Don't Stop Believing!

Dear Family and Friends,

You may have noticed (but probably not), that I didn’t write a letter last week. Not my first failure by any means, but I do try. Every day about 9:00pm – sometimes 10:00pm – we wonder how can the day be over when we still have so much to do? I keep telling Elmer, “I need to serve a mission where you get to take a nap.” Even with that said, we are delighted by how much fun we are having. Last week, we had zone conferences, said farewell to four amazing missionaries who finished serving, and welcomed 19 missionaries who have been reassigned to the Michigan Lansing Mission. We liken this missionary flood unto the 60 additional sons of Helaman who joined the 2,000 Stripling Warriors in the Book of Mormon, except we are getting a much higher percentage than Helaman did. I love when Helaman received these additional young men to his army, he writes, “And now behold, we were strong.” Just a little force bringing great hopes and much joy to others.

We’ve met with the Lansing and Kalamazoo Zones. It was wonderful! Because we cannot have more than 25 at a meeting, we have to split each zone conference into two days. We try to keep it fairly short, and when I say we, I mean I do. In his closing remarks on the first day in Kalamazoo, Elmer said, “And one final thought,” and went on to talk for 25 more minutes. He had about ten more things to say. It only makes me love him more. I think I was the only one who noticed, the missionaries were totally dialed in. Classic President Heap! The missionaries are so happy to meet in person, even with whatever requirements need to be met. We love to focus on what we can do – not what we can’t do.

On the second day in Kalamazoo, Elmer and I arrived about 30 minutes early. It’s about an hour and a half drive from the mission home, but we had gotten off early and made good time. Our Assistants, Elder Schmanski and Elder Griffin had headed out from Lansing well ahead of us to get everything set up – sound system, projector, all kinds of cables and cords, tables spread out with tablecloths, chairs with the proper distancing, and much more. They had help from the Zone Leaders, Elder Crookston and Elder Johnson. When we walked into the building, we heard someone singing over the sound system. And it was good! We spied through the window and saw one of our Assistants belting out, Don’t Stop Believing by Journey. I mean, he was really going for it and sounded great. As soon as he was done, we strolled by the door, and I said, “Sounding good, Elder Schmanski!” We all had a good laugh about it. These elders work so hard, it did our hearts good to see them cutting loose a little. And Don’t Stop Believing?! Sounds like the gospel truth to me. It will now be considered the favorite hymn of my youth.

In our mission this week, we also had the MOSCARS – Missionary Oscars. In our efforts to create better social media content, every district made a video that they would post on Facebook and submitted it to our missionaries who are our social media specialists. We got to watch them all on Zoom as awards were given for things like Best Acting, Best Music, Best Transitions, Best Scenery (and there’s a lot to choose from in Michigan), Best Lighting and Camera Usage, Best Props, etc. They were so creative and good. I was especially fond of the Best Music winner – the Jackson District’s Carpool Karaoke.

We had a fun dinner last night with good friends from La Jolla, Bryan Ward and his son, Holden, who are on a family trip to Michigan to visit us mainly, but also visit Bryan’s brother at his lake house. Who wants to come next?

One tender thing to share with you from this week is the passing of our dear friend from the old Phoenix 16^th Ward days, Marilyn Prock. Not only was she a great friend to our family, but she was also one of my favorite Young Women’s leaders when I was growing up. She took an interest in our lives and really cared about who we were becoming. She showed love to all the girls, but I am pretty sure I was her favorite, as did everyone else who knew her. It was one of her special gifts. While it’s great to have a loving family, it is also important to have someone who doesn’t have to love you show they care when you are a young person. And Marilyn Prock was one of those people in my life. Her granddaughter, Kamryn Prock, is one of our missionaries. Her dad, Tyler, reached out to me shortly before Marilyn passed away to let us know and see how to best contact Hermana Prock. Later, I got to speak with Hermana Prock and share some of my favorite memories of her grandparents. She never got to meet her grandfather, Gene Prock. It was a special experience for me. Before we hung up, I said, “What are the chances that you and I would be out here in Michigan serving a mission together when she died?" Yeah, coincidence is not a strong enough word for an omnipotent, loving Heavenly Father.

You are all in our prayers, especially our dear children and grandchildren. We feel like we are praying all the time, and it’s pretty much the truth. We can only do this work with the Lord’s help.

All our love,

President and Sister Heap