The Filipinos

So this week we had and witnessed a miracle. So in our branch there is a Filipino family that are the best. They are the ones who fed us Balut. But, a couple weeks ago there was this family of three that moved in with them until they found a house and job and get themselves situated. Since they moved in with one of the most missionary oriented families in the branch they helped them also get spiritually grounded as well. But, the father of the family decided he wanted to try getting into the whole church thing as well because at one point in time he was taken to the LDS church in the Philippines for a little bit and didn't go back ever again. His wife was an active member of the church and in our first lesson with him was quoting scriptures with us and knew what was up. But, she also shared with us that ever since she had married him she was praying that he would come and be active in church with her and how grateful she was that we came and were helping him out. It was a powerful experience. I'm so glad I can witness how the gospel changes lives and helps people out. So yeah that was like the miracle of these last two transfers. It's good :)

As for fun stories I'm drawing a blank here. I guess when the work starts picking up the fun stories transform into spiritual stories. I don't think I'm even mad about that but it's always nice to have something funny happen. Something will probably happen next week. 

I just remembered something that happened this week. It wasn't really funny but it was definitely out of the ordinary. So there was a member who told Elder Stevens he could take his stuff home for him. So he forgot about that but his mom was going down to the states behind him. We got told to be at a place between 8-9 in the morning. We get there at 8 because we wanted to be punctual. Come two hours later we decided to call her and find out where she is. It was interesting waiting in a car for two hours but it was worth it. Elder Stevens had accumulated quite a few things and it was a blessing to get those taken home without paying luggage fees. It's good :) 

That's all I got. I love y'all. Have a great week :) Potatoes gonna potate 

*from my email*

(Referring to last week's letter when he mentioned talking with the man from Rwanda)

 

Something I've said so many times after coming out on a mission is "there's no such thing as coincidences on a mission" I have seen that too many times to think any differently. Everything that happens out here happens for a reason :) It was so much fun to be able to talk to this guy and hear what he had to say. I'm pretty glad I had had the experiences I've had as well so I understood more. Another thing that I didn't mention was that the manager at the food bank is married to a lady from Rwanda as well so I had seen first hand that the stuff that was happening had fixed itself up as well. It was pretty great :)

(Talking about the investigators from the Phillipines)

They just moved from the Philippines and are looking for education and work here and doing pretty well at it. R thought he was baptized as a child but has no other background with the church and A was brought up in the church and for the most part was active. But they're wanting to start out their life in Canada right so we're going and teaching them at the O's house which is where they're living right now. The O's are from the Philippines as well and they're the ones who fed us Balut. It's quite a miracle for us :) He's already accepted to be baptized if he finds it to be true so we're pretty yoked about that :)

Baptismal Date

So this morning I had an experience that wasn't like anything that I've had before. We were at Kal tire (a tire/car mechanic shop all across Canada that our mission has a deal with) and we were replacing lights for our car. While we were waiting a guy walked in and wanted his tires replaced. After that he came and sat down next to us and started up a conversation. He started telling stories from his life and stuff he did out in Africa. He was part of the Canadian military and was helping out in Rowanda. He told us about some of the crazy stuff that's happened out there and some stuff he had to deal with out there. It was pretty great to listen to him. He also told us about how he met some "mormon boys" coming off the plane to go on their missions there. He was pretty surprised that missionaries were going on their missions to a place so war torn but he was like "in a few months they'll be ready for God but right now they're running and won't want people knocking on their doors" It was pretty great to be able to joke around with him about stuff like that but we could tell he had seen some pretty crazy stuff. I'm glad that I had read "A Long Way Gone" because a lot of the stuff he talked about reminded me so much of that book. He also detailed what happened to boy soldiers over their to a T without even reading the book. Let's just say I'm pretty happy and blessed to be in the mission I am :)

So just a recap of this week because I still need to email president.. 

We had zone conference in Saskatoon where I gave another talk out of nowhere. Every conference I've been to where President Craig does that I've given a talk WHOOO

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders WHOOO. It was crazy to be in the big city.

We found 3 new investigators and set 1 baptismal date WHOOO

That's all I got Potatoes gonna potate Love y'all :)

*from my email*

So his name is C. We met him at another investigators house and while we were on exchanges ( I wasn't there ) He started taking part a lot in the discussion. They gave him a soft commitment at that lesson and we followed up with a date on Saturday. He's half native in descent and I could tell in some of the stories he told us. He's had quite a few visions and help from the holy ghost. He's a great guy and came to church with us. He's pretty funny as well. 

Melfort

So this last week we went to Melfort.

So the Melfort Branch has this annual food and bottle drive in conjunction with the food bank. When this happens they invite the whole saskatoon zone to come and help and luckily I was in that zone this year :) 

It began with the whole zone caravaning down to Melfort from Saskatoon friday afternoon. I may or may not have sang Convoy by C W Mccall. Once we got there we had a great dinner put on by the members there and had a fireside by President and Sister Craig on service. It was pretty great. Then after that one of the things that the branch does to get missionaries out there is send them to Non members houses to billet. We got paired with wonderful family and had a great time with them there. It was so good :) 

The next morning we went straight back to the church to get some food and be paired with our drivers to take us around melfort and Trackt the entire city out in a day except instead of talking about Jesus we ask for food and bottles. It was a lot of fun. One of the fun perks was we were able to wear the Mormon Helping Hands vests that you see all over with disaster sites. It was a lot of fun :) Elder Stevens and I had an interesting time because President Craig came with us and for part of it we tri-panned with Elder Velasquez because his companion went home. It was fun to see a side of President Craig that you don't normally see :) 

After we had all gone out and trackted the city we came back and started sorting. That was a lot of fun because it was an opportunity to just work and talk with missionaries you don't get to see all the time. Plus now after transfers my first and second companions Elders Blommeart and Lee were there so we could catch up. I was so glad to be able to go and do that :) 

Since I'm short on time that's all I got time for.. But, I hope y'all have a great week :) Potatoes gonna potate 

love, Elder Mikesell

 

 

Last time together as a district :'(

Elder Peck hiding behind a tree

The bed that I slept in my Billets house

With the boys :)

TRANSFERS

So the big news for the week. I am not getting transferred and neither is my comp. It's pretty great news if you ask me :) This will be the second companion that I'll have for more than just one transfer. I'm pretty psyched for this. The sad news is that my District leader Elder Tippetts is getting transferred out to be a Zone Lord in Ontario. Zone Lord: noun. A name started by Elder Glissmeyer for Zone Leaders; a loving way to show that you respect Zone Leaders authority over you. But, yeah it'll be sad to see him go. Other than that our district is staying together. Another crazy thing with this transfer is that two of my companions (technically three with my current) are going to be in the zone with me. This is the first time that this has happened so I'm excited to see what happens.

So I'm a pile and forgot my journal with all of my notes for conference but I want to just say how wonderful it was. I absolutely loved so many of the talks given at conference and I'm so glad that I prepared myself for it. I think two of the highlights for me were President Uchtdorfs talk about restoring that city in Germany and how that can relate to us and Elder Hollands talk on how we get credit for trying. I also was touched by Presidents Uchtdorfs reaction to the new program #iwasastranger. I just loved this conference. I am so glad we have prophets on the earth today and that we can listen to their words. I cannot wait to be able to study this conference more :) 

Since I don't have much else to talk about this week I'm going to send some pictures I meant to send last week. I hope you all had a great week and I hope you have an even better week. Thank you for your support. Potatoes gonna Potate

#nocoatdon'tcare

It's a brand new day

Baloot!

So another wonderful crazy thing that happened this week. I tried baloot for the first time. (I have a full video but sadly the process of getting the baloot out of the shell is way too long to send on email (guess you'll have to wait a year and a half for my reaction :) )) So for those of you knot familiar with baloot all that it is is a half formed embryo of a duck cooked like a boiled egg except you boil it for about three hours. It was surprisingly good. It was disgusting to look at but good to the tongue. It satisfied my craving to try new things for a while :) 

Eldridge knot
See this is why I decided to send pictures. Suddenly the veil is lifted from before my eyes and my memory is touched by enlightenment on what happened this last week. This knot was because for Young Mens this week we did knot tying and tie tying. It was a lot of fun and Elder Stevens and I were able to make this knot for the priesthood session of conference. Also even though the veil is thick for some reason I still know how to tie a bow line. #eaglescout #knot #tying #isknotmyforte