February 1, 2016

Elder Mickelsen and Elder Tolk's last day together.
Cody is off to Bray!

And there it is folks! January is gone! Done and dusted! It is so hard to believe! My time in Lisburn is also coming to a close.  This coming week I will be moving to Bray.  It is a seaside town just outside of Dublin! I am so excited to be heading to the Republic! I am excited to start this new chapter in my missionary life.

MONDAY- was Pday, I think I am going to stop saying that every week since it is a well established fact now, and the repetition is starting to get a little boring.  But as always, we emailed and then we went to an all you can eat Pizza Hut buffet.  It was glorious.  Never offer missionaries all you can eat.  You will regret it.  Then we spent some time in a book store just hanging out.  It was really relaxing.  After that, we headed to Tesco and got our normal grocery haul and then we went home for some chill out time before our dinner appointment with the Johnsons.  After dinner, which was delicious, especially the mint Oreo cheesecake, to die for! Then we did some try by's in the evening and finally headed home.  Great day.

TUESDAY- We had the last District Meeting of the transfer.  It was a good meeting.  We also got taken to lunch by a member from Holywood.  She took all of us missionaries to Frankie and Bennies.  It was delicious.  I had a classic American waffle burger (forgive me, mother) and then I had a cinnamon ice cream caramel waffle. (You don't have to forgive me for that one) but being the American that I am, and seeing that an Irish restaurant offered a "classic American waffle burger" and having never heard of such a wonderful invention in my entire existence, I reasoned out the pros and cons in my mind and came to the inevitable conclusion of, "What the heck." So I got it.  It was really good.

Afterwards, we traveled back home and Elder Tolk and I GQ-ed the area for a bit and we also went chapping for a minute. Then we went to the Galley for dinner with Sister Kirkpatrick.  It was a chippy restaurant.  Probably not the best choice to get a giant waffle burger for lunch, but I persevered and am still alive! Even though I am pretty sure my blood was like 99% bad decisions that day.  But it is all good.  Then after dinner, we met 'N' and the Bishop at the church to give her a blessing.  That was a good experience for her.  She said she felt the Holy Ghost really strongly.  'N' is doing very well.  After the blessing, we GQ-ed the park for the remaining 45 minutes and then we headed home.  Awesome day!

WEDNESDAY- was good.  We just did some finding all day, and nothing much really happened.  We did have a lesson with a less active named 'I.J', and that was really good.  He even made us a surprise dinner.  He was a really nice guy.  After the lesson, we had to catch the train back from Dunmurry and then we did some chapping.  Good day, though.

Coolest Missionaries around!

THURSDAY- was an interesting day.  We had our weekly planning, which was a little dry since we don't have investigators to plan for right now, but it was still fun.  We got done with it pretty quick.  Then we traveled to Dunmurry again for a few lessons we had set up earlier.  They didn't go through, but we did have some fun buzzing random flats in apartment complex and asking people to let us in.  After not being let into an apartment complex, we went to another try by of a young guy who seemed pretty solid.  Turns out he gave us his grandma's address and she was rather surprised to see us.  But she wasn't interested.  Oh well.

After that, we walked around Dunmurry some more and we got let in by a guy named 'J'.  At first he was like, "I decide when you leave." and at the end he committed to read the Book of Mormon and we set up a return appointment with him.  It was a really spiritual lesson.  Oh the powers of the Holy Ghost!  Then we traveled back to Lisburn for a dinner appointment with our Bishop.  They always have good food.  We chapped on his street for a bit and got a return appointment from his next door neighbor, but that fell through.  

Nevertheless, we were determined to share the gospel with someone.  So, after dinner, we went down an alleyway, (forgive me again, mom) and we talked to this giant smoking dude outside a pub.  (At this point, I take full responsibility for my actions) and he was okay at first.  He was a bit slower than most and he's asked us where we were from.  I said, "Idaho." 
And then he said, "Australia?" 
And I said, "No, America." 
Then he goes, "I've been to Manhattan.  What part of Manhattan are you from?" 
At this point I figured he wasn't going to know what I was talking about so I said, "West." And then Elder Tolk lost it and had to turn around because he was laughing so hard.  The guy pokes him and says, "Who are you laughing at?"
Elder Tolk goes, "Elder Mickelsen." 
And then I go, "I'm cheesy." which makes Elder Tolk laugh even more.  
Then this giant guy, who could be likened to one of the giant cronies in a thriller film goes, "You know what happened to the last guy that laughed at me?"  And he was 2 inches from Elder Tolk's face.  
Elder Tolk says, "What?" 
And the guys goes, "I broke his jaw in 4 places with one punch."
Elder Tolk was like, "Dang." 
Then the guy chilled out somehow and said, "Listen boys, if the police ever ask if you know Big Mark, you never met me.  Got it?" 
And we said, "Yep, Got it." and then we got the heck out of there.  That was awesome!  It was also kind of scary, but awesome!  Then we headed home and hit the hay.

FRIDAY- was a good day, as well.  We had a lesson with a former investigator named, 'G.F.' It was okay.  She doesn't really want to believe, so we just taught and left it up to her.  Afterwards, we just GQ-ed the city centre for a while until we finally talked to this guy named, 'R' who was really nice.  He is our friend now because of the following experience.  The story goes like this: While we were thus engaged in an engaging and riveting conversation with our new chum, 'R', a lady nurse called to us from a distance to help her assist a man who was clearly suffering from the plague of what the Irish call, "Drunk."

We arrived to the rescue and had to peel him off a tree, as he thought he was going to die if he went through.  Finally, we got him to the cab place and they said thy wouldn't take him drunk, so the lady phoned the police.  The police promptly stated that this was an ambulance problem and that he would need to be taken by them.  So she called the ambulance and we waited for an hour.  During this hour, the nurse diagnosed that he had had a stroke and that he was drunk.  And he almost fell off a bench.  All the while, we continued our conversation with 'R'.  Finally, the ambulance came and he didn't want to get in because he thought they were going to cut his clothes off.  I'll never forget spending an hour with the Drunk Stanley.  It was awesome.

SATURDAY- We did a little bit of finding with the Portadown Elders since they came up to help us talk to more people.  It also snowed like mad today, but didn't stick.  It was a pretty fun day.  I got the most violent and angry response to, "Hiya, how are you doing?" Once I asked the question, the man promptly told me to, well, I'll let you figure that one out.  But then we went home and had some lunch and then we walked around Lisburn and talked to all we could.  Good day, though.

SUNDAY- was awesome.  We went to church, which was really fun.  The whole meeting really focused on the Plan of Salvation.  It was a good meeting.  Afterwards, we went home and made some lunch.  We made egg sandwiches and pancakes.  It was delicious.  And then we did a GQ marathon to close out the night.  And then as we were walking around town, we decided to see what a Presbyterian service was like. It was interesting.  Really nice people there, though.  Really nice.  The minister was okay but the people were better.  Then we headed home and got our moves call.  This is when I found out that I am headed to Bray.  It should be really exciting!

Well everybody, that is my week!  Tune in next week for what this upcoming week was like!  Always remember what Christ has done for you and never forget who you can become with his Divine help.

Til the work is done.

-Elder Mickelsen