How Great Shall Be Your Joy: Mission Conference in Eugene

Recently we traveled to Eugene to attend two days of a mission conference and to have a little R and R on the days in between.

We were able to travel through the Mc Kenzie Pass. It's closed in the winter and early spring, so this was our first chance. This is a shot of the lava beds that are all the way through it.

Standing near the Sea of Lava area.

This is an informational sign explaining the Sea of Lava.

An observatory on top of a hill of lava.

A nice view of the Three Sisters Mountains from Mc Kenzie Pass.

After arriving in Eugene we attended the first of two conferences. This one was for half of our mission and we were instructed by Elder Steven Snow, who is the Church Historian.

Each of us were able to shake hands with Elder Snow who is seen on the right.

What a great opportunity it was to be instructed by Elder Snow. The meeting lasted several hours but it seemed like the time flew by. The missionaries in this picture are from our zone. We were lucky to be able to sit so close. In this segment we were being taught the chain of missionary work from finding to retention.

Here is the wonderful Cascade Zone shown with President and Sister Young and Elder and Sister Snow. Some people may recognize Sister Francom, second on the left. She used to live in Las Vegas!

We have mentioned in our emails how much we miss attending the temple as it is far away from where we are currently serving. When we found out we would have a few extra days in Eugene the first thing we planned to do was attend the Portland Temple.

It is as beautiful on the inside as on the outside. There is alot of marble throughout the whole temple. We liked the fact that the floor plan is similar to Las Vegas so it was easy to find our way around.

The temple: a blessing in our lives.

We spent a little time in the Visitors Center which is near the temple.

Our second day of R and R was spent driving down the coast and enjoying the ocean.

This was one of the strangest things we saw. It reminded us of Robinson Crusoe, a great book, by the way, that we highly recommend!

A view of the ocean from a jetty.

Another strange sight. Oyster shells by the side of the road!

Umpqua River Lighthouse, a working lighthouse. We found it on the map and had to find it to take a picture for Michelle who loves lighthouses.

Our final day in Eugene was another missionary conference. This one was with the entire mission. It was great to join all together as missionaries with the same purpose: TO INVITE OTHERS TO COME UNTO CHIRST BY HELPING THEM RECEIVE THE RESTORED GOSPEL THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AND HIS ATONEMENT, REPENTANCE, BAPTISM, RECEIVING THE HOLY GHOST AND ENDURING TO THE END.

We knew we would have an Apostle visit but were surprised to have several more general authorities.