BAMBOO IS SURPRISINGLY STRONG, A BOOK OF MORMON FROM 1985 & HEY JOE!

July 14, 2014

Bamboo is surprisingly strong, haha!

Howdy there!

I promised more details this week, so you shall receive!

So, President changed his mind and rather than my companion being transferred, I was the one transferred! I am now in the lowlands, in a small town named Aringay! The low lands are verrry different than the highlands! It's much more Filipino, it's super hot, people speak much more Tagolog/Ilokano than English, and there are a LOT of members here! The church has been here since the eighties, and I actually found a Book of Mormon in our apartment with a note in it from a missionary to an investigator from 1985, haha.

Other than that, my companion and I are doing great! There's a lot of carbow (water buffalo), bamboo bridges and very friendly people! It's a joke here in the Philippines to call Americans "Joe", so I get a lot of people yelling across from the street, "Hey, Joe! What's your name!" or "Hey, Joe! Where are you going?" They are VERY surprised when I respond to them in Tagalog or Ilokano, hahahaha.

My area is relatively new, but doing well! I don't have any investigators that stick out in my mind at the moment, but I will soon! Thank you everyone!

Feed your fire!

The Philippines sea! My area goes right up to the ocean!

More of my area

TRANSFERRED TO NEW AREA ARINGAY & NEW COMPANION ELDER TOLENTINO

This is going to be short because I'm out of time, I was the one who ended up transferring, I left Baguio where it is cold and American and lovely, and I got transferred to a placed called Aringay where it is hot and very Filipino! I got a new Filipino companion who is fresh from the Manila MTC, and I love it here! I will give you more details in the next letter! I love you all! Feed your fire! Ingat!

This is a bit more of what my new area looks like, haha... a little different from the overpopulated Americanized cold mountain city I just came from... it's pretty much the exact opposite of those adjectives, haha.

My new companion, Elder Tolentino!

Me with the ragamuffins in Purok Beleng!

NICE COOL WEATHER, RIZALS, PINOYS & MAGALINGS DOING GRAND & ACHIEVING STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE

June 30, 2014

Hello, Las Vegas-ites!

This week has been just peachy! The weather is nice and cool, fog or rain all the time, and this week we found out... my companion is transferring! Haha, it looks like I'll be in Tuding my whole mission! And I'm so okay with that. I've been told the mission president likes to keep people in their area around three or four transfers maximum (each transfer is 6 weeks), but he can move you WHENEVER he feels prompted to.

The Rizals, Pinoys and Magalings are all doing grand! The ward is being super helpful. We were actually going over to the Rizal families house and found four members from the ward just visiting with them! Clear out of the blue! Not even their calling! I love Pacdal Ward.

This week me and Elder Done decided we were going to work twice as hard as we have ever done and get all the standards of excellence! (Standards of Excellence are galas that the mission president sets to be achieved in one week. They are meant to make us push ourselves and really proclaim the gospel!) We achieved all of them but one. It's a good feeling to go home exhausted because you knew you tried your best to serve Christ!

Justin is AP?!! That means he is super good. Assistants aren't more important that other missionaries... but no assistant is ever a lazy missionary, haha. I'm so proud of him! I'm telling it to everyone now. Also, sorry! I didn't even send you the good pictures from the sambaw! I'll send them this week!

Also, I got letters from Kayla and Brandon!!!!!! I'm not exaggerating when I say that they made my week. I love those ragamuffins! Please please please send me more! They make the other missionaries think people care about me! :P haha (joke lang :P)

I love you all!
Feed your fire!
Elder Mikesell III

BURNING BUILDING & IGOROT SOMBAW. HOLY COW!

Well, hello family!

This week was a wee bit interesting!

Earlier in the week when me and my companion were walking to the jeepney station from our district meeting, we saw a market building with smoke pouring out of it because the entire building was on fire in the inside... holy cow. The street was way crowded with people, either running from the fire or running to see what was going on, and it took us more than an hour to get home when it should have taken like fifteen minutes, haha.

But, the most exciting thing was the igorot sombaw. On Saturday, we were teaching the grandmother of the entire purok beleng, kind of like one of their elders, and she invited us to something called a sombaw, to "see what real igorot culture is." Here in Baguio and especially in my area, the people are igorot, which is the Filipino version of a native American, like mountain tribal people. So, we accepted.

Holy Cow.

First of all, we had no idea what we were getting into, haha, we being American thought it couldn't last for more than two hours, and if it did we could just politely excuse ourselves. Haha. no. It lasted a full seven hours, and we were essentially told by our recent convert, Sister Rizal, "If you leave... just don't leave. You need to stay." So we stayed because if we did we would offend the entire family, haha. About fifty members of their family, or clan as they called it, showed up, and then the pigs came. The eldest of their clan does a lot of council and praying and then after, the eldest clan prays over a pig about the size of a man. I have a video of it, but (with four men holding it down) the killer makes a small incision on the pig with a machete, and then drives a wooden stake into the wound repeatedly, stabbing out the pigs heart while it screams. Coolest thing ever. Afterwards, still a little bit alive, the pig is blow torched in the face until dead, the entire body is also torched and the hair scraped off with a machete, and the whole pig is then butchered, boiled, salted and eaten. It's actually reeeeally good, haha.

Kind of a cool week. And we got a new investigator while we were there! Enjoy the pictures!

The guy with the wool is the eldest in the tribe. He recites a prayer in ilokano before they kill the pig.

Burning off the hair!

After the pig has been slaughtered, the elders of the clan "read the future of the clan" in its liver. This one is supposed to be lucky!

Feed your fire!

Ingat!

I WANT TO BECOME LIKE MY DADS. EARTHLY & HEAVENLY

June 16, 2014

Being out here, I can't make a card or buy a gift card to Sportsman's Warehouse, but I can try to repay just a little of what my dad has done for me. I've heard it's Fathers Day! Here out on my mission, I have learned things about being a man. I'm not saying I'm becoming one, I'm still just a snot nosed punk with a name badge, but I have seen examples. Examples of men who I will never become. Men that don't care for and even abuse their families, who serve themselves before others, and who will answer for their actions at the last day. But, I've also seen men who give everything to their loved ones, who work themselves to the bone to feed their children, and who love and cherish their wives. That is the kind of man I want to become.

I want to become like my dads. Earthly and Heavenly.

From my dad here, I can learn to be unselfish, to always put the needs of others before my own, to serve my God even at the expense of my health and desires, and I can learn to become like a rock in the gospel. I can learn how to love and cherish my (very) future wife. I love you dad.

From my Heavenly dad, I can learn righteousness. I can learn to forgive others, to love others even as myself, and how to help my children exactly when, where, and how they need me. I can learn to always be there for them. I love my Heavenly Father.

Thank you and Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers, especially mine.

FEED YOUR FIRE!

Elder Mikesell

POOPING GOATS, BARKING DOGS & CYANIDE FOR SALE

June 8, 2008

This week has been hilarious! Here are some of the funnies:

- As we were looking for new investigators in our area, we started going down different paths we hadn't been down before... and they kept getting smaller and smaller until we were straight up in the jungle. We asked a man harvesting syote if the path we were on eventually got us to the highway, and he told us yes, which was a total lie. We ended up at a straight up tropical waterfall type place. We tried to climb up the sides of the valley, but it was too steep, and Elder Done fell and could have almost killed himself, so we decided to go back the way we came but accidentally went through "tiger grass" which is a long grass that cuts you up as you walk through it, haha. Fun stuff.

- We were riding a jeepney and had a fun conversation with an old nun who told us to keep being "good boys" in a super cute grandmotherly way. It was adorable.

- There is a missing dog in Tuding who's name is Obama.

- We were having a great spiritual moment with Sister Rizal, the Spirit was super strong... when a goat walked through the front door and pooped all over the floor and then refused to back outside.

- There is a sketchy house in a community called Baguio Gold who's selling cyanide for thirteen grand in pesos. The sign is made of cardboard, and it doesn't tell you the quantity of the cyanide... but it seems legit.

- The Magaling family was baptized this last week! And at the beginning of the baptism... only three members came, haha! Luckily everyone started filing in about fifteen minutes later.

- Filipino dogs are THE MOST ANNOYING creatures on earth. They bark at you ALL the time. So, I've started the wonderful habit of acting calm at first, and then chasing them and snarling like a wild animal, and it scares the crap out of them, hahaha!

That's all for this week! I love you all!

FEED YOUR FIRE!

Elder Mikesell

THE RIZAL FAMILY WAS BAPTIZED & THE MAGALING'S ARE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS COMING WEEKEND!

Hello Friends and Family!

My new companion, Elder Done. I got to stay in Tuding!

I am doing great! It's been a bit rockier, though. I actually stayed here in Tuding! I have a new companion from Arizona. His name is Elder Done! He has huge desires to be obedient and work hard, and we've been doing those things as a companionship! He wrestled all through high-school and is one of the chillest people I've ever met, haha. I'll miss Elder Wilson, but we all have to stand on our own at some point! Me and Elder Done are actually co-senionrs, but he's been in the mission longer than me, about 7 months now. He's had some rough companions in the past, sadly, I'm not sure if it's like this elsewhere, but the Philippines has a sad history of extremely disobedient missionaries. Don't worry, I will NOT get sucked into it, though, haha.

The Rizal family was baptized! Just to illustrate how great they are, Sister Rizal is praying to be called as a ward missionary and Brother Rizal has dreams of going to the temple. I don't know what I ever did to be worthy to teach people like them!

Elder Wilson, the Rizal family and me at their baptism!

We are baptizing another family this coming weekend, the Magaling family! They are both a bit older, and when we met them Brother Magaling had serious foot problems, so it was hard for him to move around, but they have been awesome! Brother Magaling understands doctrine so well and so in depth! Here's an example: (in Tagalog)

Me: "So Brother, this is the gospel of Jesus Christ that we've talked about. It has five parts, but we've taught you about baptism and repentance. Will you live these parts of the gospel?"
Him: "Why only live two parts? I'll just live all five."
Me: "..... Why yes. Yes you can." Hahahaha!!!!

We are, indeed, on foot most of the time, but because our area is so steep, if we are going uphill, we sometimes just Jeepney up to the top. We usually have to find our own investigators. The Filipino culture makes it easy to talk and share to people, but sometimes it is difficult to find people who are actually interested rather than just being polite. I'm learning more and more each week that the commandments are huge. Living them really makes our lives better. I see again and again how messed up people's lives get through breaking the commandments. But, in the end, that's why there are missionaries!

My district up until last week.

Haha, American missionaries are spoiled! We just got a dinner appointment, too, but the investigator is cooking ox tail with peanut butter... tell your missionaries to count their blessings, haha!

I love everyone back home, I love it here in Baguio, and lastly, FEED YOU FIRE!

Elder Mikesell

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!!!