August 5th through August 18th, 2024 (Two Weeks)

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!

July 29th through August 4th, 2024

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.

July 23rd through July 28th, 2024

Week 24, another great week! 

Wednesday we had another great District Council in Petoskey.  Never get tired of how beautiful the town is along Lake Michigan.  And we never get tired of spending time with our District missionaries.  We learn so much from THEM.

Thursday we gathered with the Branch RS sisters at the Cheboygan Beach Park here in town to celebrate all the July birthdays.  They invited Elder Gibbons too since his birthday is on the 31st.  Our RS President, Cindy Pugh, thinks of everything and brought a photo frame and insisted she take his picture.

The view from our picnic area right along Lake Huron.  

Fun fact Sister Pugh told us.  You can remember all the Great Lakes with the acronym HOMES.

H = Huron

O = Ontario

M = Michigan

E = Erie

S = Superior

One of the greatest joys we experience is to accompany our Elders when they are teaching a lesson to one of our friends.  It is especially wonderful when the friend is so receptive.  On Friday evening we did just that as Elder Sines and Elder Rogers taught Emma (on the right) and her friend, Makayla about The Plan of Salvation.  Every once in a while we contribute a thought or a testimony.

Saturday we drove to Alpena to do an apartment inspection with two sister missionaries we hadn't met yet.  Sister Biggs (on the right) is from Colorado and Sister Fowler (on the left) is from Alaska.  Sister Fowler just got her in this last transfer so Sister Biggs is her "trainer."  We took care of a spider they named "Eduardo" that was in between two panes of glass by their air conditioner.  Replaced some light bulbs, fixed a shower curtain and took them to Walmart to get them a new vacuum after we treated them to lunch at Jimmy John's.  It's always so heartwarming how grateful these missionaries are for whatever we do for them.

Sunday was our monthly potluck after church.  We-- okay, I-- am eating way too much food here.  Don't want to offend anyone by not partaking.  It's a nice "problem" to have that so many want to provide for us.

Amidst all the turmoil in this world and people looking for something to make sense of it all, here's a thought from the Book of Mormon:  

"And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just--yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people that the sword, or anything else, which had happened to them--therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God."

Find your answers in the scriptures! 

Things We Did. Things We Do. Things We See

Not having near enough space in an email to send all our pictures and updates, here are some random things so we don't loose the pictures or memories.  We meet wonderful, kind people.  We do see the funniest and most amusing things sometimes.  

As we have posted, we help each week at a kitchen where food is served once a day to those in need.  On Saturday, July 20th, we were asked to help cook for an event called "Breakfast for Bikers."  Man we made a lot of food!  Bacon.  Biscuits and sausage biscuits.  Hash browns and more.  This gentleman below volunteers and cooks at the kitchen like we do on Wednesdays.  He made all the omelettes.  I asked Ken if I could take a picture of his apron.  Love it!

How cool is this?  One biker pulled in with this in tow.  Elder Gibbons loved it!  When he spoke with the owner about it, they had a gentleman's disagreement as to the year of the car.  Elder Gibbons says it is a 1955 Chevy Nomad and the "internet" agrees.

We love having the missionaries around as much as possible.  As long as we are not distracting each other from the purpose for which we are here.  "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."  Well, OK.  Sometimes we just have to take a break and hang out.

I guess Elder Sines felt the need for a therapy session.

Sister Froelich grabbed my phone (again) when I wasn't looking and took this.  

We had the honor and pleasure on Friday, July 12th to have President and Sister Peckham here for dinner.  President actually came into town to do individual interviews with each missionary so we said let's do dinner here and he used our office to do the interviews.  I didn't get a picture of all of us.  Darn it.

Sometimes we are just able to have dinner at home together.  

Elder Gibbons is Sister Rybarczyk's (self-proclaimed former hippie) "dog walker" sometimes.  Tillie has decided she and Elder Gibbons can be friends.

We never grow tired of looking out our windows and seeing deer at times even staring back at us.  The other day we saw a doe and about four fawns playing "tag" with each other.  I took a video of it and sure  wish I could post it in our book.

This was a PDay when the Elders were here doing laundry.  They turn all three window ACs on and rather than complain, Elder Gibbons just goes outside (if it is sunny and warm) and merely hangs out.

They will let anyone drive here in Michigan!  A scene from the Walmart parking lot.

This is the drawbridge that we cross over every day.  We were watching our Sisters and Elders fish along the Cheboygan River and every so often the traffic was stopped and the bridge went up.  This is the car ferry that goes in and out each day and takes people and cars to Bois Blanc Island that you can see in Lake Huron from here.

This is the ferry that takes passengers back and forth to Mackinaw Island, also a bridge we can see in a long distance from Cheboygan.

Found this on Facebook. Pretty cool.

Not sure who decided to pull this "prank," but one Saturday we found this sign in our front yard.          Anyone that really knows us knows we are NOT garage sale people.

There are paths all over here.  One goes throughout the state. 

This one runs along Michigan 27 and was once where the railroad went through town.

Just another pretty road.

Round bales of hay can be seen in many places.  

Elder Gibbons has been telling everyone that they make bales of hay here round, but they won't be making them anymore because cows weren't getting a square meal.  Elder Gibbons loves "Dad jokes," but here the younger missionaries call them "Grandpa jokes."  

We were surprised to see just how many of these windmills are here.  But then we realized just how often it is windy here.  

We love the State of Michigan.  

We love the places here.

We love the people of Michigan.  

We love the missionaries serving in the Michigan Lansing Mission!

The Fullness of Life and God's Goodness - July 1st through July 22nd (MANY MORE PICTURES THAN SENT IN OUR EMAIL!)

We are coming to realize just how often and abundantly our Father in Heaven is in the details of our everyday lives.  Not just on special or certain occasions.  Maybe we are just getting better at seeing it and feeling it.  Surely being able to devote 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to His work blesses us with the opportunity to live in the fullness of life and God's goodness.  In the words of Elder Rogers (one of our younger Elders serving with us here in Cheboygan), We are "living the dream."  We will be forever grateful for what we are adding to the choice memories of our lives.

We have now been serving five months and ten days, having left home and reported to the Missionary Training Center on February 12th.  Hopefully we are gone, but not forgotten.  Has anyone noticed an absence of emails coming from Michigan over the last almost month? Not sending emails doesn't mean we have forgotten people we love, but means life is indeed full.  We are sure your lives are as well.

For about three months now we have been teaching a young couple that moved into our Branch.  They have recently returned to activity in the Church and asked us to help them learn more.  Austin joined the church as a teenager and Madison was born into the Church.  They were not active in the church for two or so years.  They have a two-year old named Amarah and they are expecting a second daughter in October.  The Troops have a desire to be sealed in the Temple.  Austin has been blessing and passing the Sacrament for a few weeks now.  He was able to give a Priesthood blessing to Amarah in our Sacrament Meeting which officially places her name upon the records of the Church.  It has been such a joy to watch them grow and to watch as they have felt the joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.  

Amarah wasn't very happy about having her picture taken.  

Her Grandma was holding her and she didn't want to leave her.

We attended a baptism in Petoskey of a man named Travis. Sister Froelich and Wehrmeister have been teaching him for some time.  He lives in a home for recovering addicts and has been so eager to be baptized.  They wanted to provide him with a set of new scriptures.  What we call a "quad" because it contains the Old and New Testament, The Book of Mormon--Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and the Doctrine and Covenants."  They weren't able to get one here in time so they went to the church library to see what they could find and the only thing they found was a used set that had been donated and that didn't feel right.  Long story short, the Branch President heard of their need and went and got a brand new set that had been sitting on his desk for several years.  The previous Branch President had bought a few for the purpose of presenting it to new members and this one book was still there.  It meant a lot to Travis and made the sisters cry when they gave the book to him.  

Travis with his new Quad in hand

On July 4th the Elders and Sisters in our District were at our house for a BBQ.  Our first BBQ here.  Our landlord, Brother Olson, was kind enough to provide one for us.  We had bought a corn hole game and decided to have everyone sign it.  It will be left here at the house when we leave so that every other missionary serving in Cheboygan going forward will be able to sign it and it will be a "legacy" of missionary life here.  

Not everyone can say they have deer watching them play corn hole!  Look closely.  

We had an outdoor Zone Conference on July 9th at Sleepy Hollow State Park about 2 hours south of here.  It was spiritual and fun at the same time.  After lunch and a hike we had a competition between Districts.  There were 9 challenges.  The first part of each challenge was spiritual in nature and taken from the Preach My Gospel manual and then there was a physical challenge.  Sit ups, jumping and Leapfrog.  Our District was the only one "handicapped" with two sets of Senior Missionaries so our younger missionaries had to make up for it.  BUT, Elder Gibbons and I were able to Leap Frog!  

NOTE:  More pictures of this Zone Conference are shown in a previous post.  I just hadn't sent an email in which I included this picture.

We spent one afternoon on a pontoon on Lake Mullett with two other couples.  

On the lake

The two women are members of our Church Branch.  

Left to right:  Mike Gotz, Kathy Gotz, Cindy Pugh, Elder Gibbons, Sister Gibbons and Garry Pugh

Lake Mullett flows north to the Cheboygan River that runs through our town and meets Lake Huron.  What a beautiful area.  The homes along the lake and river were extraordinary.  

Pontooning along the Cheboygan River

More pictures of our day on the lake:

Entering the river from the lake

Yesterday was our PDay and all eight of us met as a District, which we do once every 6 weeks or so.  After having lunch here at the house, we went to the Cheboygan River here in town so the younger missionaries could fish.  The Sisters had never caught a fish.  

Elder Sines helped Sister Wehrmeister reel his fish in and even took the hook off.

A couple of young boys nearby actually caught this bigger fish and didn't want it.  Sister Wehrmeister just wanted to hold it and "kiss" it so Elder Rogers offered it to her.

After they had enough of that we went to Duncan Preserve on the north side of town as well and hiked a short way to a fairly private beach area along Lake Huron. 

Another fun day surrounded by happy, good-hearted and dedicated people.  We have all become such great friends.