If July was a month of firsts, August was a month of settling in and then being stretched again. We watched two people enter the waters of baptism, welcomed new missionaries, interviewed our way around the mission, hosted our first mission tour with a member of the Area Presidency, and closed the month speaking at stake conference in Lafayette. Somewhere in the middle of it we also celebrated forty-three years of marriage. Here is how the month unfolded.

A Baptism and a Dinner

On Sunday, August 2, we worshipped with the Illiana Ward in Chicago Heights and stayed afterward for a baptism. A woman in her eighties had welcomed the missionaries into her home, listened, prayed, and gained a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. That afternoon she chose to be baptized and begin her own journey on the covenant path. There is nothing quite like watching someone step into the font at any age, and seeing her do it with such quiet conviction is something we will remember.

Later that afternoon we drove home to Fort Wayne in time for the missionary dinner at the home of President and Sister Bell. President Bell is my first counselor in the mission presidency, and each month he and Sister Bell open their home to many of the missionaries serving in the Fort Wayne area. A table full of hungry missionaries and generous hosts is a good way to end a Sabbath.

New Arrivals and a Temple Anniversary

Monday afternoons belong to our staff meeting. From 4 to 5 pm we gather with our two office couples, our office elders, and our assistants to the president to plan the week and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. It has become one of the steadiest hours of our week. Our two senior couples work endless hours in the office so that our missionaries have a great experience and can more fully share the message of the Savior Jesus Christ. The photo of us with them was taken at Bear Creek Camp’s outdoor Faith Walk, which explains the more casual clothes than usual. More about the Faith Walk later in this post.

On Wednesday, August 5, we picked up two new missionaries at Fort Wayne International Airport. Both were called to speak Haitian Creole. Our mission has several companionships of Haitian Creole–speaking missionaries who find and teach people in that language, and these two elders joined them. We oriented them, fed them, and kept them overnight at the mission home. Thursday morning we fed them and their first companions breakfast and sent them off to their new areas.

That afternoon we drove to Lafayette for interviews, and on Friday afternoon we went on to the Indianapolis Indiana Temple. Our forty-third wedding anniversary was coming on August 19, right in the middle of our mission tour, so we celebrated early in the house of the Lord. The temple was spiritually refreshing, and it was a sweet way to mark forty-three years together.

The next week we were back on the road. On Wednesday, August 12, we joined a district council in the South Bend Zone, then interviewed missionaries in South Bend over two days and worked alongside them in the evening. On Friday we interviewed in Muncie. We have come to love the Indiana back roads on our many drives across the state.

On Saturday, August 15, we met with our district leaders for District Leadership Council (DLC). That same Saturday, several of our missionaries spent the day serving in the Valparaiso area, which was still recovering from the violent storms and tornadoes that swept northwest Indiana on August 11.

Our First Mission Tour

On Wednesday, August 19 — our actual anniversary — we welcomed Elder and Sister Koch for our first mission tour. Elder Koch is a General Authority Seventy and serves in the North America Northeast Area Presidency. They arrived that afternoon, and within a couple of hours we were all at the Fort Wayne stake center for a two-hour Mission Leadership Council (MLC) with our zone leaders and sister training leaders. We all fell in love with the Kochs and learned much from them during their visit.

Afterward the four of us went to dinner at a restaurant we have enjoyed many times. That night the service was slow and the table next to us was loud, but the food was good and the company was better. We finished with dessert at the mission home and a long, warm conversation getting to know the Kochs. It was a lovely evening.

On Thursday and Friday we held mission conferences from 8:30 am to 2 pm. On Thursday the missionaries from the Lafayette, Valparaiso, and South Bend zones gathered in person while the rest joined by Zoom; on Friday the Fort Wayne and Muncie zones came in person and the others joined remotely. Two sisters sang, and an elder accompanied them on the piano. Elder Koch taught for an hour each day — on repentance and living the law of chastity the first day, and on goal setting and planning the second. Sister Koch taught about the Book of Mormon and about the plan of salvation, pointing out that after this life only the good remains.

Sister Flanagan taught about prayer and the Holy Ghost. On Thursday I adapted my remarks on the Book of Mormon on the fly so I wouldn’t repeat what Sister Koch had already taught so well, and I invited every missionary to read the entire Book of Mormon in nine weeks and mark every verse that points to Christ. I hope that common cause will unite our mission around the Savior. On Friday, Sister Flanagan and I used 1 Nephi 3 and 4 to teach goal setting and planning, then role-played a weekly planning session and companion inventory. Each day ended with questions for Elder Koch, and our senior missionaries were with us both days — what a strength they are.

Our remote viewers didn’t have the best experience; the Zoom side of things did not go well, and we have some learning to do there. But the Spirit was strong in the room, and Friday ended with interviews and a closing meeting with Elder and Sister Koch. They loved their time with our missionaries, and we loved our time with them.

Another Baptism in Elkhart

On Sunday, August 23, we attended the sacrament meetings of all three units meeting in the Elkhart building and stayed afterward for another baptism. Baptismal services are some of the most uplifting meetings in the Church. Watching someone make that first covenant with Heavenly Father, surrounded by the missionaries who taught them and the members who will now walk beside them, never gets old.

Stake Conference in Lafayette

We spent much of the last week of August preparing our stake conference talks, with one memorable evening away from them. On Thursday, August 27, we took a group of elders and sisters to Bear Creek Camp for the camp’s Faith Walk. When it gets dark, each participant puts on headphones and walks a dark trail, listening to faith-promoting messages from General Authorities and general officers of the Church. Along the path, flat-panel displays show videos whose voices play through the headphones. At a few stops you can write down your troubles and worries and what you would like to share with Jesus, and near the end, what you think He would say to you. Our missionaries loved it and told us their faith in Jesus Christ was strengthened.

On Saturday, August 29, Sister Flanagan and I spoke at the Fort Wayne Stake Primary activity, where we told the children what they can do now to become missionaries someday. Then we drove straight to Lafayette for the Saturday evening session of the Lafayette Indiana Stake conference.

On Sunday we both spoke in the general session. My talk was titled “Christ Will Heal All.” Each of us comes to earth with an imperfect mind and body, and some of our challenges will last as long as mortality does. The good news of the gospel is that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ our weaknesses can become strengths and, in the end, be taken away entirely: “I give unto men weakness that they may be humble… then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27).

I talked about needing patience in three places — with ourselves, with others, and with the Lord. I am the third son in my family born legally blind, and I shared two experiences. As a new member of the Church, two friends arranged for me to fly a small plane and quietly called out the altitude and the helicopters from the back seat so I could do it; that taught me never to give up on a dream and to lean on friends who bear one another’s burdens. Years later, in a nearly empty Mount Rainier National Park, I prayed aloud to be able to see the birds singing in the trees, and instead of healing my eyes the Lord sent a bird to land on my hand, inches from my face, followed by many more. Answers come in the Lord’s way and in His time, and one of His quiet miracles is weakness turned into strength.

I was more emotional at the pulpit than I care to be. Sister Flanagan, on the other hand, gave an amazing talk and was more composed than I have ever seen her. That was a true miracle of its own. Mission life is full of them.

Looking Back

August reminded us that this work is the Lord’s. We witnessed two people who entered the waters of baptism, new missionaries joined us, an Area Presidency member taught our missionaries to repent and plan and read the Book of Mormon, and we marked forty-three years of marriage in the temple. The month ends with September transfers just days away — new missionaries arriving and others heading home — and that is only a glimpse of the fun ahead. We testify that Jesus Christ lives, that He heals, and that He will make weak things become strong for all who come unto Him.

We landed in Fort Wayne on June 22, 2026, five days after walking into the Missionary Training Center and still full of what we’d felt there. We didn’t know much about what came next. Looking back on these first five and a half weeks, the answer is: everything, all at once, and somehow exactly what we needed. There were midnight hospital visits, an all-nighter neither of us was built for anymore, and more meals out than we’d like to admit — but there has also been more spirit, more love, more testimony, and more purpose packed into these weeks than we’ve felt in a long time. The map below shows the ground we now cover and the stakes we serve, from Chicago Heights and Valparaiso in the northwest to Richmond in the southeast. Here’s how it went.

Landing in Indiana

We touched down at 5:30 pm. President and Sister Matheson collected us and our bags, took us to dinner, introduced us to the Assistants to the President, and then we went straight to work.

I went teaching with Elder Jester, Elder Perry, and Elder Bullock, while Sister Flanagan went with Sister Herd and Sister Cole. It was a wonderful way to step into missionary service — and, for the record, we got a good night’s sleep afterward. It would be a while before we said that again.

On the 23rd we saw our mission home for the first time. We are grateful for such a beautiful place to call home for a few years. We unpacked just enough to find the rest of our clothes, said goodbye to the Mathesons, talked with President Wood of the Chicago mission, and closed the day by introducing ourselves to the whole mission over Zoom. The one thing that needed no improvement was the view out back, across the pond.

Out to the Zones

On June 24 we drove to Logansport, a central spot in the mission, for our first Mission Leadership Council (MLC). Then it was on to Valparaiso to work with the missionaries, eat dinner, and collapse. The next day I interviewed 22 Valparaiso Sisters and Elders, and that evening we traveled to South Bend, where I interviewed about 28 more the following day before dinner with President and Sister Howes, the South Bend stake president and his wife.

That evening turned into one we won’t forget for a while. Around 8:30 pm, headed home to Fort Wayne, we got a call about an injured missionary in a Chicago Heights hospital. We turned around and drove west, checked the elder out of the hospital about 12:30 am, got him and his companion home, and then — foolishly — headed back to Fort Wayne, arriving at 6 am. We’re too old for all-nighters. Saturday was a write-off.

On Sunday we attended a noon sacrament meeting and heard President Johnson’s two sons speak — one heading to Spain on his mission, the other just home from France. Later that day we met Elder and Sister Robinson, our Area Seventy. Monday brought our first staff meeting, an introduction to our area medical advisor, and our first in-field training. And thus ended our first week: very busy, lots of travel, and a richness of spirit beyond belief.

Interviews, and a First Farewell

On June 30 we interviewed all 26 Sisters and Elders in the Fort Wayne Zone, then had dinner with President Johnson, his wife, and their four children. Their two sons were the two we heard speak in church on Sunday. Their 17-year-old daughter told us she’s planning to serve a mission as well. They all came dressed in their Sunday best, just as we were — a thoughtful gesture, especially from the children.

The next morning we drove to Muncie and interviewed 22 more Sisters and Elders, then went out to serve alongside them — Sister Flanagan went with Sister Krogulski and Sister Oldham, and I went with Elder Thacker and Elder Carrell. It was hot and sticky, but we had some success knocking on doors.

We stayed the night in Muncie, then moved on to Lafayette to interview the whole zone there. We’d hoped to work with the Lafayette missionaries afterward, but instead headed toward Chicago Heights to rearrange a couple of missionaries and get the previously injured elder, who needed to return home for medical treatment, to the airport. There was plenty of confusion. We’d assumed he was flying out of Chicago, since it’s much closer, but the Church had booked him out of Fort Wayne. We sorted it out from the car: the assistants would reshuffle the elders and pick up the injured elder, Elder and Sister Okelberry from our office would leave his paperwork on our porch, and we’d all meet at the airport at 6:30 am. In the end we got a few hours of sleep and took our first elder to the airport. We wished it were for happier reasons, but he left in good spirits with a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sunday, July 5, brought a couple of baptisms, and with them some of the best meetings in the Church. The Spirit was wonderful. It is wonderful to watch God’s children develop testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His restored Church and make covenants that lead to eternal life.

Making a House a Home

The week of July 6 was one we’ll probably never see the like of again. With every zone interviewed and zone conference moved to after transfers, the calendar was nearly empty. We still worked from 6:30 am to 11 pm, but we used the time to catch up, shop, unpack, and hang pictures.

It was fun to work side by side and turn this house into our home. We even memorized our new address. The office is set up, the living room is starting to feel like ours, and in the evenings the geese on the pond keep us company. And the painting of the Sermon on the Mount that we carried from home now hangs on our wall, just as we hoped it would.

Our First Transfer

The week of July 13 was filled with revelation and inspiration as we prayed over who our new trainers should be, who should serve as zone leaders, sister training leaders, and district leaders, and who the Lord wanted to move. The Spirit is strong and quick here. It has to be, because there’s little time to prepare. You take a lifetime of experience, add the Spirit, and good things happen quickly.

We finalized the transfer board on Monday evening, July 20, and let the Spirit make a few last changes. On Wednesday evening, after a wait at Fort Wayne International Airport, we welcomed 11 new missionaries — six elders and five sisters. We fed them, interviewed them, and sent them to a local hotel. The next morning they met us at the Columbia City Ward building, and we introduced them to their trainers.

Then came the moment we won’t forget. The trainers and their new companions, along with 114 other missionaries, packed large bags into not-quite-enough small cars and drove off to their new areas. It was a sight to behold. The Spirit in all of that chaos was so strong — problems evaporated into miracles in an instant. It is the Lord’s work, and we’re just here to help it along.

That evening we hosted Elder Southam, who was finishing his mission, for dinner and a short devotional with my assistants, Elder Murdoch and Elder Reeves. We went to bed at 11:30 pm, got up at 3:30 am, and took him to the airport on July 24. He’s a fine elder, and the first missionary we sent home who had completed his service.

On Saturday, July 25, we were back in Logansport for District Leadership Council (DLC), where Sister Flanagan taught our district leaders.

Back on the Road

On Tuesday, July 28, we were back at the Valparaiso stake center for a second round of interviews. One elder was unwell and ended up in the hospital in Michigan City, so after interviews we visited him in the emergency room and again around midnight, while his companion joined nearby elders in a trio so someone could stay with him.

That midnight visit brought one of our favorite moments of the month. A hospital administrator stopped by and asked our missionary for his two-minute explanation of the Church. He did a great job sharing the gospel with a well-educated Christian who was clearly ready to debate. The three of us invited him to read the Book of Mormon and find out for himself that it is true. Sister Flanagan got his name and address, and he accepted an offer to have the missionaries bring him his own copy. We hope he reads it!

We left the hospital at 1:30 am for a short night in Valparaiso, then drove to Chicago Heights the next morning for a district council meeting. It was fantastic — a great group of missionaries counseling together about how to help their friends come unto Christ. I’d happily do more of that and less of everything else.

Not every missionary’s story this month was an easy one. One of our new elders found the transition very hard, and after much prayer, counsel, and consultation with his family and leaders, we all agreed it was best for him to return home to heal. When the Spirit speaks to you all day, you learn to move quickly, and then you wait while the rest of the world catches up. On Thursday we received three hours of training from Brother Hamilton, our Area Mission Specialist — instructive and uplifting. On Friday, July 31, we went back to Logansport for Mission Leadership Council with all our zone leaders and sister training leaders, and then stayed to see our elder’s situation through.

That night we had Thai food in Logansport, organized an emergency transfer, and got about the last hotel room in town. A quick run to Walmart for toothbrushes and a comb, three or four hours of sleep at a Super 8 we won’t be recommending, and early the next morning we dropped him off at the Indianapolis airport, praying he’d get home safely. Then back to Fort Wayne for a couple more hours of sleep and a brief break.

Looking Back

The hours are long, but the Lord makes the work light. We do hard things because we love Jesus Christ so much. A month ago we stepped off a plane into a mission we had only read about. Today it has faces: companionships knocking on doors in the July heat, a family who welcomed us in their Sunday best, eleven new missionaries meeting their trainers, and an elder teaching a hospital administrator after midnight. We’ll keep after it.