with a huge winter storm!
December Notes: DJ turned 11 on Dec. 4th; if you missed it you can still send him a note!
On the 10th of December we mark 38 years since being sealed in the Arizona Temple with our two children, Jimmy and Christi, at that time!
Heather and Chad Clark celebrate 7 years of marriage on the 12th! Remembering their wedding is a special to me:)!
Family and Mission Notes:
So hard for me to believe that it is just over 2 weeks to Christmas...makes December feel kind of like a lost month and it just started! We had an unbelievably wonderful time on our trip to Wyoming - a fun Thanksgiving meal at the home of Chris' brother with good fellowship and lots of kids playing around, followed by a trip to the Billings Montanna Temple on Friday where our wonderful Wyoming grandkids did baptisms for family members I had located.
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| Mary waiting for us to get together for pictures:)! |
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| All together outside the temple:) |
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| Just before going in to do our temple work at the Billings Temple:)
We had asked John B. to do the baptism for Grandpa Oliphant (our kids grandpa, not the current Grandpa Jim) after having delayed for a long time because of the family's unhappiness with us. Just decided that we needed to have it done and hopefully before much longer have the original Grandpa and Grandma Oliphant sealed together for eternity. In order to get names for baptisms so that we would have more than one to do, I made progress in my use of the new Family Tree and hope to begin working regularly on it starting in January...so let me know if you want family names to do!!! (I AM slow - so give me as much advance notice as you can!) John, Rachel, Michael and Ammon helped bring members of my mother's family into the church this time:), while Mary passed the time with Becca and Melissa before all of us going out to dinner at the Golden Corral (I think that was the name) where we enjoyed a buffet of almost anything your heart could desire. That was a fitting dining place for Ammon's birthday (he is now a true teenager - a grand 13!), altho he was sad to not get any presents...including ours, which had been mailed. Later found out ours arrived on Monday after we left...so sorry Ammon. We came home afterwards and had fun watching Duck Dynasty - I think:).
I wanted to put some pictures of the Bullinger house addition here...but will have to wait until next time since Dad has them on HIS phone and seems to be deeply absorbed in something else right now:(
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Saturday was a wondeful, warm, sunny day, much enjoyed by all of us, altho Chris had a lot of farm stuff to do as well. Christine planned the December 1st breakfast for Saturday since the real 1st of December was on fast Sunday. Waiting for Chris to be available made it a somewhat late breakfast (sort of a brunch) but it was delicious and everyone loved it. Becca's baptism was scheduled for 3 p.m. so a couple of hours later we headed to the church for that; it was a beautiful baptism and I felt so very blessed to be able to be there. So very blessed to be able to be at two granddaughters' baptisms while serving this mission! Just blessed. There was a beautiful cake with ice cream afterwards, much enjoyed by all, and I have pictures of the baptism which I will try to find and put in here before closing this up. Two beautiful girls were baptized that day:). I think we went back to the house afterwards with a plan to go to the movie theatre in Cody later; we were somewhat divided on what movie to see...some wanted to see Catching Fire and some wanted to see Frozen. Before heading out for the theatre we ate hot dogs...really good hot dogs...to tide us over. Those who saw Frozen all agree it is one of the best movies ever! Those who saw Catching Fire said it was good - but not extraordinary, so we felt our choice was perfect! (And we would invite everyone to go see Frozen - you will love it!)
Leaving the theatre Grandma Sandy came up with the idea of getting pizza, because a stop at the gas station had a view of Papa Murphys. Unfortunately they were closed, but Albertsons was near and open so we bought a couple of frozen ones, took them home and put them in the oven...finishing off the night with pizza and tv stuff. A Fun day and a beautiful one.
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| Rebecca and Dad, ready for baptism |
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| View from the back... |
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| Happy and ready for CAKE! |
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| Mary and Grandpa Jim working on phone pics:) |
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| Rachel and her friend serving up the goodies! |
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| Grandma Sandy taking her piece:) |
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| All together after Church |
First, specifically pray to bring someone closer to the Savior and His gospel every day. You could do this by seeing all people as sons and daughters of God helping each other on their journey home. Think of the new friends you would make.
Second, pray for the missionaries serving in your area and their investigators by name every day. The only way to do this is to greet them, look at their badge, call them by name, and ask them who they are teaching. Elder Russell M. Nelson wisely contributed, “Until you know a person’s name and face, the Lord cannot help you know his or her heart.”
Third, invite a friend to an activity in or out of your home. Wherever you go or whatever you do, ponder who would enjoy the occasion and then listen to the Spirit as He directs you.
As with anything else, having a goal or a plan is only the first step to accomplishing anything...we have to actually DO something:)! The three things listed above are possible for ALL of us and I invite us all to participate fully:)!!!
Monday dawned bright and COLD! (Although Tuesday was much colder as this wonderful cold and stormy weather began its way across the western part of the country...and seems to still continue!) We packed up our things and then had fun driving with Christi and John back to Powell where his school and dorm are; drove around to see what it is like there & Grandpa helped him get his things back in his room. We located with a little difficulty and a phone call the Family History Center where John is hoping to do a little volunteer work soon, then we found a Taco John's and had a bite for lunch together before dropping John off to go to class and heading for Cody and the airport. Our flight home was a lot bumpier than the flight there but all in all not too bad. We stopped at the grocery store to get just a few little things before going home...then sort of crashed into bed:).
Next morning we were back at the mission office bright and early - ready for work...and work there was...and is. We could only work for a few hours before leaving with 4 of our departing missionaries for the temple (Medford); had a beautiful day there...Dad did the endowment for Grandpa O. and I did the endowment for one of my mom's family members; had a dinner afterwards at the home of a senior couple who worked with us in the office. It was a beautiful day and we especially enjoyed the time with our beloved missionaries who will be departing next week. A special time.
This rest of the week has been pretty hard as I've struggled to catch up with things and help the new sisters with work that is less familiar to them. It was complicated somewhat by zone conferences being held Tuesday through Friday, but we made it through and are ready to tackle it all again tomorrow. Had a phone call from Jim Jr. that again left me counting my blessings as he said that Jeanie, in desperation, had called a neighbor for help with DJ, who has been sick for several weeks now. The neighbor is also a pediatrician and said she had felt the Spirit tell her to stay home that day and had called in to her office that she would not be in. As Jim recounted the story to me I offerred a prayer of gratitude once again to my Father for the blessings granted our family. We are hoping that DJ will be back to good health soon with a change in doctors.
This rest of the week has been pretty hard as I've struggled to catch up with things and help the new sisters with work that is less familiar to them. It was complicated somewhat by zone conferences being held Tuesday through Friday, but we made it through and are ready to tackle it all again tomorrow. Had a phone call from Jim Jr. that again left me counting my blessings as he said that Jeanie, in desperation, had called a neighbor for help with DJ, who has been sick for several weeks now. The neighbor is also a pediatrician and said she had felt the Spirit tell her to stay home that day and had called in to her office that she would not be in. As Jim recounted the story to me I offerred a prayer of gratitude once again to my Father for the blessings granted our family. We are hoping that DJ will be back to good health soon with a change in doctors.
We attended our zone conference on Thursday where the president announced that our missionaries would now be on Facebook and could expect iPads soon; the APs and the president then spent an hour or so explaining more clearly how all this is to work - more about Facebook because that is what we are doing now, but a little about the iPads too. It was a wonderful conference and I found myself offering more prayers of gratitude for all I was learning and being a part of.
I think it was Thursday night that the weather hit us hard - lots of snow and ice. Friday morning one set of missionaries drove into a ditch and another set slid into a curb...prompting the president to put all missionaries on foot until things get better...no cars. Eugene is definitely not an area prepared for snow - no equipment for cleaning or sanding roads and the drivers, for the most part, mostly have not driven in snow. According to the weather report on Friday one of our nights was the lowest temperature since 1972 - which was before WE even moved to Oregon:)! It has remained very cold, but is far worse in Utah and Wyoming and I worry over all those exposed to those cold, cold temperatures - also for the homeless who usually are abundantly noticeable on our street corners...hoping they have found shelter for now. Church for us today was Sacrament meeting only - held two hours later than normal, with instructions to not come in at all if you felt unsafe driving.
So - here we go for another week...wish us well. I hope I have not forgotten anything I wanted to tell you about. It is definitely hard to do two weeks at once, especially when they have been so filled with stuff! I am getting a little better everyday with my iPhone, but still have a long way to go - but I do especially like getting Facetime calls from those who have it:)! Which reminds me...hope everyone saw Holly's announcement that she and Steve are expecting a GIRL:)! When I asked about names she said they were thinking of Anslee Gwen Oliphant. Sounds like a beautiful girl to me:).
Wishing everyone a wonderful, warm, safe week! Love to ALL! (Now I will try to add some pictures to this...)
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