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

October 12, 2015

Hello Everybody! This week has been full of awesomeness and amazing things.  I have had the opportunity to see things happen that I was under the impression couldn't happen.  Things have been going awesome here! There is a renewed energy in this area and I cannot find words too explain it! Here is a Day by Day Play by Play! (Say that 5xfast:)

MONDAY- as we all know is P-Day.  It is a great day, since it offers us the opportunity to chillax and enjoy Lisburn.  After emailing, we traveled to Tesco's, where we did our weekly shopping.  I mean, that is like the best part almost of Monday, stocking up on food.  After that, we traveled back to our flat to put away our groceries and plan our next move.  We decided that we would go and check out the mall.  The mall is pretty cool and it tempted us with lunch.  The food court is on the second floor and has a great ambiance.  Elder Allred opted for a KFC bargain bucket with 4 bags of chips (fries) and I myself made the ill decision to find out if the UK Burger King was better than the USA Burger King.  NOPE! They both suck.  I do not recommend UK Burger King to anybody, and if you try it, I am free from the blame because I have warned you all!  After P-Day was over, we continued on up to an area close to our flat to begin chapping.  And we found two potentials! So that is an awesome start to the week!

Elders Plewe and Allred headed to Zone Conference

Elders Mickelsen and Thayne headed to Zone Conference

TUESDAY-we had Zone Conference pretty much all day.  It was from 9am to 4pm, and it was really good.  We all had interviews with President Donaldson, and we all got to know him a little bit better.  Being in Norther Ireland, we don't get to see him as much as the Scotland Missionaries get to see him.  But he had good teachings for us.  After Zone Conference, we headed back to the area to teach 'M'.  But she had to reschedule because she had come down with a hardcore flu.  So we rescheduled her to Saturday and we looked forward to finally teaching her.  But that night we taught the stepmother of a recent convert and she was really interested so we were able to add another investigator to the pool! It was so good!

Crazy Chapping Elders! Love them!

WEDNESDAY-Well Wednesday was our first full chapping day this week.  We chapped up in the North end of town and found little success.  But we pressed on.  Our new motto is one that I adopted from Elder Plewe, "Finding is Good.  Finding is Fun." So shout out to Elder Plewe for the new motto.  But after lunch, we went finding over on the West side, near a member's home and we found some really good people there, but not a lot of them were interested in hearing the message but we had fun nonetheless! We then went to dinner with the Hamilton's, and they took us to a chippy since it was a last minute dinner.  But hey, I'm not complaining about a chicken sandwich! After dinner, we traveled back up North to chap until bedtime and we found one more solid potential.  So things are going great!

THURSDAY-Thursdays are always fun.  We have weekly planning and then lunch, which takes up most of our morning.  And it was nice to finally have some investigators to plan for.  But we chapped for the rest of Thursday and found 3 more potentials! So there really isn't much else to report on Thursday.

Preaching the Word!

FRIDAY-Friday was pretty great.  We spent the morning chapping, but were not seeing much success, so we returned to the flat for lunch and to replan our battle strategy.  We decided to attack a different area instead and work our way towards a member's house so we could be there for our dinner appointment.  We finally made it, after walking for about 45 minutes straight uphill and we were exhausted! But for all the right reasons!  We had dinner and then traveled to a lesson with 'S and D' that fell through because they had unexpected visitors.  But, we will keep working with them.  So, we chapped! Woohoo! I'm becoming an expert at it! We only found one more potential on Friday, so it was kind of an uneventful day but it still worked out well and we were able to plant many seeds!

SATURDAY-was awesome! This was the day that we taught 'M'.  We had coordination, which went pretty good, and then we headed over to chap in the Palmer area some more while we waited for lunch.  After chapping for a bit, we decided to go to lunch at Chopstix Noodle Bar in the mall since it was on the way to 'M's' house, which was pretty dang good.  Caramel Coconut Chicken is the bomb! But, the lesson was even better! We made our way to her house and at first she didn't answer so we were freaking out! But, then she answered after the second knock and we made it in to teach the lesson.  And the lesson was so strong! We used the Holy Ghost principle, and it worked marvelously!  We taught the Restoration with such a strong spirit that she felt it and told us.  To which we responded with an invitation to baptism.  SHE ACCEPTED! She is on track now to have her and her family be baptized on the 14th of November! And we are so excited for her!  She loves the Gospel and says that it all sounds familiar to her! It was truly a miracle! The lesson was fantastic!!!!! I don't know how else to explain it! But after the lesson, we said a gratitude prayer and headed back to town to get some cream from the chemist for me.  I found ringworm about 2 weeks ago, but thought it was a bruise because I had fallen down the stairs in Portadown just the day before, but it didn't go away so now I have cream for it and now it's just fine. (Don't worry mom!) We finished the day with some chapping and returned home for bed.

Beautiful Lisburn

SUNDAY-was great as it always is.  We went to church and had a really good fast and testimony meeting.  And some awesome things happened this week as well! We had 'T' come to church, (which hasn't happened in 6 months) and Alice bore her testimony!  She had been reactivated and it is so great to see her progression! She really loves church and everything! I was so happy to see the fruits of our labors! After church, we headed back to the flat for lunch, and then we headed out chapping, and we found one guy who was semi interested! But we'll work with it! Anyway, Sunday was great! And this week was great!

PONDERIZE! This last week I pondered Mosiah 4:27. This week I will be pondering Moroni 7:46-47! It reads: 46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faitheth.  Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail -
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

ANYWAY! Good luck to you all this week!! The Church is true!!

-Elder Mickelsen

October 5, 2015

Saying "Good-bye" to Elder Blosil at the train station 9/30/2015

Well hello once again! This week has gone by unbelievably fast.  Last Sunday night we received a call letting us know that Elder Blosil would no longer be my trainer and that I would be receiving a new companion.  His name would be Elder Allred and he would be finishing my training.  So starting from that moment, the first three days of the week were intense!

Monday was P-Day so that was pretty chill.  We only had half a P-Day since moves day would be on Wednesday, and I would have to be in a trio with the Portadown Elders until my new companion would arrive.  So on Monday, we emailed, shopped, and cleaned up a little bit, and Elder Blosil began to pack.  We spent the rest of the day GQ-ing and trying to find some last new potentials before he left.  So Monday was good.

Tuesday was a tad bit hectic.  We woke up and had studies and breakfast just like normal, and then Elder Blosil realized he had a lot of members to visit before he had to leave.  So we spent almost all of Tuesday meeting with the members and sharing thoughts and taking pictures.  We then retired to the flat at 6 ish to finish packing.  All in all, a very good day.  It helped me get to know the members and to make sure I knew where they all lived so I could take Elder Allred around to see them when he arrived.  The Portadown Elders also slept over Tuesday night so they could hang out with us in Belfast the next day.  It was a pretty great night.

Wednesday was crazy! We woke up and got ready, and then we caught a 9:30 train to Great Victoria Street so we could drop Elder Blosil off.  We all were at the train station to send him off and once he was on the bus, I realized that I was the Belfast's Zone only orphan, (Meaning that I was the only one who was getting a new trainer) and it was weird! I would have to spend the day in a trio, which wasn't bad since the Portadown Elders are awesome.  So we went to Subway to eat, the mall and then just looked around this great city.  Belfast is a beautiful place that is absolutely loaded with history. We headed back to the train station at 1430 so I could pick up my companion and head back to Lisburn.  Turns out, his ferry got in early so he caught an earlier train than what the zone leaders had on their schedules.  So he had traveled alone to Lisburn and was waiting there.  We, of course, had no idea he had done that since we had just missed him.  He had no phone since I had the phone, and we waited at Great Victoria for 2 hours.  So eventually, he was able to ask someone to let him use their phone and he called the zone leaders to tell him where he was.  We found out and then had to get back to Lisburn as quickly as possible!  We made it back and picked him up, and all was well with the world.

Thursday we had weekly planning.  It was different, since it was not Elder Blosil, but it was still effective.  We have been working to come up with ways that we can involve the members more in our efforts.  And so, we decided that the following day, we were going to make rice crispy treats and give them to the members to introduce ourselves and to build trust.  We would plan a route that would take up to 4 or 5 different members' houses and GQ on the way.  We would them knock 10 doors in the area of the member.  So I was excited to give this a go.  That night, we also got invited to a Bishopric meeting to establish where we were in our finding and the Bishop wanted to see what he could do to help us.  So now we know that the ward is on board.

Friday was awesome! We made some delicious rice crisps and nearly ate ourselves sick, but we continued on and stopped by the members' houses.  The members loved it and we actually got one new investigator from it! Her name is 'M' and she is super solid! We walked past and asked if she needed help weeding her garden. She said, "No," and we said that if she ever saw us, she could ask for help and we would help.  She then asked if we were from a church.  BINGO! That is what every missionary wants to hear.  In short, we visited with her for about 30 minutes and we covered points from the Plan of Salvation, the Restoration and the Book of Mormon.  We also gave her a Book of Mormon to which she accepted readily and agreed to read it! We also set up a return appointment for tomorrow night! So it was a very successful day!  We also shared a Mormon message with her! It was awesome!  We then proceeded along our route and ended up at the Johnsons to have dinner.  It was a good day.

Saturday was good.  Really, the main thing about Saturday was Conference.  For some reason, I got so much more out of it this time than I ever have before! It was really good! We watched the Saturday Morning Session that night and I loved it!

Sunday was awesome! We had a Conference Marathon.  Priesthood Session started at 10am and it was great! I have so many notes! Unfortunately with my memory, I have to look over them to remember what was said.  But hey, I was enlightened!  After Priesthood, we watched the Saturday Afternoon Session, and then the Sunday Morning Session.  The time difference makes it a little bit confusing over here, but it was still good.  We didn't get to see the Sunday Afternoon Session but I have to say that Sunday was my favorite day of the week!

Lastly, I will give you guys my "ponderizing" scripture.  I did not hear the talk but I will go along with it until I hear it.  You've sent me your ponderizing scriptures so I'll send you mine.  My scripture is Mosiah 4:27.  It reads: And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.  And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

This scripture has been a great help to me on my mission.  I hope it continues to help all of you as well.  May God bless you all, and I pray that you will all feel our Savior's Love.  Until next week!!

-Elder Mickelsen

More photos of Belfast…

Monday, September 28, 2015

LisburnWhiteboard Blitz 9/26/15 with: (left to right)
Elders Stanley, Plewe, Blosil, Thayne, Mickelsen & Parkinson 

Hello All!!!! This week has been quite the roller coaster! And it all started right after I logged off from my email last week. Monday was crazy! We had P-Day, obviously, and it was great to relax a little bit. We then went and taught a family in our ward whose daughter is less active and interested in coming back to Church.  Oddly enough, it i my MTC teacher's family.  They are a great family and she has been progressing well with the lessons and with coming back to church.  We taught the Plan of Salvation, and she loved it.  It is so good to see the light come to people when they learn about the restored truth! So, Monday was great!

Tuesday was pretty as well.  We had a lot of our lessons fall through and none of our try by's really gave us a good answer, but hey, we kept pressing forward.  We also had a fantastic District Meeting that morning in which Elder Lorimer taught on the special language of prayer and how English has distorted some things in the Bible.  For instance, when Jesus calms the waves, He say, "Peace, be still," in the English version of the Bible.  But in the German version, (Elder Lorimer went to Germany on his first mission), there is no comma.  This intrigued him and he decided to do some studying on it and found that the original tense of that verse is called the Vocative tense and is used when saying a command.  So rather asking the waves to be calm, Jesus commanded the waves.  There was no other option.  It was a really good lesson and you might have had to have been there to really get the power of it, but it was awesome!

We also taught more members the Family Mission Plan and it is getting some terrific reception.  The members want to help but they didn't really know how.  Now, we have given them ways to help and they are getting excited.  It was really quite fantastic!

Wednesday was also mostly good.  We had a lesson that morning with a new investigator.  She wasn't too involved in the lesson but she said that it didn't mean she didn't have questions.  But also that day, I had to take a test on the missionary website that gauges how stressed we were feeling after half of our training and I tested in the red, which is pretty bad.  I didn't even notice, but I had developed habits I didn't even realize such as pacing, eating more, not exercising that great and always feeling tired, sick or depressed.  So that was a slap in the face to realize that those things were happening to me and that I needed to make some changes.  So - I have been working on bringing my stress level down and making sure that I always keep in mind my emotions and my feelings and to always keep them in control.

We had a few lessons that night with members and one was Sister Kirkpatrick who took us to a chippy, which is a fish and chips joint, and bought us a good meal.  It was so good but so much food! I felt really sick after!  We then headed to a lesson with a less active woman who is mentally and clinically insane.  She has schizophrenia and it totally off her rocker.  That is where you saw the picture of us wearing the headsets.  She had us wear those because she thought they were awesome and we needed to try them on.  It was a very odd visit BECAUSE SHE IS THE MOST CRAZY PERSON I HAVE EVER MET. NOT LIKE SARCASTICALLY CRAZY BUT LEGITIMATELY INSANE! So that was my first experience with someone like that.  But it was all good.  After that, we traveled to Moira to visit a member and to present the Family Mission Plan and it was great.

Thursday was 50/50.  For half of the day, I was completely ready to give up and for the other half I was more excited than ever to do the work.  That morning, we had weekly planning and that went well.  We then tried to do role plays of street contacting and the words would not come out of my mouth!  My frustration and depression and stress all culminated in one brutal gut punch, and I wept.  I lost it.  I needed something like 20 minutes to recover from it.  Elder Blosil suggested that I call the Mission President and I did.  I called and left a message explaining what I needed help with and that was that.

We then decided to plan an exchange in Portadown so I could have a scenery change and destress a little bit. We planned to have Elder Plewe and I got to Portadown to tract and GQ and then Elder Blosil and Elder Thayne would come up to Lisburn to plan an activity we were planning to do on Saturday.  Me and Elder Plewe had a blast!!  We knocked doors for a solid 4 hours and Elder Plewe is the funniest person to chap with.  One time, a man opens the door and without saying anything else, Elder Plewe just says, "We are messengers from God." Well, the door was shut in our faces and that was that but it was pretty awesome!  At another door, a kid answers IN JUST HIS UNDERWEAR and Elder Plewe is like, "Oh, looks like we caught you at a bad time." It was so funny! But hey, it was all in good fun.  Elder Plewe is really cool.  The things that makes it funny is that he has this really deep, slow speech that makes it sound like he is always unimpressed.  It's hilarious and awesome!

Friday I spent the morning in Portadown and had some really good fun.  Every Friday morning, the Portadown Elders mow a members lawn and then the member feeds them.  His name is Brother Donnelly and his meals are legendary.  This time he cooked salmon, chips, carrots, beans and corn - coupled with Pineapple Maine, which is a drink, and then 3 round of dessert.  It was awesome.  I was able to grit and bare the salmon, and the rest was delicious.  You get special recognition among missionaries if your companionship finished the entire Brother Donnelly meal, and we did it! It was mostly Elder Plewe, buy hey, I helped out a bit as well.  It was quite the experience.  Friday afternoon, I returned to Lisburn and we GQ'ed until the ward activity she had that night which was based off of Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old?  And it was really fun!  All my useless childish knowledge was finally useful!  It was great fun and I got to know the members of our ward even better.

Saturday was the culmination of the week.  We had the Lisburn Blitz!  It was really great! We brought all the missionaries down to Lisburn from our district so we had a total of 6.  We set up a whiteboard in the city center and we just asked people what made them happy and we got some good responses.  We also had some good gospel conversations with people.  I really love whiteboarding! It's great!!

We also got what our trainers called, "Kebabtized" on Saturday night.  It is where you order a king kebab with donner meat (lamb) and you eat the entire thing.  I have to admit, I wish I would've gotten a picture of it.  IT WAS BIGGER THAN MY HEAD! And I couldn't finish it.  But hey, I tried my best. So now I have had my first kebab and we also received the GIFT OF THE HOLY COKE which is where you drink a coke with your kebab.  It was a really awesome day and I'm so glad I was able to be here for it.

A picture of the KEBAB!! I got this from another Elder

Sunday started off good but then declined by the evening.  We went to church as usual and then we went over to a members home for dinner. It was really good and we were able to share the Family Mission Plan with them and to get them fired up.  Hopefully our ward is getting fired up about missionary work, as well.  After that, we went chapping and were able to set up a few return appointments for next week so the work is progressing! That is already on top of the 8 return appointments we got from whiteboarding the previous day.  And once we returned to our apartment that night, we waited for moves call.  And it came.  We were hoping it would be from our Zone Leaders to tell up we were staying, but it wasn't.  It was from the AP's and Elder Blosil is getting transferred to Edinburgh.  I will have a new trainer on Wednesday and his name is Elder Allred.  Hopefully he is a good guy.  I didn't really want Elder Blosil to leave since he is a good trainer, but I guess it is the will of the Lord, not mine.  I will be remaining here in Lisburn and I will have to lead out the area this transfer while my new companion gets familiar with things.

Cool Mural in Lisburn

Well, that's it for the week! It has been an absolute roller coaster! But things are looking up and I am excited for what the future holds.

-Elder Mickelsen

"Awesome Headsets"

September 21, 2015

Titanic Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland

At the Titanic Museum in Belfast September 14, 2015
Elders Mickelsen, Blosil, Beckstrand, Penman, and Stanley

Hello All! This week has been really interesting for me.  I started off this week by going to the Titanic Museum in Belfast, which is where the Titanic was built.  It was a really cool experience and I really enjoyed taking a break from missionary life for a few hours even if we still have to wear a shirt and tie.

This week was not filled with a lot of finding.  Both Elder Blosil and I have been sick this week and we have needed the time to recuperate.  It was quite a boring week after Monday.  Tuesday, we had district meeting and Elder Lorimer (You know him at President Lorimer from Martin's Cove) helped us see the importance of family history in missionary work.  It is truly a great finding tool! We used that for a bit and then realized we don't really know anything about family history, se we had to wait until we could do some to use it in our finding efforts. 

Wednesday was ok.  We had all our appointments drop, which really depressed us, but we persevered and went out to knock doors. In the rain. So that was flippin' awesome.  You can always play the sympathy card when you are in the rain.  But we didn't find anyone.  We also taught a recent convert, name Serena, who is rock solid in the gospel.  She is a great lady.

Thursday, when the sickness hit Elder Blosil, we had weekly planning and then he needed to take a break to take a nap.  But hey, it happens to the best of us.

Friday was my birthday.  It was really fun.  Elder Blosil made me pancakes in the morning and we had all our lessons follow through.  We taught a less active name Alice Greer.  We chapped into her on one of my first days here and we have been teaching her ever since.  I actually recently found out that she was originally taught by a guy from my home ward, Tyrel Foster.  So that was really cool to see that link.

We then had dinner at the Bishop's house and they made Mexican food which was super yummy! We had a great time.  And my birthday was good!

Saturday, we stayed in all day.  Elder Blosil was hammered.  But he is ok now.

Sunday was normal.  We went to Church and then went finding.  We got 2 return appointments for this week and I hope they come through.  It's crazy here, but I love it.  That's all for this week!  Boring week, I know, but things are starting to look up!!

-Elder Mickelsen

Cody's in the back right with yellow camera

This is my favorite one! Haha  September 20, 2015