Missed It by That Much + One Year!

Dear Family and Friends,

I heard that one of the rules of interior decorating is that you never put a clock in the dining room because the feast and the company are meant to be savored and enjoyed without any consideration to time or schedules. That rule holds up for missions as well. We often lose ourselves in what we are doing and find such joy in our opportunity to be here in Michigan that we lose track of the time. But we have been reminded that today we have been in the Michigan Lansing Mission for a year! I am a little upset about how quickly it is flying by and wish time would slow down. If this were a hockey game (a very important sport to Michiganders - although not as important as fishing and hunting), the first period would be over. We can hardly believe it.

If you aren’t already aware, Elmer wants to be the oldest living person named Elmer in the world. He may or may not make it due to a younger Elmer population living in places like Tennessee. But he just may be the last mission president to miss a child’s wedding. On June 15th, we received a communication from the Church that mission presidents may now leave their missions to attend a child’s wedding. Sorry Marnie and Gavin. Missed it by that much! Not for the first time, we feel like our timing in life is just a little bit off. 

Mission presidents can also now leave for a few other reasons in addition to a child’s wedding, although most of them are things you hope and pray don’t happen. It’s a step forward although clearly a little late for us. We had one Church leader ask if we were ever going to speak to him again, which was pretty funny. Maybe if we make a really big mistake out here, we can get some forgiveness now. 😊

In other news, Elmer banged his head on the back hatch of our SUV. I was impressed that he didn’t make a sound (not even a bad word), because he hit the GMC so hard that it felt like he threw a case of water into the back. My hair flew forward while I was still sitting in the car. Lots of blood. While I was examining his wound that was bleeding quite a lot,  I got a call from an elder who sliced his hand opening a can. They both ended up in urgent care (different cities) getting glued back together. Let’s try to keep it to one minor emergency at a time, folks. 

Earlier this month, we had a wonderful opportunity to bring our missionaries to an Amish farm to do a little service and have lunch together, thanks to Elmer’s sister, Miriam, and her husband, Norman King. The Whetstone family, who owns the farm, are the King’s dear friends. It was a wonderful day in Shipshewana, which is in the small part of Indiana within our mission boundaries. We call this part of Indiana “farm heaven.” The most beautiful, well-kept farms are everywhere you look along with the healthiest looking horses we've ever seen. 

This past transfer, we were able to drive around the mission so that we could visit with the missionaries in person. Every transfer, a mission president interviews each missionary. We are down to about 190 missionaries from a high of 240, but you can do the math if each interview takes 15-20 minutes. It feels like it takes up most of the transfer. We haven’t been able to do in-person interviews the last couple of transfers due to the COVID cases in Michigan, so it was really great to be face-to-face again. I think it is one of Elmer’s favorite parts about serving. I usually have several missionaries at a time to visit with if we (meaning Elmer - it's not his style to only talk to someone for 15 minutes) gets behind schedule. Because our mission is geographically large, we travel 1-3 hours to meet up with the missionaries and they travel up to 90 minutes to get to where we meet up. Even though we have been here a year and traveled many miles, we still go places we have never been before. We went to the town of Paw Paw for the first time recently. When we first came to the mission, Elmer kept calling it Pow Pow. We have learned one or two things in this year.

Today, we welcomed 21 new missionaries to the Michigan Lansing Mission. Okay, it was 20. One missed his connection in Detroit and is coming in at 11:56PM. Midnight airport pick up is a job for the Assistants, Elder Neilson and Elder Burnside. In the morning, we said goodbye to 12 of our best, consecrated, most-experienced missionaries with some tears (that's just on my part really, but this morning Sister Klusman joined me). Then we welcomed in a group of enthusiastic, maybe a little homesick and anxious, committed missionaries. It is a testimony to me that the Lord leads His church, because if this was a business model it would fail miserably. 

We love you all,

Elmer & Amy

Overheard

Elmer: Forty-two percent of the year has gone by, and we’ve only spent seventeen percent of our budget.

Amy: I’ll do better.

Welcoming Sister Mullen to the mission!

Our field trip to Central Michigan University's library to see the 1840 Third Edition copy of the Book of Mormon

Sending Elder Ferrerya off to Guyana with his 66-pound suitcase. He has the record! Luckily an airline we won't name (not Delta) likes us and let the 16-pound overage slide.

Sending Elder Tolson to his original assignment in the Alpine German-speaking Mission

The next thing we know, he shows up in Austria (maybe Germany) with another one of our former missionaries, Elder Clark!

The Michigan Lansing Mission Presidency: President Brown, President Heap, and President Gentile

at Traverse City District Conference - the first time these three were all together in person and the first time President Brown and President Gentile ever met in person!

Traverse City Zone Interviews before the District Conference

At Traverse City District Conference

With some of the missionaries Up North

Helping out on an Amish farm in Indiana

A fun day of service and friendship with Elders David Anderson, Pectol, Moncur, Dallin Anderson, Kemp, Hermanas Black and Muñoz, and Sisters Bybee and Hawea

A buggy ride

Have we mentioned how beautiful Indiana is (well the tiny part that is in our mission) - these missionaries are spectacular too!

And there goes Elder Moncur off to Mexico!

I am regularly asking the missionaries to eat real food that gives their bodies the energy they need to stay heathy and work hard. These elders found a deal on hamburgers though, and thus the Three Rivers' Burger Cleanse was born. I do approve of these green beans and sometimes they put mushrooms on their burgers.

Say hello to the Digital Finding and Teaching Coordinators Elder Nicolia and Elder Atwood!

Thanks to Elder Burnside's family for sending us so many delicious goodies from Utah!

Grand Rapids Zone Conference

Lansing Zone Conference

Spanish North Zone Conference

Spanish South Zone Conference

When Elder Godoy and Elder Campbell cooked us lunch - amazing!

We are so excited for our friend, Sharity Whitaker of the amazing Gaylord Branch, to begin her mission in about six days. We will travel north soon so that President Heap can set her apart.

Mission Leadership Council at the Lansing Stake Center ~ when President Heap says “toes in.”

President Heap has been working on his selfie skills

These younger missionaries need to give us selfie lessons - a little lunch in the park after Mission Leadership Council

I could talk about the gospel and work with these sisters all day. Such happy people!

Hermanas Kenworthy, Ekins, and Schmidt of Grandville tried a recipe I sent out to the missionaries. It was declared edible. Can we even say how much we love Hermana Schmidt for bringing her Vitamix on her mission?!

Horchata in Grand Rapids

A special day in Sturgis

At Jose and Sonya's wedding

It's a happy day at the mission home when our returned missionaries come back for a visit - wonderful to see Riana Johnson!

And the same day the Johnsons came to see us so did Kamryn, Kim, and Tyler Prock! Feeling blessed!

We love it when our reassigned missionaries make it to their original assignments and let us know how they are doing. Here is Sister Pulsipher with the sisters in Zimbabwe.

No one can believe how quickly a mission comes to an end. We loved the year we got to serve with Elders Rasmussen, Kemp, Fugal, Walker, Harolds, Lee, Johnson, Corbett and Sisters Neuenswander, Seng, Adams, and Klusman. We are so grateful for their faithful, loving efforts.

At the airport (photo credit: me)

The Assistants and Elder Corbett found the banner! (Well, they called Rylan Schmanski for help💡.) Elder Corbett loved his mission so much, he stayed one more day to help welcome all our new missionaries.

Front row: Sister Sampson, Sister Stephenson, Sister Roskelley, Sister Jolley, Hermana Santos (who found out today that she will be speaking Spanish), and Sister Richins. Back row: Elder Sargent, Elder Squire, Elder Jones, Elder Stoner, Elder Burnside, Elder Neilson, and Elder Corbett (last three NOT new 😊)

Front row:Sister Bennett, Sister Hansen, Sister Vassar, Sister Gardner, Sister Williams. Back Row: Elder McAllister, Sister Winkel, Elder Buxton, Sister Hill, and Elder Hanks. 

Midnight arrival not pictured: Elder Gray