Back to Back Elder Nielsons

So there's a saying in missions that there's always crazier things that could happen. I think this transfer qualifies as one of those. So I'm currently serving with Elder Nielson who is going just down to the Battlefords. So he's still in my district. But, I'm also getting Elder Nielson who started his mission the same time I did. Also I'm now the District leader over this district that has two Elder Nielsons. I think President has a sense of humor with all this :)

Other than that this week has been quite out of ordinary again. 

So instead of having district meeting at the beginning of the week we had it midweek. The reason being is that President came to Battlefords to have interviews and drop of a Rav4 for us to drive up here. That was nice of him :) We then had exchanges down there. Which was a good time. We finished it with late night pizza. When you get hungry in the evening and you can't go out to grab something you just order pizza. Which was a first for me. I don't think I've ever payed for a pizza delivery before. The deliverer was pretty nice so that was fun. 

Then we spent the next two days working with one guy. 

So it all begins back when I got in the area. Elder Nielson told me that there was an investigator of the Battleford Elders that was going to be walking back to his home reserve 45 minutes north of us here in Meadow. I of course did not believe that he would be walking all the way back up here from the Battlefords. But, he made it some how. So Tuesday or someday last week we get a call from him wanting to meet with us. (We had tried calling him a few times to no avail) So we said we might as well try meeting with you out on Waterhen because we go out there every week. (later we find out that that's probably not going to happen) So, after we do some service out on Waterhen. In the which we about got taken away by rabid sand flies, thousands of them. Anywho not important to the plot. But, we follow Cecile out to the part of the rez that he lives in. 

This part took a lot longer than we imagined it would. We also found ourselves deep into the forest with hundreds of thousands of really tall trees. I felt like I was in a different part of the world. But, we finally find the house he told us he would be at. Turns out he's not there. So were like "we can't just come all this way just to find out we didn't have to come all this way" so we knock on the closest house and ask them if they would know where Jeremiah is. Turns out he's the one who comes to the door. Neato. 

So we teach him for a bit. And then I'm thinking "hmmm we have a fireside tonight that we've been invited to but we don't have anyone planning on being there with us.. hmm should we invite him?" So I invited him. The next problem that we had to face was: are we going to have him sleep outside when he comes? This is not very respectable so we had to make a few calls and we found a potential place for him to stay. Turns out he didn't stay there but, that's a teaser to the story ;) We end up taking him back to Meadow Lake on a leap of faith. Not knowing where he's going to stay or how he's going to get back to Waterhen which is like an hour away. But, "there can be miracles if you believe" So that's what we did. We get to meadow lake grab a bite to eat and then it's time for the fireside. It was an excellent fireside on likening the scriptures to ourselves. I found out my mission is like Nephi's boat. Jeremiah had already been likening the scriptures so this was super good. After the fireside we still had not found a place for him to stay. We actually had to get home before that all got figured out. But, he knew a guy who knew a guy who he could stay with. So it all worked out. #nativesarenomads 

The next morning we get to the church building and the powers out. Just our luck. For you future missionaries whenever somebody you invite to come to church for the first time finally comes. Expect something to go wrong. Nothing terrible but, something will go wrong. That was our thing. We had no power in the church. So we all crowded to the side that had windows and made do. Power turned back on at twelve. We were set. It was a great meeting. 

After the meeting we met with Jeremiah at somebodies house. Answered a few questions. Had a wonderful meal. Talked about evil spirits. Good times. And then he was on his way. Back to Waterhen. He made it somehow. JK our branch president drove him back. And I was tired. I had one of the better nights of sleep than I've had in a while last night. 

So that was the week. Still can't believe that all happened in this last week. We were talking about something that happened on Tuesday and we were like "that really happened this week? now way" It was a legit week. 7 days. a full week. 

Anywho I love you all. Wish me luck. I don't want my district dying again. Love youz

Sundance Feast Round Two

For another week in the mission it was quite the week. We had three major divides to this week. The middle one I'll choose to not disclose ;)

But, the beginning of the week was pretty good. Made it back to NB to have family home evening with a family and the other Elders in North Battleford. That was pretty fun. I got to have balut again (I think I total 5 duck embryos that I've eaten now). Also Elder Morrill got to eat balut for the first time as well as Elder Nielson, due to not wanting to barf, ate a small piece of the egg. Good times :) 

The next day after District Meeting we tried out a barbecue that the Battleford Elders got. It was probably the best burger I've had in a long time. We sauteed up some veggies to go with it and it was just soo good. 

Then we got back up to Meadow lake and that's where I'll skip to the end of the week. 

So because the Sundance Feast was going to happen on the property that we do service on a lot up in Waterhen First Nation. We spent some of Friday helping get things ready. Mainly chopping up wood in preparation for the fires. It was nice to get out and do some hard work that day. 

The next day we went up early to do some more prep for the feast. The highlight of that was helping them move teepee poles and help build a giant teepee. (I'll have to get some pictures later) But, it ended up taking about six of us to set this teepee up. The way that they did it was also symbolic of a few things. They first took four "forked" poles and set them in the directions of the four directions, North East West South, and we took two of them and pushed and pulled them up until they were standing in the air. Then we took a third "forked" pole and Stuck it in there so we had a tripod. After that we took the final direction and stabilized it. Finally we took the rest of the poles and set them up "in the order that the sun goes" so around the circle of the four directions. It was a lot of work but, it was nice to see the final product. 

Later that day we had the sundance feast again. The Elders were in the teepee this time doing the songs and ceremonies. The entire day there was so much Cree being spoken as well. It was good to see these people keeping on a dying tradition. 

Sunday was also a good day. We were able to go out to one of the members farms to talk about home teaching stuff. Out there we found out we were the first Elders to visit their farm for the first time in two years. That was a special thing. It was also fun to be out on the farm. Their kids had bought Ewes to help pay for missions in the future and they had named all of them. It was a pretty legit place. It was pretty nice to be out on a farm away from civilization. 

Overall a good week. Not sure if I would do it again but, it was a good week :) Hopefully those of you in Northern Utah don't freeze too much. I'm enjoying some nice weather and you guys get snow. A bit ironic considering I'm in the great white North ;) Anywho I hope youz have great week

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

Well if all goes to plan the next time that I see my family is at the airport. Crap got real yesterday ;) But, until then I'll try to hold back the tide of trunkiness ;)

So now for the week. I now have a three inch long green streak in my elbow pit. So that was fun. One thing about that is that I now know this was all meant to happen again because they still had my records from about a year ago. So when they took my blood this time they could look for other things. But, things are looking up. I'm doing super well even though my arm still hurts from that ;) 

Another exciting thing that happened was that one of our investigators brought his friend to an appointment. This said friend was the one who helped this investigator get off the hard drugs and clean up his life. He also brought him to church for the first time. So it was super nice to meet him. We were honestly expecting a low key bible bash but instead he just asked us what we were all about. So we gave him the low down and he's like "this is all stuff I believe" also something that I found hilarious is that he said "it didn't seem too sacrilegious" So that was fun

One other fun thing that happened was I got to learn more about the native ways. And I totally forgot to tell my family about this yesterday but, I Made Bannock for the first time. It didn't turn out too bad for a mooniyaw (white man in Cree) But, we got to learn more about the native way during that day while we helped them out. It was a good day. 

Finally I'm in Saskatoon right now. #ticketsneedtobepayed 

But, I hope youz have a great week. Love you all

"Time"

ELO

Well this week has been quite the week. It was definitely a week. 7 days. Just the week. But, I survived ;) Some big things that happened were Zone Conference on Friday with Gladys from Portal being installed in our car and service on Saturday. Also we had a break the fast potluck this Sunday. I think that's a first. It was super nice. 

But, first for the prep for Zone conference. I don't think I've spent so much time cleaning a vehicle in my life. To give a bit of a backdrop why let me list a few things that's led up to this. A year ago when the Meadow Lake Elders first got this car (which I was around for) They had just got it from CTK. The only area in the mission that the Elders live on the Rez. This vehicle had been driving dusty roads for quite a time before that without washing it that much. So the insides of the doors were caked with dust it seemed at least an inch thick. Luckily that had been cleaned a bit. Elder Bassett who was serving in Meadow Lake while I was serving in North Battleford and is now serving in North Battleford told me that part. But, the worst was yet to come. Because we Meadow Lake Elders pass through NB on our way to Saskatoon we just carpool with them all the time. So the car thus needs not to be cleaned as often because no one ever sees it. So here it is romping around on the rez up here for at least 6-8 months not getting cleaned. And I come into the scene and Gladys needs to be installed so we have to have the car sparkling for the guy coming from headquarters. Lets just say I would rather spend a few hours cleaning rather than losing a lot of time in the future in case the car got taken away. And that's what we did. I think the floor mats are secretly bags of holding (from dungeons and dragons for those of you who don't know what that is) because whenever we beat them against the ground there's still a layer of dust comes out.

But, we didn't lose the car privilege at Zone Conference and it was one of the better Zone Conferences I've been to. Learned lots of stuff and had a generally good time. Sidenote that I should add: the night before Elder Morrill brought some wax and now part of one of Elder Mikesell's legs is hairless and theirs a patch missing from the other. Good times. To add to that I got to billet with Elder Lee one last time. I also got to meet my other brother from Elder Lee. It was nice. The next day Elder Lee also gave his last testimony at a Zone Conference and I'm super happy I got to be around for that. It gets real when your first companion is finally going home. 

While all of this was happening Gladys was being installed. I must say it's not as bad as I was expecting. It's still a robot telling you how to drive every once and a while but, if you're already a good driver you don't need to worry. I think Gladys has only got mad at me once so far.

Finally for excitement this week. We got to do service up on waterhen again. This time we were preparing for a Sweat lodge. I'll have to get into what a Sweat Lodge is some other time but, to be basic it's another Native thing that you go into this hut and sweat your face off because there is rocks that just got taken off of a fire, flaming red, and water that's splashed on them every once and a while. It's like church for them. 

But, While there we had a good time. I got to carry around a hatchet for a while and chop up trees. I also got to try and use a bull whip. I'm not very good still. One of the highlights however was we had an Otter run through camp. On the day I decided to have a camera along and be taking pictures. I got some really good pictures of it while I was chasing it. So yoked about that :) I don't have my camera on me right now but, when I do get it I'll try and send some pics. 

Thank you for all of your love and support. Love youz  

- Elder Mikesell

P.s. Shoutout to Brady and Emily for going to be receiving a saving ordinance this week ;)

"Fairly Local"

So this week I got to spend my first most of a day in North Battleford for almost ten months. It was super nice to go around and recall all the good memories there. I got pretty blessed as well because most of the people I wanted to see were home and around. It was super nice :)

I'll be honest not much else happened other than going down to the Battlefords at the beginning of the week. It was a pretty slow week. 

One thing that did happen which was a lot of fun was getting to visit a family that lives near Dorintosh. I was really able to hit it off well with this family and I hope to be able to go back soon. While there their two kids were playing Breath of the Wild on the Switch. It was pretty neat to see that. Sadly they spoiled some of it for us but, hey it's all good :) I'm pretty sure the Switch is the future because when people need to use the room that the kids are playing in then you just tell them to take it with them and boom. No more problems dealing with kids complaining they didn't get their full time. However it does pose a few problems when they're actually supposed to be done and they just peace out and continue playing :) 

Other than that we're getting the infamous TIWI attached to our car this week. We had to get our windshield replaced before zone conference and we only found that out yesterday. But, because Elder Mikesell doesn't know how that works he was pleasantly surprised to find out that we could just call this morning and as of now it is replaced. Not even 24 hours passed and it's all good. Now we just hope and pray that it doesn't get broken again like it has so many times. 

Overall this week has been a good week. Some good things are coming