Half Mission Conference

We just got back from the conference in Yuba City.  It is about an hour's drive away, and about 60 miles.  It would be like going to Vancouver from our home in Cathlamet.

Elder Kearon and his wife were our visiting General Authority.  They are from England, and he was called to the 1st Quorum of the Seventy in April 2010.  You might remember his talk about growing up in Saudi Arabia and being stung by a scorpion after disobeying his father about wearing shoes outside.

He is a very nice and sensitive man.  We sat next to him at lunch today and were able to get better acquainted with him.  He asked about our children and how they were doing, and so we told him about our guys and about our Joie, and how things fell into place so we could come and serve the Lord.  It was a very tender moment for us and for him. More so for him.  We have been through it a couple times.

As part of the conference presentations, a musical recording was played while several pictures of paintings of the Savior were shown on the screen.  We were then asked what our thoughts were during that presentation.  The answer, of course, was the Savior, His love for us, His sacrifice, and so on.  I admitted to Mom that my thoughts were about seeing our Joie, and all of us running towards each other in a grand reunion where we were all made whole.

Elder and Sister Baxter,  Elder and Sister Kearon, and us.

The Baxters are serving a "member support" mission in Paradise, CA.  They are from Utah, and are scheduled to be released on November 22nd this year.

They will hold the conference all over again tomorrow for the lower half of the mission, and we will be manning the office.

Guess that's it for now.

Love you all,

Dad

Another Transfer Under Our Belts

The transfers went fine other than it is a lot of extra work.  Our work is not all physical, but at the end of the day, we are beat and done with the day.  Too much excitement and busyness.  Having 17 new missionaries swarming around you for the whole afternoon takes its toll on me.  But, all the forms I produce with their special formulas and codes worked the first try.     "Yea Team!!!"

We didn't get out of the office until 700pm on Tuesday, and we were more than ready for some peace and quiet,

I took one of the foreign elders and his companion to Deseret Industries on Friday.  He had torn his last pair of pants, and so we went shopping.  He is one of the elders we keep an eye on and help out.  He will be going home at the next transfer on October 11th and we want him to look good when he arrives home.  He still represents the Lord.  He found a nice looking suit, and got a pair of dress slacks and 2 ties for $21.50.  (Not a bad place to shop).

Today is Labor Day, and so the office is closed.  It is nice to just hang out and get some errands done.  We have 4 birthdays coming up with Tillie's tomorrow, Camille's next week, and Madeline and David the week after (they kind of snuck up on us).

Mom, in her letter, said we found a couple of lamps at IKEA.  Here are the pictures of them.  One is a Table model and the other is a Floor model.

I keep resisting the urge to buy other furnishings knowing that we not only will have to have room to haul it home, but also will have to find a place for it in our house in Cathlamet.

This week we will be getting ready for a Mission Tour by Elder Kearon of the 1st Quorem of the 70.  He is in our Area Presidency and will be meeting with all the missionaries on this coming Monday and Tuesday.  We will have a "Half Mission" Conference for the Northern half, and then another one for the Southern half.  We are in the Southern half and will be part of it next week Tuesday.  Lily has met him before, and he is a very nice man.  He is from England.

Well, have a great week, everybody.  Thank you for your prayers, and love and support.

Dad