May 30, 2016

Hello once again everybody! Things have been absolutely peachy up here in sunny little Coleraine this past week! We have seen miracles and have truly witnessed the hand of God in our work here.  This is truly a time of hastening! Let's get to it!

MONDAY- was pretty awesome! We did our emailing and our shopping, and we also went up to the Giant's Causeway, which was stinkin' legit!! It was really beautiful! We did an audio tour up there, and it was so worth it! There was a ton of cool stuff to see, and it was a beautiful bus ride up there, as well.  After the Giant's Causeway, we headed to FHE, which was awesome.  Elder Richards and I wrestled beforehand, so my shirt was green, but it is okay! It was about time to retire that shirt anyway. And then for FHE, we almost won the quiz, and we had some really good food! Afterwards, we headed home and hit the hay.

TUESDAY- we were in Belfast for District Meeting, which was pretty great.  Elder Richards and Elder Allred wrestled for the big room to see who would have their meeting in there and Elder Richards won, so we got the big room! After DM, we went to...you guessed it...Boojums.  And then we headed home.  Once we arrived back in Coleraine, we went to go visit President Culbertson and talk to him about a few things and then we had to take some dished back to a member.  So once we did that, President Culbertson called us agin and asked if we wanted to go to dinner with him. So we were like, "Heck ya!" and so we went and got some Chinese and then we went to the Branch Presidency Meeting to give a missionary report and receive further instruction.  We did ride the back of President Culbertson's van, so that was nice and dark; it felt like we were getting kidnapped, haha. It was awesome! Then after the meeting, we did some try-by's and then we called it a day.

WEDNESDAY- We started off by going to Portrush and doing some try-by's.  Then we went over to a guy named 'R's house.  That was intense.  He seemed like he wanted to learn, but at the end of the meeting, he said he only requested that we come over to see if he could "de-convert" us. So that was a bummer.  But we had a good talk.  We confounded him on a lot of points.  I did make an unintentional mom joke, and it was pretty funny, but the appointment was a little crazy.  After that, we had some Subway, then we went out finding some more until we had an appointment with 'N'.  We got there and his wife let us and our joint teacher in, but 'N' never showed up.  So we waited for 20 minutes and then we left. So that was a bummer.  His wife had said that he was coming right back, and she couldn't find him when he didn't come back. So we were a bit worried. But we found out later that he made it home alright, so that was all good.  After that, we met with a treasurer from a Presbyterian church who is a really solid guy.  He took us out for hot chocolate and we had a really nice meeting.  We talked a lot about the church and stuff, so that was awesome. He said maybe he will come to church sometime, so that's a start.

THURSDAY-we had weekly planning and then we had some lunch.  Then we went GQing and did a few try-by's.  Then we had a service project and a lesson with 'J.D.' That was really good.  We helped him clean out his junk closet, so that was awesome.  Then after that, we taught Book of Mormon class on Jacob 5, so that was a bit like herding cats, but it was awesome nonetheless.  Really good and spiritual.  After that, we headed home and called it a day.

FRIDAY- Main highlights of Friday is that we taught a guy named Trevor Duff who is a recent convert who lives in Portrush, and that was pretty awesome! He gave us a few packs of Jammie Dodgers, which are flippin' legit! They are shortbread cookies with jam in the middle and it is awesome! After that, we taught 'I' and we are still working on the whole, "getting an answer" thing.  She is progressing well, she is just looking for that definite answer.  So we are now working on that. 

SATURDAY- we had a flat check which we passed! So that was baller, and then we taught a guy named 'J'. I met him up in Belfast while on exchange and he is willing to meet up with us, so that is awesome! It was a really good lesson.  He agreed to be baptized on the 18th of June if he comes to the knowledge that this church is true.  So that is awesome! Then we sent out church texts and ate some pizza and called it a night.

SUNDAY- we went to church, and we taught the 5th Sunday joint Priesthood/Relief Society lesson.  It went really well.  We focused a lot on member missionary work and we had quite a few people come up to us after and offer their help and assistance to us! It was really great! After church, we went home for some lunch, and then we got invited up to the Kilgore's house for dinner.  It was a dang nice dinner! So good! Elder Richards and I will be staying together in Coleraine for the next 5 weeks! This is gonna be great!

Well, that was this week! It was pretty awesome! The work is moving forwards here in Coleraine! No man with his hand to the plow looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God!

-Till the Work is Done

-Elder Mickelsen