September 5, 2016

Well, this week was pretty good! I didn't have a planner this week, so I don't really remember exactly what we did every day, but I will just share the most powerful experiences from this week!

So, we did pretty much all the normal stuff this week that we normally do, with P-Day on Monday as well as DM on Tuesday. We had some lessons with Isobel, and they are pretty good. We read the Book of Mormon and then just talked about the church. She still hasn't received permission to get baptized, but she hasn't brought it up. So we aren't going to push that hard. She said that either way, she will get baptized, so we are just strengthening her until that day.

But the Spiritual powerhouse things came on the tail end of the week. So on Friday we had an exchange in Belfast with the Zone Leaders. We were finding and teaching like crazy! I was with Elder Cook, and we GQ'ed this couple and asked if we could teach them right there. They agreed, but there were no benches, so they just told us to come to their house. So we were like, "Sweeto, ya!"

So, we went and as we were teaching them, they shared their experiences about religion and Christianity and all that jazz. We shared ours. And then we taught a Restoration lesson. And right after Elder Cook finished the first vision, the room was still and the Spirit was there. They both told us that they knew in their hearts what we had just said was true. It was so powerful! We committed them to baptism right then and there! It was great!

And then on Saturday we spent the day finding! It was great! We had a few sit down appointments and then we set up a really full day for Sunday!

Then, on Sunday, we had church, which was pretty good, and then we went out to meet our people. A little background, we sent out a mass text to invite a ton of people to church and we had a man respond and say he would like to attend our evening service.  We said that we didn't have one, but that we would love to meet up with him that evening, so we set an appointment for Sunday at 8pm.

Our first couple appointments on Sunday fell through, and with the new slot of time, I texted Franky (the guy), and asked if we were still good to meet up that evening. He said that it should work and he was back in Coleraine from traveling. So I said, “well, would you like to meet right now?” He said that would be great! So we met up with him and taught him the first lesson. And again, right after the First Vision, the Spirit was so strong! I told him, "Franky, I feel the Spirit so strong right now!" and he said, "I do as well! This is great!" And so I introduced the Book of Mormon to him and he loved it! He committed to read it and pray! And then he asked me if he could come to church! And then to top it all off, we invited him to be baptized, and he said that he would really love to be baptized! So he is set for the 24th of September! God is good!

Well, sorry for the short email. Next week should be back to the normal format. The mission just had a planner shortage for a while there, so now that I have one, I can do my normal day by day run down. But this week has been a week of miracles! 

Everyone take a second look at Moroni 10:3-5, and really consider how merciful the Lord has been to YOU. Love you all!

--

Till the Work is Done

- Elder Mickelsen

August 29, 2016

These shoes have walked many miles!!

Dark Hedges

This past week was really great! Set a new record for lessons taught, received a HUGE answer to prayer, found a man who prefers to be called by a fruit, and had President Donaldson at church with us! It was so great!

Elder Cropper walking Giant's Causeway

MONDAY - We did the normal P-Day stuff, and then we went out to lunch. Hit up a chippy that people had said was good and boy was it good. After that, we headed out to the Dark Hedges since that is pretty much the last thing that I have left to do in this area, and then we went to the Giant's Causeway since Elder Cropper hasn't seen it. And so begins the tour of the sites again for me! But now it is soooo much easier with the car! It's great! After the Causeway, we went shopping and then we went to FHE after doing some try by's. SO that was fun. We got wrecked at the quiz though. I did make a blind guess and scored us some points, though. That was pretty great! Elder Cropper did the same, so it was by complete and utter blind guessing that we got any points on the board. But we did! Woo! After that, we headed home for the night.

TUESDAY - We had DM. We don't go to Belfast anymore since the Districts were reorganized and our District has Londonderry and Letterkenny in it, which are in the complete opposite direction from Belfast. So, we go to Derry now for our DM's. That was pretty cool. I have seen a majority of Northern Ireland now, so that was awesome to see some more! The meeting was good. We talked about setting goals and making sure that we have the faith to set good goals. So that was great. After that, we headed back to Coleraine, and did some finding. We taught Isobel as well, and that lesson went really good! We read Ether 12 with her, and she really enjoyed it! Then after that lesson, we called Ethel to see if we could meet up, and she said that she wouldn't be able to meet up with us anymore since her neighbor didn't like us coming over, so that was a bummer, but it's all good! Then after that, we did some member visits and then headed home for the day.

WEDNESDAY - We pretty much just GQ-ed all day, so that was fun. We taught Jack the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it went well. He can be a bit difficult to teach, but he is still good. After that, we went up to Portrush to do some finding.

THURSDAY - We spent the first half of the day GQ-ing, and towards the end, we found a guy and had a sit down lesson with him. It went well. He is from Poland, and we can't pronounce his name, so he told us to call him Banana. So, we eagerly agreed, and that is how we have an investigator named Banana. After that, we went out to Alwyn's house and had a lesson with him and then we went to this guy named Nigel's house for a BBQ. He had seen us earlier in town and had said, "I am all alone tonight and I am gonna have a BBQ. Do you guys want to come?" So we were all like, "Heck ya!" So we went over there. Nigel isn't an investigator, but he is just a genuinely nice guy who likes to meet new people. So, he cooked some meats and things and it was really good. This started a chain of BBQ's this week. When the weather gets nice, people grill. After Nigel, we went over and taught James at the church. It was a really good lesson as well. We taught Mosiah 18, and that was awesome! He says he has to wait till he can fully commit to the church, but when he can, he said he would make the commitment. He currently has a job that is having him work on Sundays, so that is really all that is holding him back. And today, Isobel told us that she finally received an answer! 

FRIDAY - Friday was pretty good! We met with Isobel, and discussed her answer! We talked about how awesome it was that she got one! It was a really great lesson! Woo! Ether 12!!

After that, our lesson with Banana fell through, so we went finding, and then we went and visited Trevor. That was pretty good. We are almost finished with the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon, so it is awesome that we are making some progress!

SATURDAY - We GQ-ed all day and then we tried by a less active who wasn't in, but really nothing much to report on Saturday.

SUNDAY - was great! We had Isobel at church, so that was awesome! She really enjoyed it! And we also had President and Sister Donaldson at church! They were the speakers!!! It was so good! They taught about repentance! SO great! After church we had a Linger Longer Lunch, and that was pretty awesome! And then we went out finding and then went to visit another less active that wasn't in, so we did some try by's and then we did some weekly planning and called it a day!

Well, everyone, that was the week! Things are going so great here in Coleraine! The work has hastened even in the time of my mission I have seen the speed and urgency increase! It is so wonderful! I would encourage each and every one of you to read Alma 5 this week and really focus on what YOU can do to make the change in your life! Ask yourself, "Can I feel so now??" Love you all! 

-Till the Work is Done

-Elder Mickelsen

August 22, 2016

My new companion: Elder Cropper
WE GOT A CAR!!!!!!!

Well, this week was rapid fire! Spent most of the week in Belfast, but it was awesome! I won't waste much time on a well-written intro, so I'll just get right into the nitty gritty of things.

MONDAY - We had P-Day. Or as close to a P-Day as you can get on Moves week.  Really we just emailed and then I did a bit of cleaning while Elder Richards packed up his stuff, since he’s being transferred.  We then went out and did some finding and went over to FHE. We could only stay for an hour since we were catching a train to head to Belfast.  So, we said goodbye to everybody, and then took off. We then spent the night at the Zone Leader's flat and that was Monday.

TUESDAY - We got up early and took everybody to the bus station to catch the bus to the ferry. But once we got to the station, the bus never came, so we had to book over to the ferry station, and the Elders that were headed off ended up missing the ferry and had to wait until 11:00 am to catch it. We had other stuff to go do, so we just left them there and Elder Woodfield and I took off to go get some breakfast. So that was awesome!

We went to McDonalds. And since it is actual P-Day because of moves, we just looked around Belfast. We took a tour of the City Hall, we went and visited the peace wall, and then after the whole day was done, we went finding and then we spent the night with the Rosetta Elders. So that was good.

We found a 5 Guys!! Yes!!

WEDNESDAY - I spent the day finding with Elder Woodfield for the Holywood teams. So nothing much to report. We did go teach James, so that was good. But nothing much happened on Wednesday.

It's Elder Cropper's Birthday.
Sister Dunn made him an amazing cake!! Hopefully she'll make me one on my birthday in a couple weeks!

THURSDAY - We had some finding in the morning, and then we picked up our companions! My new companion is Elder Cropper.  He’s been out since January and is from California.  And the best news, we got a car! It is so awesome!!! He’s the driver since his American driver’s license is still valid here since he’s only been out less than a year.  Mine doesn’t work here because I’ve been out over a year. So it’s all good! SO we “drove” back to Coleraine and then we taught our Book of Mormon class after going to visit Trevor. It was really good!

FRIDAY - We went finding all day, and taught a lady named Ethel. Ethel is 84 and we found her whilst GQ-ing, so it was awesome! She is really good. Not sure how fast she will progress, but it is still good!

SATURDAY - We went out to Limivady. That was fun. It is a nice quiet town, but we made it work. So we spent the morning out there, and then came back to Coleraine.  Finding in Coleraine was great. So after that we went back out to Limivady for a lesson which was a no show, and then we went around visiting people on the ward list. That was fun. We got let in by a guy named Hector. He was pretty nice. He was baptized a very long time ago, so we are going to try to get him back to church. So that was Saturday.

SUNDAY - We had church, it was pretty great. Lots of good things. There was a fair amount of people there. So that was awesome. After church, we went out and did some finding and then did some more try by's and then we went and taught Alwyn. That was a good lesson. So things were pretty great this week.

Well, that was the week. Sorry it's so short, but this week felt so short! But the Lord will guide us in all truth! Love you all!

-Till the work is done!

-Elder Mickelsen

August 15, 2016

Woo! Another week has flown by!!! This week was pretty intense! Well, actually pretty normal, but still awesome!! It was great! And it all culminated with moves call! Everyone back home seems to know our moves before we do, so hopefully I will surprise at least one of you! 

MONDAY- was P-Day, like usual. We cleaned a lot and then we had FHE, which we haven't had in 2 weeks! So it was nice to get back into things! But Monday was just the usual Monday, so nothing much to report. But I did get into a bake off with Sister Hall, and she claimed that she could make a better cake than me! So, I rose to the occasion, and said let's find out. So she gave me the cake recipe, which was in Danish and Norweigan, and told me to go for it, and we would present the fruits of our labors at District Meeting.

So, I did. I baked a cake. And turns out, I can't really bake cake. I have never made cake in my life, and now I know why. I followed the recipe exact. And the cake looked really good and cooked on top. I even stuck a knife in the top and it came out clean, so I was like, "Oh ya. I'm gonna win." So I cut into this cake, right, and turns out, the ENTIRE BOTTOM HALF WAS STILL BATTER. My cake went all over the place. I was only able to salvage one piece of cake from it. And I had to do the walk of shame into DM with my one measly piece of cake compared to Sister Hall's huge platter of cake. I promised to redeem myself however. So we are good there!

TUESDAY - We had DM in the morning, so we caught the early train to Belfast. DM was good. We had quite a few people there! The meeting went really well. Lots of good insights and teachings shared. I actually really enjoy DM when it is as good as it was this time! But after that, we went and taught James in Belfast since he is living up there now, and he had some free time to meet up. It was good. We asked him about the Book of Mormon and stuff, and it went really well. Elder Richards found this crazy insane Rubiks cube and worked on it a bit as well! It was nuts looking! It didn't even look like a cube! But he almost solved it! It was crazy!

After the lesson, we went and got a Boojum's! So good! And then we headed back to Coleraine, and went to a Branch Presidency meeting. It was a solid meeting. We are finally getting the ward missionary process rolling! It's exciting! Then, we went out to dinner with President Culbertson and Brother Kilgore, and they took us to Pizza Pomodoro! It was dang good! We had a good talk there about the work as well. Then we headed home. It was great!

WEDNESDAY - We went finding all day. It was a good day, a tad bit rainy, but still really good! After we went finding, we went out to dinner with Sister Dunn and Trevor! It was really cool! We went to this restaurant in Portrush! It was delicious!!! And Sister Dunn got us these pimpin’ minion keychains! It was great! After dinner, we went back over to Trevor's and watched the Testaments with him. It is a really good show! He liked it a lot! Then we headed home.

THURSDAY - We went finding, and then we taught Book of Mormon class! It was really good! We had a good turn out! It was great! We read the story of Enos and had some really good discussions! It was awesome!!! After the class, we went over to Brother Cunning's house and had coordination! It was great! The Branch is starting to catch the missionary work bug! It should be really good!!!! 

FRIDAY - We GQ-ed all day, and then we taught Trevor in the evening. We have been helping him with his Book of Mormon study lately, and it has really helped him since he has gotten into the Isaiah chapters of the BoM. So that has been great reading that with him! After that, the Newtonabbey Elders came over to stay the night since we are having a District Blitz tomorrow. Sister Dunn also gave us a ton of Domino's gift cards, so we ate like kings for the next 2 days! It was awesome!

SATURDAY - We had a District Blitz in Coleraine! It was great!!! We had the Newtonabbey Elders and the Antrim Sisters up for the day. So Elder Shiels and I GQ-ed all day and got a few potentials, and then we went and taught Alwyn. That was a really good lesson. If anybody has not seen the Patterns of Light videos by Elder Bednar, I would highly recommend and exhort you to view them! They are great! Afterwards, The Elders left and then we went to a Turkish place and I got chicken and chips. I was positive that my stomach could not handle another kebab. But it was awesome! Then, I made a pumpkin pie that evening for the luncheon we have at church tomorrow.

SUNDAY - was awesome! Church was really great! We had an old missionary couple come back to visit today, so they had a luncheon for them. So that was really good! The branch presidency also really hammered down on the ward missionary process and you could just feel the Spirit of progress in the room! It was amazing! The talks were also dang good as well. After church, Elder Richards and I had weekly planning, and then we went to visit Trevor.

We also got moves call while we were there! I am staying in Coleraine! And Elder Richards is headed to Edinburgh to a town called Dalkieth! My new companion is from California and his name is Elder Cropper! I have never met him, but I have heard he is a great guy! 

Well, that was my week! It was quick, it was long, it was awesome! Being a missionary is so great! I love every minute of it! Well, almost every minute! Haha! But through all the ups and downs, I remember the Lord, and that makes it all worth it. Love you all!!!

-Til The Work is Done

-Elder Mickelsen