Big News and Brilliant Ideas
Dear Family and Friends,
Let's start with the big news in our family: Gavin and Marnie are engaged! Planning a wedding in a global pandemic has been a little tricky, but they will marry on April 24th in the San Diego Temple. We are so happy for them! Due to restrictions, only 16 of us can be their guests in the temple, which ends up being the exact total number of Marnie’s grandparents, parents, siblings, and brother-in-law, plus our children, their spouses, and me. Elmer will not be able to leave the mission for the wedding, which we knew before we began. He will be missed, and we appreciate that Marnie and Gavin explored the idea of a Michigan ceremony. We just couldn’t get it to work out here and feel grateful to South Bay United Pentacostal Church in Chula Vista for taking its case to the Supreme Court, which found 6-3 that worship is essential, and getting the California churches and the temples re-opened.
If you haven’t met Marnie, here are some fun facts: She grew up in North County (San Diego) and went to La Costa Canyon High. She and Gavin were introduced at a youth stake dance when she was 14 and Gavin was 16 by our families’ mutual friend, Camber Hardy. I believe the exact introduction was, “Gavin come here. I want you to meet your future wife, Marnie.” Eloise and Olivia are also in love with Marnie and got to spy on/help set up the proposal. She and Gavin both love the gospel, music, and volleyball. She served a mission in the Honolulu Hawaii Mission. ☀️ 🏝 🌺
I've been thinking about what we've learned during this global pandemic. I think most people have become more savvy about technology at the very least. What new things have you learned during this pandemic? What do you think will be different going forward? Comment below! If you leave a comment on this blog I have to approve it because it's a public blog -- so give it a day or two to appear please. Here is my bright idea for after the pandemic: With so many people and their employers discovering that they can work from home and be just as or even more productive` in certain fields, I see an opportunity to spread our wings and have some new, life-expanding experiences. I think it would be cool if families where the parents can work anywhere would pick up and move somewhere different for a year or two or three. If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, move where you will be in a branch or even a group. Use your gifts and talents to build and strengthen others and see how they enrich your lives too. Wouldn't it be cool if everyone who could prayed to know where God needs them right now? I think it would be especially rewarding for young couples and young families. Send yourself on a mission adventure so to speak, and you can pick the spot!
I have moments where I think I could help run the Church's Mission Department. Perhaps you are happy this idea isn't one of those times. Personally, I think it’s brilliant. A blog post on what I would do if someone put me in charge of the Mission Department would be a good read, but Elmer is afraid they will send us home if I publish it. But here's a foretaste: Include both mission leaders on emails regarding the travel requirements to send a missionary to his or her original assignment. And ship the 72-hour COVID tests directly to the missionaries’ apartments so that office missionaries (and sometimes the mission leaders) don’t have to drive them all over a geographically large mission in the middle of a blizzard to deliver them. 💡
This month, we’ve sent missionaries to Ghana, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Most returning. Some for the first time. I feel like a mother who has prepared and sent a dozen of her children off to foreign lands. Naturally, no two countries have the same requirements, and the travel restrictions are continuously changing. We had two missionaries who tried to return to Brazil who are still here. For one, he was denied boarding because the results of his 72-hour COVID test that the Mission Department ordered for him (which he took and over-nighted back to the lab) never arrived. As in, they should have arrived on Wednesday night, and he still has nothing. Several missionaries who were leaving on the same day actually used a company headquartered in Grand Rapids for their tests, and they were able to travel. We know some of them also never received the results from the lab in Salt Lake City either. Needless to say, we have now adopted a Plan B, which is an important missionary lesson: Have a backup plan, and a backup plan to your backup plan - also a lesson from life in a global pandemic. Fortunately, this elder will be able to go to Brazil this Friday, which is especially good news because he shipped his winter coat home. It’s summer in Brazil. The Assistants have loaned him a coat for this week.
Another missionary found out that his required travel documents were lost in Brazil, and he has been permanently reassigned to our mission when he thought he was leaving yesterday. I wish you could witness the maturity, humility, and generosity of these missionaries. They go through emotional roller coasters and come out stronger and more faithful for it. This missionary, who will stay with us, is one of our young missionary leaders. He is such a blessing to us. Our desire is for each of our missionaries to be exactly where the Lord want them to be. We don’t see missionaries as belonging to us or to another mission, we see them as part of the greatest work happening on earth. And it is sweet to see all of them discover that God’s children are everywhere, that everyone deserves an opportunity to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that they have a tremendous love for the people they serve and teach.
We spend way too much time in the car. It’s not my favorite. Elmer loves a road trip. Yesterday, we drove two hours to pick up someone for her baptism, since members are not allowed to give anyone rides during this phase of the pandemic. Then we drove 30 minutes to a building that had a baptismal font and waited for her and watched her baptism on Zoom because the number of people who can attend a baptism is still very limited by the Church (although you can have 50 people at a religious service according to the state of Michigan). Then we drove her back home and returned to the mission home. We left at 11:00AM and returned after 7:00PM. And that is how the required preparation day for mission leaders often goes. We loved helping our friend and the elders in Bad Axe, but we pray that we will have the regulations eased so that we all can have the opportunities to bring back those connections that helped us before the pandemic. We know what’s happening in other areas and in other missions, and so do our missionaries. We are grateful for those moments we can be in person with our missionaries at zone conferences and interviews. We are also grateful that no missionary in this mission has ever tested positive for COVID. But we pray for Phase 2 or 3 or for the Savior to come again. The latter would be our first choice, of course.
We love you all!
Elmer & Amy
Here are things I love:
ReplyDelete1. Reading your blog. You are so funny in the written word (and in real life)
2. Gavin and Marnie being engaged and that we get to see everyone soon!
3. That big winter coat. We are proud of you for surviving -13!
4. All those happy missionaries despite weird covid restrictions!
I just got to read your latest blogpost, and I loved it as always. As to what I've learned from the pandemic, some meetings are perfect for zoom and others are not; I have more fun with people in person both in work and in play; and always have extra toilet paper just in case. :) Your missionaries seem so great! You and President Heap should take some credit. :) I've said it twice, and I'll say it again, Sister Heap should be in charge of the mission department haha.
ReplyDelete