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.
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
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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