This article appeared on the
FRONT page of the Curry County Reporter 31 July:
We have become known as the cookie missionaries because of Sister K's great cookies. We want to share some of our pictures and experiences with family and friends. We love GB!
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
“THE MIRACLE OF THE COOKIES”
Dear Family and Friends,
“THE MIRACLE OF THE COOKIES”
It has been a crazy week last week and the first part of this; getting ready for the fair and then being in it. Every day was at least 12 to 14 hours long filled with many things to do. Wow, are we tired and sunburned. We are so grateful for the help from hundreds of people; active and less active members, and non-members. It would have been impossible to do it alone.
When I felt the inspiration from our Father in Heaven to do an LDS/Missionary booth for the four day Curry County Fair, I felt overwhelmed with the mere idea of it and how much work it would take, so I said to myself that it wasn't going to happen. Again, I felt such a strong prompting, so I talked to Elder K about it. He told me no, because we already had more to do than we could handle with our day to day missionary work. Again, I felt the prompting to do it. We then decided to talk to our Mission President about it along with another Senior Missionary couple who said they would help us, Elder and Sister M. Elder K was hopeing President Y would tell us no. Instead, he said yes, and that the Mission would even pay the booth space rental! Since then, we haven't stopped running.
There have been papers to sign, agreements to reach with the Fair Manager, a 10' by 10' canopy to borrow from a golf course in a city about 30 miles from here, four 5 gallon buckets filled with sand to borrow so the canopy wouldn't fly away in the strong winds that are prevalent in Gold Beach , an 8' banner to order saying, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" to have made for the front, find the banner saying "Check us out at mormon.org" to use as a backdrop and borrow it from the Zone Leaders, and have a black tablecloth made by a member from material I had to purchase. These were but a few of the details we needed to handle. One small miracle was where the Fair Manager chose to put our booth; right inside next to the entry ticket booth which just happened to be also right where families could go into the Carnival area. I know our Heavenly Father had a hand in doing that tender mercy. People would ask how we were so lucky to be able to get that place. We would smile and tell them of the help of our Father in Heaven.
Elder K designed a small card with a picture of Jesus on it saying, “You are invited to attend a Worship Service…The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints” on the front. On the back, it gave the times and places of the services plus the missionary phone numbers up the coast in our District. We had 4,000 of them made. These were to attach to the homemade cookies. Each cookie was to be in a Zip-lock bag to protect it and to be able to tape one of those cards on one side of the bag and a mormon.org card on the other side of it. The Fair Manager said 8,000 people came to the Fair last year, so we figured we needed about 4,000 cookies.
Next came the cookies. How do we ever get 4,000 homemade cookies for the 4,000 cards? Prayer and asking the Lord what to do helped us to decide to call the different Branches and Wards in this area for help. It was much like the story of the “Fishes and the Loaves.” Because of the outpouring of love for the Lord and for the missionaries, we received not 4,000 cookies, but over 5,000 cookies in less than two weeks! All I could do is cry as cookies arrived by the hundreds. One van came totally filled with cookies. The Bishop in that Ward had reminded the members that President Monson had told all members to help the missionaries. He then told them the missionaries in our Bandon District needed help so all families should consider themselves bakers…hence a van FULL of cookies! Sometimes it was like the “Widow’s Mite,” as only a dozen or so were given to us by people on very limited finances but had a desire to serve the Lord through His missionaries. There were four freezers here in Gold Beach filled with cookies!
One morning, the day before the Fair started, which was also Elder K’s birthday, many people from our Branch met and spent hours with us tapeing the cards to the tops of the cookie bags. That was just one step in this huge project. Everyone was laughing and having a good time in anticipation of the next four days. After that, several men from our Branch went to the Fairgrounds and put up the booth.
During the Fair, the wind blew a lot, even more each day so it was pretty cold at times. I had to wear two sweaters and a jacket and still got cold, especially at night. One member of the Branch brought us some hot clam chowder one night. I used it at first to warm my frozen hands. My knees were shaking so badly from the cold, that I put the soup containers on them over my clothes. Brrrrr! During the middle of the days, it wasn't too bad, so I didn't have to wear even a sweater for a FEW hours. Heavenly Father blessed us because it wasn't anything we couldn't handle and it didn't rain at all. This is “COLD” Beach and we love it here!
We passed out about 3,500 cookies with messages attached containing a picture of Christ. We also gave out many cookies without the cards to the kids who wanted seconds, thirds, or more. This Curry County Fair project has truly been, "The Miracle of the Cookies!" We also placed 65 Books of Mormon. Several of the people who got the cookies said they were going to put the card with the picture of Christ on it up on a wall or on a dresser in their homes. Children, especially, were thrilled with their cards and could hardly wait to get home and put it up in their rooms. One teenage told us that his card was going up on his wall; right in the middle of his rock star posters!
I guess to me a some of the main things that happened were the happy feelings of people meeting the missionaries and the positive PR for the Church. We had missionaries from our District, the Zone Leaders missionaries, and people from the Wards and the Branches help each day. Either Elder and Sister M or Elder K and I were there at all times. Another thing was the feeling of love and friendship between the hundreds that were involved. This was an event that they will never forget and will tell others about in the future. It has affected many lives for good. We are both grateful and humbled that the Lord worked through me, a less than five feet tall, 70 year-old grandma of 22 grandchildren, to receive the inspiration and prompting from our Father in Heaven, and that many other of His children were able to help bring it to fruition.
The above letter was started on August 5th and finished today, August 22, 2013.
Love, Elaine (alias one of “The Cookie Missionaries”)
(A Senior Missionary in the Oregon Eugene Mission)
“THE MIRACLE OF THE COOKIES”
It has been a crazy week last week and the first part of this; getting ready for the fair and then being in it. Every day was at least 12 to 14 hours long filled with many things to do. Wow, are we tired and sunburned. We are so grateful for the help from hundreds of people; active and less active members, and non-members. It would have been impossible to do it alone.
When I felt the inspiration from our Father in Heaven to do an LDS/Missionary booth for the four day Curry County Fair, I felt overwhelmed with the mere idea of it and how much work it would take, so I said to myself that it wasn't going to happen. Again, I felt such a strong prompting, so I talked to Elder K about it. He told me no, because we already had more to do than we could handle with our day to day missionary work. Again, I felt the prompting to do it. We then decided to talk to our Mission President about it along with another Senior Missionary couple who said they would help us, Elder and Sister M. Elder K was hopeing President Y would tell us no. Instead, he said yes, and that the Mission would even pay the booth space rental! Since then, we haven't stopped running.
There have been papers to sign, agreements to reach with the Fair Manager, a 10' by 10' canopy to borrow from a golf course in a city about 30 miles from here, four 5 gallon buckets filled with sand to borrow so the canopy wouldn't fly away in the strong winds that are prevalent in Gold Beach , an 8' banner to order saying, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" to have made for the front, find the banner saying "Check us out at mormon.org" to use as a backdrop and borrow it from the Zone Leaders, and have a black tablecloth made by a member from material I had to purchase. These were but a few of the details we needed to handle. One small miracle was where the Fair Manager chose to put our booth; right inside next to the entry ticket booth which just happened to be also right where families could go into the Carnival area. I know our Heavenly Father had a hand in doing that tender mercy. People would ask how we were so lucky to be able to get that place. We would smile and tell them of the help of our Father in Heaven.
Elder K designed a small card with a picture of Jesus on it saying, “You are invited to attend a Worship Service…The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints” on the front. On the back, it gave the times and places of the services plus the missionary phone numbers up the coast in our District. We had 4,000 of them made. These were to attach to the homemade cookies. Each cookie was to be in a Zip-lock bag to protect it and to be able to tape one of those cards on one side of the bag and a mormon.org card on the other side of it. The Fair Manager said 8,000 people came to the Fair last year, so we figured we needed about 4,000 cookies.
Next came the cookies. How do we ever get 4,000 homemade cookies for the 4,000 cards? Prayer and asking the Lord what to do helped us to decide to call the different Branches and Wards in this area for help. It was much like the story of the “Fishes and the Loaves.” Because of the outpouring of love for the Lord and for the missionaries, we received not 4,000 cookies, but over 5,000 cookies in less than two weeks! All I could do is cry as cookies arrived by the hundreds. One van came totally filled with cookies. The Bishop in that Ward had reminded the members that President Monson had told all members to help the missionaries. He then told them the missionaries in our Bandon District needed help so all families should consider themselves bakers…hence a van FULL of cookies! Sometimes it was like the “Widow’s Mite,” as only a dozen or so were given to us by people on very limited finances but had a desire to serve the Lord through His missionaries. There were four freezers here in Gold Beach filled with cookies!
One morning, the day before the Fair started, which was also Elder K’s birthday, many people from our Branch met and spent hours with us tapeing the cards to the tops of the cookie bags. That was just one step in this huge project. Everyone was laughing and having a good time in anticipation of the next four days. After that, several men from our Branch went to the Fairgrounds and put up the booth.
During the Fair, the wind blew a lot, even more each day so it was pretty cold at times. I had to wear two sweaters and a jacket and still got cold, especially at night. One member of the Branch brought us some hot clam chowder one night. I used it at first to warm my frozen hands. My knees were shaking so badly from the cold, that I put the soup containers on them over my clothes. Brrrrr! During the middle of the days, it wasn't too bad, so I didn't have to wear even a sweater for a FEW hours. Heavenly Father blessed us because it wasn't anything we couldn't handle and it didn't rain at all. This is “COLD” Beach and we love it here!
We passed out about 3,500 cookies with messages attached containing a picture of Christ. We also gave out many cookies without the cards to the kids who wanted seconds, thirds, or more. This Curry County Fair project has truly been, "The Miracle of the Cookies!" We also placed 65 Books of Mormon. Several of the people who got the cookies said they were going to put the card with the picture of Christ on it up on a wall or on a dresser in their homes. Children, especially, were thrilled with their cards and could hardly wait to get home and put it up in their rooms. One teenage told us that his card was going up on his wall; right in the middle of his rock star posters!
I guess to me a some of the main things that happened were the happy feelings of people meeting the missionaries and the positive PR for the Church. We had missionaries from our District, the Zone Leaders missionaries, and people from the Wards and the Branches help each day. Either Elder and Sister M or Elder K and I were there at all times. Another thing was the feeling of love and friendship between the hundreds that were involved. This was an event that they will never forget and will tell others about in the future. It has affected many lives for good. We are both grateful and humbled that the Lord worked through me, a less than five feet tall, 70 year-old grandma of 22 grandchildren, to receive the inspiration and prompting from our Father in Heaven, and that many other of His children were able to help bring it to fruition.
The above letter was started on August 5th and finished today, August 22, 2013.
Love, Elaine (alias one of “The Cookie Missionaries”)
(A Senior Missionary in the Oregon Eugene Mission)
Sunday, July 28, 2013
The Fair
The Fair Grounds
We need more FREEZERS
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Family History Center letter to the Editor
Family History Center letter to the Editor
=================================
Viewpoints
Page A2 July 24,
2013
Curry Counter Reporter
Letters to the editor
A pleasure…
I had the pleasure of meeting two Mormon missionaries, Elder
and Sister Kieffer, who are in Gold Beach until sometime this fall. I was discussing with them my fears of losing
25 years of massive genealogical information, not ever having archived it for
future posterity. I didn’t know how to
“preserve” all my data, photos and documents (Some information dating back to
the 1400s !)
They told me about the genealogy center that is available at
the LDS church here in Gold Beach. I met
with them and they showed me how I could use their system – for FREE. Already I have encountered other family lines
that link into my lineage, and I’m not even doing research! They showed me how
I can input data at home, and how I can come to the center for doing any
research.
I want to thank them for opening up this important door for
me. And Elder and Sister Kieffer extend
a warm invitation to others in the community who want to do their family
genealogy archiving and/or research.
Mary XXXXXXXX
Gold Beach
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