November 29, 2015

I'm just going to start off this update with the statement that this week was AWESOME! We have seen miracles and more and more progression with our work here.  Hard work really does pay off! It is so incredible!

MONDAY was P-Day! No surprise there, but, we did teach 'N'! We have been teaching her every day and she loves it.  Today she was taught the Word of Wisdom and she committed to live it right on the spot.  It was awesome.  She is progressing so well!  We are still debating on whether or not to move her date up, but both Elder Allred and I want to make sure she is 110% ready to be baptized.  We are still in shock.  People this prepared don't happen.  So we need to verify that we aren't really dreaming.  Indeed in the vernacular of today's youth, "It was awesome!"  But later that day we went over and read 3 Nephi 11 to Sister Walsh.  She really enjoyed it.  The part we focus on in when the Savior invited all the Nephites, one by one, to come and feel the prints in His hands and feet and to thrust their hands into his side.  The same thing happens today.  He does not invite only one or a few to partake of his goodness and to find out that He lives, but He invites us all, one by one, to come and feel of His goodness and love and mercy.  And that is a wonderful, wonderful thing!  

We then headed home and hit the hay.

 At the Johnsons after their son's mission farewell.  He's serving in the London England Mission

 Hard at work studying!

Elder Allred taking a little cat nap after all the chapping!

TUESDAY-was pretty great.  We had District Meeting, which is always good.  This was the first District Meeting we had this transfer.  Elder White is our new district leader and he had some great ways of teaching.  The meeting was truly Spirit led, and it enlightened us all! We learned so much and answered questions.  District Meetings are always great.  Then afterward, we went to Subway, as per tradition, and got some lunch.  Elder Allred and Elder White traveled to Portadown, and Elder Plewe and I were left to convert Lisburn.  It was a day filled with finding and chapping, and not many people were too chuffed to see us, but we smile and say our bit and them invite them to action.  We got one potential as well!  She is a Polish lady named 'M'.  She was really nice, but also busy and we only had a few seconds to get her information.  But we will be trying by her soon!  We then went chapping and GQ-ing for the remainder of the day.  Fruitless, but fun.

WEDNESDAY- was pretty great.  Really the only thing I want to focus on is the fact that we taught 'N' again, and this time it was the Law of Chastity and the Law of Tithing and the Law of the Fast. And she accepted all 3! It was incredible! All three without question or complaint!  She said that God wanted her to do it, so she would.  After Elder Allred and myself had closed our jaws, we went out chapping on a spiritual high! And let me tell you, it was awesome!  But, people don't really wanna talk when it's dark outside, even if it is only 5 o'clock.  But oh well.  The work will go on!

 THANKSGIVING 2015 at the JOHNSONS

THURSDAY- We all know about Thursday or should I say, Turkey Day!!  It was pretty great.  'N' has finished all her lessons, so we decided to watch Prophet of the Restoration with more detail and doctrine. And that was a spiritual home run.  If any of you have not seen the Prophet of the Restoration, I would encourage you to go watch it.  It is so good!  The lessons was so spiritual and 'N' loved it!  After the lesson, we headed up to the Johnsons to have ourselves a Thanksgiving dinner!  It was pretty fantastic!  The turkey was good, and they also made cornbread and stuffing and potatoes (which I didn't partake of) and all other kinds of food.  It was awesome!  I was happy to have Thanksgiving, but unfortunately, it is not a holiday here, so we don't get it off.  We still had to go finding for 2 more hours after dinner.  That was awesome on full stomachs! Yee haw!!

FRIDAY- was a straight up full day of finding.  Really nothing to report.  Just talked to a ton of people and carried the work forward.

SATURDAY- was pretty good.  We had coordination, and then we had our usual meeting with 'T'.  We showed him the "Bearing our Burdens with Hope" Mormon Message.  It was really good.  Then after 'T', we went home for lunch and planned our next move.  We decided to go finding until we were to meet Sister Kirkpatrick at the Galley for dinner!  OOOOOOHHHHHH THE GALLEY!!!! It's pretty great!  She also took us out to an ice cream parlor for dessert.  WOOHOO!!!  

After that, we headed across town to go visit a part member family and we got there right when they were setting up their Christmas tree so it was pretty fun to see that.  We left the 3 Nephi 11 message with them and made our way back home.

Chatting with the Youth in the Lisburn Ward

SUNDAY- was great! We had 'N' and her friend 'S' at church and we taught them the detailed Plan of Salvation lesson afterward.  It was a dang good lesson.  Then we headed over to the Jacksons for lunch and they had roast beef and yorkshire pudding with sweet potatoes that were fantastic!!  So awesome!!  The Jacksons are the best!  

Then we traveled down to another less active's home in a freezing rain storm and he wasn't home so that was awful.  Then we went home, I put on my onesie and went to bed!

My Ponderizing Scripture:

Jacob 4:11

Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the Atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first fruits of Christ unto God, having faith and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh.

Talk to you all soon!

-Elder Mickelsen

November 23, 2015

The Irish Moon

This weeks has been a week full of awesome!!! We have taught a new investigator, committed her to baptism, and she has already had 3 lessons, and we are teaching her the 4th lesson today! She is so prepared!!! We also had the opportunity to meet M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles this week but more details on that later.  But his week has been crazy awesome!!! And NO AUF's!!! Woohoo!!!!

MONDAY- Monday was P-day, as we all know.  We had emailing and played a round of snooker in which I beat Elder Allred, so I might have damaged his pride a little bit.  But after snooker, we went to Cafe Nero (which is like a Starbucks) to teach a lesson to a new investigator name 'N'.  She is so prepared! We can't even explain how prepared she is.  She is awesome.  We taught her the Plan of Salvation, which she loved since she has lost 4 family members in the last 4 months.  The most recent to a brutal murder.  But she loved the Plan of Salvation.  We also had a fantastic joint teach with Alice who is amazing.  She is so good.  She has changed so much since I met her back in August.  She actually identified the Spirit in the lesson.  She literally took our job from us! It was so awesome!  You know the lesson is going great when you can feel the Spirit in a COFFEE SHOP and your RECENTLY REACTIVATED joint teach identifies the feelings of the investigator as the HOLY GHOST!  It was so fantastic! She has committed to baptism on the 19th of December and she is so excited!  It set the tone for the rest of this absolutely amazing week!  Then after that, we went over and read the Book of Mormon with Sister W, who is an 87 year old ETERNIGATOR.  This is the real deal.  She has been meeting with the missionaries since 1960.  1960 PEOPLE!!! But she is so awesome. Then we chapped a little bit to end the night and retired home to have a good night's rest.

TUESDAY- Tuesday would normally by the day we would have District Meeting but we didn't because we had an All Ireland conference Saturday in Dublin but more on that later.  So on Tuesday, we walked clear across town in the pouring rain and gale force winds.  Yep, we are devoted.  My umbrella got eaten up and spit out by this Northern Irish weather, and I was left with nothing but a stick with a button that extended, which I continued to play with until it exploded in my hand at the door we had just chapped as the guy opened the door!  So that was kinda fun to play off. 

 But then after that, we taught a lesson to 'C.W.'  He is from South Africa and has been investigating the church for a while. He has the desire to join, but he is literally busy out of his mind.  He is an anesthesiologist and works in hospitals all over Northern Ireland so it's hard to catch him at his house.  But we have good lessons once we do.  Then after that, we traveled to Portadown, where I dropped Elder Allred off and brought our new District Leader, Elder White, up to Lisburn for an exchange.  

WEDNESDAY- Wednesday was pretty awesome.  The exchange went great.  We had a whole day of finding ahead of us and it was a lot of fun to go finding with Elder White and to see some of the different approaches he uses.  I really enjoyed the exchange.  We went over to Phil Hamilton's house for dinner and that was pretty fun.  He is a good guy and their family is pretty cool.  Their one year old boy had a break down while he was dancing to the song, "Everything is Awesome," and started throwing the training toilet across the room and just lost it.  It was hilarious.  Elder White and I could not stop laughing and we couldn't breathe!

THURSDAY- Thursday we had weekly planning like we always do, and then we taught 'N' at the church.  The lesson was fantastic.  It was so spiritual and she loved the restoration videos.  It was awesome!  We had Alice join us for the lesson again and she is so great.  She is getting really good at teaching and she makes comments that are good and she is really being a friend to 'N'.  Everything that needs to happen to an investigator and that can happen is happening to 'N' and it makes me and Elder Allred victory screech all the time!  It is so great!  

After the lesson, we GQ'ed a bit and then knocked some doors while we waited for our dinner appointment with Daniel Hamilton, which was awesome!  They are a really good family.  Then after dinner we had a couple of appointments fall through, but we weren't discouraged.  People will be people and their agency doesn't bother me.  I LOVE THIS WORK! There is no reason to fear! But then we returned home and headed to bed.  Great day!

FRIDAY-Friday was another great day.  We had a District Blitz in Belfast, and it was so much fun!  I love Belfast.  We spent the day GQ-ing and then we whiteboarded in the city center.  Belfast City Center is so beautiful this time of year.  The lights are incredible and they have a bit Christmas market right in front of the City Hall.  It is so cool!  And it actually snowed.  Not like Idaho snow, but Norther Ireland snow which is heavy and wet and sticks to you and makes you so wet and cold in about .3 seconds flat.  But it was awesome! It just turns to water on the ground, but it is snow while it is falling.  Then we stayed the night at the Rosetta's flat since we have to catch a bus at 5:50am to go to Dublin for the All-Ireland Conference which was pretty fun.  It was an 8-man flat that night!

SATURDAY-Saturday was absolutely fantastic!  We started off by getting up at 3:30 in the morning and getting ready for the day.  Gotta look sharp when you are meeting an Apostle! And we all started walking to the bus station which was 30 minutes away.  We left with about 20 minutes until the bus left and we all had to run to the bus station.  It happens every single time we travel.  We are all walking and then someone says, "What time is the bus leaving?" and then someone else goes, "5 minutes," and we all know full well that we are 10 minutes away and it is a mad dash to the station.  EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! I am so glad that I lost all that weight (20 lbs. in 7 weeks) or I never would have made it!! 

So we took the bus down to Dublin and then had a Zone Conference.  It was so good.  We learned so much in the morning session but the afternoon session is where it is at.  We got to meet Elder Ballard.  He wanted to shake each of our hands and then after he said, "I wanted to look into each of your souls and you all look great!" It was so awesome to hear that!  To know that I am where I need to be is such a great feeling!  He gave the best instruction.  President Donaldson promised us that if we each came with a question, that our question would be answered and it was!  It was so incredible!!!  I loved every minute of it!!  he told us that we have amazing potential here and that we will baptize more people than ever!  It was so great!  I wish I could send off to all of you what I learned but I'd have to write for days.  I took soooo many notes! But it was so great to hear from him!  Then we headed back home and hit the hay after a long and crazy day!

SUNDAY- Sunday was awesome!  We had 3 investigators at church!!!!! It was amazing!!!  'N' brought a friend! She has been telling her friends everything about the gospel!  HOLY COW SHE IS AWESOME!!! It was great!  I also had to speak in church and I think I did a good job.  I wanted it to be investigator friendly and it turned out great.  I love this work and everything in it.  It is soooooooooo great!!!  It is hard to believe that I have been out almost 4 months.  And I have just blinked.  It is awesome! 

After church, we taught 'N' and she was just eating it up.  She loves the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was such a spiritual lesson.  We are thinking she will be able to move up a week if she keeps progressing like she is.  It is sooooo exciting!  After that, we chapped a bit and got let in by a Fijian Seventh Day Adventist.  It was quite the odd lesson.  He fed us some of his boiled sea bass, which was cold, and some Fijian potatoes and some coconut milk salad.  It was pretty mingen. (Mom side note: I had to look up what that meant but couldn't find it so I figured it was some Irish slang.  I asked my friend who lives near London and she answered with this: Haha! It means horrible! It usually refers to food or girls! Haha!)
But oh well, it got us out of the cold for a bit!  Then we traveled home and headed to bed.

This week has been filled with miracle and I can't even begin to express my thanks to the Lord for his willingness to bless us in this great work.  We can do nothing without Him, and without Him, we are nothing.

2 Nephi 26:23-24 for ponderization!  I love it!

23 For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the lord God worketh not in darkness.

24 He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.

TILL THE WORK IS DONE MY FRIENDS!! LOVE YOU ALL!

-Elder Mickelsen

November 16, 2015

This week was pretty great! I could not believe some of the things that happened this week! I also learned that "waterproof" doesn't necessarily mean, Scotland/Ireland waterproof! haha! Anyway, lets get in to the nitty gritty of the week.  You'll have to forgive me, normally I use my planner to write the weekly update but with the new transfer starting today, I have the new empty one, as opposed to the one that has the past week on it.  So I am going completely by memory here.

Weekly Planning in our Flat

MONDAY- Monday was pretty great as they always are.  We only had a half P-Day since it was moves week.  So, we emailed and then we cleaned.  We then headed out to so some work which really consisted of chapping and doing some more AUF's.  Oh how I am coming to love AUF's. (again, heavy sarcasm!) But we are almost done so that is a bonus.  

TUESDAY- Tuesday was a full day of work and since neither Elder Allred or myself were moving, we had a whole day to do more AUF's.  Only this time, we did not plan smart and we walked all the way across town, almost a total of 6 miles, round trip; in the rain, and wind, and cold.  IT WAS AWESOME.  My umbrella gave up the ghost, though, so I have done some patchwork to keep it alive until further notice.  But Tuesday was kind of uneventful as well.  We did, however, order Dominos so we arrived home right at the pizza guy got there and it was awesome.  I haven't had pizza in a while! It was pretty good, but America does it better!

Elders Thayne, Allred, Stanley, Plewe, Mickelsen & Parkinson

The true Belfast District Elders

WEDNESDAY- Wednesday was moves day, but really just a regular P-Day for us since we weren't moving.  So, we went to the pool hall and played some pool and snooker.  Then we walked around town for a while looking at some of the random shops and stuff that are around here.  Then at 6:00, we headed out to finish the night by doing more AUF's.  So, just a regular ol' P-Day.

THURSDAY- Thursday was weekly planning.  We were also going to teach a lesson to a new investigator named 'N' but her mom collapsed an hour before the lesson and she had to cancel at the last minute.  But, she did thank us for the Book of Mormon we gave her and said that it had been helping her tremendously in her life with the stress she has been under lately.  We are teaching her in a couple of hours and I'll be able to tell you about her more next week.  But we are super excited for her.  The rest of Thursday was pretty wet and cold, so we tracked and that's about it.  Exciting, I know.

FRIDAY- Friday we went to Dunmurry.  Dunmurry is just North of Lisburn and is still in our area.  We had some AUF's to do up there so we decided to dedicate a day to it.  The weather started out really nice and we took advantage of that by knocking all 14 floors of and indoor high flat.  Then, when the weather worsened, we decided to knock doors outside.  WE ARE SO SMART!  But, the sympathy card doesn't really work here with the rain.  People just look at us like we're crazy.  Elder Allred even wrings out his gloves on some people's doorsteps and that doesn't soften hearts at all.  But Dunmurry was good and we shouldn't have to go back up for a while.

SATURDAY- Saturday we had coordination, but it fell through so we went over to 'T's house and showed him some Mormon Messages.  We always have pretty good lessons with 'T'.  I just wish he would come to church but he'll get there.  Then we did our usual Subway run after 'T's and we headed out to start marking more doors off our AUF's list.  We are so close! But that was Saturday.

SUNDAY- Sunday was awesome!! We went to church, but that morning we were feeling kind of bummed that we didn't have any investigators at church.  We we go to church though, some girl just walked in! She is 15 years old and her name is 'A'.  She walked in and she didn't talk to me when I said good morning and tried to shake her hand, so I thought she was a family member of someone in the ward.  But, nobody knew who she was so we sat by her and got to know her a little bit.  She was researching online about churches in the area and felt good about coming to ours! She had remembered that her uncle in the States was a lot happier when he was in the church so she decided to give it a shot.  She came and she got to know a lot of the Young Women and has friends and has accepted to be taught and accepted a Book of Mormon!  So that was pretty awesome!!  The rest of Sunday flew by as we tracked while we waited for our dinner appointment with the Jacksons.  Then we left there and did some tracting to finish out the night.

This week was very awesome!  I cannot explain how good is was!  The Lord is ready to bless us all if we are willing to put the work in.  Nothing will change my mind on that.  The key to missionary work is work.  Work, work, work.  

Love to you all!! Talk to you soon!

My Ponderizing scripture: 3 Nephi 17:1-3
1: Behold now is came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words he looked around about again on the multitude, and he said unto them: Behold, my time is at hand.

2: I perceive that ye are weak, that ye cannot understand all my words which I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time.

3: Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again.

Til the work is done!

-Elder Mickelsen

November 9, 2015

The boys survived another transfer! Still in Lisburn!

Hello All!  This week has been fantastic! We spent pretty much all of it tracting, but hey, it is all worth it!  I have learned a lot this week, and we have met some solid opposition this week, but it doesn't matter.  The Lord's purposes will be fulfilled.

MONDAY- Monday was P-Day as it always is.  We spent it by emailing, shopping and spending a little bit of time playing a few rounds of snooker.  It was a pretty good P-Day.  Also, our Family Home Evening fell through for that night, so we got to go do more AUF's (Address Unknown File) Woo Hoo!! AUF's make me so happy! (With HEAVY sarcasm) But, we have been asked to do so, and we will continue on until we finish the task with which we have been assigned.  But time goes quickly when you're working so hard, so it was bedtime before we knew it!

Our Bus Stop in Lisburn

TUESDAY- Tuesday we had District Meeting.  It was a good one.  We had some people instruct on the Christlike attributes listed in Preach My Gospel.  And I was assigned to instruct on humility.  I had a very in depth study on humility that morning in preparation for my instruction, and I wanted to share one key phrase with you all:

    "Humility is a willingness to submit to the will of the Lord, and to give Him the glory for what you accomplish."

That is the missionary definition of humility.  And that opened up a whole new world of studies for me. But the District Meeting was bittersweet because our District Leader, Elder Thayne, would be leaving us.  As moves call was this week and he had been in the same area for 7 1/2 months.  But it was a great meeting.  After the meeting, we went to lunch with the Portadown Elders (our usual Subway run) and it was all good.  After lunch, we were privileged to do AUF's until 7:30 when we would be going out with the Ward Council to hand out Stake Conference invitations.  The Stake is really pushing for 1000 people at the Conference.  To show that the Irish Saints are willing to come to Church and take the work seriously.  That put a close on Tuesday.

WEDNESDAY- Nothing much to report on Wednesday.  Just AUF's.  We want to push forward with them so we don't have to worry about them.  We are making really great progress.  But Wednesday was just your average normal day.

THURSDAY- Thursday was okay.  We had a lesson fall through in the morning, so we just did an AUF to kill time.  Then we had another lesson fall through with a new investigator, but we got let in a few doors down so that made up the difference.  Then we had to head back to the flat at 5:00 because it was Guy Fawkes night and President Donaldson wanted us inside. (Guy Fawkes was a guy who tried to blow up Parliament a while back and he failed, so the Irish people here celebrate.)  So we saved the weekly planning meeting for the evening and made a turkey dinner and listened to the Joseph Smith Lectures.  Those were pretty dang good.  But I really did enjoy Thursday.  It was a nice break from AUF's!

FRIDAY- We started off the morning with our usual studies and then did some AUF's in the morning.  We then were supposed to have another lesson with 'S' and his girlfriend at the church but it fell through and now we can't get a hold of them.  It seems like every time we get an investigator with a baptismal date, they disappear off the face of the earth.  'S' makes 3 now! Ugh.  People and their agency are the worst.  I just want people to take us seriously and know that we are just trying to help.  Then we headed to another investigator who gave us the wrong address.  Woopity Doo.  Friday night, a guy driving into his neighborhood stopped us and started bashing us and telling us that we needed Jesus and that we were destroying his teachings by preaching a denomination.  Sucker Punch.  But he was not able to confound us.  He just straight up pulled over, turned his car off, and fought with us for a solid 40 minutes.  I just stood there fuming.  I wanted to hit him.  It was really aggravating to have someone tell you that what you believe is garbage.  That made me unrealistically angry.  We thought we were done with him when we turned around and left the area but more to that in a minute...

SATURDAY- Saturday it rained.  Nuff said.  But we did have a good Saturday.  We travelled up to 'T's house for his weekly lesson and showed him a really good Bible video called John the Beloved's witness.  I really encourage all of you to watch it.  It is really good.  We then invited 'T' to come to Stake Conference and he said he would try.  So we were content with that and off we went to do some AUF's.  We then had the good fortune of knocking on the same guy's door who yesterday pulled over to fight with us.  We didn't know he lived in the area but there he was and he started fighting with us again.  We left quicker that time.

Another delicious chippy's dinner

SUNDAY- Sunday was awesome.  We had Stake Conference at the Ulster Hall.  It was really great.  They had a giant organ and everything.  We had the Europe Area President, Elder Kearon, speak as well as President and Sister Donaldson.  It was a fantastic Conference.  Then we travelled home and started working on more AUF's until 7:00pm when we retired to our flat for 12 week evaluation and dinner, and to await moves call.  And the verdict is: Elder Allred and myself are staying in Lisburn for another transfer! Woo Hoo! So now I don't have to worry about moving for now!

Anyway, that is all I have for this week.  Talk to you soon! Here is my ponderizing scripture:

1 John 2:1-2;6

My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not.  And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous:

And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

He that saith he abideth in him ought to himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

-Elder Mickelsen

More AUF's! Yay!!

November 2, 2015

Elder Allred and Elder Mickelsen

Hello again everybody!! This week has been really fantastic! It was filled with hard work and success, as well as let downs, but for the most part, we worked ourselves to death this week.  Every night we came in and were exhausted! Bedtime came early every night this week.

MONDAY- Monday was P-Day, as you all know.  And it was really great! We started by emailing and shopping.  We were broke all this week so we lived off of pink lady apples and cereal.  With some good old fashioned chicken goujon wraps! Woo!  This week, however, we get our monthly allowance so we won't have to live off of cereal anymore.  Yay!! We also went and played snooker with the Portadown Elders for the last 2 hours of P-Day.  And then we went over to the Harkness home to teach their family home evening.  Sister Harkness, who was my MTC teacher, was also there and it was really cool to see her!  She was the best teacher!  The lesson went well and then we headed home for bed.  Mondays are always awesome!

TUESDAY- Tuesday was pretty okay.  We had District Meeting in the morning as usual, and it was actually really good.  It got us pumped up to go out and meet our goals.  We had to set a new Standard of Excellence for November because the next time we would meet would be in November.  So that was really good.  We are seeing a ton of referrals come from the Belfast Blitz we did last week but mostly to the Elders in Belfast.  But hey, they are in our District, so that has gotta count for something.  Then we spent the rest of the day trying by people who dropped our appointments.  We had 3 dropped appointments so we pretty much spent the whole day chapping.  So that was awesome.

WEDNESDAY- Wednesday was a really good day.  To start the day off, we met with 'S', a new investigator and gave him a church tour.  Then we taught him a lesson with 'A' as our joint teach.  It went really really well.  'S' had said that he felt something that morning tell him to take us and the teachings seriously and to come and meet with us.  He loved the lesson and accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 12th of December!  It was so great to see blessings come from all our hard work! We did a happy dance in the church after we taught him.  It was awesome!  We then spent the rest of the day doing AUF's (address unknown files) and had dinner at a chippy called the Galley with Sister Kirkpatrick.   It was really good.  The Galley is great!   We then had another dropped appointment after dinner and chapped the night away.  Be we were still in good spirits so we weren't too bent up about it.

This must be after the happy dance! hahaha

THURSDAY- Thursday was weekly planning.  Weekly planning always goes great.  We forgot we had investigators to plan for this week.  So we went over our budgeted time…But it was the opposite of having a problem!  Having investigators is awesome!! We then continued working on the AUF in the afternoon and made some good progress.  We then headed to the Johnson's for dinner and taught another investigator, also 'S'.  He is an eternigator but he is progressing.  We read the Book of Mormon with him to keep the Spirit in his life and make sure that he stays strong.  Thursday was really good.

FRIDAY- Nothing much to report Friday.  We had 2 dropped appointments and we did AUF's for the rest of the day.  So chapping! Woo Hoo!

SATURDAY- Halloween!!! Saturdays are always good.  We went over to the church for coordination and after that we headed to 'T's house to show him a Jeffrey R. Holland talk.  It was the First Great Commandment from 2012.  It was really good.  'T' really liked it.  We are just trying to keep meeting him to encourage him to come to church and become reactivated.  We are so close!  After 'T', we headed over to a guy name 'CW' from South Africa.  He is a former investigator with whom we met for the first time.  He was really nice and open to the gospel and said he would like to learn more.  he also committed to baptism, but we didn't give him a specific date.  It was really a great lesson! After that, we chapped in his area a little bit and then we headed home for dinner.  We had to be to the flat by 6:00 so we took dinner at 5:00 and headed to our ward activity at 6:00.  It was a great activity! We did dunking for apples and we helped the Elders Quorum with the spook alley.  So it was great fun.  Alas, we didn't get any candy, but the members did give us a whole cheesecake, so that is pretty legit!!  Halloween was awesome!  Gotta admit, it was definitely different from what I'm used to, but I loved it!

SUNDAY- Sunday was really good!  It was fast and testimony meeting and the meeting was really good.  The ward just got back from a Temple trip and so all the testimonies were on the Temple and everything.  The whole day was really great!  After church, we did a try by but they weren't home.  Then we chapped on our way over to the Jackson's for dinner.  And we also taught them a lesson.  We gave advice to their son, David, who is going on his mission to London in 10 days.  But that ends my week!

Hopefully things are going well with all of you!  Things are definitely going well here!  I will talk to all of you soon!!

-Elder Mickelsen

October 26, 2015

Hello again everybody!  The time is sure flying by!  It is almost Halloween and I still feel like it is August!  Time flies when you're having fun for sure.  I'll give you all a quick run down of my week…

MONDAY-as we all know is P-Day.  Monday has a whole new meaning on the mission as opposed to what it meant at home.  And this P-Day was awesome!  We started off by emailing, then we went shopping.  While shopping, we ran into David Jackson, so we were able to get a lift home and that opened up SO MUCH TIME! You'd be amazed at how much time you have when you don't spend 30 minutes walking each way for groceries!  So, with the remainder of the day, we went to Bodene's.  Which gets better and better each time.  But it is better in moderation since we are really poor.  (But not in Spirit!)  But after Bodene's, we traveled to a pool hall, where me met Nathan Reid, who is another youth in our Ward and he payed for us to play pool and snooker for a few hours.  It was quite the sight: Two Mormon Missionaries in a pool hall! But hey, we didn't break any rules!  After that, we traveled to the Harkness home for dinner and family home evening.  They always do a great job and they are a good family.  Plus, every time I walk in, their son is playing Destiny, so that keeps me a little updated on what's going down. Hahaha!  After the Harkness', we headed home and crashed.  We were both exhausted and we would continue to be so all throughout the week!

TUESDAY-Tuesdays are awesome!  We travelled up to Belfast in the morning for district meeting and the Portadown Elders, Elders Thayne and Plewe, arrived at our flat early in the morning for a joint breakfast and study.  We always have good times.  Then we went up to the city to have our meeting.  We had President Thompson at this meeting and that was a really cool experience.  He had really good advice for us and had some really good tactics for finding and things like that.  We also discussed some of the things that would be going down for the upcoming Belfast Zone Blitz on Saturday.  We have a goal of finding 220 potentials!  We'll see how that goes!  And then after district meeting, I went to Portadown with Elder Thayne for an exchange.  Portadown is a fun place.  We taught a lesson to a 12 year old boy and he seemed to accept the gospel and the invitation to be baptized but he was giving the typical 12 year old boy answers like, "uhhh…I don't know" or "sure, I guess," but hey! A yes is a yes and we can work with that!  We also went to the church for a youth activity because some investigators were there.  It was pretty awesome.  The Young Men were late so we played Uno for a few minutes with the Ward Council and then when we got called into Young Men's, they were playing Risk.  So I got to play a real round of Risk!  So that was good.  Then we headed home and hit the hay.

WEDNESDAY- Wednesday was pretty booked.  Elder Thayne and I spent the morning just GQ-ing and chapping while we waited for our train to come in to take us back to Lisburn.  After we arrived back, Elder Allred and myself had some try by's to do and some lessons to teach, which all fell through…but oh well, people have their agency and I have learned that I cannot control that.  But we did get to have some dinner on Wednesday night at the Hamiltons - which was awesome!  We tried a new chippy out and they had the BEST DANG CHICKEN TENDERS! It was so good.  Chippies are amazing things.  Then we GQ-ed on our way back to the flat and headed to bed.

THURSDAY - Thursday was a crazy day!  We had weekly planning in which we planned for the first day of November!!! HOLY COW!! It's almost been three months!  So we had our usual weekly planning session, except for the fact that we have a painter in our flat and he needed all the furniture in the center of the room.  So, we had to move everything and plan in the middle and then our main room has been out of commission for the past couple of days.  But the flat is looking fantastic!  New paint and floors!  It's getting better and better everyday!  We also had to do another exchange.  So for the latter half of Thursday, it was Elder Plewe and myself tearing up Lisburn.  We had some try-by's that gave us fake addresses, but oh well, that's on them.  Then we taught an "Eternigator" named 'S', so that was all good.  'S' knows the Book of Mormon is true, he knows the church is true but he is just scared of his family so we are gonna have to work around that.  But Thursday was hectic!

FRIDAY- Friday we started off by having coordination, which is always good.  And then Elder Plewe and myself went chapping.  And that yielded minimal results since we ran into a stretch of about 30 houses that were abandoned.  So yeah, that was awesome.  Then we headed home to wait for Elders Allred and Thayne to arrive so we could exchange back.  After that, we had some lessons that fell through so we chapped.  But Friday ended up being just your normal average day.

Getting ready for the Belfast Zone Blitz!

SATURDAY- Now we get to the good stuff.  Saturday was a fantastic day!!  The whole Zone headed to Belfast to find our 220+ potentials.  The day started with really bad weather and then we prayed for good weather.  (Which in Northern Ireland means it is still cloudy but it probably won't rain) and not 5 minutes later, the sky cleared up and became cloudless and blue.  That was the first miracle of the day!  After that, we headed to various points across town to start talking to people.  I started off by chalking the Plan of Salvation, but eventually just ended up GQ-ing.  I talked to every living soul.  Not one person walked past me without getting talked to!  Saturday was the day that I found out that THIS IS AWESOME!!  Nothing I have ever done has been cooler than this.  I love it!  I even was walking towards a guy, and I said, "Elder Ward, this guy is gonna be a potential."  And we walked up and talked to him and he said he would love to hear about our church and that he wanted to come to church and to learn more!  That was the second miracle I witnessed!  And then, we gave all our numbers to the Zone Leaders to tally up during dinner and we got the news…We made it!  We had gotten 225 potentials investigators in one day!!  Miracle number three.  It was so incredible!  We spelled '225' out in pizza boxes and took a big group picture, which I will forward once I receive it.  But it was awesome!

The Belfast Zone Missionaries talked to 225 people that day!!

SUNDAY-Sunday was a good Sunday.  We went to church and then to the Jacksons for dinner.  After that we chapped and then headed home.  Saturday burned us out for sure.

Anyway! This week has been filled with so much that I can't find words for it all! It is so great to see the Lord blesses his faithful servants, and I have seen that manifested in our work!  I am so grateful for this Church!

Here is my ponderizing scripture: 
Mosiah 28:3 Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.

All the best to you all!! I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Mickelsen

October 19, 2015

Hello Everybody!  This week was filled with awesome things! Let downs, fall throughs, discovering the best chippy in Lisburn, and making contact with our golden investigator!

MONDAY: Well, Monday we had P-Day, and it was pretty great! We went to a restaurant called Bodenes, and they make the best American food I have had so far on my mission.  It was so good! They also had PROPER FRENCH FRIES! I was so happy! We also just really sat around and chilled on P-Day! It was a great day to relax!  We also watched the Mountain of the Lord and subsequently spent the rest of the evening doing Brigham Young impressions.  But it definitely made chapping a lot more fun!  But that was Monday.

TUESDAY: Tuesday was great.  We had district meeting, which was awesome because Elder Thayne gave the instruction period to the Lorimer's since it is their last district meeting.  Plus, the Lorimer's also fed us french dip sandwiches, and Elder Lorimer sat down and gave us good advice for the rest of our lives.  He gave us tips on how we can be strong in the Church, be successful in work, and have strong families.  It was pretty awesome.  We had a few try-by's that didn't go so well, be we were able to find 2 families on our way back from the dropped appointments.  So that was a big bonus; made up for the loss.  But the rest of the day was spent chapping, and then we had our quarterly ward council that night, which took up a ton of time!  It was a really good meeting though, and while we were there, I realized that I was in an official "big boy" meeting of the Church! So that made is really awesome for me.  But that was Tuesday.

WEDNESDAY: Wednesday was undoubtedly the worst day of the week.  We had a whole day filled with lessons to teach and there wasn't any time scheduled for chapping, but EVERY SINGLE LESSON FELL THROUGH!! And we ended up doing what Elder Allred calls, 'A Burnout Chapping Session.'  So, that was about as fun as crawling through salted razor wire, but hey, we still found some people to teach! And we discovered the best chippy we have ever had.  They have this thing called a southern fried chicken supper and it is incredible!  They take southern fried chicken and put it on a big ol' pile of chips and then they cover it in this incredible chicken gravy!! It is to die for and could quite possibly be the death of me.  I'm sure the nutrition facts on that meal would make even the worst of us cringe in disgust.  BUT IT WAS SO GOOD! But the was Wednesday.

THURSDAY: Thursday was alright.  We had weekly planning, which takes a decent part of the day and it was really good since we were discussing how we could make sure that our investigators keep their commitments and return appointments.  So we had that discussion, and then headed out to chap whilst we awaited a lesson we had later that afternoon.  But the lesson fell through so we chapped some more on the way to another lesson we had for that evening, which also fell through. So we were kinda down, but the day was over, so we had to head back and just make sure that we tried our hardest the next day.

FRIDAY: Friday was alright.  We spent the day chapping and had some chicken suppers for dinner and called it a day.  Nothing real to report on Friday.

SATURDAY: Saturday was when the week started to pick up.  We taught a less active in the morning and just showed him President Nelson's talk on why the sabbath is a delight.  It was quite a good lesson.  After that, we headed home for lunch, and then headed out to chap on the way to an appointment.  We had a good time talking to everybody, and then when we arrived at the lesson, it fell through.  So we had a head start on making it all the way back from the other side of town to teach another lesson.  So we walked all the way across Lisburn to this lesson and it turns out that the guy gave us a fake address…so that was a sucker punch.  But Saturday night we were able to make contact with 'M' again and find out what was happening.  She had been going through some stuff that week with her past and she had the police involved trying to get the people away from her, so we weren't able to teach her, but she said she still wants to learn.  So we have a lesson this week coming up.  So that was an awesome boost.  Then we got chicken suppers and headed home.  That makes a total of 3 chicken suppers in 4 days. THEY ARE SO GOOD AND I "CON'T" CONTROL MYSELF!!

SUNDAY: Sunday was really good.  We went to Ward Council and then to Church.  Church is always good.  It is a nice time for reflection and thinking. After Church, we headed over to the Jackson's for dinner and we had a really good gospel discussion with them.  It was fantastic.  We also went to the Lorimer's farewell fireside with the Jackson's and it was awesome! They have such good teachings for us!  And they have made such a difference in this country.  But it was an absolutely fantastic day!  I don't know if it could've been better!

PONDERIZE: This week I have chosen to ponderize Helaman 5:12.  It reads: And now my sons, remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build, they cannot fall.

Anyway, Talk to you all soon!  Remember: Things come after the trial of our faith!
Love you all!!

-Elder Mickelsen