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.