WOW!! It’s been an epic two weeks!

 

Interviews, zone conferences and a trip to Utah all in just two weeks.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the week of January 14th we had interviews in Medford, Central Point, Klamath Falls and Eugene (Springfield Zone). There had been a big snow storm around Klamath Falls but we made it in President Cornelius’s 4 wheel drive truck. The missionaries in every zone are just fantastic making it worth the trip to see them.

Collage of missionaries waiting to be interviewed

I go to see the missionaries but the treats don’t hurt - LOL

Dinner with sisters after the interview on Wednesday: Sisters Salima, Felila, Bottomly and Thompson

Dinner with Sisters Cummings and Maile on Thursday evening after interviews

Blue skies, clouds and snow between Medford and Klamath Falls

Sisters Blackham and Duncan in Klamath Falls

Friday, I left the interviews in Eugene early to catch a flight to Sandy to see my family. David (my youngest son) and Brianna were blessing their baby on the following Sunday. I received permission to attend the blessing.

David and Charles Rex Petersen

I spent the days at home enjoying my family, visiting and eating and generally having a good time!

Brianna, David, Zolee, Reed, Dean, Charlie

Ellie

James

Cody

Rory & Deanne

Jim’s birthday was on the 17th. Jenna, his wife, wanted to give him a surprise party. We managed to get everyone on board for a Saturday night pizza party. Jenna convinced Jim to take her out to sushi for her birthday on the 14th. They were going to come pick me up and take me with them. When they got to the house, Jim was really rather upset that Jeff was making pizza for everyone and he hadn’t been invited. He was shocked to find out it was a party to celebrate his birthday. Got ya Jim!!

 

Sunday evening we had a potato bar for dinner

This is a picture of Deanne and David. Deanne was 9-10. David 6-7

They decided to recreate the picture……… We had a good time and some great laughs.

I was to fly back to Eugene on Monday, the 15th, but an ice storm shut down the City of Eugene and the Willamette Valley. I got to the airport Monday morning at 9:30 to catch my 11:45 plane. 

20 minutes before boarding, the flight was canceled.

I stood in line for an hour to re-book a flight for that evening. 

I got an email about 10 minutes before leaving for the airport to alert me that my flight again had been canceled. 

I needed to get back to zone conferences being held in Roseburg on Wednesday and Medford on Thursday. I was able to change my destination city to Medford and got a flight out on Tuesday night. The sisters in Medford picked me up at the airport and took me to my hotel.

They picked my up the next morning and took me to Grants Pass where the sisters from Grants Pass took me to Roseburg for the Zone Conference there.

After the conference in Medford, there was a Restoration Devotional at 7:00. We stayed that night and left the next morning for Eugene conference. Whew!! What a great opportunity. 

At the luncheon for the zone conference in Medford, Sister Hopkins, the wife of the second counselor in the mission presidency, brought a bag of crabs that she got in Hawaii. She opened the bag and put one on the table in front of my plate. No one wanted to give it a try! Everyone was gagging and making yucky sounds so I picked it up and ate it. That caused a riot at the table. 

I convinced Sister Jeffords that she would always regret not trying something new. She ATE it!! What a sport!!!

I missed the ice storm in Eugene. The missionaries were required to stay in their apartments from Monday through Thursday as the streets and sidewalks were hazardous. Traffic came to a halt on the I-5 freeway where people were stranded and couldn’t move for 15 hours according to a news review. 

Elder and Sister Barker drove to Cottage Grove, about 25-30 minutes south of Eugene to pick up some sisters who had no power. Sister Barker sent me some pictures she took. They saw the stopped traffic on the freeway and opted for a side road. The trip took them over 3 hours. Here are some pictures she sent to me.

If you zoom in you can see the trucks and cars at a stand-still on the freeway

Many of the missionary apartments had no power. Fallen trees and ice knocked down trees and power lines. 

Downed power lines

Sister and Elder Barker were without power until Saturday afternoon.

Saturday morning I was able to walk with Sister and Elder Crump. It had been a week since I was blessed to get my walk. I did walk in the SLC airport while waiting for my plane Monday morning and got my 4 miles of walking in but the other mornings have required me to be available for other obligations and I couldn’t walk on the treadmill in the hotel where I stayed because I hadn’t taken my walking shoes with me to Sandy. Oh well, absence makes the heart grow fonder. 

Saturday evening, Sister and Elder Crump invited me to dinner at their home along with Sister and Elder Barker. After dinner we played some games. Fun times with good friends!

While I was at home, I made a quick stop to see a good friend. Her husband has had very bad back problems to the point that he hadn’t been able to get out of the house much and was barely able to walk for a couple of years. He had had several back surgeries and treatments. After the last surgery just over a year ago, the surgeon informed him that he had done all he could do to help him and that he would have to seek help from a more specialized doctor at Mayo Clinic or such. Her husband did some research and found a doctor in Salt Lake at the University of Utah Hospital who could perform the type of surgery that he needed. 

His insurance wouldn’t accept doctors at the U of U so he had never gone there. He decided to call his insurance representative to see if he could persuade his insurance company to accept that particular doctor. The insurance person informed him that just a couple of days prior to his call, the insurance company had opened a window that would accept the doctor at the U of U. My friend’s husband was able to have the surgery performed and is now able to walk and to get out and about. He is a “new man.” He had his one year post surgery examination this week. Two days after the exam, my friend and her husband received a letter from the insurance rep informing them that their insurance would no longer accept U of U providers. 

My friend’s prayers had been answered. A window had been opened that allowed a way that the surgery could be done! Prayers are truly answered. 

I know in my life that my prayers are always answered. There have been times that they have been answered immediately and times when they have not been answered in the way I had expected. But nevertheless, my prayers are answered. I have a testimony of prayer.

I read a conference talk from April 2019 that touched my heart and added to my testimony. In the talk, Answers to Prayer, given by Elder Brook P. Hales of the Seventy, he says: “The Father is aware of us, knows our needs, and will help us perfectly.”

He goes on later in the talk to say:

“Brothers and sisters, sometimes our prayers are answered quickly with the outcome we hope for. Sometimes our prayers are not answered in the way we hope for, yet with time we learn that God had greater blessings prepared for us than we initially anticipated. And sometimes our righteous petitions to God will not be granted in this life. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “Faith also includes trust in God’s timing.” We have the assurance that in His own way and in His own time, Heavenly Father will bless us and resolve all of our concerns, injustices, and disappointments.”

I would invite you to read this talk. Elder Hales gives some wonderful examples of prayer being answered in his own life and in the lives of others.

I pray that you are well and happy and that the coming week will bring you great blessings.

I love my Savior.

I love you my family and friends.