The Picnic...

dun dun duuuunnn

So this week was a good one. Let me tell you why.

So first of all I had my final Zone Conference. If that's not enough this week is my final fast sunday in the mission. It's getting close to go time. But, we had a great Zone Conference. I'm glad I was able to have it in the promised land of Saskatoon. It was nice. I gave my final zone conference testimony. I didn't cry. The crisis was averted. Also we had another Zone Conference where we took videos of ourselves doing contacts and it was a good time. Sadly we didn't have a missionary looking like he was twerking at the beginning of the video this time. Probably a good thing ;) But, afterwards I went to "Go for Sushi" It was a good time. It was all you can eat sushi and I ate and ate. I tried some new things like octopus tentacle. It was kindof spikey so that wasn't too fun. But, after that experience I've decided if I'm going to be doing another thing like that I'm going to bring someone experienced and do a better job of planning what to eat. It was a mess and we were getting close to the end and everybody was getting stuffed and we still had food on the table. I did it though. I stuffed another sushi roll down my throat and I didn't die. 10 out of 10 would do again.

Another great thing that happened this week was we got to help someone move. It was a quick move. Not much to pack up and unpack. And we made some new friendships with the niece of a member here. Also to top things off this member was sooooo excited to hear that we, as missionaries, could come back any time. Which we did the next day and got some nice refreshing water in the heat of the day. It was a good experience. 

So. Now for the picnic. So our loving relief society president decided that in order to form a more perfect union we would have a picnic. She had it planned to the t and it was all going to go perfectly fine. Sadly a few of the key people she invited didn't show up but, that was probably for the better. As Elder Santos and I were walking up to the bench in the park with brownies in hand this poor intoxicated man came up to us and begged us to let him use our phone. His dad had died and the funeral was the day before and it seemed like he had got left in Prince Albert where everyone else went back to La ronge. So he was begging us to let him use our phone. He actually got down on his knees and grovelled. So we figuring that this situation could turn for the worse resisted for a time. But, we ended up allowing him to try and call someone. Which didn't work... But, it didn't seem to be getting in his head that it wasn't working and he kept persisting that we call again and again. After a time I figured, since my companion is a phillipino, that I better end this and go to the picnic. So we did. Soon other people showed up and we started picnicking. After a time however he came over to all of us and asked to use a phone. And for the next 30-45 minutes we tried every number he could think of and none of them worked. We fed him and the whole nine yards but, he did not understand that it wouldn't work. So again I decided that I would "end the conflict". Bad idea. I said no to him a few times. Which I later found out the word "no" is like a catalyst in situations like this. So to make things short a few seconds later an arm was swept across the table destroying a crock pot and scattering everything else. Angry words were said by both parties. I sat in shock and was speechless. And again to make things short the RCMP were called so nothing else like this happened. We had super nice RCMP officers come. They were bantering with eachother, making sure that we were all ok, and helping clean up the mess. It was a good counterbalance. I was still in shock but, overall things seemed to be doing better. I'll just say that when I told president that I hadn't served in a city yet, I think I got what I asked for. 

So on that bombshell. Things are still going well in P.A. It looks like there'll be a few baptisms in the next weeks. Life is good. I'm waking up at 6:00 in the morning now to see if that shakes up my schedule enough. Overall things seem to be leading up to me going home. I gave my last official talk in church. It wasn't 40 minutes. The members were happy about that. Anywho I hope you have a great week. Love youz

 

Elder C Mikesell: So my brother challenged my "heat of the day". For the record it's not Georgia surface of the sun with an ocean evaporating around you heat but, it was as I checked, about 90 degrees with a similar humidity. So for a desert UT boy like me who has dealt with unbelievable cold it's a bit hot for me

 

Elder S Mikesell:  You're right.

 

Tangalo

So this week we found out that Elder Santos can read Lingala out loud to native Lingala speakers and be understood. Thus Tagalog + Lingala = Tangalo. So now for the story. We're teaching this man who is from The Congo who does not speak much English at all. Luckily for us he's super interested so he's patient. Also luckily for us there is some recent converts who are also from The Congo who act as an interpreter for us. But, not so luckily for us neither families can read Lingala. And the Book of Mormon is not in the dialect of Swahili that He normally speaks or hopefully can read. So right before the lesson Elder Santos checked to see if the vowels for Lingala are the same as in Tagalog. Let's just say we make a good team. I was sitting just basking in the reality of Elder Santos reading Lingala to someone while I teach and our recent convert translates what I say to a language they both understand. It's pretty unique because without each other we wouldn't be able to do as much. Elder Santos's english isn't the best but, he can read Lingala. I can't speak Lingala but, my english is good enough for our recent convert to translate and be understood. #thegospelwillbepreached #ineverytongue

Otherwise things are moving forward here in P.A. We're getting more familiar with the city and with the people we're visiting. Things are coming together. 

For a funny story this week. (though it wasn't funny in the moment or I should say hours) I was hanging up a few things in the shower to let the steam "iron" them for me. And as I was doing that I decided to brush my teeth as well. Well when I closed the door to make sure the steam did not escape somehow the door got locked. I still don't know how it got locked but, it did. So after I disposed of the tooth paste in my mouth I began searching for the key to the door. We couldn't find it anywhere and when we called the Elder who we replaced he said there wasn't a key...... So luckily I had a few bobby pins in my wallet for this purpose. I began the process of trying to pick the lock. But, using Skyrim terms my level of lockpicking was lvl 2 and this door required at least a lvl 20 lockpicking skill. Needless to say we were in a pinch. And the shower was still going.. One thing I forgot to mention is that this shower gets it's waters straight from Mordor and is magma hot. It also is pretty high powered coming out of the head. So I was concerned that everything was going to be soaked. Which it was.. But, earlier that day I found out that we have a number for apartment emergencies because there was a guy sleeping in the hallways of our apartments and I decided to call that. They patched us to the on call after hours handy man. He arrived drilled out the lock and replaced our door knob. It was quite the experience and I was not too happy. But, it all worked out and I had been prepared earlier to know what to do. 

I hope youz have a great week and great pioneer days. I watched Legacy just recently so I'm in the Pioneer spirit as well ;) Anywho love yous

Ako po si Elder Mikesell

So the transfer has officially begun. I'm now serving with a Filipino and already getting acquainted with his ways. Elder Nielson prepared me well because he had just come from Neepawa which is the Filipino part of the mission. One of the first things we did today was find the Asian store in town so we could buy Toyomansi. Which is Soy sauce mixed with calamansi extract. Calamansi: a Philippine native citrus fruit (basically, like the people of the Philippines, a smaller form of a lime).

But, Now for the area. I'm blown away with how big of an area it is. There is definitely a good reason I stayed in smaller places for my entire mission before this. But, it's also super nice because I have it all here. Also I found out that this city is known as the city of prisons. Today we drove past two of the three penitentiaries. One of them looked like a castle and was absolutely massive. I think it's one of the largest walls I've seen in my life. 

But, otherwise not much else has happened this week besides me getting the trunkiest I've been on my mission. When you pack for the second to last time on your mission it gets really tough. But, I survived and now I'm doing better ;) 

That's all I've got for now but, I hope youz have a great week.

Extras from Mom's Email

July 3, 2017

That's not too fun that you had a bummer week. If if makes you feel any better I did have a bit of a bummer week as well in a lot of different ways but, this last week has been great in a lot of ways as well. I'll start with some of the bummers and then I'll say how they turned out ok. So at the beginning of the week we had a family drop us pretty hard. They were pretty good but, they were not prepared so some future missionaries will find them when they're willing to change. There was also a day that Elder Nielson and I were not doing too well and I had a bit of an emotional moment. Then the next day I got a nasty cold that lasted a few days. So looking at it that way I had a pretty crappy week. But, now for the positive things. So to counteract the investigators dropping us, Elder Nielson and I had a great talk on the preparedness of investigators. We're still diligent and obedient. Although that family wasn't prepared we were able to give them a wonderful first impression of the Mormon church.  After the nasty cold I had a couple really good things happen. Yesterday I felt done. I felt like I couldn't go any longer but, we decided to keep on going. We had a great time tracting and I felt like I can still do hard things. Plus I could feel help keeping me going. Also for some reason the cold mixed with the medication and fasting did something to me and I'm thinking up to speed again for the most part. I'm pretty sure there was divine intervention but, I'm thinking much faster now :) So if going through Hell gives me blessings like that then give me more. I probably shouldn't say that because I might break a limb this week because of that but, I'm sure there would be something I would need to learn from it. Also for the waking up on time I'm finally feeling awake in the morning. The cold threw me off but, we had a good morning this morning. I've committed myself to living this way and the Lord is providing a way for me to do what he asks me to do. I don't know why it's taken this so long to be resolved in this way but, I've learned so much more by doing it this way.

July 10, 2017

Something that's become apparent for the last year of my mission but, has really stuck out recently. We were talking about what missionaries went through when the church was started in Sunday school yesterday and I'm glad I wasn't a missionary then. I also have lots of thoughts of my ancestors crossing the plains when I have hard times and when I don't want to go out. We've been doing lots of walking this last week in plus 40 degree weather and I've had lots of thoughts of the pioneers crossing the plains. I think I can walk a little bit longer because they survived ;) I've also been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and I think remembering their ancestors was to them like having a testimony of the gospel is to us sometimes. It's kind of funny how often they talk about remembering the captivity of their fathers. But, it's something that's needed even if it does sound like they're bearing their testimony about how they remember their ancestors.

The Final Stand

So this is it. This is the final stand of Elder Mikesell as an Elder. I'm going to Prince Albert SK to die. But, that's alright because dying brings new life back in good old UT. I'll also be whitewashing in with Elder Santos an Elder From the Philippines.

First of all we had a great America Day (as Elder Nielson calls it because he's Canadian and celebrates Canada Day) I don't think I did very much other than go on a rant in the morning about the greatness of America.

So for this week. It's been a week of walking in the heat of Northern Saskatchewan. Which comparitively is probably not as hot as the boys down in the Southern States right now. But, it's been quite the change. There was one day that I was a bit tired of the doldrums we were in so we made a goal to have some funny stories. We were not disappointed.

First of all we had this super native guy who was on his way to Sarcan to get some money for bottles he had. He told us he respected what we did and he had no problem with "our guy" because he's the only guy who answers his prayers. He said he prayed to Buddha and Confucius and a couple other guys but our guy was the one who answered his prayers. That was quite the encounter :)

Another thing was that we ran across a lady who told us that she believes the part of the bible that if anyone adds to the Bible they'll get the plagues. To which we said so you believe that we've got the plagues. And she was like "well everyone gets plagues" to which we said "but especially the Mormons they get the plagues". Afterwards I was like "I don't know about you but I've never seen any plagues in my life but, it would be freaky if locusts started attacking. "THEY'VE GOT FACES OF MEN!!"

Another time that day there was this guy who was super down to bash with us. So he said "I think you guys believe in a different Jesus, there's lots of Jesus's and you guys believe in a different one than me" To which we said "ok" "do you know anyone who would like to hear from us" he said "if I did I wouldn't tell you guys" To which we said "alright have a wonderful day" and walked away. He was super surprised that we didn't even flinch at what he said. #worth Needless to say we (especially Elder Nielson) have had enough of those people.

Overall it was a good week. Lots of walking and talking but a good week. I hope youz have a great week

BTW this will be the first and the last ward I'll have served in. #outlyingforlife

Oh! CANADA!!

I hope y'all have a wonderful freedom filled Fourth of July. However even though I will be singing the Star Spangled banner as much as I can I'm enjoying Canada this year. Something many of you may not know is this years Canada Day is for the 150th anniversary. So apparently everyone went super hard on their celebrations. However I did not do much to participate in the celebration because I had a nasty cold. But, I'm sure it was fun even without one American celebrating with them ;) Anyways because it never gets dark now they had the fireworks at close to midnight and I needed that precious sleep. p.s. Just so no one worries we did get fed on Canada day and it was one of the best barbecues I've been to in a long time.

Otherwise it was a fairly uneventful eventful week. One funny thing that happened while trackting is we met an atheist who "knew more than us about our church" He surely got sassinated. 

Sassination: a term developed by Elder Nielson and Elder Blommeart to denote an encounter where someone is being very irrational about our church and other things in general and the only way to deal with them is by sassing them so much that they either realize their irrationality or realize that the said missionaries don't really care that their adversary knows more about "seer stones", "that we don't believe in Grace", "that we are ignorantly following our parents" or "wasting our time" than we do.  

Well I've got a few more emails I need to write out. I still love y'all but, the computers are still not up and running at the church. So limited time yet again. I hope youz have a great week with much sound of firework.