Week 20: The Ports

Well it's Sunday night and we just got back from another Missionary Fireside. Because it is late and I don't have a lot to report, I'll just post a bunch of photos. This first one is of the four awesome Elders and six amazing Sisters that we took to the fireside. We are in the mission van -- all 12 of us! -- and all in seat belts.  The Sister in the middle is Sister Hardy, she is a niece of Rod and Rae Paulson who live in Vernal. She is a really good missionary.

The other photos I'm posting are of our P-Day excursion to Port Hadlock and Port Townsend with the Clarkes. These two "ports" are located on the north eastern side of the Olympic Peninsula.  I think we might have gone through Port Ludlow as well?

Original home of Samuel Hadlock; it's now the Ajax Cafe

Port Hadlock is pretty small, but we HAD to check it out, of course. It was founded in about 1851 by a Samuel Hadlock who was born in New Hampshire in 1829. We went to Family Search to see if we were related, but couldn't make a connection. But Van does have a Great Great Great Grandfather named Samuel Hadlock who was born in New Hampshire in 1770.

Then the next pictures were taken in or near Port Townsend. It is known for it's quaint main street with lots of shops and galleries -- tourist trap for sure. We didn't buy anything, but enjoyed wandering around. Oh wait, I did, of course, buy some chocolate at a candy store. something very imPORTant!

Cool building in Port Townsend

Elder Hadlock & Elder Clarke at abandoned bunker at Fort Worden

Sheet music I saw in an antique store

It was a very rainy and cold day, but we still enjoyed our adventure.

Thought I should include something spiritual. We really are not just on vacation! Anyway, I searched for the word "port" in the scriptures. Only one came up: Nehemiah 2:13. You'll have to take the opPORTunity to look it up. That's about as spiritual as it gets this week!  -- And I'm frustrated anyway with trying to get photos in the right places on here. Open to help and suggestions.

Week 19: Life is LOVEly

The week of LOVE -- Valentines Day. Lots of packages came in for missionaries this week -- full of LOVE & Happy Valentine wishes from home I'm sure.

We were thrilled to get a couple of packages as well. We enjoyed candy & chocolate from the Merrells, but our favorite part was Brooke's drawing and seeing that she has learned to write her name. Precious.

Tuesday brought a delightful surprise of two dozen roses and a box of chocolates -- a sweet, thoughtful gift from Samuel. Still enjoying the roses.  Van was grateful, too. He said it got him out of having to buy flowers!  He took me to dinner instead for Valentines.

Things were a little slow at the office on Friday!

And Benjamin took time to send us a beautiful card with an extra special message inside.

Valentine Selfie

Our mission isn't all LOVE and fun. We do work. And we also try to include personal and companion study time in each day.  Actually we LOVE that, too. Right now we are participating in a March Madness with the young missionaries. The President is giving us assignments out of Preach My Gospel to complete each week. Then each Zone will have a March Madness Activity on March 17 to culminate and reward our efforts. This week we read Chapters 1 and 6. We would encourage all to read and study from Preach My Gospel -- no matter your stage in life. It contains inspired instruction for all who LOVEand want to share the gospel. Here's a cool quote we found in our reading: "Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self destruction." (Ezra T. Benson)

Yes, we LOVE reading the scriptures. -- and we got to go to the temple on Saturday -- something else we LOVE.

 On Sunday, we treated ourselves to pancakes and the panflute.

We LOVE -- Buchanan's Pancake Mix and the dear friends who sent it to us.

Van, is learning to play the panflute which I gave to him for Valentines Day. He's going to learn some LOVE songs so he can serenade his LOVEly wife?

OK -- things are getting corny. Which reminds me, it's time to enjoy the Sunday night tradition I LOVE.

(Don't you LOVE my sense of humor!)

No doubt --  we LOVE and miss you all. Have a great week.

Week 18: Can't think of a title and it's time for bed.

Sister Brewster and her trainer, Sister Wilcox

It was transfer week. Eight new missionaries arrived on Tuesday. Five others went home on Wednesday. Four of those five missed their flight! President and Sister Weaver and the departing missionaries got stuck in traffic on the way to the airport. They always leave in plenty of time because the traffic between hear and Seattle is notoriously congested. But what they didn’t anticipate was the extra traffic created by Seahawk fans headed to Seattle for a parade honoring their football team. I guess it was            something to behold. 

Looking out our front window

We witnessed a tender mercy, however, as Delta was able to get them on a flight leaving 3 hours later – at no extra charge. Miracle indeed. 

I’m including a photo of one of our new missionaries, Sister Brewster. She was Harley Murray’s roommate at UVU. Harley is the grand daughter of Dez and Carol Murray of Vernal. 

 It has been very cold here all week. It finally snowed 2-3 inches on Saturday night and warmed things up! (Who would believe it could snow at sea level! -- and the snow doesn't even taste like salt!). 

A look out the back

We actually got "called out" during the storm. Some Sisters had locked their car keys in the trunk. Van found an extra set of keys at the office for their car. Thank goodness they weren't too far away -- about 20 miles. We drove over and "rescued" them and made sure they got home OK.

Missionaries who sang at the fireside.

They don't quite know how to handle it here because it doesn't snow very often. Several Stakes in the mission canceled Sunday meetings. I'm glad that ours didn't. I like going to Church. Makes the day go faster. I overheard some missionaries expressing their disappointment that meetings were canceled because they had several investigators who had committed to go to church. 

We were glad they didn't cancel a Missionary Fireside held in the Tacoma Stake tonight. The spirit is always so strong at these firesides. Usually the missionaries do all the singing and bearing of testimonies. Tonight they also had a woman who was baptized just a few hours earlier bear her testimony. It was impressive. She gave a testimony of the Holy Ghost that could have been delivered by a lifetime member. It was inspiring to say the least.

Cute, sweet Sisters. Love them all!

We didn't do any "exploring" on P-Day because Van wasn't feeling well.  (I actually enjoyed a nice long shopping excursion -- even if it was just to Wal-Mart. I could wander every isle with no pressure to hurry.)

Anyway, Van caught a bit of a cold, and a nasty cough. But we think we've found a good remedy -- white onions. Onions are supposed to remove impurities from the air and absorb toxins. So, we placed chopped onions in a bowl and put it near the recliner he sits in. 

We also cut some big, thick slices of onion and put them on the bottoms of his feet (held on with socks) while he slept. He swears it really helped, and I would agree. He felt much better after just one day. After day two, I think he's definitely on the mend. 

So our apartment smells like onions instead of popcorn this fine Sunday night. But ... it's all good.

When life gives you a cold ... peel an onion!

Week 17: BOWLS ...

The Lakewood Zone

 President and Sister Weaver thought there might be a chance that some of the people here in Washington might be watching the Super BOWL – and that they might not take kindly to missionaries knocking on their doors this night.

So, each Zone gathered for an evening of Football Scripture BOWL. We joined the Elders and Sisters in the Lakewood Zone. Of course, food was on the program first – pizza, chips, dip, salsa, little weanies, cookies, soda, etc. – that didn’t miss a beat.

Then it was time for Football Scripture BOWL. Questions came from scriptures (used in teaching lessons), Preach My Gospel, The Missionary Handbook, and Conference Talks.  My favorite questions were when a missionary had to give a one minute lesson on a topic such as baptism, the atonement, etc. These missionaries know how to teach by the spirit – on the spot. 

For their half-time entertainment, they gathered around the piano and sang a few hymns. 

Sister Stucki and Sister Tingey

We might have missed the Super Bowl commercials, but we sure enjoyed spending time with the missionaries. 

Sister Tingey, at left, is a visa waiter. She will be leaving tomorrow for Brazil. She's been in our mission for six months. She's a great missionary.

On a humorous note: Our Church meetings begin at 1 p.m. In Relief Society, the RS President said something like: “I’m so glad you are here. I know many of you would love to be home  …. Waiting for the groundhog to appear!

  Here are some photos from our Saturday excursion. We visited Anderson Island. We, and two other couples, loaded up in the Yukon and drove onto the ferry boat. It’s about 20 minute ferry ride to Anderson Island, the southern most island in the Puget Sound. The island is about 5 miles wide, 8 miles long. Maybe 3,000 – 4,000 people live there.

They do have a small branch that meets on the island. In fact, behind us in line at the ferry was the Primary President (a Sister Sullivan). She saw our Utah license plates and came up to find out about us. She said she has three children in the Primary. A new family just moved in and it tripled the Primary!

Not a lot to do on the island, just very beautiful. We stopped at the General Store and found the one and only restaurant – at their golf course club house. The restaurant sits next to a small freshwater lake -- Lake Josephine. Gorgeous setting. Enjoyed lunch -- Taco Salad in a Tortialla BOWL -- and then caught the ferry back to Steilacoom.

Steilacoom is another cute little town – kind of a walk back in time. We went to Bairs Drug & Hardware (old-fashioned store) for a BOWL of hand-dipped ice cream.  Delightful day.

Now, it's time to wind the week up -- time for a BOWL of buttered POPCORN! -- Manna from Heaven.

 Love you all.