A Different Christmas

    I mentioned to Connie that we had no decorations except a twig and three pictures on the wall so she and her kids got busy and sent us a tree with lights made of poster board and a ton of snowflakes.  It brought some life to the place.  To add to that there were See's chocolates that we are working at finishing because we are going to try to go off sugar again after New Years. It is such a sacrifice to try to get them finished. ^0^

 

Growing up and even in many of my married years I think that Christmas Eve was more special to me than Christmas Day.  For some reason it seemed that all of my siblings and I were able to gather our families at Mom and Dad's or another home and have a light supper and then we would stand around the piano and sing carols and sometimes have more program and the Christmas story.  I can still "feel" how I felt at those times.  It was family bonding at its finest.  I always went to bed or later to our home full of Christmas joy. 
     I have lots of fun memories of Christmas eve since then but those will always be what Christmas eve is to me.  Perhaps because Mom could play so well, we had all four parts of the music covered (most of the time) and everyone liked to sing we really made music and lots of it. It was caroling at its finest.
     Yesterday we spent the day cooking (I'll write about that in a minute) but between the potatoes and the cookies we took a break to do some service.  I cut up potatoes, dipped them in butter and put them in foil packs in the oven and Mike ran to the store and got some soft drinks and two whole baked chickens.  We took two big brown paper sacks and put two oranges, two soft drinks, three foil packs of potatoes and a whole chicken in each and then got in the car to find homeless people out begging in the rain.  We found three men about a block from here and another two about another two blocks from there.  We had included a Christmas picture and message in the bag which we handed to them and told them to remember what Christmas was really about, wished them a Merry Christmas and then drove off.
      Once we got home I started baking cookies and once they were finished it was just two people in two different rooms doing two different things.  Mike was watching some TV movie that I wasn't in to so I came to the office and watched church Christmas videos.  They touched my heart and I saw some things from a different perspective but I have to admit the "magic" of the evening was missing. 
     Presents are pretty well a thing of the past here, too.  We are always thrilled to hear of the wonderful experiences that our families have as they take turns providing Christmas for needy families instead of doing family gifts.  Those gifts are so much more important and meaningful than the "What can we give to?" gifts that sometimes happen.  It has changed the "under the tree" picture in our home, however.  My siblings and I still exchange a gift and Mike and I usually give each other something but those three gifts are usually it.  This year Lanny sent us a check and we bought a shared computer program for each other on line that hasn't arrived yet so we opened the one wrapped gift, a booklet of the life of JoAnn Murphy Britsch and then got to work cutting cookies and warming potatoes for the party at the Mission Home.                                                                                                                                  

       A few weeks back, at the Friday night Couples Conference the President's wife mentioned that she was going to have all of the missionaries near Eugene come to their place on Christmas day and she didn't know how she was going to get it all done.  She said that the sisters in the office usually help but they would be out delivering gifts that day.  I offered to help and she said that would be wonderful.  I asked if she would like me to do the cookies and funeral potatoes and she said that would be great and for me to save the receipts.  I sent her a text about a week ago reviewing what I had figured out and again she said that would be great.  We spent all day yesterday shopping and cooking.  I made 4 pans of lemon bars, 4 pans of brownies and 4 huge pans (15 lbs of potatoes) of funeral potatoes.

     I was happy to feel like I was really donating something helpful to her.  When we got there it blew my mind.  They had bought a huge cake and 3 mammoth trays of cookies at Costco, she had made cookies and the sisters that were going to be gone came in with-----yes----funeral potatoes and lemon bars.  I couldn't believe it.  There was so much food that not one piece of cake was taken, 3 store bought cookies were taken and a few brownies and lemon bars.  Certainly not one pan of anything was taken when the first wave of missionaries left.  I helped wrap up much of what I brought for the freezer and then we left.  It was obvious that they neither needed us or really even the food. We each did enjoy a plate of lots of delicious food, however.                                                                   

  The rain had stopped and there was some sunlight outside so Mike wanted to take a drive and enjoy it.  There is one street that is named Green Hill that we pass every time we go to Veneta that is so fittingly named and I have mentioned wanting to see where it went.  I got to today.  The pictures don't do it justice.  We usually drive through the traffic light going east or west and it is to the south of us.  The second picture is taken looking back down the hill. 

Yes, that was a "sunny day" compared to the rainy days that we regularly live with.  The blessing of all that moisture is that things are so green and trees are everywhere.

We got to talk to three of our kids and many excited grandchildren.  That was the most fun of all.

After we got home I cooked a chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and rolls and we feasted and then read the Christmas story from the bible.  That was a nice touch for the day. 

Chinese Fun

The day before we left Mt. Pleasant Lanny and Shirley stopped to say goodbye and the last thing I said to them was that my dream would be to be able to help a Chinese person come into the gospel.
We were pleased to see two Chinese Elders at our first Zone meeting and told them that we would be willing and happy to teach an Oral English class for them if that would be helpful to them.  There are two working at the University of Oregon and two at Oregon State University in Corvallis. 

The two cuties behind me are best friends from the same ward in Hong Kong.  The one just above me has only been out a little over a month.  They speak Cantonese in their apartments, Mandarin to investigators and English to the rest of us. 

On Thursday night the middle two, who are assigned here in Eugene called to see if there was any way that we could drive three of their investigators to Corvallis to a party on Friday night.  We were free and agreed to but weren't really even able to understand where he was saying the party was.  It was dark and rainy (surprise) and the GPS gave us some wrong directions so it was a little difficult to find the institute at UO to picked them up and then we drove for another hour in the dark and rain to Corvallis and found the institute.  Our three riders are graduate students from various places in China.  We couldn't tell how much they had actually heard about the church but were excited because this was to be the first Christmas party they had ever attended. One girl spoke quite freely to us and the other two didn't say much at all. 

After we met at the institute we drove to the home of a family.  We're not sure why we went to the institute because we got back into our own car and followed our GPS to get there but we did. 

Three years ago a couple in Corvallis (he is Chinese-she is from Oregon) had a few Chinese students over for a Christmas party.  The next year they had met a family with a much bigger home and she had gone to Taiwan for a mission and they arranged to have the party at their home.  They had about 10 Chinese that year.  This third year there were 20 Chinese there.  Most of the conversation came in Chinese and even the "He is the Gift" video had Mandarin subtitles.  It was really fun to be so immersed in the culture again. 

We have no idea how our riders felt about the video and the testimonies that the Elders bore in Mandarin.  They spoke in Mandarin the first while back in the car and then were quiet most of the way home.  I had mentioned to them on the way up that we have offered to teach Oral English at the institute in Eugene if they find interested students.  They quickly said that they would love to be our students.  When they got out of the car we told them that the offer was open and we gave the a card with our phone numbers and email address.  We'll see if anything comes of it. 

I do have to say that when we got assigned to the country town of Veneta that doesn't even have a Hispanic population my wish of working with Chinese seemed quite impossible.  We will see what comes of this.  At very least, we truly enjoyed ourselves. 

The Love Project

The town of Veneta does what they call a love project each December.  The schools, postal workers, stores, and clubs all work together to collect food and give boxes to the needy.  This year there were over 200 applications for boxes.  For years they have used an empty store front for the final sorting point and pick-up but the place was rented a few years ago and they had to find a new spot.  Our Bishop offered our chapel and after is was checked for drive-through space, work space and everything else it was accepted.  This is the second year that the chapel has been used. 

One of the first things that our Bishop asked us to do was to stay in the building full time during the week to help with the project and basically oversee the use of the building.  We started Monday morning, had Tuesday off for Zone conference and spent all day Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday on the project.  We are guessing that we sorted approximately 70% of the cans that came in with one other person.  Needless to say we are tired but felt good about the outcome.

First we helped to haul in 260 empty banana boxes and lined one end of the gym.  Then the groceries started coming in.  Some were in bags, some in boxes and some in large collection barrels.  They were all dumped in a mammoth heap that kept growing as we lowered it throughout the week.  Our basic job was to take each can that came in and put it either into a vegetable, fruit, meal or other pile.  Later we  sorted about 40 huge, roughly piled boxes in the "meals" pile and further sorted them.

In the evening other people came in and put some from each of our piles into each of the boxes.

 

When all of the boxes were loaded then they were stacked, ready to be taken to the cars. 

On Thursday night the basketball team was supposed to show up and there was some confusion.  I heard the lady saying she didn't know what she was going to do.  I called the Bishop when we got into the car and he sent out calls and the members came pouring in.  I heard her say the next day, "I didn't know what I was going to do and then more and more people from the LDS Church came and we had it done in no time.  I'm sure that this week has been a very positive PR for the church in many people's eyes.  

 

 

 When they were taken to the car there was also a pound of margarine, a loaf of bread, a frozen chicken, a bag of potatoes and a bag of apples for each family. 

A serpentine path was designed through the parking lot.  First the fire trucks came and loaded up for boxes to deliver to families who could not come and pick up.  Then the train of cars came from 10-2.  It was pouring rain entire time.  Mike stood for about 5 hours in the rain at the exit keeping people from coming in the wrong way. 

Many people, including the Bishop praised us for our many hours of hard work.  We were totally exhausted but it felt good to have something so useful and rewarding to do. 

Some Things are Beginning to Happen

Mike and I have both had colds this week so we've been running at about half-speed but we are moving forward with some things. 

This is the Fern Creek Service Center where we spend a some hours of Monday through Thursday.  The building is only two years old and the Senior Citizen's Center in this glass front area and the back has the food pantry.  They got a federal grant to build it and ONLY seniors can be served in the Senior Citizen area.  They have a Meals-on-Wheels type of lunch program on M-W-F that is gov't run and a large group of regulars come and play bingo for a few hours and then either have the lunch there or take it home with them.  It is fun to see the food being passed out in cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream and other cartons that they bring back and are washed and used again.  The meals on wheels program delivers those same lunches. 

In order to qualify for the grant meals have to be served 5 days a week so volunteers prepare a lunch that is sold for $3.50 on Tuesday and Thursday.  Most of the "takers" are a group of ladies that stay after and play train dominoes.  They are cute little ladies. 

I've been wearing my dress outfits and feeling a bit out of place since everyone else in the building is in slacks.  I wrote to the Mission Pres for guidelines and he said that for seniors whatever is worn for the activity is fine as long as we wear the badge.  Off with Mike's suit and tie and my long skirts while we play with the old people and needy. 

I did have a cute one the other day.  I had on a bold stripped black and white top with a black long skirt and we got chatting with three ladies.  Someone said something about me being "Sister" and one started laughing and said that she was Catholic and wondered what order I was with that wore such up-to-date habits. 

In another part of the same building, in the back there is a food pantry.  We help there quite a few hours on Monday and Wednesday.  In order to get the grant on the building they had to serve all ages in the building and the food pantry gives food for families with children of all ages so that area of the grant was met.  It is really quite an amazing project.  It reminds you of a Bishop's Storehouse but is full of different things each time we go.  Things that are being pulled from grocery shelves, overstocked items, etc are donated and then given to people who apply and qualify.  I believe they can get 16 "shopping trips" a year and we determine the amount of food that they receive by the number in their family.  Where the seniors lunch is happy to have us they don't really need us.  The food pantry is really grateful for our help.  Mike helps stock shelves and I help the patrons get their orders. 

Another thing that this community does is provide boxes of food for families that sign up for them at the pantry and other places.  There are food collections done all over the community from the post men, the scouts, the basketball team, church groups, bakeries, stores and other places.  The food is collected all week and then there is a drive-thru pick up for four straight hours on Saturday.  I guess that there are hundreds of boxes--each has a turkey and a variety of other things. 

Until two years ago there was an empty store front by the grocery store that they used to collect the food so when they went looking for a place our Bishop volunteered the use of our chapel.  They put tarps down in the gym and people file in and out with donations all week and then put the boxes together on Friday and pass them out on Saturday.  The Bishop has asked us to stay in the building all week to help things to run smoothly although there is a woman who has run the project for years that will be in and out and apparently does a marvelous job. 

We were asked weeks ago by the Bishop to visit a number of people and invite them to the Ward Christmas party.  We would go and they wouldn't be home and it would be raining so we couldn't just leave an invitation.  Mike got the idea to put them in sandwich bags and staple a rubber band on each one so that we could hang them on doorknobs.  We left quite a few that way but we were able to find a few home.  We spent quite a while talking to one young father who used to be active and hasn't been for a while.  His wife had to work but I told him that if he would come and bring the two children I would tend the baby for him.  He came and I tended.  We were so happy to see him there.

Just before Thanksgiving we drove down to see a family who is about 9 miles south of town.  She was such a darling girl, told us that her father is a Branch President and had a picture of the temple hanging above her piano.  She was very friendly and invited us to come back but was very busy.  The other day I woke up feeling that I needed to send her a note with some thoughts and a video clip about making room for the Savior and an invitation to the Ward Christmas party.  I told her that she reminded me of my daughters who are about the same age with long dark hair and asked her to please come to the party.  She came and brought her daughter.  The Bishop told us this morning that this was the first time in over a year that she has been there.  That made us very happy!

We were asked by the ward mission leader to visit every active family in the ward and leave a message.  He was not specific as to what he wanted covered.  We have been praying about it and feel strongly that I calling for this six-weeks it to help the members to learn to be member missionaries.  We went to a couple tonight for our first of those visits and I think it went well.  We showed a video of Gifford Nielsen on Hastening the Work and challenged them to think of a date and then to pray for opportunities to find someone to teach by that date. It was a positive experience.

A branch fell from a Christmas tree on a side road we were walking on so it is taped to the wall of our apartment as our token Christmas tree. 

An UP and down week!

I'm going to mix the events of the week up so the order of events will be scrambled but hopefully it will all get there.

Before we even left Utah we had received an invitation to a Couples Conference for yesterday and today.  I was SO excited to go and meet some other missionaries and learn a bit more about what we could be doing, etc.  We aren't even clear about whether we can go to the grocery store without suit and dress.  This was to be what I had hoped to get some idea of in the MTC.  But alas, it seems that Merlene is not designed to have training.  We had a lovely dinner and silly gift exchange ending with a testimony meeting last night and today was to be the day of sharing.

I woke up not feeling well and it just continued to get worse and worse.  It was similar in some ways to my days in the apartment while Mike attended the MTC but  it was shorter and more intense. It started the same way with throwing up and then it all happened.  I was in so much pain that I was perspiring from every pore in my upper body.  Water was running down my forehead into my eyes, my hair was dripping and I had to take off a drenched top.  Thankfully that lasted only about 30 minutes, however.  Now I'm mostly just exhaused with some quick trips.

But--- we had to miss the part of the conference I was looking so forward to.  We left with no new ideas and no questions answered. After the conference we were all invited to a Creche display in a chapel in Springfield that is sponsored by all of the Stakes in the area.  Our Ward Choir was to sing at 2:30 and I was planning to sing with them, too.  But alas------

  Perhaps we are just to find our own way in our own world.  The few things that were mentioned in the testimony meeting sounded like they were passing out cards and doing basically what the young elders are doing.

The town we are serving in is about twice the size of Mt. Pleasant or about the size of Ephraim without Snow College.  Other little town in the area are also a part of the Ward.  We want to support the Elders not compete with them. 

We both feel like our place is more to help the ward members to learn to be missionaries (visiting teachers, home teachers, etc.  The home teaching percentage in Oct. was 19%) and to be a positive influence in the community.

Monday - Actually P-Day but we spent the middle of the day helping hand out food at the local food pantry.  They needed up and seemed to appreciate having us there.

Tuesday - We helped to prepare the Senior's lunch.  They didn't need us.  There were almost as many in the kitchen as there were eating but at least we were there and trained to help when they do need us.  That night we drove and drove out into the trees on roads that eventually became dirt roads to invite a couple who got baptized a few years ago to the Ward Christmas party.  She asked if they were really invited even though they hadn't been coming to church and I told her that they were especially invited because of that.  I told her that if she didn't know anyone there I would have her sit by me.  I designed and printed some little flyers for the Elders to use to advertise a Scripture Study class that they will be having on Wednesday evenings.  We'll be there, too, but want to be the support.

Wednesday - We worked two shifts at the food pantry and tried to go and visit a brother who owns a pawn shop and is inactive.  He was gone to Portland so we'll have to try again.  Mike did talk with him on the phone the day before.

Thursday - This was the up. Although it was raining all day I was able to get this quick shot of the Portland temple before we went in.  It was SO nice to be in the temple again, although it was a very different experience from the live sessions in Manti.

 The temple has a lovely atrium that has poinsettias mixed with other lovely plants.  These two Elders are the ones serving in our Ward.  They rode up with us and talked us into taking them to the Cheesecake Factory afterward.  Elder Blair is from American Fork and Elder Chang is from Kona, Hawaii.  They are a great team.

I didn't realize that we could take pictures IN the temple but they did allow it in the atrium. 

These are some of the elders from our zone.  The zone leaders ae the guy in the grey suit and the tallest guy next to him.  They really are very mature and carry on a very impressive meeting. I do not know how I get the magical blue and underlining but I do hope that you enjoy it.

Friday - We had a full morning zone meeting in the morning and I'll post notes of that in my diary. We came home and baked cookies so that we could share our idea at the couples conference but they are still in the car since the sharing time was today. 

On Wednesday evening our Ward mission leader called and said that he would like us to visit every active family in the ward and give them a short family home evening and encourage member missionary work and give tips.  He feels that some of them may be more comfortable with us than the young elders.  We have a wonderful, short video and handout asking if we have room for Christ in our lives with a quote by President Monson and another by Elder Maxwell.  I also have a craft for the children where they can make a room and label different things like pass along cards, praying, etc. that they can do to make room for the Savior.