Our trip to Orem went very well, leaving Portland at 12:51 on Friday and stopping in LaGrande for pizza while Leon met Joe and Rosemary Crowder and Joe Albreck at the KH for a painting/decor consultation. From there as darkness fell on our way to Ontario we watched a lightning display unlike any of us has seen in a long time. It was all completely dry until the last suitcase was hauled into our hotel. Then a complete downpour began!
On Saturday, the drive went smoothly and we ran ahead of schedule arriving at our house in Sundance at 4pm. This was even though we took a 45 min stop in Draper, which is north of Orem, to stop in at a house that had a group of twenty-two from Cottage Grove which they had rented to also work in Orem. We picked up some territory maps at their house. They had attended the new Orem congregation meeting, which is on Saturdays at 1:00 pm. They said some they called on that week from the territory had come to the meeting.
The house we rented works well for the seventeen of us and has the most spectacular view from the deck off the living/dining room. It has a view directly of Stewart Falls. Like last year, we were like little kids as we ran through the house looking at all the rooms and discovering each new deck. The deck is actually the roof over the master bedroom and there is another lawn that is the roof over the another parlor area, a true green roof.
When we got here there was a man that was trying to fix some things. One of the things broken was the main kitchen faucet. He did not have a replacement and so he improvised a handle out of a stapler.
Four of the sisters did the shopping at Costco and Winco, spending $1,000 for the week's food. It turns out it will cost each person $58 for food for the week.
When it was put to a vote about going in service on Sunday morning, no one voted to go. We all wanted to do the Watchtower study out on the deck! The deck is set up well for an outdoor study. With the backdrop of Stewart Falls, we sat under the gazebo and had speakers so we could even sing Kingdom songs that brought tears to the eyes of many. The Watchtower study was less like at the meeting and more like a round table discussion that got very involved. After over an hour and a half we had only studied through paragraph 14. We had to postpone the rest so we could make service that afternoon.
Sunday afternoon we met up with the Weathers at the Scera Park in downtown Orem for the meeting for field service. Brother Weathers talked about what has changed here since last year. The biggest thing is that a congregation has been formed in Orem. It has 58 publishers, 25 regular pioneers, 6 special pioneers and 9 elders. The territory is starting to change as well. There has been a break in the Mormon church in this area. Several issues have been devisive, primarily homosexuality. Brother Weathers said that our usual presentation should work but just asking questions and getting them to open up about what is going on in their church has led to some very good discussions and Bible studies.
stapler faucet
singing Kingdom melodies before Watchtower study
view from deck
dinner with the Weathers and Woessners
On Sunday night we had Jeff and Barbara Weathers up to the house for a
Tri-Tip dinner. Ted and Heidi Woesnner also came up for the meal. They are one of several couples that have been assigned to the territory from Couples School. It was an upbuilding evening of discussion. The Weather's are Gilead graduates and have served in Liberia, the Caribbean and now here in Orem. We very much enjoyed the evening with some awesome brothers and sisters!
