Do you remember those "Take Your Child to Work Days?" Someone (and I can't remember who) recently said that being on a mission to serve the Lord and invite people to Christ is like that! In the Book of Moses, chapter 1, verse 39 it says,
"For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
Each of us as His children are His "work." He has no other interest than that of helping His children navigate through this life and one day return to Him, and as missionaries we have the blessed opportunity to watch as He does just that everyday. We may be here serving and loving, but He is the one providing tender mercies and miracles. We hope you will never forget that you are His child and He loves you. No matter what! No matter where we are. No matter what we are. Through the Atonement of His son, Jesus Christ, He provided the way for us to turn our hearts back to Him (repent) as many times as we need as we practice becoming all that He knows and wants us to become. There is never anything we can or will do that will move us beyond His love and reach.
"His work" this week (for us) involved the following:
Monday - we worked in the Kitchen again and made spaghetti this week to serve to those needing a warm meal. This was followed by a check up with Elder Gibbons' local doctor.
Tuesday - we spent all day in the UP (Upper Peninsula) to inspect apartments and then just as we came back across the suspension bridge stopped in Mackinaw City where we visited and taught Jordan. He joined the Church about two years ago, stopped coming and now wants to reconnect with Father in Heaven. Jordan wants us to teach him every Tuesday and Thursday evening for a while.
Wednesday - we started with our weekly District Council at the Cheboygan building and celebrated Elder Gibbons birthday with French toast bake and berries after we finished our training. This was a bittersweet council because by Saturday the younger missionaries would be hearing about transfer news. None of us knew who was staying or going. Sister Froelich and Wehrmeister have been teasing Elder Sines and Rogers for weeks about concrete. Both Elders worked in construction before their missions. Well the Sisters made a mold of the state of Michigan and made each of us personalized concrete plaques.
In the afternoon, Elder Gibbons got a call from one of the sweet sisters in the Branch and she sang him happy birthday. As is his way, he is always so uncomfortable receiving, so he turned it around and asked her what she needed. After some pressure from him, she relented and said she would love some fruit. So we went to Walmart and bought four kinds of fresh berries and a watermelon and took them to her. The funny thing is, the total on the receipt came to 1952, which is the year he was born.
Thursday - we made several visits. One to a member who last week said he wasn't coming back to church. We are happy to say he returned on Sunday. We also taught Jordan again and he brought his new coworker, Devan, to join us. (I will get a picture this week.) So many people join the Church and unless they are converted to the Lord and NOT the people, the missionaries or the programs of the church, they slip away from activity. We are concentrating on helping them connect to Christ.
Friday - was a really fun day and evening. We spent the day planning for our first "Movie Night" at the Church building. We had invited everyone we could. We printed movie posters from past popular movies and posted them on the doors and walls. We bought candy and made a concession stand. The RS President and her counselor popped and made popcorn bags. The movie we watched I had never seen before. It is called "The Fighting Preacher." It is based on a true story from Church history about a man named Willard Bean and his wife who were called to serve a mission in Palmyra, New York after the Saints had been driven from there by those who hated "Mormons." Long story short, they learn that love and kindness is the only way to change enemies to friends. We had a man, whom we have visited several times, bring his two daughters to watch the movie with us. It was the first time he had been back to church for a couple of years! It just felt good to have them join us for a daddy daughter night out. I forgot to take pictures! Our friend, Ashley, came too, and several members as well. We will be doing more movie nights!
Saturday - we were here at the house most of the day. The Elders came for dinner and finally about 9:00 pm they headed home. Just a few minutes later they called to say that Elder Sines was transferring to Traverse City to serve as Zone Leader and Elder Rogers was staying and would be training a brand new missionary coming from the MTC on Tuesday and will be our District Leader. Both Sister Froelich and Wehrmeister are staying in Petoskey. Which we loved to hear! The Elders just take it all in stride. We have a bit of a tougher time. These guys are like family now. It didn't surprise us that Elder Sines was called to be a Zone Leader. He is a natural leader and teacher. And it didn't surprise us that Elder Rogers is training a new missionary (not his first time), because he is fearless about talking about Christ to everyone! We are relieved he and the Sisters are staying for at least one more transfer. We will get to see Elder Sines at Zone Conference on August 21st and again at the Biannual District Conference in September. These young men are fun, funny and thoughtful. Their mothers should be very proud of them. They insist on helping around here and sometimes Elder Gibbons lets them. LOL. One day when we were gone, they worked at fixing the kitchen sink so it would drain faster. Just today Elder Rogers went outside and, get this, used a snow shovel to "shovel" weeds that were around the base of the house.
The Elders were here Sunday evening and we took some last time pictures with them.
The New Traverse City District Zone Leader
Our favorite trainer!
Every good Elder hears no evil, speaks no evil, sees no evil.
Can't believe they let me talk them into this picture!
They may not admit it to themselves, but they are going to miss each other!
Sunday - we still have summer visitors attending our meetings. We had 26 members, 2 friends learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and 15 out-of-town visitors. Grand total 43. That fills up our little building and it is wonderful to have more people there. Quite different from the first week we spent here when about 15 people attended. Since this was Elder Sines last Sunday, he said goodbye to Ashley, one of our friends on date for baptism on August 24th.
That's it for now! We are off to another great week here in northern Michigan! We hit 38,000 miles on the car this week.
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