joy in them!  Thanks family, you are the best!

Now I really know why they call it Preparation Day!  I spent the whole day in the kitchen doing “preparation” for James’ birthday party tonight.  Sweet Connie Jones wanted to have a dinner for him for his 70th birthday and asked if I would help her.  She said that James wanted Steak for his dinner and so I told her that we would bring the Steak to BBQ and an English Pea Salad.  She would do mashed potatoes and make a carrot cake for him.  So how hard can that be?  Well, for 6 or 7 people, not hard at all.  But the list of guests kept growing.  Connie could not bear to leave anyone out and word of the party went through her apartment complex.  James lives there too so lots of people know them.  Well, the party grew to about 25 people!  Okay… another trip to the grocery store for more ingredients cause this dinner now called for a lot of cooking and a change of menu!  Just could not do 25 steaks, but we could do BBQ country style spare ribs.  And guess we had better make the pea salad a bit bigger and add the family jello salad to the menu.  Who knew all that could take the better part of the day!

The party was quite a success!  James just beamed the whole evening.  We got to use the rec-room of the apartment complex so we had plenty of room for our guests.  And we had plenty of good food.  Connie was pleased to be able to do this for her friend James.  And, we were so happy to help such a sweet lady.  Pictured here are James and Connie and her beloved Penny with Elder Wels.

Hooray and Hallelujah…. The computers were up and running in the Family History Center on this cold Tuesday morning.  Good thing too!  Our director is out of town and our other family history consultant, Jaquie was too sick to come.  That left just us!  And, right on cue at 9:00 am Elton Harris was at our door, followed close behind by Ron Barnakoff.  I helped Elton and Lee took Ron under his wing.  Good thing Elton has been here a few times because he was able to work on his own by the time our friend, Careen from the E.A.T. program, came in with her niece, Connie.  She was brand new to family history work so we started with what information Careen had on her maternal grandfather.  We had so much fun finding cool documents pertaining to her relatives.  When the center closed, we sent her home with her head spinning, her heart happy and a promise of a return visit to us.

We finally made our promised visit to the Bandon Historical Museum today.  Our friend and fellow dishwasher from the E.A.T. program, Audrey, volunteers there and said she would "be on display on Tuesday afternoons."  She was happy to see us.  And, we were blown away by all the incredible displays!  So many photographs and artifacts from early Bandon pioneers!  They had one of the oldest washing machines I have ever seen!  Of course, a hit for me was the clothing, shoes and jewelry from years gone by.  There were Cranberry farmers and really old harvesting equipment included.  There was a whole room devoted to the 1936 fire that totally destroyed most of Bandon.  There was an amazing maritime room as Bandon once was a very busy shipping harbor with more than its fair share of ship wrecks.  We need to revisit this place!

This morning it was really cold outside with temperatures hovering around the freezing zone.

 There was still evidence of the hail storm we heard in the middle of the night and we got to enjoy another brief hailstorm this morning.  When cold fronts come through here, they are colder than I like!  Oh, yes… this is the Oregon Coast not the Southern California coast.  Silly me!

Our neighbors to the west, Nancy and Loretta left this morning.  I will miss them, they were fun.  I got a big hug from both of them and they told me that they really liked us and were in awe of the service we were giving to the community of Bandon.  How sweet!  That made my day!

We spent most of our Wednesday traveling around and over the hill and through the woods, across the creek to Grandmother’s house… oh….. sorry… got a bit carried away there.  But we did put a few miles on the car checking out addresses on the Branch list only to find there were so many “who came up with these addresses” addresses!  Where does Salt Lake get these people and the addresses they send us?  Well, guess we can eliminate another 7 families from the Branch list.  We did find a couple inactive branch members and had some good visits but, by in large, people move to the outskirts of Bandon to get lost.  And, they want to stay lost.  How true is that?!  We finally found Julia Johns and found her to be such a sweet young mother of 3 rambunctious boys!  She doesn’t come to church because her non-member “significant other” doesn’t like the church.  I could write a book on that one!  It would be called Unrighteous Dominion!  Don’t get me started!  She says she is teaching her boys the Primary songs and teaching them when HE is not around.  Our hearts go out to her and we will stop by again soon now that we know where she lives, her work schedule and his work schedule.  We will stop by when he is not at home.  On our way home we stopped by the Vorwaller’s to meet Zada’s sister who is here visiting from Wyoming.  Wow!  Now there are 6 people, 3 dogs and 2 cats living in their 20 foot (no slideouts) motorhome for this week!   With Elder Wels and I there too…. I think it was a bit overcrowded!  That sure makes our trailer feel like a palace.  They are definitely a “close-knit” family!

Thursday’s District Meeting was run by the Zone Leaders this week.  That meant Elder Wels and I did not have to give any “Senior Thoughts”!  Thank you!  The theme of the meeting was something along the lines of getting along with and helping your companion become the best missionary he can be.  Guess boys will be boys until they become men….(Oh dear, I just heard half the wives in America say; are you crazy?! Husbands never grow up!)  With that said… they would laugh at senior missionary couple relationships.  The young Elders at least have brains that think in the same direction.  Whereas….. Elder Wels’ brain takes off and moves in a very straight line while his companion’s female brain will take off in a straight line also….. but then just out of the gate it veers to the right and then to the left and continues in this zig zag pattern for most of the day.  Yea, it can get ugly!  Good thing this senior missionary couple love each other.  And, what Elder Wels doesn’t think of, you can be sure his companion will!

In the late afternoon we had an appointment to teach a lesson to Isabel Hayden.  She is a young mother of two adorable children.  She was referred to us by the Coos Bay member Dentist for whom she works.  When we made the appointment with her she said she really wanted to know why “Mormon’s” don’t believe in the Bible.  Oh my stars…. I cannot believe how the word “Mormon” can completely over shadow the fact that we are truly and totally CHRISTIAN!  We not only believe in the Bible…. We revere it…. We honor it…. It is SCRIPTURE!  Okay… step off the box!  We found a most fabulous talk given by Elder M. Russell Ballard (one of the 12 apostles of the Church) entitled; “The Miracle of the Holy Bible”.  This talk was given during General Conference in April of 2007.  It answered every one of her questions on that topic.  Plus I took along my scriptures and showed her how underlined, colored, noted in the margins, and well loved my Kings James version of the Bible was.   My Bible has loved written all over it.  That question answered, we went on to answer a few more questions until the 2 year old had had enough of us.  We made plans to come back next Thursday.

We also made “reservations” to visit with Claudia Briggs.  She is totally deaf and so when you want to visit with her you have to email her and literally make a reservation with her so she knows when you are coming.  We did…. But we had some reservation problems.  When you ring her doorbell, a string of Christmas lights in her house begin to blink.  It is quite noticeable….. if you are looking in the right direction.  If not…. You are not going to see the lights.  So we stood on her porch for a few minutes with no answer.  Then Elder Wels pulled out his phone and called her.  Her phone is connected to a computer and it flashes when a call comes in.  Then what the caller (Elder Wels) says is typed onto a screen for her to read.  She then answers with her voice…. She is quite good at talking!  So after Elder Wels’ had said “hello” about three times, she finally asks when he is coming to visit.  He told her that he could be there as soon as she came to open the door!  You should have heard her laugh!  We had a delightful visit.  She is fantastic at reading lips.  And, if she can’t catch a word, you just spell it to her.  She sure can tell some wild stories!  We love her!  On the way home from her house we stopped to visit with James and do a little damage control.  Connie Jones had called to say he was upset with the Family History Center.  But we found him to be fine, except for the start of a cold.  It’s been a long day and it is time to go home!

Elder Wels was not feeling so great so we decided to stay in for this Friday morning.  I had much work to do to put our income tax records together as we have an appointment to have our taxes done on Monday.  We got that project finished just in time for President Stockford to meet us here at the trailer so we could take him out to meet and visit with Don Durkee.  He is the gentleman we met a couple of weeks ago with the 260 different conifer trees and the sweetest OLD German Shorthair dog who is completely blind.  I love that dog!  We had a delightful visit and got him interested in coming to the Family History Center.  Cool!  We dropped President Stockford back at his car and headed back to town to take Kim Powell a Happy Birthday treat.  Next stop was to go tell Cyndi Trapani to “break a leg” as her assistant directorial debut of “Barefoot in the Park” opens tonight at the Sprague Theater.  She confided to us last night’s dress rehearsal was a disaster!  We assured her they would get their act together and all would be wonderful tonight.  Next on the list was Susie Elliott and grandson, Nick.  We had a little damage control to do there too.  Susie is such a sweetheart and thankfully we were able to put her heart at rest and left her house with our hands full.  She gave me the cutest apron she had made which I will happily wear when I work at the E.A.T. program next Tuesday.  She sells them and I will be her walking advertisement!  She also gave us 2 jars of her home canned fresh tuna.  Yum!  I sense some great tuna sandwiches in our future!  Thanks Susie!  Last stop was to take Connie Jones her now empty brownie dish.  My Momma said you should never return a dish empty so Connie will find some gluten-free pretzels inside her dish.  Oh yea, I forgot.  We actually went to visit with Penny, the dog and Connie just happens to live there too.  That cutie-pie dog just cries to make you pay attention to her because she knows SHE is the real reason you are there.  It works!  She gets our attention!

Saturday somehow became a lost day.  We spent the morning putting together plans for our Sunday visit to the Port Orford Branch.  We decided on those families we wanted to visit after Church.  And we gathered data for our report at the Branch Council Meeting before Church.  We also brought our notes on the Bandon Branch up to date and made lists of those members we had not yet had a visit with.  We just about have them all now.  Somehow all this took the better part of the day.  Tom and Liz Olive called this afternoon and invited us to go with them to the Bandon Playhouse to see the new production of Barefoot in the Park. 

What a riot.  It was only the second night of the run and all the bugs had not been worked out yet.  Both lead actors were novices and it felt more like a humorous high school production.  The director herself wrote in her “notes from the Director…” on the program; “It is always exciting for a Director to work with actors that are new to the realm of acting and have never played an ‘adult’ type role, as is the case with ‘Corie’ and ‘Paul’.  It gives the director the opportunity to help the greenies to stretch and grow as they develop the characters in the play”.  There was a lot of stretching going on tonight!

Wow!  We actually had a crowd at Church in Port Orford today.  Okay…. It was just because it was their yearly Branch Conference and most of the Stake leaders were there.  It doubled our attendance!  We love it when the Stake comes because they bring much wisdom.  Once again the Branch Council Meeting was one of so much love and concern for the members of the Branch.  The love in that meeting is so incredible!  We shared with them our visit plans and they gave us a couple of ideas for additional visits.

What I took home in my heart from today came from a talk which concerned the coming of General Conference at the end of this month.  Twice a year our Prophet and apostles gather at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City to speak to words of the Lord.  No speaker is assigned a topic.  Speakers obtain inspiration through fasting, praying, studying, seeking for the message the Lord would have them deliver.  According to apostle Jeffery R. Holland; “everyone has something to gain from general conference.  With the companionship of the Holy Ghost, each individual participating in the conference is entitled to personal revelation.  If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.”  Elder Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidencey said; “If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference, you will find it.”

Listen to the synopsis of this wonderful story as told by Wendy Watson…..  She was 24 years old, doing graduate work at BYU and wildly in love and engaged to the man of her dreams.  He was a returned missionary, well educated, employed, musical, handsome, had great social skills, was very romantic, loved her family, and best of all, was committed to keeping the Lord’s commandments.  She was teaching family history in her BYU ward which gave her a special love for the Temple.  She attended the Temple often seeking an answer to the question that had started to haunt her; “should I marry this man?”   The answer just did not come.

Just before April conference her Bishop taught her a truth she had not known before.  From the pulpit, speaking to his entire ward, her Bishop said; “If you have a question that you need answered, if you will prayerfully and humbly listen to general conference, you will get it answered every time! Perhaps at the time, perhaps over time, but you WILL get your question answered every time!”  Wendy felt he was talking JUST to her.  That Conference she listened eagerly to every talk and she taped each and every one of them.  She listened with her ears, mind and heart poised and ready to hear the answer to her question; “should I marry this man?”  She was amazed that every single talk from every single speaker focused on marriage!  At the conclusion of conference she calmly went to the telephone, called her fiancé and cancelled the engagement.

Fast forward several years.  Her ex-fiancé seems happily married.  Wendy had completed her Masters degree, dated some great men, and continued to be directed by the Lord to pursue further education.  Fast forward a few more years.  Wendy received a handwritten letter in a Christmas card from her now no longer young ex-fiancé.  He was declaring that he was choosing a life-style inconsistent with Gospel teachings and Church standards, telling her of the sorrow that had come to his wife and family since their recent divorce and his declaration.

Fast forward just 6 months from the receipt of that letter.  Wendy was asked to prepare a Relief Society lesson on marriage.  She decided to listen again to the tapes she made of that life changing conference on marriage.  She pushed the play button on the tape player and listened for hours as the talks played on and on.  But something was different about the talks this time.  Something was missing.  To her dismay, there was nothing… absolutely nothing about marriage.  Not one talk was on marriage!  She then realized it had been the Spirit of the Lord that had taught her and helped her to hear exactly what she needed to hear.  General conference had been the vehicle.  The Spirit had been the messenger.  “Don’t marry this man” had been the message from the Lord.  And for that she was very grateful.

One last fast forward….. to April 6, 2006 when Wendy Watson marries Apostle Russell M. Nelson in the Salt Lake Temple for a happily ever after and forever!

General Conference is coming on Saturday, March 31st and Sunday, April 1st.  Do you have a question or concern you could use help with?  You can watch conference on BYU TV, on cable, Dish, or on your computer or at the Church.  If you will prayerfully prepare yourself, then listen with an open heart and an open mind you will be prepared to hear the answer.  I find myself excited for the possibility of being taught that which my heart yearns to know!  How about you?

A Visit from the Dahles

Monday – We’re doin’ the work together – Bryce  (I think that is way cool!)
Here’s a beautiful way to start your P-day.  I had an hour long fabulous phone visit with my sister (for the rest of the family it is our beloved Auntie Jody) and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Then I added a wonderful phone conversation with sweet friends, Nova and Bryon Johnson.  We got all the chores done and then since we had a late breakfast, we skipped lunch in favor of a Choco-cherry Blizzard.  Since it is the blizzard of the month and this is about the end of it, we figured we had better get in just one more.  It was a lazy afternoon just getting caught up on a few things around here, including a car wash.  My little Lincoln is beautiful and happy once more.  Tonight we had a lovely visit with Dave and Pam Hansen.

 Tuesday – I miss your jello salad – Tanner (And I miss making for you.  Come see me in October!)
Well, so much for the Family History Center today.  None of the computers were working! Add to that misery and worry the fact that our computer back at the trailer is not working either.  Elton Harris and Ron Barnakoff were the only patrons today.  We invited them in and we had a jolly visit for several hours.  Pam Hansen arrived and worked with our Stake I.T. guy and Salt Lake and finally determined it was a Charter Communications problem and a new router was needed.  All that took hours and we did not leave until almost 3:00 in the afternoon.  A late snack and little nap and we were off to the E.A.T. program.  Cindie Servantes was excited that we would sit with her tonight.  We had a lovely dinner and so enjoyed washing dishes with Howard and Audrey tonight.

Wednesday – I love you! – Chey & Justice (And, I love you two!...make that three!)
We started the day at 8:00 am down at City Hall stuffing utility statements with Bandon Playhouse brochures.  Yes, a little service project for the Bandon Playhouse.  Their production of Barefoot in the Park begins later this month.  Our Relief Society President, Kathy Lecce is the director of the play.  We met some more sweet Bandonites and we are getting our name out there in the community.  This was the good part of our day!

 It took a heartbreaking tumble after that!  We had an appointment to teach the first discussion to Dave today.  We were excited for the opportunity to help him remember why he joined the Church when he was 12 years old.  Last Sunday we taught him Lesson #1 in the Gospel Principles manual.  He seemed so touched and had tears most of the class.  When the class ended Elder Wels felt impressed to loan him his marked and highlighted manual.  He thought the highlighting would help him focus on aspects of the Gospel he needed to remember.  But Dave was a no-show today!  We decided to drive to his place to check on him.  He lives in a not very nice trailer park in a not very nice trailer.  So I stayed in the car and let Elder Wels go to the door.  When he knocked on the door, he heard an angry outburst coming from within the trailer.  He waited and then knocked again.  An angry Dave opened the door and without apologies for missing his appointment simply said he didn’t want to talk to us right then.  As Elder Wels was turning to leave he saw his completely water soaked and ruined manual lying outside in the basket of Dave’s bike.   It was a truly heart-breaking moment for Elder Wels.  On a good note…. Our computer is up and running again.

Thursday – I love you – Chloe (Chloe you are the sweetest!)
We went to District meeting in Coos Bay today.  It was the first meeting after transfers.  That is always a happy and sad day.  We find it sad to find out which of our wonderful missionaries got transferred out of our district because we really have come to love them and we will truly miss them.  And we are so happy to meet the new ones because they are all awesome!  Our Zone leader, Elder Plumb (my Mitchell look-alike) is gone.  Sad!  And Elder Gamez was transferred to, of all places, Ashland!  I sent a text to Stacy to tell her he is coming and she said she had already met him and that he was Awesome!  A few hours later she sent me a picture because she ran into them at the grocery store and had them wave to say hello to us by texting us a picture from her phone! 

 Elder Berg & Elder Gamez

Now every Sunday I will picture Elder Gamez enjoying waffles and Biscuits & gravy with my Skillman family!  Elder Wels and I had to give a 10 minute talk on something in the Book of Mormon that we, as older and wiser missionaries (they got the older part right!), thought would be a good lesson for the “youngun’s”.  We chose to talk about the fruits of Alma (“by their fruits ye shall know them” 3Nephi 14:20 also found in Matthew 7:20).  He is one of my favorite characters from the Book of Mormon.  He was such an evil man who completely turned his life around and then devoted himself to the Lord.  He is the Saul/Paul of the Book of Mormon.  There is a lot we can learn from Alma.  The District Leader then had us split us into two groups and we played “Missionary Role-play Jeopardy” Luckily, they needed judges for that one and Elder Wels and I quickly volunteered for that job!  We got to critique their door approaches and assign the point value to their efforts.  They are all so marvelous at thinking on their feet!  I am so impressed with them.  I learn so much and I feel such a sweet spirit to be in their presence.

Afterwards we split a meal at the Mexican Restaurant in the Pony Village Mall and we ran our errands in Coos Bay (the big city!)  Then we stopped at Staples to see Clair Shaw.  The missionaries have had contact with her, but the discussions have not been started yet.  She is so sweet and gave me a big hug when she saw me!  She is having some family health issues for which she asked for our prayers.  She still has a strong desire to come to Church and meet with the missionaries.  We will continue to check on her.  Then we headed home to put groceries away and then rest a bit.

Tonight we went to the Tom and Liz Olive’s for dinner.  He is a fabluous cook!  Turkey, mashed potatoes (kitchen sink included), gravy, a tomato salad and the best fruit salad ever!  We brought along the ice cream and “shell” chocolate heath bar topping.  Yes, it added yet another pound to me I will assume!  We gave them our spiritual thought from Preach my Gospel p. 111.  Moroni 10:3-5 and the promise that if we read, ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon, the Holy Ghost will testify of its truthfulness. “You too should apply this promise regularly to strengthen and renew your own testimony of the Book of Mormon.  This renewed testimony will help you maintain a firm confidence that anyone who applies this promise will receive the answer.”


Friday – Endure to the End – Sheralyn  (That is a promise!)
We finally made it to Heritage Place today to meet with Julie Bissell and get a tour.  It is Bandon’s one and only Senior Assisted Living Facility.  It sits up on a bluff with a magnificent ocean view.  Julie is the social director for the care center.  She is a hoot and very good at her job and a friend from our Bandon Branch.  We met some really cool seniors, one of which was 104 years old and a lot sharper than I am!  Before we left, Elder Wels was assigned to be the new Bingo caller and we volunteered to help with their monthly birthday party celebration and assist them when they take big groups on outings.  I think these seniors are going to give us a good time!

Tonight we attended the Port Orford Relief Society Birthday Party.  March 17th will mark the 170th birthday of the Relief Society.  It is the oldest and biggest women’s organization in the world.  How blessed my life has been because I have attended Relief Society.  I have been taught, edified, served and humbled by my fellow sisters.  Since the party was being held on a Friday night they invited the Priesthood to be there too.  We played “Relief Society Family Feud” (our team won!) and a “Find someone who……” game.  The games were fun, the Saints delightful and the food was excellent.

 We left for Port Orford early so that we had time to visit with Dave Tucker, who lives in Langlois which is halfway between Bandon and Port Orford.  He recently had hernia surgery and is mostly inactive.  Holy cow!  He lives in a small 2 bedroom single-wide trailer with 1 cat, 3 Chihuahuas, 11 Pugs, and 300+ birds!  He is a very nice fellow who is trying to make a living by breeding the dogs and the birds.  The Church has been a great help to him through these last rough months and he truly wants to come back to Church.  I know the Port Orford Branch will be there for him.  I hope he appreciates all their efforts!  On the way home we made two more stops but had no success in getting to visit with either family.  Some you win, some you don’t.


Saturday – Don’t get sent home early! – Mitchell  (We will try not to!)
It was such a beautiful day all the way around. The sun was shining and it actually got up to 60 degrees today! Yahoo!  But the best part of the day was a simply gorgeous drive up to Winchester Bay and a sweet visit with Cheyenne, Justice and cutie-pie, Kendra! 

It is still amazing to think that we have a great-granddaughter who is about to celebrate her first birthday!  What a precious little character she is!  Since I don’t get to see her very often I was amazed that she took to me so immediately….. I ate it up!  Cheyenne was down from Sherwood to Winchester Bay to visit her good friend Kaylynn.  We are thankful they included us in their visit.  I thoroughly loved loving on Kendra.  We went to lunch at a hamburger place across the street from where they were staying.  Unfortunately, or perhaps gratefully, there was nothing on the menu that was gluten-free except for the ice cream.  So while Chey and Justice ordered fish and chips and chicken strips and fries, along with some clam chowder for themselves and chicken nuggets and fries for Kendra……Kendra loved my ice cream the best!  That got me a lot of attention from her!  This Greatest Gramma Bear was more than happy to share my lunch with her!  And when our all too brief visit came too soon to an end, Kendra gave me a love and a kiss before we left.  Well that certainly melted my heart and put her right up there at the top of my totem pole!  I love you too Chey, but your adorable daughter just stole my heart.

On our way home we made a very slight detour to see Winchester Bay and the boat docks.  Elder Wels is always up for a visit to check out any RV Park we might encounter.  We loved seeing the dunes and the ATVers and mentally reliving our weekend at the Dunes with the Skillman family. 

And, we made a brief stop at the Umpqua Lighthouse. 

There is something magical about a lighthouse.  Okay… back to Bandon and our missionary work.  First stop in Bandon was to see how our chainsaw carver, Brian Vorwaller, had fared at his Conference in Eugene.  He carved a beautiful tiger and was able to sell one other piece of his artwork.  Now he is again hard at work on his mermaid that he hopes to donate to the dock area of Bandon.  She is taking shape.  We can’t wait to see her finished!


Part of me spent the day in Ogden, Utah… well maybe not the physical part of me, but a big part of my heart and my thoughts were with Josh, our 8 year old grandson who was being baptized today.  We sure wished we could have been there too!  And, if he were only an hour away nothing could have stopped us from being there.  We so hope he knows how very pleased we are with his decision to be baptized into the Lord’s Church.  And, we are thankful to Steff who sent us this great picture of Josh and his daddy, Dan! 

It was a very special day for all of the Johnston’s.  It was so sad that we could not be there with them in person….. we hope you know our hearts were there the whole time! 

Sunday – I love you – Sheralyn  (We love you too beautiful soon to be BYU-I bound granddaughter!)
We had a 9:15 am meeting with the Bandon Branch Council this morning.  President Stockford went through the Branch list with us and we chose members who could use a little extra love by way of a visit this month from an auxiliary presidency.  About time!!!!  Each auxiliary was given three families to visit this month.  Yippee, 12 families will receive a little extra attention this month.  Bet Elder Wels and I will see way more than three!

Today was fast and Testimony Sunday.  This is perhaps my favorite Sunday.  I like feeling hungry as it helps me appreciate more the blessings I do enjoy, I like the knowledge that our money for the 2 skipped meals will go to help another family with needs in our little branch, and I love the testimonies I get to hear from our faithful Branch members!  Hearing their testimonies helps strengthen my own (Romans 10:17 So faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God).  Three sweet members today said how grateful they were that Elder Wels and I were a part of their branch family and much they appreciated the work we were doing.   Julie said we showed up at her place of work just when she needed a hug the most and we came to give it to her.  Thanks guys!  That gives us added strength!  Since this is such a small branch……. Elder Wels and I have the opportunity to bear our own testimonies almost every month.  That makes you think about your own testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.  Spiritually speaking….. what are you most grateful for?