THE RIZAL FAMILY IS GETTING BAPTIZED! I LOVE THIS FAMILY! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

The Pinoy family at their baptism! My companion let me baptize both of them!

Hello friends and family! Sorry for the brief letter last week, I will endeavor to be more thorough in this one. I am on cloud nine! Transfer day is looming very near, and we are reasonably sure either I or my companion will transfer. I love my area, the weather, my companion, and this language! So, according to the Lord's sense of humor, I will most likely: be transferring to Abra (hot as hell, I'm using that literally so not a swear word, and super politically dangerous, I'm told) I'll be given a disobedient companion, hard hearted people, and be forced to learn a language other than Tagalog, like Ilokano! But, I will go where the Lord wants me to go, say what he wants me to say, and be what he wants me to be!

The weather in Baguio is amazing right now, we're having a lot of success, and... the Rizal family is getting baptized! They passed their interview, they are super ready, and their family is making their first steps towards being together forever!!!

I'm surprised at how close sharing the gospel can bring me to someone else. Outwardly, I have nothing in common with these people and no reason to really be their friend, they are older than me, speak a different langauge, grew up in completely different circumstances and have children. BUT being a missionary compels you to care about people. I LOVE this family. I can see how humble and Christlike they are, how smart and patient Sister Rizal is, how hard working and humble Brother Rizal is, we laugh together every time we meet, the whole 9 yards. Serving a mission simply is the best decision you can ever make. Always easy, fun, and happy? Absolutely not. But it brings the most joy, makes you grow, and brings you closer to others and our Heavenly Father. I love being a missionary!

Also, Brandon is my favorite deacon-age sibling! I got his letters and pictures, and they made me happy :) I also got letters from Grandpa and Grandma Murtishaw and Mikesell and from Kelly! Those letters no joke make my day. It's hard to be so far from the people that care most about you. I love everyone back home! FEED YOUR FIRE!

Me with Sister May, my favorite member in Tuding

 

I BAPTIZED MY FIRST INVESTIGATORS LAST SATURDAY! THEY ARE AMAZING! I LOVE LIFE!

I baptized my first investigators last Saturday!
They are amazing!
The baptism was amazing!
I got my birthday package on my birthday!
It was amazing!
The Rizal family is almost ready to be baptized!
They are amazing!
I love the Philippines, these people, this language, and my mission!
They are all amazing!
Bret is going on his mission!
This is also amazing!
I love life! I'm on a high right now, as you can tell! Lows will certainly come, but I love everyone and trust in Christ to get me through them, and thank Him for what He has given me now!
Feed your fires!
Ingat

P.S. We don't have a stove in our apartment, so we couldn't cook the brownies ON my birthday... so we got a little creative :P We're going to cook them at an investigators house, haha.

THE PINOY FAMILY PASSED THEIR INTERVIEW AND WILL BE BAPTIZED ON THE TENTH!

Hello friends and family! This week has been amazing and extremely difficult at the same time! The Pinoy family passed their interview and will be baptized on the tenth! They are so amazing! Brother Pinoy eats lessons up, understands doctrine so deeply and immediately applies it, has been bearing his testimony to us for months and is so caring about their little daughter! Sister Pinoy is super intelligent, super nice and knew from the start that if she didn't know the gospel was true, she wasn't going to be baptized. I love her independence! For both of them, by reading, praying and coming to church, they know it's true and want to be baptized! They are both awesome. I've really come to love them both as friends, and even though it seems they are going through challenge after challenge, they always bear it so well! There's a lot I can learn from them.

The Rizal family is doing good! Brother Rizal is really starting to open up his heart. He's made such huge changes in his life, too! His faith is stronger than he realizes. Sister Rizal is just as amazing. She's sharing the gospel in her community already, and she's even been persecuted for it, but she's so Christlike. She prays for her critics and just keeps swimming!

I'm still with my awesome companion, Elder Wilson, but our second transfer day is looming close. It's very likely we will get new companions. I love the lug, though! As for the weather, I truly NEVER leave the apartment without an umbrella. Baguio weather is truly random. We've gone outside on days when there is LITERALLY not a single cloud in the sky, and three and a half hours later it is pouring rain, lightening and thunder.

Other odd happenings: two nights ago, there were these bugs that filled our entire area, like plagues of Egypt type stuff. We had to close our mouths in order not to swallow them. They were swarming around lights everywhere... then we went inside an investigators house, taught a lesson, came outside and they were all dead, all on ground. We asked some natives what they are and why they live and die in the space of three hours, and everyone replied "basta" which basically means, "that's just how it is". Haha, this land is crazy!

I love you all back home. Feed your fire!!!

MANY INVESTIGATORS KEPT THEIR COMMITMENTS, READ THE BOOK OF MORMON, CAME TO CHURCH, THE WHOLE THING!

I want to send you a collage of pictures with what I call my handsome face. Enjoy.

Hello all! Here in Tuding me and Elder Wilson are enjoying a TON of success! I know, especially from Elder Uchtdorf's talk in Sacrament, that I should always be grateful, not just when the Lord is blessing me... But, I'm stinking excited!!! Many investigators kept their commitments, read the Book of Mormon, came to church, the whole thing! However, I can say, without a doubt, it's not me or Elder Wilson. Of course, we are trying to be obedient and do our best, but the Lord is everything in missionary work. Without His spirit, we would never convert anyone. Without His records that He brought forth by His power, no one would know that Joseph Smith is a prophet. He is the one that answers the prayers of these people and gives us strength to keep walking.

Other than that, I am amazed at how fast time has gone. I still have a long wonderful mission ahead, but January 15th feels like not very long ago.

The true Church is built on paradoxes, I'm finding out, and there is a huge one in missionary work. The mission is long and hard for missionaries that want to go home, but it goes by crazy fast for missionaries that are working hard and want to stay. I'm not the second one, yet, but I'm trying!

I love everyone back home. Keep on swimming! Defend the faith!

I'M LEARNING MORE AND MORE THAT WE CAN DO NOTHING WITHOUT THE LORD... I'VE ALSO LEARNED TO NEVER LEAVE THE APARTMENT WITHOUT AN UMBRELLA

Does this cup look familiar? This thing seriously zoned me out, haha! It's in a members house in Itogon...
pretty spooky...

This week has been trying, but a blessing. One of our golden families is having problems and had to have their baptism moved back, but three other investigators accepted baptisms!

I'm learning more and more that we can do nothing without the Lord.

Our Stake Center in Baguio!

I've also learned to never leave the apartment without an umbrella. It rains quite a lot here in Baguio, and this is actually the coldest place in the Philippines! I am soooo very lucky to be here right now.

Fog in Tuding

Also, newest development - fog. The fog in Baguio is apparently legendary, and I got just a taste of it this week. My area, Tuding, is pretty high up, but everyone lower on the mountain couldn't see for like a whole day it was so thick. It's by far my favorite weather. Kind of spooky, but also peaceful.

Fog in the Baguio Mountains

Mahal kong ang pilipinas!
Ingat!

TEACHING THE WHOLE PUROK, TIE HUNTING AT GIANT THRIFT STORES & SACRIFICE IS POWER

A cooky kid in Beleng and getting into the fun parts of my area can be a little awe inspiring sometimes! The jungley type photo is my favorite part of our area, purok Beleng. 

Hello there family and friends!

This week has been great fun and challenging to boot. I'll separate the spiritual and the temporal.

Spiritual:

Many of our investigators who had a baptismal date had to have their baptism postponed, for varying reasons. It's been a little bit hard, but it's absolutely essential that they are ready. No one should ever be baptized if they haven't really repented, felt the Spirit or received an answer. BUT! We're very excited because Sister Rizal, who is beyond ready for baptism, is taking us to her entire family! In my area, and a lot of the Philippines, there are communities called puroks. Purok's are often just a really big extended family. It would be like you living in a three mile radius with everyone to whom your are related. So, now that Sister Rizal has such an amazing testimony, she's been taking us to her family! We're basically teaching the whole purok! Very exciting stuff!

I've also been beginning to recognize very strongly here in the mission, sacrifice is power. The more me and my companion sacrifice what we want and need to what Heavenly Father expects and needs, the more powerfully we teach, find, testify, discern, the whole thing. The more we serve ourselves rather than the Lord, the more the heavens withdraw themselves. I also have a new favorite Book of Mormon verse! 1st Nephi 25:26

A small glimpse of Baguio

Temporal:

My new favorite p-day activity is tie hunting! I love this country so much! Here in Baguio, they have GIANT thrift stores called sari-sari's, ukay-ukay's, or wag-wag's depending on who you are talking to, haha. Me and my companion take an hour to go through them on p-day to find the one golden tie among the five hundred or so totally pangit (ugly) ones! The best part, after the treasure hunt of finding one and the exchange rate of piso to American dollar, each tie is less than a dollar! I found six ASTIG (amazing) ties today! So much fun!

Picture at right is a view of my apartment from the outside. We live in the basement though, so no view until we get outside and work, haha. Two pictures at left is a bit of what my area looks like. It's basically a looooong road called Itogon Highway with puroks on either side. The purok's range from high class to low class quite quickly. 

Also, me and my companion were walking to a jeepney station after a district meeting and smack dab in the middle of a public type area is a boxing ring that's been set up. Then teams from Morocco, the Philippines and Vietnam showed up! We got to watch boxing for free! And they were fierce, let me tell you. However, our conscience as missionaries only let us stay for one match, haha.

This is what a jeepney looks like on the inside. Kind of like an oldtimey, post WWII limo, haha.
I took this picture on the rare occasion that it was just us. They are usually packed.

A random boxing tournament... ding ding.

That's all for this week!

Alam ko po na tagapagligtas ni jesucristo. Alam ko po na totoo and simbahan ni jesucristo ng mga banal sa mga huling araw. Mahal kong maging ang tagapagsilbi ng diyos. Nagpapasalamat ako para sa mga magulang, mg kaibigan, at pamilya ko. Sa pangalan ni jesucristo, amen.

Ingat!

BEING PUNTED, HARD BUT FUN, THE RIZAL'S & PINOY'S, I LOVE THIS COUNTRY, THIS LANGUAGE AND THIS PEOPLE!

ELDER ALEC MIKESELL MARCH 2014

The days go by VERY quickly as a missionary! This was a tough week. After the initial spike of success we were having in Tuding, we've hit a bit of a wall. Lots and lots of being "punted" as missionaries call it, or in other words being asked to leave, people not coming outside when we knock (even though we can hear them inside) or otherwise just telling us they are not interested. But, it's all part of being a missionary! To anyone preparing to be a missionary, IF you serve with all your yourself, it will be fun! Hard but fun. If you leave part of your mind and heart back home, IT WILL BE AWFUL! That's like tearing yourself into two different places. Just be happy where you are and serve with ALL your heart, might, mind and strength. 

In other news, our golden investigators have kept coming to church, are living the Word of Wisdom, and are progressing sooo very fast! I really sincerely love them. They are the best. The families in question are (fake names) the Rizal's and the Pinoy's. The Rizal's are hovering between the lower and middle class. Middle class here means, basically, that money isn't your FIRST concern. (It still may be one, just not your first. You are mostly provided for.) The father is working construction, and we are working with him to stop smoking, so he can get baptized! He's down to one cigarette, so pray for him! The mother is very intelligent! She eats up our lessons and she actually referred us to her parents! She's sharing the gospel like a part-time missionary, seriously, and she's not even baptized yet! They have three kids, and I'm so excited for them! 

The Pinoy's are more middle class. The father stays home to take care of their daughter, and the mother is an accountant. Both are very intelligent, and the daughter is downright naughty, but so cute it's very hard to get mad at her. The father is a golden investigator to the core. He bears his testimony pretty much every time we meet, feeds us, and lives every law and commandment as soon as he knows about it. The wife is a little bit of a tougher cookie, but I'm very hopeful for her as well!

Other other news, my Tagalog is beginning to sound like something approaching to a language, I've lost weight from eating a missionary diet (which is sparse, haha) and walking up and down day in and day out, haha. Baguio is exceedingly mountainous, I may have tonsillitis and me and my companion are starting to really understand each other! I love this country, this language and this people, but especially this gospel, the Church and my Savior Jesus Christ. Take care! Defend the faith!

JET-LAG, THE WOES OF "PO", DRINKING WATER & WHAT ABOUT THAT TOILET PAPER!

How long did you have jet-lag?
At least three days. I crashed every night when I got back to the apartment, haha.

So, is your apartment in Baguio or Tuding?
I am serving in Baguio City, in the the Tuding area. Kind of like Las Vegas and Summerlin, Tuding is a subdivision of Baguio.

Do you share an apartment with just you and your companion, or are there more elder's like in Jay' mission?
It's unusual, but the apartment is just me and Elder Wilson, haha. It gets interesting when two different personalities are cooped up with each other all day, every day, but I love him to death. He's super obedient and a really good trainer.

How big, geographically, is your mission? Your area?
It's HUGE. I didn't realize that. The Philippines looks small on a map, but it is huge in real life. My area is mostly just a road named Itogon, with purok's and barangays (neighborhoods and communities) on either side. There's actually no end of my area until the Kawain Mission, according to the myth, so if we wanted we could go teach like cannibal tribes out in the mountains of Banguet.

Are there any members in Tuding?
There are, but very few. The bishop, a single sister and her son, and a small family. But the ward missionaries in my ward are soooo awesome. They travel from all over the place to help us out!

Do they have dogs as pets? Or are they literally just considered another animal?
Some people do, usually the richer ones, but mostly they are just kind of a nuisance. They breed and live all on their own throughout the Philippines.

Any cultural adjustments that have been interesting?
When to and when to not use "po". Po is an interesting word that doesn't have an English translation, but you throw it in to be polite to whoever you are talking to. It can also change pronouns, especially "you". You are supposed to use it with people older than you or strangers. It's hard for me to get it right, though! If you use po with a kid younger than you, especially little kids, they'll laugh at you, and if you forget to use it with strangers or older people, they think you are a punk, haha.

If they don't have much toilet paper... what exactly do they use to clean themselves after using the restroom?
They have kind of a ladle deal. You're supposed to basically pour it down your lower back to the desired areas and wipe with your left hand, then wash your hands afterwards. In a lot of ways, it's a lot cleaner than using toilet paper, but I won't discuss it in great detail, haha.

Do members have you over for dinner like they do here in America?
Not every night. Food is expensive and there are not a lot of members in my area. At most, once every two weeks or so.

Do you cook a lot of meals?
We do, but it's my companion because he's a much better cook than I am, haha. My job is cleaning up afterwards.

What are their grocery stores like?
Depends where you are in the city. If you have enough money, you can go to the Baguio SM which is a giant super mall, with a full American style grocery store in the bottom, but it ain't cheap. Or you can go to the tiny stores and vendors on the streets, but where your food came from and it's quality is a little more questionable.

Are you allowed to drink the water?
Nope! Even Filipinos don't drink out of the tap. It's a sure way to get VERY sick. They buy filtered water in big jugs from water stations. I use the tap water but with my filtered water bottle.

I hope that was illuminating! And as for my report, two young families that I have been teaching have baptismal dates!!!!!!! I'm so very very very excited! The Lord has blessed me and Elder Wilson very thoroughly. Other than that, I'm just keepin' on! I love everyone back home!

Ingat

"I WILL NOT BOAST OF MYSELF, BUT I WILL BOAST OF MY GOD, FOR IN HIS STRENGTH I CAN DO ALL THINGS."

Hello all!

I will now go into great depth of my going-ons! My companion's name is Elder Wilson. He's a cowboy from Henderson, Nevada, and he's actually seen the name "Golf Cars Etc." a few times, haha! He's been out for 18 months and is essentially fluent in Tagalog and another language popular in the north called IIokano. He's an awesome trainer! One of our goals as a companionship is to work work work. He's pushed me really hard. We do our best to be our best. "I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things," Alma 26:12. Heavenly Father has soooooo blessed us as we've tried to work hard. The president was actually going to shut our area, Tuding, but sent me and him in as one last try. Through the Lord (because if he wasn't helping us every step of the way, we would accomplish NOTHING) our area went from only three or four lessons a week to about seventeen!

Apartment pics... and more apartment pics...

I'm actually struggling quite a bit with Tagalog. I've always fancied myself to be good with languages, but it's much different to be in a country around people who are verrry fluent in the language your're trying to learn. We've found an awesome family who I'll call the Rizal's. (Anyone who knows anything about the Philippines will get the joke.) The Rizal's are super humble. They have three kids, the father works in construction and the wife takes care of the home. The wife especially is really sharp about prophets and contributes a lot to the lessons. We teach a lot of lessons in our area, but unfortunately, we don't have many progressing investigators. We are trying to change that, though!

One of my batch-mates in Candon has actually already eat dog! This might freak some folks out back home, but here it is just another animal. He said it tastes like beef. He got a picture of them butchering it, too. Haha, hopefully no one just fainted! I love you all back home, keep the faith!

I'm in the Philippines!

Pics while traveling to the Philippines

Elder Mikesell III

I LOVE THIS COUNTRY! I LOVE PRESIDENT BALLEDOS! THE SAINTS HERE ARE SOOO ASTIG! (AWESOME)

Well, hello all! I am indeed alive! It has been a long while since I have been able to give you any epistles so I'll be very thorough and in depth with this one!

Manila International Airport from plane

I have no idea how the differences in time zones affect travel, but I was exhausted when I finally got to my apartment in the Philippines. It went a little bit like this: We left the MTC at 4:30am in the morning and flew out of Salt Lake at around 8am. We flew from Salt Lake to San Fran then across the pacific to a 2 hour layover in Tokyo then another flight to Manila. All said and done between hitting the Philippines and leaving the MTC the total travel time was about 23 hours. We bussed to the Manila airport hotel and got there at 11:30, but were told to be out in the lobby at 5:00. A travel agency then shuttled us down to a bus station where we loaded onto a charter bus and drove through Manila to a city in the north named San Fernando. That trip took about seven hours. In San Fernando we met with President Balledos and the AP's, and bunked in the mission apartment there for the night. The next day we met our companions and sectioned into zones (transfer day) and then piled into a hired jeepney for another six or so hours into the Baguio mountains, where me and my companion finally found our apartment. So, lots and lots and lots of traveling!!!!! I'm glad to finally be in my area!

Jeepneys are the most popular form of transportation in the Philippines.

Okay, now for the good stuff- I love President Balledos! He's so humble and just a great guy. I'm glad he's my mission president. My companion is an American named Elder Wilson who's actually from Vegas, in Henderson! He and I are having a great time. He did a lot of cowboy type stuff like ranching before he came out. I am actually serving for probably the next six months in Baguio city itself! I'm told I'm reeeally lucky.

And now for the reeeally good stuff... THE PHILIPPINES! I love this country. It's a wonderfully bizarre mix of completely foreign and totally familiar! In Baguio city itself, especially, there's a LOT of English. It's soo weird. I'm trying to learn Tagalog, so I'll speak to people in it, but they almost always respond in English! Just let that sink in for a moment... the Americans are speaking Tagalog but the Filipinos are speaking English! Just a list of funny things about the Philippines-

1. Jeepneys. I knew about jeepneys before I came here, but I didn't realize that they are EVERYWHERE. It's the main form of transportation. 

2. Animals are everywhere. They just roam around and I'm not sure if anyone in particular owns them or if everyone just owns them. There's goats, chickens, cows, cats, and lotsssssss of dogs. There is a dog in Baguio for every two people, I'm not kidding. (In the boonies it seems like there's two goats for every person) sometimes the dogs get aggressive, but all you have to do is pick up a rock and they run away.

3. There is, indeed, very little toilet paper.

4. A lot of people convert their houses into vendors shops and just sell a little bit of everything.

5. Little kids LOVE calling me 'joe'.

6. Baguio is VERY mountainous. 

7. The saints here are sooo astig! (awesome)

8. There are essentially no traffic laws and it is the funnest thing ever. I have seen one traffic light in Baguio, NO stop signs, and it's just as (if not more) densely populated  as Las Vegas. Every drive is an adventure.

9. No bikes for missionaries in Baguio. Between how steep it is, how many jeepney's/taxis there are and the lack of traffic rules, we would die.

10. We have like no food... I'm so glad it's p-day. We've been living on rice, eggplant, and oatmeal, haha.

11. Lastly....its actually COLD! Never like snowing or anything, but I actually get a little chilly sometimes!

I am sooo very happy to be in this area, haha!

And now for the mission stuff! We have a golden investigator! He's soooo freaking smart, and he's really driven to learning about this gospel for himself. Most of the time we teach random families. A lot of people speak ilicano here, so I get to learn a second language too! Yay!

I love you all! Deepen your conversion! I have to write a letter to President Balledos, so I've got to go! Love you! Bye!

Elder Mikesell III

P.S. Keep sending letters! I'll try to write back! It's harder in the field, especially because the post office is far away, but they would make my day!