Well, we had to say good bye to another wonderful missionary, Elder Joshua Johanson left us. We wish him the best!

Zach Ellsworth and his parents came and they are delightful! We wish we could turn the time back and have him with us again.

And then, Sister Bryn Martineau came to the mission home with her family, what a treat! She's amazing! 

The most exciting thing that can happen as a missionary is to see one of  Heavenly Father's children enter into the waters of baptism. Today Liberty was baptized and we share in his joy.

The sting of having to say good bye to missionaries is replaced by pure joy when they come back to visit!

 Sister Neilson came with her family, her sister is standing with us.

Elder Kwok came to visit with his cute girlfriend Jubilee.  

 Elder Davis came with his parents.

And Elder White came with his parents.







We absolutely love to have all of them come back to visit (we would take them back as missionaries again in a heartbeat!) Our missionaries are what make this, the Oregon Eugene Mission, the greatest mission on earth!

Elder Johanson left us to return to his home in St. George,Utah. We will sorely miss him.

 Unfortunately we have more missionaries going home. Tomorrow Elder West (far left) and Elder Cook (far right) will be leaving us, and then next Wednesday Elder Johanson goes home.  We will miss them, all of our missionaries are like our children and it's hard to let them go. 

On the first Tuesday of every month we have MLC (Mission Leadership Council). All zone leaders and STLs (Sister Training Leaders) come to receive training to take back to their zones. It goes from 10:00 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m.

It takes a little time to get all the tables and chairs put up and then we put papers out for everyone.

Elder Workman, Elder Nash, and President Lowary (president Russell's first counselor) prepare.

President Cropper (president Russell's second counselor) is teaching 

Everyone listens intently.

There is so much to learn!

 They are about to do some role plays. President Russell is giving some last minute instructions.

 Everyone is involved.

 We have found that having role plays helps them to teach their zones, so they practice.

 President Lowary is listening and in a thoughtful pose.

President Cropper needs back up(?) No, everyone has a part.

 It's lunch time!!! President Cropper is overseeing the lunch line. Sister Moore is happy to have a break.

I try to get a picture of every group. On the left is Elder Myers, Elder Earl, and Elder Losee all smiling on one side, and Elder Hinton is smiling on the other.

The Sisters always have such happy smiles! Sister Newell, Sister Lawrence, and Sister Peterson.

Sister Olsen, Sister Frandsen, and Sister Carter are also extremely joyful!

Another radiant bunch; Sister Poulson, Sister Peterson, Sister Weaver, and Sister Vance!

And the pleasant smiles just keep on coming:
Sister Holliday, Sister Jones, Sister Stucki, and Sister Bigelow.

And here are more of our adorable Sisters; Sister Shirley, Sister Moore, and Sister Sands.

Oh! Photo op!!!

It's easier to get pictures of the Sisters, they sit more organized. With the Elder I do my best. Elder Wong is smiling at me and Elder Ross is smiling...at something(?)

Elder Hsuing and Elder Workman are way too busy to look up.

Elder Sutton, Elder Johanson, and Elder Taito are preparing to eat, it's a process.

Elder Terrell, Elder Bonham, Elder Child, and Elder Whyte eat on one side, And Elder Wong needs one more chance to smile and...tell me he's serving for two years(?)

Elder Perrine smiles in between bites, and Elder Rigby maybe thinks he has a sandwich in his hand??

Elder Tonini cannot be bothered with little things like a camera. However, Elder Strech, gives the thumbs up, and Elder Perrine and Elder Rigby can't resist another smile for the blog ( I think maybe Elder Rigby knows now that he doesn't have a sandwich in his hand).

I can't miss Elder Rigoli (who seems to be enjoying lunch more than anyone else) and Elder Kunz.

Even President Russell, president Cropper, and president Lowary take a minute to enjoy a little bite to eat.

And let's hear it for our fabulous Sisters that prepared it all!! Sister C. (Christensen) and Sister Phipps. This is bittersweet because Sister C. and Elder C. will be leaving our mission (after serving for 20+ months) and Sister Phipps is our new nurse! She and Elder Phipps arrived last Monday. President Russell and I LOVE to welcome our new senior couples in, but really dislike having to let them go.

The MLC of the Oregon Eugene Mission!

Right after we finished training with our new missionaries, they were all loading up their suitcases and other things into the cars and vans and I saw

 three of our trainers;.

 Elder Wells, Elder Fetzer, and Elder Allred (what is this, Hollywood?) 

These are great missionaries and trainers.

 We were invited to the Corvallis Chinese outing and testimony meeting at Camp Alpine. It was fun and the testimony meeting was especially spiritual. There were several investigators there, and some of them bore strong testimonies of the gospel.

 I noticed how respectfully the Chinese flag was folded after the picture was taken.

Yimu, in between Elder Wong and Elder Kung,  had just received his mission call but had not opened it yet. We asked them to call us after he did and tells us where he will be serving...

...Australia Melbourne Mission!!!!  

 Elder Hsuing carries the flag as he would in China.

Elder Huang and Elder Kung with president Russell. It was a great evening!