August 1, 2016

Got "Hump Day" Package from home!!

Sweet Sister Dunn hand delivered the package to the Elders and found them GQing in the Town Centre!

Well, this week was pretty good! Lots of travel! And some surprise interviews with the mission president! So that was really fun! All in all, Elder Richards and I have spent just about 10 hours on a train! So, that was intense! Speaking of intense, I have a joke for everybody! But I will tell it at the end! Anyway, I am gonna make this a bit of a short one, and eliminate all of the useless details! So here we go!

MONDAY - we had P-Day. Usual P-day stuff, nothing to crazy. Except for cleaning like crazy people. After that we taught a lesson to this couple named Vanessa and Billy. They are pretty great. The lesson got off to rocky start, and there were a ton of random distractions. They even had like, 12 hunting dogs in their backyard. And they don't have a backyard. They live in a "town house" in Northern Ireland. That essentially means that they DO NOT have space for that many dogs, but they have ‘em. So that was awesome. We had started to teach the Plan of Salvation, and once we got to earth life, we swapped to the Restoration. I had no idea why, so I kept trying to tie it in to the Plan of Salvation, but it was so rocky. But we did get invited back, and they did enjoy meeting with us. So that was good. The Spirit did its job. The messengers were a bit out of sync, but we pulled it together thankfully. So after we got home that night, the Zone Leaders called us and told us that we would have an interview with President Donaldson on Wednesday. That was unexpected. But everyone in our same District got the same call as well, so we were a bit confused.

TUESDAY- We had our DM, which was really good. We had a council session, and then we had a group discussion on the talk, "Following Christ to Victory" by Hartman Rector Jr. It was pretty good. It just talks about some of the basic principles of success and also how we can be the best we can be through Christ. After DM, we traveled back to Coleraine and did some finding. Pretty normal day.

WEDNESDAY - So, we go to Belfast in the morning for our interviews. And when we get there, President Donaldson and President Thompson were in the room speaking with the Zone Leaders, so we just did some extra studying while we waited. Once they were done, President Donaldson took Elder Richards, and President Thompson took me. And my interview went great. Turns out that they just wanted to meet with the missionaries in the Zone to see how we were doing since they don't get out to Ireland as much as they like and for as long as they like. After that, we went out to lunch with the Antrim Sisters and President Donaldson and President Thompson. We went and got fish and chips. So that was pretty fun. It was really great actually. Good way to spend the day. After that, we traveled home, and then we went to a restaurant with Sister Dunn. And that was awesome.

THURSDAY- We went and visited Trevor first thing in the morning, and that was pretty great. He is super solid. We read the Book of Mormon with him, and we showed him the Restoration video this time. So that was fun. Then we went back and went finding until we had to catch a train to go to Antrim so that Elder Richards could do some baptismal interviews. So we were in Antrim for a few hours. And then we went to Subway, and raced the train from Antrim to Ballymena. The member that gave us a lift was haulin’ butt. That drive is 20 minutes. He did it in 11. That was a tad bit scary.

FRIDAY - We went finding all day, but we did teach Jack. Jack is 8 and he really liked the Plan of Salvation.  His biggest concern is that he doesn't like water on his face. SO we are trying to help him cope. He also roasted me on his knowledge of Pokemon. That was ridiculous. After that, we went finding some more and we found a guy named Dean. We taught him the Restoration and he liked it, so we are gonna continue meeting up with him. Then we went to Ballymoney, and taught Alwayn. That was really good. We talked about Patriarchal blessings and a bit more about family history and the temple. So that was pretty great.

SATURDAY - We had our weekly planning in the morning, and then we taught Isobel. That was okay. She is doing allright. After we did that, we went finding for the rest of that day.

SUNDAY - We started off by going to the train station to pick up Trevor so we could walk to church together. And Kevin was there as well. I met Kevin almost 3 months ago. And we haven't really heard from him since. But all of a sudden, he just decided to come to church. SO that was flippin’ sweet! So we headed up to church, and got a lift at about the halfway point, and church was really good! I really enjoyed it. All the lessons were good. Trevor was participating and Kevin said he would like to meet up with us, but he just needs to check his schedule. So that was awesome! After church, we just went finding, and then up to visit Trevor again. He is getting into the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon, so we are like his source of understanding. It was a good visit. Then we headed back for the night.

Well, that was the week! It was really good! It also flew by!!! We have seen the hand of the Lord this week! 

Here is the joke:

Did you ever hear the story about Abraham's life?? 

No? 

It was in-tents!!!!!! 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I came up with that all by myself! 

Anyway, love you all!!!! Talk to you next week!

--

Till the Work is Done

- Elder Mickelsen