January 18, 2016

Hello again! This past week has absolutely flown by!  I can't believe it! I almost feel like I don't have anything to write about! In the blink of an eye, another week has flown by! This week was filled with finding pretty much all day everyday so apologies in advance for this potentially boring update! (unless, of course, you find joy and splendor in the seemingly mundane and grey details of a story) In that case, sit down, buckle up, and enjoy the ride!

MONDAY- Woo! Monday is Pday! Big surprise, I know.  But it was a good Pday nonetheless.  We did our usual email sesh, then we went to the food court at our local mall for some grub.  Following which, we walked around town checking out the random shops and tiny places around Lisburn.  We spent a while in this book store called Eason's.  It's comparable to a Hasting's back home.  And we read a few car magazines, and checked out the Guinness Book of World Records.  There are some really weird people in this world.  People who just have one desire, to think of the most ridiculous thing they can possibly do, and then they do it and become somewhat famous.  It's pretty awesome!  Then after that, we headed to the Johnson's for dinner.  They made us some Mexican food!  It was great! Oh how I have missed a good old taco! And then we went to the church and we taught 'N' and one of her friends to finish off the night.  It was a pretty good day!

Found a furniture store and decided to test out the recliners.
We must have been reclining a little too long because
we got kicked out.  

Elders Tolk and Mickelsen

TUESDAY-We have our District Meeting and now the Portadown Elders have a car, and they can give us lifts!  It is great!  We don't have to ride the train anymore! A car is about 10000000000000000000 x's better than the train!  After District Meeting, we headed home and made some lunch.  Then we spent the rest of the day GQing people and finding new investigators.  No one was interested, but it's all good!  Just an off finding day.  It fluctuates all the time.

WEDNESDAY- All finding except for one lesson and a dinner appointment.  I'll just explain the lesson.  We taught the three new investigators I mentioned last week the Plan of Salvation.  I made some visual aids and was able to lay out a giant Plan of Salvation on their table.  It was very well received but teaching 3 people all at once is interesting.  One of then has honest questions, the other doesn't think she needs anymore, and the last one believes in the standard Born Again mantra of just having faith in Christ and being saved.  But we can work on that. Good lesson overall, though.

After that, we finished off the night at the Harkness home. We had a dang good dinner and then taught a wee little spiritual thought.  We also had the opportunity to give Brother Harkness a blessing.  It was a very spiritual experience.  It reaffirmed to me the reality of God and his love for us.  Very good.

THURSDAY-We had our weekly planning and then we had some lunch.  Afterwards, we GQ-ed the town and then the city.  We also had an appointment with a guy named 'M' who wanted us to help him quit drinking, but he never called us back or told us where he lived or anything.  So we couldn't really do much about that.  After we did our morning finding, we went over to Phil Hamilton's for dinner and a coordination meeting.  It was pretty good.  They made chili and rice.  Normally, I am not a big chili fan, but you'll be surprised at what you can eat as a missionary.  Absolutely everything is good as a missionary.  Or my taste buds are all dead.  Either one.  After dinner, we tried to stop by 'S' but she wasn't in.  So we just GQ-ed he night away and headed home for the night.

FRIDAY-was pretty good.  We just GQ-ed.  All day.  All stinking day.  Some new rejections today, as well. Some people didn't want to talk to us because we were American, not Mormon, American.  Yeah, I know.  Blew my mind too.

SATURDAY-We had some lessons planned for Saturday, but they all fell through.  So we ended up just GQing all day.  I feel like I use the term GQ a lot and nobody really knows what it means.  It stands for "Golden Question" and it's basically missionary lingo for, we are gonna talk to absolutely every lying soul that comes within two miles of us.  So there ya go!  Anyway, Saturday was also awful in the sense that my blood sugar dropped all of a sudden and I had a crazy headache all day.  Then, we left the heating on at night and I about had a heat stroke in the middle of the night.  Really sucked, but I am all good now!

SUNDAY-We had church, and then we went out and did some GQing and walked all over the place trying to find people to teach.  People weren't really interested but we did meet nice people.  Not the usual mean, busy, people.  But nothing really happened on Sunday.

Well folks, that is me!  This week was a bit drab, but I am still super stoked about being here!  It's awesome!

I'll leave you all with my ponderizing scripture for this next upcoming week.

Doctrine and Covenants 107:99-100

Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence.

He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved, shall not be counted worth to stand.  Even so.  Amen.

Til the Work is Done!

-Elder Mickelsen