The Michigan Left

Dear Family and Friends,

For everyone who was hoping that I was going to write a politically-charged email from what you inferred in the subject line, I am sorry to disappoint. We have found that making a left turn while driving in Michigan is often not allowed at large intersections at any time. Never allowed. We're not sure about the reasoning except for the time that Elmer didn't see the no-left-turn signs and ended up headed into oncoming traffic. Yikes. We lived to tell. Subsequently, we have learned to make "a Michigan left," which is a right turn and then you drive down the road a bit and make a u-turn. This nonsense is the system. We are a bit bewildered, but we are onboard to try new things.  You can imagine how much Elmer loves the inefficiency of it all. And GPS will tell you that you can make a left turn at these intersections, but you cannot. Not ever.

We have now been able to interview most of our missionaries in person, which wasn't allowed due to the pandemic restrictions until right before we came to the mission. Some of these missionaries had not seen a mission president in person. Many of the missionaries didn't want to leave the building once the interviews were done; they were so hungry for more human contact. But since we can only have one companionship in the building at a time and only one car "on deck" in the parking lot, we had to kick them out to get the next companionship. In good news for our missionaries, opportunities to provide community service are opening back up here and even opportunities to attend church meetings (with a maximum of 25 allowed in any congregation).

We love the missionaries so much; it's hard to describe our feelings.  After we receive 19 reassigned missionaries this week, we will have our Mission Leadership Council then go to interview the remainder of the Spanish Zone in the Grand Rapids area (our second trip there) and then head north to Traverse City to interview the rest of the missionaries. Michigan is truly beautiful from what we have seen. We appreciate that it is summer, and in the winter the subject line of these emails may be #@*%^!, but for now we are seizing the day. 

There are wilderness parks near the mission home with plenty of trails where we go to exercise each morning. We always see some wildlife: deer (today we saw 5 deer including a mother and her fawn), turtles, heron, a family of ducks, birds - many we don't recognize, and a whole bunch of squirrels, chipmunks, and bunnies. We hear the frogs and they sound almost human. We are thoroughly city people, so we find the wildlife quite exciting. 

One of the sweetest things about serving our mission right up there with how wonderful these missionaries are is all the time that Elmer and I get to spend together. We will come home late from a long day of interviews and driving, work three more hours, fall into bed exhausted, and say, "That was an amazing day." A large part of the joy we feel is that we are in it together. There's no one I'd rather be shoulder to shoulder with than Elmer. 

We picked up our first group of reassigned missionaries tonight. With flight delays out of SLC it turned out to be two groups and one sister got stranded in Chicago when she missed her connection. She will arrive tomorrow. I felt a little nervous when I realized we lost one in transit, but we found her and can't wait to have her with us tomorrow.  Our assistants, Elder Schmanski and Elder Griffin, work so hard to make us look competent and do a million difficult things with ease. Tonight, they carted and loaded luggage and made all the newly arrived missionaries feel so welcomed. We also have to give a shout out to Elder and Sister Reid from Aurora, Colorado who have been able to stay here and run the office and take care of the finances. We also have tremendous help from Elder Hatch and Elder Hall who take care of all our vehicles and housing. Their zoom screen name is "Supreme Fleet Commander and Housing Czar." They are currently sweeping the mission --  moving beds and furniture, searching for housing, and much more to ensure our newly arriving missionaries have a place to land. I told them they should look for healthy food choices on the road and not just eat fast food. They nodded but smiled slyly.

Love,

Elmer & Amy

aka President & Sister Heap

The missionaries below come to us by way of Brazil, Ghana, the Philippines, Australia, Argentina, Uganda, Japan, Micronesia/Guam, Peru, and Mexico. We know they will strengthen our mission. We are thankful they were excited and willing to serve after their 3 1/2-month mission spring break.