Public Announcement

First of all I love hearing about Thanksgiving back in the U.S. I hope all y'all had a great Thanksgiving with the Fam and stuff. I'm thankful for all of you and for my opportunity to serve a mission. I'm thankful for Jesus Christ and his atonement.

Now for the public announcement.... I celebrated thanksgiving about a transfer ago. I was still with Elder Lee when it happened... so my thanksgiving was good but I didn't technically have thanksgiving this last week... :) I did have a turkey dinner at the BBB though :) BBB: (acronym) B.'s Bed and Breakfast; A members acronym for his hosting of missionaries at his house; a sought after experience by many missionaries for the excellent food. Since Elder Spell and I are the only Elders in the Yorkton branch now, we get to go out to Kamsack and Cote reserve as part of our area. Time at the library is up so I will get back to writing in a few. Love you all


Anyways I'm back. To continue with Elder Spell and I being the only missionaries in Yorkton Branch it's odd. The closest Elders to us now are about an hour away. So District meeting is going to be a little different because it'll be Elder Spell and I in Yorkton Skyping Elder Grant and Wright in CTK. No more district lunch this transfer. Basically it means either that President trusts us or they just wanted us out of the way and away from other missionaries to keep our bad influence from affecting them. I like to go with the first.

This week was pretty eventful. We made a surprise trip out to Dauphin to drop off Elder Muller. So our tripan basically lasted for 48 hours tops. We were a bit disappointed about that because it's not every transfer that you get to be in a tripan. It was kinda weird because crossing the Saskatchewan Manitoba border had noticeable changes. When we crossed the border there was a few more inches of snow just like that. We also got to see some elevation change which I'll send some pics of that. 

Another great thing that happened this week was Brother B. told us about how teaching the Natives out in Cote and giving them Book of Mormons is fulfilling a prophecy. This morning in studies I opened the Book of Mormon to the scriptures about that. Part of it is in the Words of Mormon and another part in 2nd Nephi. I was kinda wanting to see where it said that in the Book of Mormon and I got my prayers answered. It was great :) 

Also for church we had the Primary program :) I got to "play" the piano for them which was a lot of fun. I didn't actually play the piano I just selected songs and pressed buttons but it was still a lot of fun. Elder Spell and I also were asked to sing along with the primary with the song "He sent his son" we sang the questions and the Primary sang the answers. It was a lot of fun and I had a smile on my face the entire program. 

Things are going well. We're figuring out how in the world to work with three areas where the distance from one end to the other is roughly 2 hours. It'll be a rough transfer in that aspect but Elder Spell and I were deciding that this is going to be a fun transfer. 

That's all I got for now. Potatoes gonna Potate. Love you all have a great beginning of December. 

Elder Mikesell 

More to come and Winter is come

So I only have a short time right now to email. I would like to let y'all know that I am staying in the same area (kindof). I will be moving to the Yorkton apartment so any of you who have my old address it is no longer valid. Elder Spell and I will be staying together and we will be in a tripan with Elder Muller. Tripan: (sl) a companionship that includes three companions rather than two. We will also be taking all of Yorktons old area and adding it onto the Melville area. This is partially why I'm going to be sending emails later. We have got a LOT of packing/moving to do. wish me luck

*Later*

So. this week has been quite a wild one. I think you could gather that with the major upset we had again with transfer calls. We literally just lost one Elder from our district that's all. And for those of you who understand how transfers work this is quite the odd occurrence.

One of the wild things that happened was the weather change. It all happened in one day. We got weather warnings that there was going to be close to blizzard level. It ended up being about a couple centimeters of snow but being in the plains area the wind was around 50 ks per hour gusting up to 90 ks per hour. This combined with the already cold weather put us around -20, -25 degrees C. That was cold. I was only wearing slacks that day so my knees felt like they were going to shatter from the cold and walking. My face was the worst though. Bare skin with wind chill is not a good combination. Other than that I was fine. My hands were getting decently cold but my feet and body were just chillin. I learned a lot though and I'm never going to let it happen again :)

Another thing that happened just yesterday is we were able to attend the Montreal Quebec temple rededication. We had to go out to Regina to do that but it was a great experience. Everyone except President Eyring spoke French so that was weird. But it was great. We had some members take us out there and we had a great time with them as well. They also fed us that night so double bonus :) I realized the last dedication that I remember going to was the Oquirrh mountain temple and Elder Spell had his card from that so we found out it was in 2009. That was an eye opener for me.

Another crazy thing that happened this week was we went and visited a member who's name is Tom. Tom is his english name because he is originally from Taiwan. It is SO hard to understand him but he's got a big heart and he always feeds us. Which is not always a good thing and you'll see why. So we went over to his house at around 4 and we thought we were safe but when we got there he was eating this massive pot of wontons (I think) During the entire time we were there he was just eating through this massive heap of food. And he was like are you guys hungry (translation) When he asked us that he went into the kitchen and started microwaving something without us really saying anything. He then brought out this plate of buns (rolls) with meat in them. These things were pretty big to begin with and he had 7 of them on the plate. He then said Eata Eata (which roughly translates to you better eat) After we started that he went back into the kitchen and started microwaving something else. Elder Spell and I started looking at eachother like "what are we going to do???" By the point the second plate of buns finished we were already starting to feel full but he set it down and said "Eata Eata" I think I was only able to eat 5 of them.... it was brutal. and when we would slow down he would just repeat "Eata Eata" It was funny but we were stuffed.

That's all I got for now I love you all and have a great thanksgiving if you are celebrating thanksgiving this week. As for myself I already have had my turkey dinner.

*from my email*

We're no longer going to be living in Melville so I would just advise everyone to send the mail to the mission office. Hopefully they do like last year and have a Christmas devotional in Winnipeg and I should be able to get all of the mail then. I may be able to get some mail before then if they have another zone conference this transfer.

Food.

So first of all this may be short because I'm runny low on time. I've been sending a lot of long personal emails so if you want a little bit more from me check the blog or try to talk to one of my parents. If you're on missions and you want more... Whoops ;)

Anywho one of the things that I've been neglecting to talk about is the food that's around here. For those of you that are familiar with Canadian stereotypes you would think of begs (bags) of milk and beg bacon and maple syrup. Sadly that is not what I have found. Yet again research has undermined stereotypes. :D Anyways the food that I have found is Perogies and Poutine. Poutine was something I heard about it the MTC from my canadian native companion. Poutine is the best. Poutine is just fries with gravy and hunks of cheese on it. If you are doubting about its supremeness go and make some fries and put some gravy on it you will not be disappoint. Perogies are pretty good as well. They're just things of mashed potatoes with varieties of stuff in thems such as cheese bacon and onions. they have a doughy shell and you boil and fry them. They're good. Another thing I've encountered around here is Pancit. Pancit is Phillipino noodles and it's pretty good. There is a asian store here in Yorkton and they sell little instant noodle things of Pancit. One thing that I have not encountered but will be at some point is these half formed fetuses of chickens which I have forgotten the names of. It sounds nasty looks nasty and I would expect is nasty. I've had some pretty nasty things out here already (of my own chosing) and I think this'll top them. Some of those nasties are straight allgreens and water and marmite.

One thing that I would like to talk about with this week is Remembrance Day. We were able to go to a service for that and I had no regrets. R.D. is on the same day as the U.S.s Veterans Day but for me has found a special place in my heart. Instead of honor (U.S.) they talked about Peace. Instead of war stories it was quotations from the Bible. I won't give up my American Heritage and Honor but I really enjoyed what happened at this service. Don't get me wrong Honor is a great American attribute and Canadians don't quite understand it (especially with their new Prime Minister) but Peace is great as well. There could be a lot more peace in the world. But I have a feeling we'll be needing a lot of honor and defending the innocent anymore.

Other than Remembrance Day this week has been pretty low key. It reminded me a lot of how things were when it was just Elder Lee and I vs. Melville. but I survived and am here to tell the tale. That reminds me this next saturday is transfer calls so pray for me because it's going to get crazy again.

*from my email*

Mom:  "It was fun to hear about the nerf sword fight. Getting a practice sword really paid off - except it sounds like you need more practice since he overpowered you. :) "

Calvin:  "I've just got to clarify. Liam overpowered me because he had invincibility on and I didn't. It was an unfair fight to begin with. I jabbed at him a few times and he kept on fighting. But, since I didn't have invincibility when he hit me it counted and I eventually "died" :) It was a lot of fun needless to say."

 *from Garth's email*

Service projects have slowed down quite a lot now that it's cold and we're in Yorkton a lot of the week. We're hoping to take part of a massive clothes drive happening at Cote one of the reserves in our district. I'm not too sure what all is going to happen with us living in Melville but Transfer Calls are this week so cross your fingers cause I have a feeling their is going to be an upset again.

Best week

Hopefully I'll get through everything I want to in this email. Time is running short for me so here it goes.

First of all this week has had a low of -2 degrees (around 28 degrees I think) and a high of 12 degrees (around 50-60 degrees again IDK ) So any snow that was on the ground got melted. I'm starting to think I've brought a bit of Utah weather with me. :)

We were able to have three dinner appointments in a row this week with a total of 5 meals from members. Personal record so far :) the best one for fun was either the one earlier in the week or the weekly sunday dinner. I will talk about the one earlier in the week. This is a family we've been wanting to get with for a while and all four of us were able to come. Right when we walked into the door their son Liam (like liam neeson) told all four of us Elders to come downstairs. This kid is like 8 years old and he had nerf swords lined up on the couch to sword fight us. I was the first to go and he did not hold back. I was so glad I had played around with swordfighting in my life cause I was just barely holding my ground. He soon overtook me and the next Elder was up. It went like this until he just started whacking at everyone and we were all just running around trying to survive. IT was soooo much fun. after we had dinner we had a full out war in the basement. His dad is a bow hunter and he had these deadly little bow things that he was shooting at us and it turned into a war between who had the bows with Liam running all over the place reking anyone who got too close. Good companionship inventory :).

Another great thing was we were able to get with both of our investigators this week and have great lessons with them. That hasn't happened at all since I've been here so I was so yoked.

To tie up the week we had a girl in our branch get baptized out in Regina. We had a great road trip with us Elders squished in the back of another members car. It was a great experience and the first baptism I've been to out here on the mish. Funny story though the son who was baptizing her didn't have white underwear and the only underwear there was one that could've fit the moon and another that was for a tiny 8 year old. So (also good learning experience) he just put two of the white jumpsuits on so nobody could see through it. The water ended up only going up to just above his knees but we had quite the scare.

That's all I got love you all

*from my email*

First of all I have to say this has been one of the best most productive weeks since I came out here. I'll probably explain more in the mass email but we had three dinner appointments in a row. First with the Bs, then the Ks (I'll be talking about that one a lot) and thirdly the Ds which is someone we've been trying to get to since I arrived in the Dirty Ville. Also along with that we were able to meet with the Ds and teach their son and also we had a pretty good lesson with our main gator and I was able to give a blessing to his fiancee to help her with the word of wisdom. So yoked to do that it's been the first time I've been able to exercise my priesthood like that out on the mish. Neither of them showed up at church though... The atonement is real though hopefully they'll eventually get to church more. 

The snow was sticking to the ground till it got to a whopping 10 degrees [Celsius] yesterday. It was really hot. Today we have a nice fog though so it's back to being cold.

 It has now since melted HAHA

Example of how much fog we get out here cause there is water EVERYWHERE

The perfect knot.

"I can literally see the curvature of the Earth from here"

Laying Low

Welp, 'Murican holidays are for sure better. Halloween at least in Melville is a remnant of what it was or should be. To get all of my thoughts on it it should be on my blog because I sent a lot of stuff to my mom about it but right now I'll just say it was disappointing. Mainly because everyone starts trick or treating around High Noon. Kids running around in costumes trackting does not work with us running around and trackting as well. We had to lie low for pretty much the entire day. We actually got told to be hiding in our houses by 6:00 but we got permission from the pres. to have a dinner appointment. It was so much better than dying of boredom in our house.

One good thing that happened was we were able to go to mutual on thursday and take part in their halloween party. I dressed up as a band kid for a bit but I felt uncomfortable around other people with out my proselyting clothes. So I just changed back into those and put my band shirt over all of it. Another great thing about it was we were able to get a less active girl to mutual. We were so yoked that she actually went.

Other than those two things not much else happened this week. Except I just remembered that we also talked to president Craig about our housing situation now that we are going 500 or more Ks over our allotment. not forgetting to mention that we almost got rebuked by both the zone leaders AND the assistants to the President. It was fun to rebuke them for trying to rebuke us. Mainly because Elder Spell and I are pretty much the only really obedient Elders in the mission and it looked like we were being extremely disobedient when we weren't. which brings me back to what I was first saying. We talked to President Craig about possibly moving to Yorkton now that we're working there five days out of the week but I am glad to stay we're staying in the dirty ville for at least another month. Next month though we have a good possibility of getting a new address.

So yeah, It's all chill in the Ville. Love you all. be good and be good at it.

ps for those who get it... potatoes gonna potate

*from my email*

Halloween is a sad excuse here if you ask me. Pretty much all of the spirit goes into decorating houses weeks before it actually happens. The worst part is everyone starts trackting sorry trick or treating ;) at around noon. NOON! what in the world happened to Hallowed Eve or however Halloween started? So pretty much everyone stops trick or treating around 9 at night and it's over.. Melville is the worst because we were at the Blocks for a while for a dinner appointment and they only got 17 kids the entire day. I've decided that Canada holidays don't have as much spirit as 'Murica holidays.

I got to hold a puppy this week! Forgot to mention it in my mass email but it was so cute.

It has since melted but we have some more snow falling right now