And Then We Were Done - December 17th through December 29th, 2024

 I am writing looking back in retrospect, it being now January 22, 2025.  Here is what happened...

The week of December 17th we learned that our daughter, Nicole, who had been been diagnosed with lung cancer a couple of years ago, that the lung cancer has turned into stage 4 and has spread to her other lung.  We talked with our Mission President at Zone Conference on Wednesday, December 18th about going home early.  He told us that family comes first and to let him know what we wanted him to do.  By the end of the conference, Elder Gibbons told him we felt we should go home.  President told us he would reach out to the area authority, President Daynes who by Friday, December 20th responded that we should indeed be released to return home.  He asked President Peckham to relay a message to us that he was going to submit Nicole, and our family's names to the First Presidency's daily prayer roll.  What an amazing tender mercy for us.  This Church is over 17 million members led by 15 apostles and prophets and yet interested in the individual needs of its people.  

This set in motion our efforts to ready the home we were living in for our leaving after Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, December 22nd.  There was a huge winter snow storm coming on Monday and we felt that we should leave before the roads became dangerous.  We didn't tell anyone in the Branch that we had to leave because we didn't want the Christmas Sacrament Meeting to focus on us.  Sacrament Meeting is all about the worshipping the Savior, Jesus Christ.  What we did do is tell President Kieliszewski just prior to the meeting and asked him to make the announcement once the meeting was finished.  Our car was loaded to the max.

It was so hard to say goodbye and doing so at the last moment made it harder.  We have come to love the wonderful people of the Cheboygan Branch, many of whom weren't at this last Sacrament Meeting that we were able to attend.  

Couldn't hold back the tears as we realized our service with Sister Newman and Sister Thompson was coming to an end.

We love them so much.  We think we will be going to Utah often for homecomings and eventual wedding announcements!

One last picture with Arthur and Sheree Woollard and their grandson, Maddox (who is still meeting with missionaries and learning about the Church.)  We can't wait to watch how Arthur and Sheree progress in the Gospel and when they go to the Temple to receive their own endowments in June, we plan to return to 

be with them.

Can't say enough about Sister Cindy Pugh.  She was the Relief Society President for most of the time we served in Cheboygan.  She is the reason the Cheboygan Branch functions at all.  She is generous and filled with a love and desire to bless others.  She blessed us!

I am not sure that we ever had a picture of President and Sister Kieliszewski.  We tried our best to support and serve them and ease their load.  He was asked to serve as Branch President for three years and he is about half way through.  They live outside of the  Branch boundaries and have to travel over an hour each way to come to church.  Sister Kieliszewski was the only one who could play the piano and we so appreciated her sharing her talents.  I lead the music and she played.

Josh Hetrick was baptized about three years ago.  He is a counselor in the Branch Elders Quorum Presidency.  He also was the one that did the yard upkeep in the home we lived in.  He would do anything that anyone asked or needed him to do.  He is a tender-hearted and quiet man.  We tried to express appreciation to him often 

Brother and Sister Olson rented the home we lived in to the Church.  They were very diligent and making sure everything was working well.  When nothing but rust came out of the tub faucet he was right there with a plumber.  When the lights in one section of the house stopped working all the sudden, he got an electrician right over and about $2K later he had replaced all the very old switches and plates in the house and found the reason why.  They also found that one of the plates was potentially dangerous.  They also found as they went under the house that the heat duct had completely disconnected from the vent and that heating the house when the cold, cold temperatures came would not have been effective.  When the oven actually caught on fire, they replaced it right away as needed.  The house was over 25 years old and we just happened to be there when this all happened.  We felt very blessed.  

  This is Anthony Morris.  We met him about two weeks before we left Michigan.  He was baptized a member many years ago as a young man, but has lived a very rough life.  He sent self-referral to the church which was forwarded to the Cheboygan sisters.  We sat in a lesson with the sisters and Tony.  He wants to change his life because his 17 year old son, William, was coming to live with him soon.  We helped him to purchase some things for his new little apartment.  We hope he continues to progress in his return to truth and joy.  We will keep in touch with him from time to time.

Zach and Autumn Fuqua attended our Sacrament Meeting.  They became our friends because we all love Jesus!  Sadly they never expressed interest in learning more about The Church of Jesus Christ and the restored gospel.  Mostly because they have preconceived and erroneous opinions about what we believe.  We met them the first week we served at The Lord's Kitchen.  We were so happy every time we saw them in Cheboygan.  It meant a lot that they took time to attend church with us on our last Sunday.

Once Church was over and we said our last goodbyes, we drove to Lansing to the mission home and spent about an hour with President and Sister Peckham and had an "exit interview."  We cannot adequately express how much we love them and how much we were blessed by their inspired, loving leadership.  We hope to keep in touch with them for a long, long time.

The Mission Home

We left on Sunday afternoon and headed south.  It was a good thing we didn't delay any longer because within about 12 hours snow hit the state.  We had great road conditions all the way home.  We spent the first night in Indianapolis, Indiana; the second night with Codie and Todd in Edmond, Oklahoma; and on the last day drove the final 14+ hour drive.  We figured we went through 8 states and 30 hours of driving in less than three days.

We arrived in our new home on Christmas Eve about 7:30 p.m.  We found this on the garage door.  No one was home.  It was time for celebration and we told everyone we were just going to hang around and unpack through Christmas.  But the last minute welcome home meant a lot.

    

Even now looking back it brings tears to our eyes.  The opportunity to serve as the Lord's called and set apart missionaries was priceless.  Sure there are sacrifices, but what we learned about ourselves, about each other, about God's children and His ever present tender mercies as well as feeling His love for each of us cannot be exaggerated.  It is real.  It is perfect.  It is eternal.  Our name badges reminded us each day of our responsibility to represent Jesus Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ, and our commitment to love Them and all God's children.  We were stretched.  Tutored.  Corrected.  Rewarded and blessed.  And we were loved by so many.  And we love them.  

December 12th through December 16th, 2024 - "Weathering the Storms"

The work continues here in the Michigan Lansing Mission--and we are sure all around the world--to find and invite God's children to "come and see" (John 1:45-46).  The 166 missionaries in our mission are working so hard and they are doing amidst sub-freezing temperatures and plenty of snow.  One area 45 minutes south of us, Gaylord, Michigan, got a record 24 inches of snow in 24 hours the day after Thanksgiving and yet our missionaries continue to seek for the one.  Why are they so dedicated?  Because they love the Lord, they love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they want to share the blessings they have enjoyed with anyone.  They have been promised miracles and every day it happens.  The miracles they experience are often posted in Messenger Chat groups we have amongst our Zones and it warms all of our hearts to know how God is in the details and leads His missionaries to those He has prepared.

Last night at 9 PM all the young missionaries were instructed to join a Zoom Meeting with the Mission Presidency.  The mission office had reached out to their parents, family members, Bishops and Stake Presidents back home inviting them to join the Zoom meeting.  They were all a bit nervous, wondering what it was all about.  To summarize, an invitation was extended for those back home to join in the work and support their missionary's efforts here in a variety of ways, including being invited to join a missionary lesson using technology if the missionary felt it would bless the life of any friend they were teaching.  There have been some very specific promises made to these missionaries and you can feel the area is about to explode.  We didn't need to be in attendance, but Sister Thompson and Newman invited us to their apartment to listen in.  

When the snow is fresh, and then the sun comes out, it is beautiful... 

but usually it is that much colder. 

From our front windows one evening.

From our kitchen window one morning.

What can we say?  -2 degrees!  But we are surviving.  

The people we have come to know and love make everything worth it.  

Dinner again with Joan and Roy McFarland.  

The young missionaries we serve with make it worth.

This is Sister Christensen.  She was one of our Sister Trainer Leaders. 

She serves in Gaylord.

One Month Later - November 11th through December 11th, 2024

 There is no way to recapture the last month in great detail.  So in order to "catch up" I must resort to posting pictures in the order we took them and add a caption for details...

Sister Brinkley Thompson and Sister Anika Newman became fast friends and companions.  They are young. Yet they are able to teach with power and testimony. These two pictures were taken at a Sister Missionary Conference at the Lansing Mission home to which we Senior Missionaries did not attend.

Now this is trust.  Sister Thompson wanted her hair cut, and Sister Newman was willing and brave enough to oblige.  They are girls for sure.

Zone Conference, Wednesday, November 14th in Lansing at the Mission Home.

President and Sister Peckham held individual Zone Conferences (six of them) over the course of a week and a half in the mission home.  It was a spiritual feast.  They had recently returned from a Mission President training for all the missions in the America Northeast Area which was held at Kirtland, Ohio and in the recently obtained Kirtland Temple, the first temple in this dispensation.  They took time to share with us what they learned.  They told the missionaries that now is the time to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon, the key conversion tool the Lord has provided to us.  They said, "You are plan A and the Lord doesn't need a Plan B."  He promised baptisms and miracles weekly here the great Michigan Lansing Mission.  After training and lunch, we all headed to a nearby Stake Center where we had games with Districts competing against other districts in our  Zone. These are such fantastic young adults.

The Traverse City District Zone, Michigan Lansing Mission, November 2024

                                                                Mission Home instruction

Sister Froelich and Sister Wehrmeister who were companions in Petoskey sang for us.

Sister Froelich insisted we take a picture together.  She will always be a favorite.  

Such a fantastic missionary, but more importantly she is choice human being.  

Always thinks of others!

Our Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer Leaders

L to R:  Sister Christensen, Sister cox, Elder Osborne, Elder Sines

The Kalkaska Missionary District

L to R:  Sister Richards, Wehrmeister, Elder Senecal (our District Leader), 

Elder Dahl, Sister Thompson and  Sister Newman

Of course Elder Dahl, did the pushups leg of the race!

Sister Wehrmeister said she had "experience" in moving an Oreo cookie from her forehead to to her mouth... okay!

Sister Richards struggled so long to get the paper airplane in the trash can, 

President Peckham had mercy upon her and helped.

Trip to Detroit Temple on Saturday, November 16th:

What a wonderful way to spend the day.  Mary Richards has longed to receive her own endowment in the Temple for a long time.  One thing got in her way for years.  Her desire became much stronger when she was told she might have lung cancer.  With the help of Sister Cindy Pugh as her "fellowshipper," Elder Gibbons and I taught her a "Quit Smoking" program that we came across.  It was devised in 1985 by a set of missionaries serving in Ireland who found that every person they taught had a Word of Wisdom problem to overcome in order to be baptized.  With an 85% success rate, we offered it to Sister Richards.  It consists of a very specific 15 step commitment for daily habit changes.  The amazing thing is that Mary lives in a house with three other adult smokers.  But through the grace of God, she was able to quit.

The day we drove her to the Temple was a wonderful, but long day and worth every effort.  She looked angelic in her white temple dress and she beamed.  She had some very spiritual moments.

Left to right:  Sister Gibbons, Chris Amundson, Elder Gibbons, Cindy Pugh, Dawn Kieliszewski (back), Mary, Brother and Sister Rollin (former senior missionaries here) and Scott Hill.

Just have to post pictures of the deer we saw on our way to Detroit.  This was a new sight to behold.  I guess a hunter has to do what he has to do.  LOL.

Monday, November 18th.  "SAY GOODBYE, SAY HELLO"

Sister Kathy Gotz was the heart of the Branch.  She came to church by herself each week as her husband isn't a member.  She made certain that she said hello and hugged every single person who walked through the door, whether she knew them or not.  During summer months when we had up to 70 people I often heard her say to a visitor, "Can I give you a hug?"  She had been through some emotional abuse during her life, learned how to forgive and the only thing in her heart and in her words was about forgiving.  Sadly, we said goodbye to her and her husband as they sold their beautiful property along Mullett Lake to move "down state" into a condominium.  They reached the point in their life when they could not take care of it anymore.  She will forever be in our memories and hearts.

Say hello to Waylon.  He is the grandson of Arthur and Sheree Woollard.  They bring him to church most Sundays and are making a great effort to help him learn about Jesus.  He has lots of energy.  And, oh did I mention?  He gets a kick out of Elder Gibbons.

Just a random picture of State Street here in the middle of town that runs past our house.  This was the view one Sunday morning.

Wednesday, November 27th, Kalkaska District Council:

Just had to get a picture of the sisters and the shoes they wear.  One of my favorite pictures from Ammon's mission was of his shoes showing the wear and tear on them because of how hard he worked.  I can see why the sisters wear such sturdy shoes!

I snapped this one while they were practice teaching one another.

This was our last District Council with Sister Wehrmeister.  

She was headed home to Maryland before we would see her again.

It was her birthday the day before so for our District PDay everyone came to our house for Cafe Rio Salad (homemade version) and games.  

Michigan Lansing Mission Leadership:

Periodically the missionaries who are called to leadership positions all head to Lansing for a leadership conference where they discuss goals, focus and direction for the mission.  This is something we would ever attend, but Sister Peckham posted pictures of the wonderful servants and I post them here for our memory.  We cannot say enough about the amazing dedication they show.

These are our current Zone leaders:  

NOTE:  We flew home on Thanksgiving morning, November 28th for a week.  We sold our house on Osage and with Ammon and Sarah purchased a new home with a "next generation" floor plan.  We both have our own home and entrance combined under one roof.  It was one of those things we wanted to go do, but we didn't want to go do.  They day after we left the first "Lake Effect Winter Storm" hit Michigan.  One of the cities we drive through, Gaylord, got 24 inches of snow in 24 hours.  We were gone long enough so that when we returned we got home without any bad road conditions... until the last 45 minutes.  Here are pictures of our drive home and what the house looked like.

206 Maple Street, Cheboygan, MI  49721

Friday, December 7th, back to serving and helping the people we love. The Sisters and we went to help Mary Rybarczyk put up her Christmas decorations.  

Yep, this is my and my silly companion!

Before going there we went to the church building to see what the parking lot looked like.  What we saw as we drove in warmed our heart.  Brother Ray Olson (our landlord) and his wife were at the building as it was their turn to clean it up.  He was just coming out, cane in his hand, to take out the trash.  Now that is dedication and commitment.  It was cold!  And he risked falling.  Elder Gibbons got out and took the garbage the rest of the way for him.

After the Olson's left, we shoveled the sidewalks up to each door.  

I think that was my first time doing so!  This isn't a good picture though.  We shoveled a lot.

Sunday, December 8th.  Time to take the Christmas Card photo of the four of us Cheboygan missionaries after church.

Tuesday, December 10th. A trip to Sault Ste Marie...again.

We got a phone call from the Kesler's, the housing coordinators.  One of the missionaries in the Sault was going home unexpectedly.  They told us they were shutting down the Brown Street apartment for now and that at some point, no rush, we should go up and make sure it is in good condition.  Well Elder Gibbons said he thought we should go that day.  For once in my life I didn't protest.  LOL.  Afterall it was over an hour a way and what would the roads be like?!  Come to find out it was a good thing we went.  We aren't sure why or how it happened but the front door was unlocked and the back door (the entrance they always use) was completely wide open.  Had we not gone, it would have stayed that way for who knows how long?  The roads were clear for us and the scenes of the snow storm that hit over Thanksgiving week were beautiful to behold.

Back entrance to the Elders apartment.

Shows you how much snow they got and see the beautiful icicles.