This picture may not seem spectacular to you, but this is the view we see each morning from our bedroom as we kneel to pray to start another beautiful day here in Cheboygan, Michigan. A day does not go by that we don't ask our Father in Heaven to bless each of you back home. We think of you every day and although we aren't there with you, we know you are in His hands.
Over the course of the last two weeks we have been back and forth from Cheboygan across the Mackinaw Bridge four times headed to apartments to deep clean, organize and get rid of a lot of junk that missionaries accumulate as they come and go from transfer to transfer. New sets of missionaries were being assigned to two different apartments and there was no way we wanted them to walk in and be discouraged by the sight of their new place for however long they are assigned there. Since this kind of thing is right up my alley, I loved doing it. Elder Gibbons spent time as the "repairman" and fixed doors, cupboards and showers which is right up his alley.
We have a new Elder serving here in Cheboygan now. Elder Kaiser is from Pinedale, Wyoming. He's not going to have any issue with winter snow! He is fresh out of the Missionary Training Center in Provo and it's amazing to watch him as he is growing into a great missionary at the mentoring of Elder Rogers. They often stop by at the end of the day to give us a quick summary of some of their lessons and contacts. Elder Kaiser has already seen miracles and had the opportunity to see and feel God's hand in this work. He realizes he took a lot for granted back home. We love what the Lord can do to our hearts and lives when we turn ourselves to his service.
About a week into the mission, Elder Kaiser had to make a visit to the ER here due to cutting brownies the wrong way. Seven stitches later, he is mending nicely.
We had our last District Council in Petoskey. This is what the drive over looked like along Long Lake. 
It was to be our last one with Sister Froelich last week. She didn't get transferred on the 6th, but got a call a week later that she was being sent to a different area on an "emergency transfer." She has been in our District as long as we have. We love Sister Froelich so much. She will forever be part of our mission memories. We will get to see her at Zone Conference this week so that makes it easier to say goodbye. We had to be silly so we wouldn't cry.
After the council was over we drove through the town to go somewhere for lunch with the Elders. Looks like Fall is on its way. 
On Saturday, we helped prepare for the annual school backpack give away at the Kitchen where we help on Mondays. They collected donations for school supplies, provided a meal, gave haircuts to the kids, played games and had prizes. We merely helped set up in the morning because we were to be at a Branch picnic at a nearby lake by noon. It was raining pretty good. I managed to stay dry inside helping, but My Three Elders had fun in the rain.
I love this picture!
We went to our Branch President's house for dinner on Sunday with the Elders along for the ride with us. As we were coming home Elder and I were having a friendly discussion about something (what it was I do not recall), but as we went back and forth I turned and said to the Elders, "OK, shut your eyes and plug up your ears, Elder Gibbons and I are going to argue now." I looked back and saw Elder Kaiser trying not to laugh and Elder Rogers about to cry. Of course, I was just joking, but their response made us laugh.
The Highlight of these last two Weeks:
On Tuesday, August 13th, as we drove to Sault Ste. Marie, we logged onto Zoom on my phone for our Tuesday Missionwide Devotional. To our surprise, the first thing we saw was Brother Brad Wilcox ready to teach us. For those of you who do not know him, he is well-known throughout the Church, he is a General Authority and a Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, which is a big deal to us. He is a fantastic speaker and one of his presentations at a BYU Devotional years ago, "His Grace Is Sufficient," is one of my all-time favorites because I learned so much from it. He knows our Mission President very well and special permission had to be given for him to speak to us. That doesn't happen very often I am told. The Young Men General President was standing outside the door waiting for Brother Wilcox to get done to get to another meeting. He told President Peckham he was going to step inside so he could say hello as well, but when he opened the door the Spirit was so strong, he didn't want to interrupt it.
Brother Wilcox taught us from the following scripture:
"Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the MERITS, and MERCY, and GRACE of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise." The Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 2:8.
Brother Wilcox invited us all to sign a group birthday card for our Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson who is turning 100 years old on September 9th, that would be provided to us this week at our Zone Conference. He asked us to also write the names of all the people that have been baptized in the last 100 days in our mission. The card will be mailed to him in Salt Lake City and he said he would be personally handing it to President Nelson. He said to his knowledge no other mission was doing such a thing. When we told the Woollards, who Elder Gibbons baptized on June 2nd, that their name would be submitted to the prophet it lit up a big smile on their faces.
Okie dokie. That's enough for now. Thanks for taking time to read to the end. 
We love you all!
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