The Best
Dear Family and Friends,
Days are flying by much too quickly. If you don’t read The Church News, you might not have seen that the names of our successors as mission leaders in the great Michigan Lansing Mission have been announced: Karen and Gene Peckham from Fountain Green, Utah. We were notified before the public announcement, of course. We met with the Peckhams for about an hour on Zoom on January 1st and announced it to the mission a few days later. The Peckhams are delightful, and we are excited for them to serve with these amazing missionaries and the great people here. Fun fact: Gene Peckham served a mission as a young man in the Michigan Lansing Mission in 1984-1986 during that period of time when elders served for 18 months. His children told him he’s returning to Michigan to finally finish his mission.
We enjoyed two Christmas Sundays. One with the Meridian and Holt Wards who combined services for a beautiful Christmas Sacrament Meeting. My favorite part was a tender talk about the Savior and why we celebrate His birth by a young father from the Holt Ward and a father/daughter duet of the song Star of Bethlehem. There was a big snow storm right before Christmas and through the Christmas weekend, and church services were cancelled in the Holland and Grand Rapids Stakes. We went to church in the Grand Rapids Stake the Sunday after Christmas and got to hear a second (delayed) Christmas program in the Big Rapids Branch.
We had zone conferences the first few days of January. We trained on weekly and daily planning, companionship study, Area Book Planner, keeping Christ at the helm, responding to referrals, spending time with Jesus in the scriptures by studying lessons from the rich young ruler (what lack I yet?), setting goals, uniting with members, and so much more. Not exactly what we trained about, but I want it to be known that I hope there is a part of the scriptures that got lost or left out where the young ruler who Christ invited to sell everything and follow Him, and he went away sorrowful, thinks about it some more, changes his mind, and decides to sell everything to follow Jesus after all. I'll write that book.
Yesterday, Elder Iain and Sister Cathy Cryer, an amazing senior missionary couple from Oregon, finished their mission. They served for a year in Big Rapids. Their love and support for the people in that community will be greatly missed. In addition to inviting many to come unto Christ or come back to Christ, they helped people prepare for and receive additional covenants by attending the temple, served in community organizations, served in branch callings, and did so much good. To give you an idea, when the Cryers arrived, we also sent some of our best young missionaries to the area. Six people were attending church. On Sunday (a year later), 63 people were there. Numbers don't mean everything, but every number is a dear person. We have seen almost all of our senior couples finish without any new senior missionaries to replace them. It’s sad. Nothing is better than a front row seat to the gathering of Israel. We heard that only 40% of the number of senior couples expected are currently serving. We don't know how accurate that report is, but it definitely feels true. The Cryers tell everyone they know, “Start your retirement with a mission.” It is the best.
We are a little worried that we’ve been spoiled for life after the mission. We know it will be wonderful to spend time with our children and grandchildren, see friends and family, keep up with our almost 600 missionaries, and maybe even sleep in. At the same time, we wonder if on the good, better, best scale, everything else might seem good or better. We definitely know we will still want to spend all of our time together!
As a mission, we've been talking about ways we show our love for the Lord. When the resurrected Christ appeared to His apostles after some of them had gone back to fishing, he had a well-known conversation with Peter on the shores of Galilee: "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs." (John 21:15) Two more times, the Lord asked Peter if he loved Him with the same instructions to feed His sheep. Whenever we see a pattern of repetition in the scriptures, it is a good time to pause and figure out what God wants us to understand here. Peter knew a lot about fishing, professionally and as a fisher of men. I don't know what he knew about being a shepherd. It may not have been much. Yet, the Lord didn't ask him about his shepherding skills, he only asked if Peter loved Him. If you've ever wondered what qualified us to lead this great mission, you aren't the only ones. We love the Lord and are willing to give our heartfelt all. We believe that love is what brought us here. Our hope is that our love of God has guided our actions, motivated our decisions and choices, and ultimately become the culture of the Michigan Lansing Mission and our discipleship. We want everything we do to be an outward expression of our inward love and commitment to our Savior Jesus Christ.
As we try to take care of our health to sprint through the finish line (Elmer tells me he's going to go at least another 30 years), we noticed we have way too many sick missionaries. We know sometimes people do get sick, especially with Covid, the flu, RSV, etc. But the gospel brings huge blessings of health including the Word of Wisdom, the power of the temple covenants, and the power and authority of a missionary call. I have given so much instruction about taking care of our bodies - eating food that will strengthen and energize, getting enough sleep, cleanliness, etc. We ask the missionaries to remember that our bodies are temples that house our spirits, and the Holy Ghost dwells there. Elmer got fired up about it recently on a mission-wide Zoom meeting and mentioned that the two of us haven't missed one day of work in two and a half years. Later at our monthly health council, he mentioned to our area medical advisor (a doctor who helps our mission and six others in the North America Northeast Area) that he thought we had too many sick missionaries. The doctor* said, "President and Sister Heap, you have the healthiest mission that I advise by far!" Maybe we need to calm down, but it's in our nature to continually try to improve.
*Our mission doctor's name is the best: Elder Joseph Smith. I like to find reasons to say, "I'm going to call Joseph Smith about this situation!"
We hope you all are happy and healthy and still remember whatever New Year's resolutions you made a few weeks ago. Elmer sometimes makes a New Year's resolution for me (usually has to do with how often I should admire his muscles). I have to explain that's not how goals work.
With love,
Elmer & Amy
Overheard
Elmer: "You need to kiss me more and talk less," while Amy was editing his quite wordy contribution to our weekly email to the mission.
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