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
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?
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