LOCKED OUT AND BORED :P

April 5, 2015

We got locked out of our apartment for about an hour after proselyting. I entertained myself by exploring my camera and found several functions I had no idea existed. These are the results.

BROTHER LAKAS, THE BITWIN FAMILY, SUPER TYPHOON NOT SO SUPER AND HOLY WEEK

April 5, 2015

Brother Lakas and I

This week has actually been a bit lively! Neither Brother Lakas nor the Bitwin family came to church, so that's a bit rough. Please pray for them. The Bitwin family is having a rough time, and Brother Lakas is (a) really old and (b) one legged. It's quite a challenge for him to go to church, haha, but he's reading the Book of Mormon which is really good.

The other details of the week are "super typhoon chedeng" and holy week. The super typhoon was supposed to be a monster. Like bigger than the country I'm serving in, and the projected path was supposed to take the eye of the storm about half an hour from my current area, putting my area in the most dangerous place possible. It was so serious that we prepared 72 hour kits and all the Sister Missionaries were evacuated to San Fernando. Long story short, it rained mildly for about 20 minutes and has been a bit cloudy. That was the extent of the damage :P The storm completely missed us and has since then been down graded to a tropical storm rather than a super typhoon. I'm a little bit totally bummed out about it. I was looking forward to a good after mission story.

In other news, holy week is the Easter of Catholic nations in which from Friday to Sunday the city celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The festivities include blasting two guys singing the bible from the speakers of the close-by cathedral for days on end, which has been a challenge for me :P but all is well! I hope everyone is good back home, and I love you all.

Take care!

Elder Mikesell III

FUN AND CHALLENGING WEEK... A MICROCOSM OF A MISSION IN ITSELF & BROTHER LAKAS

March 30, 2015

This week has been at once fun and challenging, which is kind of a microcosm of a mission in itself. Above all else, this news have I for thee:

We have (possibly) a progressing investigator! I shall call him Brother Lakas. Brother Lakas is an ancient little man that lives in a barangay (village neighborhood type deal) named camarao in the middle of nowhere, the kind of place where the live stock easily outnumber the people, haha. He was being taught before by the missionaries before I got here, and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and has serious questions about what he's read! Especially the prophet Joseph Smith. However, he'll need your prayers. He actually only has one leg and gets around with the aid of a bamboo cane and a kind of peg leg type deal he made himself that ends in a rubber covered club. He doesn't let it stop him, but it understandably makes it a bit difficult to go to church when it's a half hour walk for US the young missionaries with both legs to the highway where he would have to wait for a bus in order to go. So, please keep Brother Lakas in your thoughts and prayers, along with the Bitwin family! We haven't been able to teach them since last week because of some health problems Brother Bitwin has been having and some recent deaths in their family.

Love you all :)

Elder Mikesell III

LEGS COMPLETELY HIDDEN FOR MORE THAN A YEAR, GRAVEYARD HOLIDAYS & SAY NOT TO DRUGS AND YES TO GOD

March 29, 2015

1) The result when you work an average of eight hours a day in the Philippines sun with your face and forearms uncovered but with your legs completely hidden for more than a year.

2) Say what ya like about the Catholics, but they know how to build a church :P

3) My stud of a companion, Elder Macalaguim!

4) The cemeteries here in the philies do it sepulcher style. They actually have a two day holiday here in the philies where everyone, and I mean EVERYONE just deserts the cities and camps out a the graveyards in family groups with their dead ancestors, called saints day and all souls day. 

5) Say yest to God and no to drugs :P I chuckled a bit at this one today.

NEW AREA NARVACAN, ELDER MACALAGUIM, BITWIN FAMILY AND GOAT RIDING

March 22, 2015

Goat Riding... 

This week has been grand!

Bitwin Family

Me and my companion, Elder Macalaguim (pronounced ma-ka-la-geem) have been getting along swimmingly. He's one of the most humble, gentle spirits I've ever encountered in my sojourn here on earth. It makes missionary work a lot easier to have a great companion! Here in Narvacan is way fun as well. It's a lot more rural, which I prefer over the big cities because people are a lot more apt to listen. The family I'd ask you to pray for is the Bitwin family. They have been investigators for quite a while, and are so close to being baptized if they could overcome their problems with the Word of Wisdom! Pray to give them strength to be able to do that. I've been doing good all week and expect to do so or the next :) love you all!

Elder Mikesell

Me and my comrades! My companion is the tiny filipino, Elder Macalaguim. The big guy is Elder Smiler from New Zealand and the BIGGER guy is Elder Fanene from American Samoa. They're my new blood brothers here, haha! We had a sleepover at our tiny apartment here in Narvacan because they couldn't get transportation at Narvacan to their area in Santa. We bought 70 pesos worth of rolls (that's a lot), ten eggs, easy cheesy and two cans of corn beef and ate it on the floor because the tiny plastic chairs in my apartment can't support them without snapping, haha! Elder Fanene is with me in the black and white selfie. The pictures with the bridge is the absolute most northern point in our mission, which Elder Fanene took me to on an exchange. The side we are standing on is Baguio Mission, the other side is Laoag Mission. It was a weird feeling, like standing on the four corners, haha.

We all have great cause to rejoice! An elder showed me how to take down the quality of the pictures on my camera, so they are not so massive and upload a thousand times faster and can fit more in a single email. Hurrah for Israel! Grandma Bitwin is like my favorite grandma in all the Phillies. She's totes adorbs. The picture with me and her is her standing up. Filipinos are usually tiny folk, haha.

My new area here in Narvacan looks strikingly like Southern Utah.
Just with more rice fields, bamboo and water buffalo, haha.

MISADVENTURES OF ELDER MIKESELL

March 16, 2015

  One of my best friends here in the mish, Elder Krutsch. Don't tell him I said that, though. :P

 Guess who I saw at the mission office in Manila! (For those who don't know, this is Elder Toro from my home ward.)

This is a statue we went and visited in my old area the day before I left. It stands at the top of a hill in San Fernando and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. 

The Philippines Manila Temple! I couldn't go inside though, it's under maintenance. Awww.

LAST WEEK IN AMMONIHAH, CEELBRATING AT HALO HALO DE ILOKO, GOING TO MISS LINGSAT WARD AND LOTS OF FUN WITH BAMBOO!

Me and the elder sitting next to me both knew we were transferring, so we decided to have a last hurrah at a groovy little restaurant in my area called Halo Halo de Iloko that would usually be too expensive. The specialty there is a Halo Halo they serve in a coconut! Halo is kind of like ice cream but better. These are my blood brothers here in the mission, Elder Moreland, Done, and Krustch! This area was way hard, but these guys made it a fun time, haha.

This is officially my last week in Ammonihah! I have received official news that I will be transferring to an area called Narvacan, and the area which I am going to specifically is rumored to be doing verrry well, which will be a welcome change! I am excited! I have yet another Filipino companion, from here in Luzon. I haven't met him yet, but I will of course send you his bio info and picture this next pday. I'm definitely okay with having Filipino companions though, seeing that I have my whole life to hang out with Americans and speak English but a VERY limited time to work with Filipinos and speak Tagalog, or Ilokano, which is the major dialect of the area I'm going to... cheers for learning yet another foreign language when I just barely become adequate at the first, haha!

I am verrry much looking forward to my new area, but there will be many things I'll miss from this one, namely my companion, the ward, and the close proximity of fast food. Focusing on the second: I love Lingsat ward! They are easily the best ward I've served in since getting here (don't tell any of the other units I've been to) in regards to unity and working with the missionaries. I love the members here, especially the ward mission leader, Brother Ram! The members are beings so nice to me, too, on the way out. Lots of dinner appointments, haha. I have no idea what the area will look like, what the war will be like or my companion or the apartment, but you'll get the whole story next week.

Love you all!
Feed your fire!
Elder Mikesell III

Fun with bamboo, Part 1...

Fun with bamboo, Part II... 

Fun with bamboo, Part III... The bamboo construction is a waiting bench
for the jeep buses that go through the area.

Fun with bamboo, Part III... 

This insect is what translates from Tagalog to English as "house spider". They are horrifyingly fast and can jump. This is the closest I've ever been able to get to one without it running. I love the Phillies :)

The picture of the old grandma made everyone present laugh until it hurt.

This dog is the object of the most pity I have given to any creature on earth.
There are lots of these dogs here in the Philippines. We call them zombie dogs because there's
some sort of contagious disease that only affects them, but this one is down right horrible.  

ACCUSED BY A CRAZY PERSON OF STEALING ORIGINAL BIBLE, APARTMENT CIRCLED BY MILITARY HELICOPTER & HAVE TO TRAVEL TO MANILA FOR FINGERPRINTING

March 1, 2015

Found these outside of a Seventh Day Adventist minister's house in my area.
The language is Hebrew. I couldn't resist.

It's been quite an eventful week! Amidst the grandness of missionary work, I've run into two signs during proselyting, and now forgetting things mid-sentence, were harassed by yet another crazy person (of which there are many here in the Phillies) this time by an older man who accused my companion of stealing "the original bible" and rejected my companion's pleas of innocence by calling him a liar, had our apartment circled around by a military helicopter during our scripture study, and learning by way of announcement that me anda group of sixty other missionaries will be journeying to the capital city of Manila for fingerprinting which we didn't accomplish at the beginning of our mission like the new folk do, by flying in early and getting it finished during their stay at the Manila MTC.

I sense a wonderful irony about putting the vet and the pound next door to the city slaughterhouse, haha.

The Dentist. Seems legit. 

In other news, my mission is going dangerously fast. I only have about a week left in this area with my current companion, my third (out of four) general conferences is next month, I'll hit month fourteen in two weeks, and my second and last birthday in the field will be celebrated soon. (By the way, if anyone was thinking about doing anything for that, the only thing on my wish list is ties... I'm addicted to ties. Best friend award would go to anyone who could acquire a Harry Potter/Gryffindor tie, the diagonal striped red and gold one... I'm sure there are pictures on the internet you could reference... and it would hopefully be of good quality and not the kind that they sell at Savers with Harry Potter costumes... and the more the merrier. When in doubt, ask Chase. Or check out the ties I wear in my pictures.)

Me and my ward mission leader, Brother Ram. At first contemplative, afterwards, silly.

However, I'm noticing the time is going fast because it fills me with a sense of urgency. The time is far spent! It's sickle time!

Lastly, I've discovered my new favorite scripture in all scripturedom. Alma 5:46-48... If you haven't done it yet... do it:)

I love you all. Doing my best.

My soul in vehicular form.

Just a bit of the Philippines for those unfamiliar. The house/store is called a tindahan where they sell just about everything you need. This is the Filipino version of a gas station. Most tinahans have them conjoined to their home. 

One of the lower class parts of my area. 

Brother Chan, one of the strongest converts I've ever met! The man is iron in his testimony. 

One of the strangest fruits (possibly vegetable) I've seen this week.

4 HOURS & 300 PESOS GOING BACK TO THE BOTANICAL GARDENS, APARTMENT WITHOUT POWER AND WATER FOR LAST FEW DAYS & A HUGE FAN OF CHANGE

Hello friends and fam!

This week was an interesting one. Among the highlights are the fact that I had to spend four hours and over 300 pesos (quite a chunk of change) going BACK to the botanical gardens to check with the care taker whether or not the monkey that scratched me had been vaccinated or not and the fact that our apartment, due to a series of unfortunate events, has been without power or running water for the last few days. In regards to the former, the monkey (although still a mean hearted and bitter soul) appears by all means to be healthy and as to the latter, it's been a great experience. I've become quite proficient at alternative cooking methods, showering and dish washing, haha.

However, my time in this area is definitely limited. My entire mission I've been 4 1/2 months (or three transfers if you're mission language savvy) in each area, and this is my last 3 weeks in this area if that holds. Although the work is a bit... challenging here, I'll miss a LOT of things here, including being so close to the mission office, the fantastic ward, my district mates and of course proximity to fast food. However, I'm a huge fan of change! Essentially:

I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord
Over mountain or plain or sea
I'll say what you want me to say dear Lord
I'll be what you want me to be.

Love you all :)

Elder Mikesell III

Watermelon is yellow in this country. No one can give me a definite answer as to why... Elder Mikesell: giant lizard rider. Missionary cooking methods. The dish is pasta. The mug is hot chocolate.

My last area and evidence thereof. Monkey family :) awww. Owl gang. Cats are privileged to have mustaches here. 

BOTANICAL GARDENS ZONE ACTIVITY, BIT BY A MONKEY & SMASHING TIME ON THE MISH

February 16, 2015

Me and my companion in San Fernando

I'm going to slow down and write a nice long letter with pictures attached :P

Hello family! Thank you first and foremost for the prayers on my behalf. I had a much better week this week than the week previous. Two weeks ago was the worst I've had on my mission (statistically), but last week was the best week I've ever had in this area (statistically)! Regardless of those things, I am, of course, having a smashing time on the mish :) Many missionaries are excited to go home because of prospects like dating, music, movies, and son on, but all I see is having to get a job again, rent, money, school, taxes, that kind of stuff. No, no, no, no, no! I'm quite happy on my spiritual/jungle adventure out here in Le Phillies :P

The highlight of my week this week was our zone activity! Me and my companion had the wonderful burden of planning and executing said activity for the 26 missionaries in this, the San Fernando Zone, and we had a scavenger hunt type deal planned out until we heard about a botanical gardens type deal out in the mountains that was supposed to be well worth the trip. We ran the risk and took the zone there instead, and I was soo happy when it didn't blow up in our face, haha! The gardens were amazing. I forgot my camera :P but I'm considering going back before I leave this area just to go. I'll try and get as many pictures as possible from the missionaries. Also, fun was the fact that they had a little zoo! There were monitor lizards, motits (which is kind of like a native foxlike monkey) owls, eagles, and monkeys! One of the monkeys reached out to shake my hand which I foolishly took. He betrayed my trust by trying to bite me, and I sustained a small wound on my finger to the great laughter of my comrades. I disinfected it ASAP and was way afraid I would have to go to the missionary recovery center in Manila for rabies testing, but (happily) the mission president's wife (who handles all the health stuff) didn't think it was necessary.

Now for the investigator corner!

Pray for these folks! (They are code names, but Heavenly Father knows who they are. I'm sure he'll get the right blessing to the right people if he has a mind to, haha.)

The Ube family: 24 and 34 with two kids. (Does the age gap remind you of anyone in our immediate family? I told them about it actually. They thought it was funny.) Not married. Met them through their half paralyzed father-in-law who we've been visiting in their home. Sister Ube is quite interested, but Brother Ube's interest might not be so potent.

Thank you all :) Enjoy the pictures. I know you would want better pictures of my companion, so here's one of him and me together. Also, this is the chapel I'm assigned to. Keep feeding your fire!

Elder Mikesell III