Camp Alpine

Part of our mission includes a girls' camp. Elder and Sister Caldwell and Elder and Sister Mangun are the two couples who serve there and keep the camp running. One of our monthly activities was a barbeque at the camp.

A nice group shot of all of us except Sister Caldwell behind the camera.

Elder Caldwell, Elder Mangun, Sister Mangun, Sister Oliphant, Elder Oliphant, Sister Terry, Elder Terry, Sister Rout, Elder Rout

Visiting while waiting for the food to finish cooking.

It's always nice when the men do the cooking!

 

What a pretty view!

 

Good times

The office board during transfer week. Here we are checking out who the new Zone Leaders, District Leaders and Trainers are. Sister Oliphant in the background.

All of the missionaries being transferred are driven to the Stake Center where they are taken to their new areas. It's a crazy busy time that happens every six weeks.

Here I am with our favorite district leader, Elder Wells, who was our district leader for most of the six months we were in Burns. I started to put my arm around him in this picture and then remembered that is against mission rules. So that's why we were both cracking up.

And here we are with Elder Wells for the last time before he went home the next day. Sad to see him go!

A fun picture of our two tallest missionaries, Elder Burton and Taumoelau. See the Christmas tree behind them? It was well over 6 feet tall! Elder Taumoelau used to be in our District and comes all the way from Tonga!

We enjoy getting to know the President's assistants who are in the office quite a bit. Here are Elders Covey and Hackett.

Right before Elder Hackett went home. We have a tradition where we call all of the missionaries on their birthdays and sing "Happy birthday" to them and blow horns and whistles. Elder Hackett's birthday was a couple of days after he went home so we had to call him in Utah and sing to him!

And here is our inspiration. We absolutely love working with President Young. He is truly an amazing man.

Oregon Coast

Continuing our search for lighthouses... this is the Cape Blanco Lighthouse.

And here is Coquille River. It is located in Bandon, where we followed President Young's advice and found a delicious fish and chips resturant located not far away. We eat there every time we pass through.

 

Port of Brookings. It is part of a private home. We found that the best place to view it was from a hotel parking lot across the street.

We love driving along the coast. There are always great views such as this one...

Or this.. We love Oregon!

 

Clock Shop

Once a month we get together with the other office couples and the couple who serve at the mission's young womens camp. In February we went to the Conger Clock Shop.

This is the main clock and near the entrance to the museum.

I enjoyed this display of fancy old fashioned clocks.

Clocks,clocks everywhere!

There were more than just clocks at the museum. Here is a dislplay of old fashioned cameras.

 

All kinds of phones. We were joking that our grandchildren might not even know what these are!

The grandkids would have fun playing in this.

This player piano really works. We even sang along. Well, Elder Caldwell and I were the only ones who  knew most of  the words to"Mockingbird Hill"but everyone else gave it a good effort.

Airplane display.

All kinds of trains.

Helping Elder Caldwell figure out how to make a souvenier coin.

The ladies: Siser Rout, Sister Caldwell, Sister Oliphant and yours truly.

We went to lunch afterwards at a delicious bbq restuarant. The Oliphants are next to us, the Routs across and Sister Caldwell next to them. A great day with new friends.

 



Our Home Away From Home

Each day that we go to the mission office we are greeted by this sign:

The mission office is the hub of the mission. It's a little hard to find because it's located in the basement of a small shopping center. But once you find it, you have come to a busy and wonderful place.

 

Sister Terry's desk... This is probably the cleanest it has been in awhile. Usually it has several projects spread out over it. Through the window you can see the little courtyard. Our plan is to buy a barbeque and have lunch together out there when the weather gets warmer.

And here is Elder Terry's desk. He spends some time at it doing his housing responsibilities, but more often he is found here...

In the President's office. You can't see the desk in this picture, but it's got a computer so that he can use it to find apartments available. This bulletin board holds the pictures of the families of our missionaries. We encourage each family to send a picture before their missionary arrives. Our family picture is at the bottom just to the right of the phone.

This is the transfer board. It's a little hard to see, but each card represents a missionary and is set up by zones and then districts. By looking at this we can see who is where and who the companions are. There is a matching board at the President's home in his office there. Sister Terry makes two cards for every missionary shortly after they arrive.

This is the arrival/departure board. Sister Rout, who works with us in the office, changes it each month. The missionaries love checking out who is coming and who is going. Sister Terry also makes two of each of these pictures. One for our board and one for a board at the President's home. He and Sister Young like to be able to get familiar with the faces of those coming in and think about those going home. Yes, that is 31 on the left as the last picture is of a senior couple who just arrived. And it doesn't include the six visa waiters we just found out about! The work is moving forward at a rapid pace and we are so happy to be a part of it in our own little way.



Searching for the illusive lighthouse

There are 11 lighthouses in Oregon and our goal is to see all of them before we leave. Not long after Christmas we ventured out to visit one of them. We should have been prepared when the only information we could find about where it was said that it was by mile marker 66. As we passed mile marker 66 it was too late to pull over so we decided to try on our way back down. We drove a little further to Waldport and drove over this bridge:

Alsea Bay Bridge

After stopping for lunch, we decided to go back and try to find the lighthouse. Once again we approached mile marker 66 and this time pulled over. There was nothing to see even when we got out of the car to look. It was in a area with cliffs and lots of trees. As we drove away I caught a quick glimpse of the tower. Here is what it really looks like:

Cleft of the Rock Lighthouse. It is privately owned and obviously difficult to find. Although we are counting it as one of the 11, we plan to go back and really search it out.

We did manage to do some other sight seeing on our way home.

Devil's Churn. 

The waves on the ocean were huge and the water was choppy so we picked the right day. Devil's Churn is a narrow inlet where as the waves come into it there is nowhere for them to go so they crash upon the lava rocks. Very impressive to see in person!

Normally every fall we spend a week in Yellowstone. This is as close as we will get this year. This isn't too far from Devil's churn. As the waves crash up around the rock, it blows through a hole just like a geyser. So we call this our mini Old Faithful! 

Christmas 2012

Our first Christmas away from our family. It was different, but we made the best of it. Instead of buying each other stuff we wouldn't have room to take home at the end of our mission, we shopped for each other at the dollar store. It was fun and we were both creative! Elder Terry picked out the antlers for both of us to wear.

Here is Elder Terry looking silly holding his stocking with his presents.

It seems to be the goal of the family to try to make Mom cry at least once every Christmas. This year the prize goes to Michelle and her family. The plaque reads, "Missionary (noun) a person who leaves their family for awhile, so others can be with their families forever."

This may be out of order, but before Christmas we enjoyed attending the Christmas party held out at the Blue River Branch, where we attend church every week. Here the children are acting out the Nativity story.

Sister O' Connor, standing by the Christmas tree is the Branch President's wife and also, the Primary President, Young Women's President (when they have Young Women aged girls) and the Branch activity planner. She was in charge of the party which turned out great!

A sweet picture of President O' Connor with some of the children. He read the Christmas story from the scriptures as the children acted it out. Then he talked to them about how both Jesus and Santa give gifts and without any fanfare or costume, he played Santa and had a special homemade stocking filled with treats for every child. What a great and simple way to celebrate Christmas!