Alright well I guess I might as well respond to the last email, the couple left the island like I said so they didn't end up getting married but hopefully the elders following will be able to finish all that up! And I did have a baptism my last Saturday In the marshall islands so that's just a really good feeling and good to know that I did something. Also coming back here for a little bit is awesome, I freakin love I and you will definitely meet him at some point. Also gave the pkg away to Elder L, but it was received so thank you so much for that! Love you so much and thank you for everything!
Lots of lovin'Monday, December 29, 2014
I found some really eye opening things about the atonement
December 8, 2014
Well that sounds like quite the interesting week, hope that you are feeling better now. I'm still in Ebeye I fly back to Majuro on monday, it will be the sisters and I that come back on majuro. Also just saying when we go to hawaii, we definitely have to go to the temple and the polynesian cultural centre, one of the sisters that works in Ebeye now lives in hawaii, and gonna have to go visit her when we're there. This week was pretty good, we went to a picnic this week and had a going away party with all the people, yea that was pretty fun. We also had a baptismal interview so this last week we will have a baptism before I leave which will be nice. The couple however won't be able to married because they randomly went to an island for christmas and then didn't tell me about it... So hopefully my companion Elder K will be able to get them married and baptised. I have no doubt that they will be. Kind of was a bummer this week showing up to their house and finding that they just random went to another island! But we found another investigator in that house so that was nice. Also this week I gave a training that I really liked this week about the atonement and the importance of it and I found some really eye opening things about the atonement, I might share some of those thoughts when I give my homecoming talk... Haha I guess we'll see. And for right now I'm just trying to show Elder K around my area, so he knows the people and where to go.. So that's what I'm trying to do to keep busy and also help prepare our investigator for baptism. And naww you don't have to wait to do anything, if it was early december I would say to wait, haha I just want some root beer and chocolates when I come home hahaha, I wish I could go cut down a Christmas tree but that's cutting it way too close, so just have everything all good to go. And for the thanksgiving thing I just couldn't eat all that much because my stomach had shrunk a little bit and I've been feeling not all that fantastic since I've come to Ebeye, but yeah life goes on! And then to answer your last question, I will be with Elder I for my last couple days that I'm in Majuro. I think that's about all for the week though, just trying to finish strong and help whoever I can this last week. Definitely am looking forward to seeing all of you though and thank you all for everything!
Well that sounds like quite the interesting week, hope that you are feeling better now. I'm still in Ebeye I fly back to Majuro on monday, it will be the sisters and I that come back on majuro. Also just saying when we go to hawaii, we definitely have to go to the temple and the polynesian cultural centre, one of the sisters that works in Ebeye now lives in hawaii, and gonna have to go visit her when we're there. This week was pretty good, we went to a picnic this week and had a going away party with all the people, yea that was pretty fun. We also had a baptismal interview so this last week we will have a baptism before I leave which will be nice. The couple however won't be able to married because they randomly went to an island for christmas and then didn't tell me about it... So hopefully my companion Elder K will be able to get them married and baptised. I have no doubt that they will be. Kind of was a bummer this week showing up to their house and finding that they just random went to another island! But we found another investigator in that house so that was nice. Also this week I gave a training that I really liked this week about the atonement and the importance of it and I found some really eye opening things about the atonement, I might share some of those thoughts when I give my homecoming talk... Haha I guess we'll see. And for right now I'm just trying to show Elder K around my area, so he knows the people and where to go.. So that's what I'm trying to do to keep busy and also help prepare our investigator for baptism. And naww you don't have to wait to do anything, if it was early december I would say to wait, haha I just want some root beer and chocolates when I come home hahaha, I wish I could go cut down a Christmas tree but that's cutting it way too close, so just have everything all good to go. And for the thanksgiving thing I just couldn't eat all that much because my stomach had shrunk a little bit and I've been feeling not all that fantastic since I've come to Ebeye, but yeah life goes on! And then to answer your last question, I will be with Elder I for my last couple days that I'm in Majuro. I think that's about all for the week though, just trying to finish strong and help whoever I can this last week. Definitely am looking forward to seeing all of you though and thank you all for everything!
Lots of loving'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
I guess I got a confirming witness this week that my mission has been successful
December 1, 2014
I'm good, we had the little girl named molliysha baptized and it was a good baptism, and the couple didn't end up getting married this week, but hopefully pretty soon, they said before I leave that they will get married. So that will be awesome, and I really love that couple. We also went to Kwajilien for thanksgiving on friday and that was pretty good, we ate all sorts of good food, way too much food and I could barely eat anything... it was somewhat depressing! This week I guess I got a confirming witness this week that my mission has been successful, and that was just a cool feeling to get that from reading the scriptures. Anyways not a whole lot from this week, and how are the missionaries in our ward? I definitely want to work with them when I come back home. Hope that you have an awesome week and it's ridiculous how little time I have left to serve, it's really starting to dawn on me. But I'm still working and still trying to do whatever I can to help, I also learned this week that I will fly out of Ebeye on Monday so that'll be awesome. Thank you for being awesome! Hope that you have an awesome birthday, and know that I love and am thinking about you a lot! Thank you for being my mama!
I'm good, we had the little girl named molliysha baptized and it was a good baptism, and the couple didn't end up getting married this week, but hopefully pretty soon, they said before I leave that they will get married. So that will be awesome, and I really love that couple. We also went to Kwajilien for thanksgiving on friday and that was pretty good, we ate all sorts of good food, way too much food and I could barely eat anything... it was somewhat depressing! This week I guess I got a confirming witness this week that my mission has been successful, and that was just a cool feeling to get that from reading the scriptures. Anyways not a whole lot from this week, and how are the missionaries in our ward? I definitely want to work with them when I come back home. Hope that you have an awesome week and it's ridiculous how little time I have left to serve, it's really starting to dawn on me. But I'm still working and still trying to do whatever I can to help, I also learned this week that I will fly out of Ebeye on Monday so that'll be awesome. Thank you for being awesome! Hope that you have an awesome birthday, and know that I love and am thinking about you a lot! Thank you for being my mama!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
I learned about the enabling power of the atonement
November 24, 2014
I have been doing pretty good, we had our final dinner with president this week and that was kind of weird, I have had my final interview and things like that and I guess just kind of looking back on my mission it's nice to see that I don't have regrets, so that is nice to look back on that and have a feeling of accomplishment in what I did. yes I am excited to come home, I mean I've been thinking about it for a while, but it's not the only thing that I'm thinking about haha. Another thing about this week is that I was pretty sick, that made things not all that exciting... Makes things a little bit harder, but I'm still out doing things. I learned about the enabling power of the atonement how Jesus Christ not only suffered for our sins but also for our shortcomings and weaknesses. How we can be able to do things that we could not do by ourselves, and how we need to rely on him and his atonement. So that was cool, and I like continually learning more. The cooking is going well I'm finding new things to make hahaha cheese was on sale and stuff for a dollar, so been cooking a lot with cheese. And yes I'm getting along well with my companion I think I might have one more before I go home, I guess we'll see what's going to happen. I quote mosiah 24:14 quite a bit, I have like 5 from the book of mormon that I quote quite a bit. And yes I know that I am missed and loved I'm glad for all the love and the support and I hope that your enjoying the Schaffers posts and what not. I love each and every one of you, and I'm excited to see all of you. And whoever wants to come to the airport can come! Just saying, so I think that's all for this week, oh I guess we're having a baptism this week, and also a couple getting married! So that is awesome and hopefully they will be able to get baptized before I leave. If not I have confidence that they will be!
I have been doing pretty good, we had our final dinner with president this week and that was kind of weird, I have had my final interview and things like that and I guess just kind of looking back on my mission it's nice to see that I don't have regrets, so that is nice to look back on that and have a feeling of accomplishment in what I did. yes I am excited to come home, I mean I've been thinking about it for a while, but it's not the only thing that I'm thinking about haha. Another thing about this week is that I was pretty sick, that made things not all that exciting... Makes things a little bit harder, but I'm still out doing things. I learned about the enabling power of the atonement how Jesus Christ not only suffered for our sins but also for our shortcomings and weaknesses. How we can be able to do things that we could not do by ourselves, and how we need to rely on him and his atonement. So that was cool, and I like continually learning more. The cooking is going well I'm finding new things to make hahaha cheese was on sale and stuff for a dollar, so been cooking a lot with cheese. And yes I'm getting along well with my companion I think I might have one more before I go home, I guess we'll see what's going to happen. I quote mosiah 24:14 quite a bit, I have like 5 from the book of mormon that I quote quite a bit. And yes I know that I am missed and loved I'm glad for all the love and the support and I hope that your enjoying the Schaffers posts and what not. I love each and every one of you, and I'm excited to see all of you. And whoever wants to come to the airport can come! Just saying, so I think that's all for this week, oh I guess we're having a baptism this week, and also a couple getting married! So that is awesome and hopefully they will be able to get baptized before I leave. If not I have confidence that they will be!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
We had a couple of interesting lessons
November 10, 2014
Okay well this week we had a baptism for 3 of our companionships, the sisters our central elders and one from our area, so that was really good and they are all really solid investigators. There were 2 19 year olds and a 14 year old boy so that should be a strength to the youth here. We also had a couple of interesting lessons where we tried to teach this one kid and he literally said nothing to us the entire time a little bit awkward, but we'll see if we can make it a little better. We also have been working with this one couple who are doing well, they said they will get married at the end of this month, which is still kind of weird to me because all the couples that I work with never end up getting married. They are serious about it though and have been doing really well in the lessons. It's awesome to see the changes that people can make, we just need to help them come to church and they will be ready for baptism. So that's awesome, their names are scott and lita. Excited that we found them and they've been progressing well. I guess other than that there is nothing all that new going on n Using Danae's story has definitely helped open the hearts of some of the investigators, I will use that when I teach the plan of salvation. It does help when I can testify that I know there is something after this life and that we can be with our families forever. So yeah, in studies I recently started reading the teachings of the prophet John Taylor which has really been pretty interesting, especially his testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, and the divinity of his calling, his personal witness of the prophet really helped me realize truly how much Joseph Smith has done for this church. I also have learned a lot about the plan of salvation from his book, hopefully before I go home I'll also be able to read a couple of the other prophets books before I go home.
Okay well this week we had a baptism for 3 of our companionships, the sisters our central elders and one from our area, so that was really good and they are all really solid investigators. There were 2 19 year olds and a 14 year old boy so that should be a strength to the youth here. We also had a couple of interesting lessons where we tried to teach this one kid and he literally said nothing to us the entire time a little bit awkward, but we'll see if we can make it a little better. We also have been working with this one couple who are doing well, they said they will get married at the end of this month, which is still kind of weird to me because all the couples that I work with never end up getting married. They are serious about it though and have been doing really well in the lessons. It's awesome to see the changes that people can make, we just need to help them come to church and they will be ready for baptism. So that's awesome, their names are scott and lita. Excited that we found them and they've been progressing well. I guess other than that there is nothing all that new going on n Using Danae's story has definitely helped open the hearts of some of the investigators, I will use that when I teach the plan of salvation. It does help when I can testify that I know there is something after this life and that we can be with our families forever. So yeah, in studies I recently started reading the teachings of the prophet John Taylor which has really been pretty interesting, especially his testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, and the divinity of his calling, his personal witness of the prophet really helped me realize truly how much Joseph Smith has done for this church. I also have learned a lot about the plan of salvation from his book, hopefully before I go home I'll also be able to read a couple of the other prophets books before I go home.
we had a run in with a member of another church who really didn't like what we were saying
November 3, 2014
Okay so about the letters and stuff... I still suck at it, and I just don't know plus all the letters that I got I left them on Majuro, it's hard to find time to sit down and write a letter, so everyone that has written me tell them I am extremely thankful for the letters and that I wish I could respond to them all, but I don't have time. I'm sorry if I sound like a punk, and just don't care, but it's hard to get it done when your companion doesn't take time to write letters, I don't want to have to waste his time if he doesn't have anyone to write. So I'm sorry about that once more. When I get home I'll have to get some thank you cards out or something. But yeah this week was a pretty good one, we had some success and one of our investigators is going to be baptized this saturday, which is pretty exciting. He's 19 and is a solid young man, it's cool to see the difference that he has made since we first got here. So that will be nice. Also we had a run in with a member of another church who really didn't like what we were saying haha he just had to prove that we were wrong and wanted to bible bash with us, which literally accomplishes nothing. He just kept talking to us, and kept trying to prove how it's not possible that Joseph Smith was a prophet and how God doesn't talk to us anymore, it was kind of a sad argument. It just amazes me that people will take words from the bible and distort them, or take other things and take away the basic meaning of the message. We testified of Jesus Christ the entire time but this guy kept bringing it back to Joseph Smith and how we worship him and whatever, but anyways the reason why I told that story was because there was a man in that house that we were studying with and this Full Gospel member was trying to get us to stop. I felt I needed to fast for both our investigator and this other man, and then right after I began my fast another lady from the same house came up to us and apologized for her little brother's actions and told us that we were welcome to continue teaching our investigator. That just showed me that fasting truly does have power and that maybe sometimes it won't be answered the way that we think, but he will answer. So that was my cool experience from the week I guess! Also I guess I have to apologize for not sending pictures, you can't send them from the computers here so maybe I'll ask the Schaffer's to send you some. To answer your other questions though, the district is doing well, we had 3 baptisms last week. I work with people mostly just going around and spreading the gospel, nothing different from before. Umm Elder Parkinson emailed me once, but I haven't heard from him since. There is a variety of people in our district, there are people from New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, Utah, Arizona, Canada and that's pretty much it. Umm my favourite scripture from the week is not just one verse, its just simply Abinadi's testimony of the Savior. I find it amazing how despite him not coming yet, despite all the tribulations and trials he had to go through, he still stood firm in what he knew to be true. I guess that shows to me how close he must have been and how in tune to the spirit he was, that the Savior truly did make himself known unto him. I think that it's easier for us because we have all this proof that he did come, so many biblical accounts prophets today, and all of that, but Abinadi didn't have all those witnesses that we now have, and I just found that really amazing as I thought about it. So that was what stuck out to me this week, oh and also just randomly saying, but we had a really fun halloween, they put on a talent show and had all this face painting and stuff and we just had a pretty good time! That was probably one of the most fun experiences I've had on my mission, and sometimes you have to have some of those too, don't know if you saw any of those pictures or not, and I haven't been taking pictures because my camera died and I don't have the charger... So I'll try and copy some before I go home. I think that's about all for this week though, thanks and hope you have an awesome time on your safari!
Okay so about the letters and stuff... I still suck at it, and I just don't know plus all the letters that I got I left them on Majuro, it's hard to find time to sit down and write a letter, so everyone that has written me tell them I am extremely thankful for the letters and that I wish I could respond to them all, but I don't have time. I'm sorry if I sound like a punk, and just don't care, but it's hard to get it done when your companion doesn't take time to write letters, I don't want to have to waste his time if he doesn't have anyone to write. So I'm sorry about that once more. When I get home I'll have to get some thank you cards out or something. But yeah this week was a pretty good one, we had some success and one of our investigators is going to be baptized this saturday, which is pretty exciting. He's 19 and is a solid young man, it's cool to see the difference that he has made since we first got here. So that will be nice. Also we had a run in with a member of another church who really didn't like what we were saying haha he just had to prove that we were wrong and wanted to bible bash with us, which literally accomplishes nothing. He just kept talking to us, and kept trying to prove how it's not possible that Joseph Smith was a prophet and how God doesn't talk to us anymore, it was kind of a sad argument. It just amazes me that people will take words from the bible and distort them, or take other things and take away the basic meaning of the message. We testified of Jesus Christ the entire time but this guy kept bringing it back to Joseph Smith and how we worship him and whatever, but anyways the reason why I told that story was because there was a man in that house that we were studying with and this Full Gospel member was trying to get us to stop. I felt I needed to fast for both our investigator and this other man, and then right after I began my fast another lady from the same house came up to us and apologized for her little brother's actions and told us that we were welcome to continue teaching our investigator. That just showed me that fasting truly does have power and that maybe sometimes it won't be answered the way that we think, but he will answer. So that was my cool experience from the week I guess! Also I guess I have to apologize for not sending pictures, you can't send them from the computers here so maybe I'll ask the Schaffer's to send you some. To answer your other questions though, the district is doing well, we had 3 baptisms last week. I work with people mostly just going around and spreading the gospel, nothing different from before. Umm Elder Parkinson emailed me once, but I haven't heard from him since. There is a variety of people in our district, there are people from New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, Utah, Arizona, Canada and that's pretty much it. Umm my favourite scripture from the week is not just one verse, its just simply Abinadi's testimony of the Savior. I find it amazing how despite him not coming yet, despite all the tribulations and trials he had to go through, he still stood firm in what he knew to be true. I guess that shows to me how close he must have been and how in tune to the spirit he was, that the Savior truly did make himself known unto him. I think that it's easier for us because we have all this proof that he did come, so many biblical accounts prophets today, and all of that, but Abinadi didn't have all those witnesses that we now have, and I just found that really amazing as I thought about it. So that was what stuck out to me this week, oh and also just randomly saying, but we had a really fun halloween, they put on a talent show and had all this face painting and stuff and we just had a pretty good time! That was probably one of the most fun experiences I've had on my mission, and sometimes you have to have some of those too, don't know if you saw any of those pictures or not, and I haven't been taking pictures because my camera died and I don't have the charger... So I'll try and copy some before I go home. I think that's about all for this week though, thanks and hope you have an awesome time on your safari!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
We did meet a few new people this week
October 27, 2014
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Well this week was kind of slow I guess, there was a primary presentation and a lot of the kids that we were studying with were busy with that, which is good, but at the same time makes our life kind of slow. Also there was a funeral which is a pretty big deal here and no one really wanted to see us, they were all just kind of gone or busy or whatever. We did meet a couple new people and hopefully should have some success pretty soon, I just want to make this area better than it was when I got here. Just trying to work more with the members and strengthen the youth here, because there aren't a whole lot of young men, so trying to see what we can do with that. I don't think I've done that much to help the district improve, I just changed the attitude a little bit hopefully and we also have some great elders and sisters out here right now. I guess in terms of my studies, still been studying with the same focus and plan on doing so until the end of my mission. Just learning more about Christ and how I can better follow him and hear his voice in the book of mormon. One thing that stuck out to me this week was the concept of devoting all your time and efforts to serving him. And if we do that he will strengthen us and allow us to do things that we could not do with our own strength. I also liked the promise that if we do all things we will ultimately gain eternal life and become as he is, which is still a hard concept to grasp for me. The possibility that I can literally become perfect and be as Jesus Christ is, is amazing to me. Obviously that takes a lifetime of work, and will require a lot of effort, but I found that to be a really good promise and it helped me in a couple of the lessons that I had this week. As far as I know the couple that I was working with never did end up getting baptized, at least not yet, but I will check and see again because that would kind of not be all that fun if it didn't work out, because they are awesome. The members out here are awesome, they always feed us and will help us, tell us where other people live and whatnot, I think I have 3 ladies that I call mama now. The one family that we go see quite a bit is the Stephen family and they are helping us teach a couple YSA aged young men. The lessons are going well and hopefully one of them will be able to be baptized in 2 weeks, his name is Labuji hahaha good luck trying to pronounce that one right, but he's pretty solid and we had a really good lesson with him last night. Also we've been working with the Couple missionaries from Cardston who are doing an awesome job trying to give the youth here something to do, because in the tiny crowded island, there isn't a whole lot to do to say the least. They are awesome, I feel like I told you that before but it's all good I just love the S they help us out quite a bit. I think that's about all for this week, Elder L came here and is now training Elder S which is both good and bad. Haha I miss having s around just because he was the man and was just nice to have around. But it'll be good for him to actually be with one missionary, because being with 2 you just have less time to speak and don't learn as fast. Thank you all for all the support and the kindness! I hope you also have an awesome week in Africa! Once again kind of jealous, but I guess that's just part of life haha.
Lots of lovin'From Elder Jordan Michelson
In terms of funny stories, I do actually have a couple,
October 20, 2014
I did rennet it was dads birthday! Happy birthday!!This week was pretty good, we had a lot of new investigators, but it's still really slow day to day. Just trying to help everyone in the district and motivate as much as I can. I guess in terms of things that I've been studying about, I've been reading the book of Mormon with a focus on hearing the Savior's voice and I guess to just help me improve. I've had some cool new insights and it really does help me realize how much the Book of Mormon truly does testify of Christ. One of the things that I liked from this week was in 2 nephi I think in 32nd chapter, how it talks about gaining knowledge and how Nephi mourns for those who choose not to gain knowledge, that if we rely on the Savior he will be able to give us knowledge concerning all things. And how as we feast upon the words of Christ we will be granted more and more knowledge and in time we will be able to speak with the tongue's of angels. I found that fairly interesting because I know that in order for individuals to be truly converted they need to feel the truthfulness of these things and that can only happen as we do our part. It sucks sometimes to see that many missionaries just don't understand that, that "as long as I'm baptizing people it doesn't matter what I do" attitude just stinks sometimes. I'm obviously not perfect and have so much to work on, but I wish I could rely more wholly on the spirit, and be able to share with people this knowledge. I guess that's what I learned this week, I like the focus of this study. In terms of funny stories, I do actually have a couple, mostly about my new trainee... he had a scorpion crawl up his pants, which is now taped to our fridge as a trophy. Surprisingly it didn't sting him though just caused quite the scare. Also he's been struggling some what with the pronunciation of some things which leads to some fairly good laughs for me... such as "When I speak English, I have Diarrhea" "You should do me" "Do you want to get drunk with me" hahaha things like that, where he's trying to say "when I speak English, I'm loud" "Can you help me" and "Do you want to take lessons with me" so that's always fun, but he's a champ and I love him. The island is just really really crowded and there are so many kids here. If anyone does anything cool there is just an army of kids right there right away. Sometimes the streets will get flooded and they'll take pieces of plywood and more or less surf down the streets. There is a church building here and it's fairly small, but it works. The people here are really nice though and the member's help out a ton. That's about all though, if you want some more specifics I'll try to answer those questions. Thank you for all the love and support and look forward to talking to you again next week!
I did rennet it was dads birthday! Happy birthday!!This week was pretty good, we had a lot of new investigators, but it's still really slow day to day. Just trying to help everyone in the district and motivate as much as I can. I guess in terms of things that I've been studying about, I've been reading the book of Mormon with a focus on hearing the Savior's voice and I guess to just help me improve. I've had some cool new insights and it really does help me realize how much the Book of Mormon truly does testify of Christ. One of the things that I liked from this week was in 2 nephi I think in 32nd chapter, how it talks about gaining knowledge and how Nephi mourns for those who choose not to gain knowledge, that if we rely on the Savior he will be able to give us knowledge concerning all things. And how as we feast upon the words of Christ we will be granted more and more knowledge and in time we will be able to speak with the tongue's of angels. I found that fairly interesting because I know that in order for individuals to be truly converted they need to feel the truthfulness of these things and that can only happen as we do our part. It sucks sometimes to see that many missionaries just don't understand that, that "as long as I'm baptizing people it doesn't matter what I do" attitude just stinks sometimes. I'm obviously not perfect and have so much to work on, but I wish I could rely more wholly on the spirit, and be able to share with people this knowledge. I guess that's what I learned this week, I like the focus of this study. In terms of funny stories, I do actually have a couple, mostly about my new trainee... he had a scorpion crawl up his pants, which is now taped to our fridge as a trophy. Surprisingly it didn't sting him though just caused quite the scare. Also he's been struggling some what with the pronunciation of some things which leads to some fairly good laughs for me... such as "When I speak English, I have Diarrhea" "You should do me" "Do you want to get drunk with me" hahaha things like that, where he's trying to say "when I speak English, I'm loud" "Can you help me" and "Do you want to take lessons with me" so that's always fun, but he's a champ and I love him. The island is just really really crowded and there are so many kids here. If anyone does anything cool there is just an army of kids right there right away. Sometimes the streets will get flooded and they'll take pieces of plywood and more or less surf down the streets. There is a church building here and it's fairly small, but it works. The people here are really nice though and the member's help out a ton. That's about all though, if you want some more specifics I'll try to answer those questions. Thank you for all the love and support and look forward to talking to you again next week!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Agency, attitude, and accountability and how those three concepts relate
October 10
From Elder Jordan Michelson
okay well first off I am no longer a zone leader, seeing as Ebeye is a completely different island and there is no zone here, which isn't a big deal just thought that I'd let you know. I am the District leader out here and this place definitely needs some help, the only missionaries that have really been working hard lately have been the sister's and the other 3 sets haven't really been doing much. So hopefully I'll be able to do something to help that a little bit and help change the attitude out here. I've learned that is something that really makes a huge difference is your attitude and how you look at where you work and what you're doing. My last training that I gave in Zone meeting was about that and I thought it went pretty well, it was about agency, attitude, and accountability and how those three concepts relate. That sometimes we will be placed in situations that maybe we wouldn't choose necessarily but our attitude about that situation makes all the difference. I think I needed to hear that training too because as I came out here, this is definitely not a situation that I would choose to put myself in, we are literally starting from ground zero and have almost no one to see. But that doesn't matter, I'm already starting to see some people and have some people that could be pretty good. Also the member's out here are really willing to help so that's nice to see, I've gotten a ton of referrals since I've been here and it has been pretty good. So I guess that's just a little bit about the work and stuff, I can tell that it will definitely be a little hard at times, but I definitely am going to enjoy finishing my mission this way. Companion study right now consists of teaching Elder S some of the new things that he needs to learn, he just came on Saturday. I am partially training him until his real trainer comes in. So I'm in a tripanionship right now, and that's going pretty good. To answer your other question, there are 3 branches out here, and I work in the 2nd branch, they are trying to work to help it become a stake, and they are doing a pretty good job of going to the rescue and things like that. That's a little more about Ebeye, the Schaffer's are awesome and invited us over for Canadian thanksgiving, we had chili and scones, but hey I'll take it! But they are awesome and I'm really glad that they are here, they definitely want to help and will hopefully make a change in the Seminary and Institute programs here. But I think that's about all I have to say, nothing too much more. Thanks for everything and hope that you have a fantastic week!
Lots of lovin'From Elder Jordan Michelson
Friday, October 10, 2014
I will be going to Ebeye to finish my work out there.
Oct. 7, 2014
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Alright well this week was kind of really slow in all honesty just kind of running random errands and trying to get Elder P ready to go home, we did have an awesome young man get baptized though, so that was a definite positive to the week. I really think that he will serve a mission. But I also found out that I will be going to Ebeye to finish my work out there. Ebeye is an island about 1 square mile with roughly 20000 people on it... from what I hear it's a little crowded, so I don't think I'll run out of people to teach. I will be leaving on Thursday morning and will try to help out there, because the missionary work out there has been struggling a little bit lately. So my new companion will be Elder K, don't know his first name yet. I definitely did not see this transfer coming, but I guess that's just kind of the way it works sometimes. I also finished the Book of Mormon this past week, which was good to do once again. I really like Mormon chapter 9 I believe it is, kind of have a lot going on right now so yeah maybe I forgot exactly what chapter it is. I guess something that I've learned lately is that I really don't like doing things somebody elses way, it can get kind of frustrating at times and I wish it could change at times. I've also learned that keeping people happy is a lot easier than trying to cause arguments over things that aren't really that important. I don't know I guess I wish I just could have worked a little bit differently in this area and am now kind of sad to be leaving it. I guess it will all work out in the end. I'm excited to be able lead the district in Ebeye and try to help out as much as I can, I definitely want to finish strong and have no regrets! But that's about it I guess for the week, hope you all are doing awesome!
Lots of lovin'I feel like I always tell you about food, but ehh that's just something I really enjoy I guess!
Sept. 29, 2014
From Elder Jordan MIchelson
Alright so nothing all that exciting, Elder P gets home on oct 8, I am going to miss him when he leaves and you will definitely be meeting him sooner rather than later he also says he wants to come to the marshall islands with us, but I think that could get a little bit costly... I will be the zone leader still and wait until my new companion gets here, which I still don't know who it is, which is kind of killing me honestly... Life goes on though. the couple that we were studying with had a little setback and so I guess we will see what happens with them, they will get baptized at some point but we don't exactly know when. However we do have another way solid young man that just caught fire out of nowhere and will be really good, hopefully he will be able to serve a mission. At least that's his plan at this point, I met him out on Wotje though and then he came back here and we ended up studying with him. He's awesome and I'm excited to see him get baptized. I guess in terms of studying Preach my Gospel I just studied a little bit about helping people keep commitments and the importance of following up afterwards. I'm trying to be able to find the right balance and it's hard to show that you care and help persuade someone to do something without nagging them. So that was my Preach My Gospel studying and I also started reading from the Gordon B. Hinckley book, which has a cool interview in it that I had never come across before. It really is eye opening. I think that's about all I have to say for now, sorry I'm a bit rushed, but I love you all very much and I find it mind blowing that I actually have my flight plans and things like that. So I guess I will be seeing Y'all sooner than I realize! Thank you for all the love and support and ps I did get your package and it was awesome hahahah you know me fairly well, just chocked full of chocolate and sweets, we made a pretty nice oreo cheesecake from the cookies... Anyways I feel like I always tell you about food, but ehh that's just something I really enjoy I guess!
Lots of lovin'Our prayers are not to change the will of God but rather to align our wills with his.
September 21, 2014
In terms of my week this week it was pretty good. We had a zone conference and I gave a training about the importance of prayer, and I definitely learned a couple of things while preparing for it and also giving it. I love what it says about prayer in the Bible Dictionary about how when we remember our relationship with our Father in Heaven that prayer will become instinctive and it will be easy to receive answers to our prayers, it also states that our prayers are not to change the will of God but rather to align our wills with his. Seeing that he knows literally everything and what will help us more than we do ourselves I found that to be a good reminder, that we need to ask to know what to say and what to do because of it. The last thing that I liked about prayer was that it is a form of work, sometimes in my own personal prayers it just becomes a list of things that I want and I start to become selfish in my prayers and then after the fact, I don't do anything about the things that I pray for. When we pray with real intent, and we really want answers we will do everything in our power in order to allow the Lord to bless us, we can't just wait until he answers. It requires diligent seeking for those answers. So I guess that's a little bit from my studies this week, I definitely recommend reading about prayer in the Bible Dictionary and why it is so important. I know that it has made a difference in my week and my attitude about prayer. Oh it was Elder P's birthday and so I made him a birthday supper that turned out pretty good. I made him a homemade chicken gnocchi bacon soup in a bread bowl, and then we had panna cotta with a citrus berry sauce for dessert, needless to say I thought it turned out pretty good, and that panna cotta was pretty delicious. Haha never thought I'd be able to eat anything close to that on my mission, but just gotta get a little bit creative and just come up with ideas from things that you see. So that was a pretty good day. We also have another investigator named Jemomo that is doing really well, he's been coming to church for a while now, but never really had a desire or a testimony and then one day a switch just kind of flipped and now he has plans to go on a mission, which would be really nice to see. He should be getting baptized on the 4 of October, which is right before Elder P leaves on the 8. That will be weird to see all of them go, I definitely have some good friends from that intake of missionaries and I feel like I came here at the same time. I guess I will be following them fairly shortly. I also filled out some plans for my flight home today... Yeah that was weird, weird that it is almost done. So you should be getting that fairly shortly in an email. For companionship study we watched a CES fireside that Elder Bednar spoke in and it was about learning by faith. It was a really cool training and I don't know if you could find that online or not, but it was cool how closely it related to teaching by the spirit. That the person who is receiving the teaching also has to learn by faith otherwise it will not be accepted. That is why we are to teach investigators and not just simply people, there is a noticeable difference between someone who will act and someone who will just be a "hearer of the word". I did know that my mom loves me, hahahaha one of the senior couples showed me the emails you sent to the mission office right as I was going to Wotje and he got a pretty good kick out of my worried mother emailing so many times and how sister wayas dealt with it. Other people may have been embarrassed by that, but I could care less, it just shows that you are concerned and also is good to have a laugh at. Anyways I think that's about all for this week, still doing well and am healthy and happy. You stay classy there in Canada!
Mom's note... we did get Jordan's travel plans, he comes home really late Dec. 17 and his homecoming is Dec 28. WAHOO!!!
In terms of my week this week it was pretty good. We had a zone conference and I gave a training about the importance of prayer, and I definitely learned a couple of things while preparing for it and also giving it. I love what it says about prayer in the Bible Dictionary about how when we remember our relationship with our Father in Heaven that prayer will become instinctive and it will be easy to receive answers to our prayers, it also states that our prayers are not to change the will of God but rather to align our wills with his. Seeing that he knows literally everything and what will help us more than we do ourselves I found that to be a good reminder, that we need to ask to know what to say and what to do because of it. The last thing that I liked about prayer was that it is a form of work, sometimes in my own personal prayers it just becomes a list of things that I want and I start to become selfish in my prayers and then after the fact, I don't do anything about the things that I pray for. When we pray with real intent, and we really want answers we will do everything in our power in order to allow the Lord to bless us, we can't just wait until he answers. It requires diligent seeking for those answers. So I guess that's a little bit from my studies this week, I definitely recommend reading about prayer in the Bible Dictionary and why it is so important. I know that it has made a difference in my week and my attitude about prayer. Oh it was Elder P's birthday and so I made him a birthday supper that turned out pretty good. I made him a homemade chicken gnocchi bacon soup in a bread bowl, and then we had panna cotta with a citrus berry sauce for dessert, needless to say I thought it turned out pretty good, and that panna cotta was pretty delicious. Haha never thought I'd be able to eat anything close to that on my mission, but just gotta get a little bit creative and just come up with ideas from things that you see. So that was a pretty good day. We also have another investigator named Jemomo that is doing really well, he's been coming to church for a while now, but never really had a desire or a testimony and then one day a switch just kind of flipped and now he has plans to go on a mission, which would be really nice to see. He should be getting baptized on the 4 of October, which is right before Elder P leaves on the 8. That will be weird to see all of them go, I definitely have some good friends from that intake of missionaries and I feel like I came here at the same time. I guess I will be following them fairly shortly. I also filled out some plans for my flight home today... Yeah that was weird, weird that it is almost done. So you should be getting that fairly shortly in an email. For companionship study we watched a CES fireside that Elder Bednar spoke in and it was about learning by faith. It was a really cool training and I don't know if you could find that online or not, but it was cool how closely it related to teaching by the spirit. That the person who is receiving the teaching also has to learn by faith otherwise it will not be accepted. That is why we are to teach investigators and not just simply people, there is a noticeable difference between someone who will act and someone who will just be a "hearer of the word". I did know that my mom loves me, hahahaha one of the senior couples showed me the emails you sent to the mission office right as I was going to Wotje and he got a pretty good kick out of my worried mother emailing so many times and how sister wayas dealt with it. Other people may have been embarrassed by that, but I could care less, it just shows that you are concerned and also is good to have a laugh at. Anyways I think that's about all for this week, still doing well and am healthy and happy. You stay classy there in Canada!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Can't say I miss the snow all that much!
September 14, 2014
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Well that sounds like a good week, I definitely miss some good sushi! But I can't say that I miss the snow all that much, it was funny a senior couple from Cardston just came out here and will being working in Ebeye which is kind of the hot slums of the Marshall Islands... Apparently she was crying because well frankly Ebeye isn't a whole lot to look at, and they are having quite the time adjusting to the heat but I'm sure they'll figure it out sooner or later. Kind of bummed that I probably won't see them again, they seemed like a really nice couple. What else happened this week, we set a baptismal date with our couple for the 4th of October so that should be pretty good, they are both awesome. And for the zone picture I'll ask one of the senior couples to see if I could get that, I'm pretty sure they were the ones who took that one. It's also been a while since I've received a package, I got one from the brooks' family after I got back from Wotje, but other than that no I haven't seen anything. Once again I still suck at writing, I'll try to get some letters out before I go back home, I know I need to, just before I didn't really have a whole ton to write about in all honesty so I didn't know what to say. So hopefully I'll have a little more to say to people, and I can get some letters out, but honestly with having this little time left I don't exactly know what to write to people. I just feel like it's kind of the same old same old, but maybe they wouldn't be thinking that. As far as I'm aware my release date will be December 17th and that is when I should be flying out, I don't have my flight plans or anything yet, but those will probably be coming sometime soon. It's kind of weird to make the transition to being on Majuro again even though I was only gone for a week, haha I guess I just got kind of used to being out on the outer island again. Just completely random thing, but one of the members here knows that I love anything to do with watersports or whatever so she showed me this video of this thing called a flyboard, don't know if you've ever seen that, but it looked pretty cool not going to lie. She said that she was going to buy me one, I just had to give her the receipt when I got home... For some reason I don't think that is going to happen, but the Flyboard did look pretty fun and I would like to try it at some point, don't exactly know when or where, but that's going on the bucket list. Sorry nothing all that exciting this week, I think that's about all for right now. Hope you all have an awesome week!
Lots of lovin'We stayed longer in Arno
September 9, 2014
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Iakwe iakwe everybody!
So this week was kind of an interesting one, we were going out to Arno for supposedly like 2 days... turns into a week because the boat didn't come out, so I wore the same pair of clothes for a week and they may have been slightly yellow... I also didn't shave for a week because we didn't bring our razors either so we came back looking pretty dirty to say the least! But the week was definitely a memorable one, it was fun to be with Elder Schmidt again, he was one of my favourite companions and it was nice to be able to just bwebwenato again (ps you all have to learn that word because I feel like I'll be saying it a decent amount when I go home, basically means chat) but yeah that was a lot of fun. Also got to go out to another island in arno, because they were all doing a fun day there, so Elder Schmidt and I went out and played volleyball and just met some of the locals. They were all really nice, and they had like a volleyball tournament and picked me for their all-star team... hahah needless to say we won fairly easily, they were actually really good out on that island. It was some good volleyball, and had some fun doing that again. Also just randomly saying I forgot how much I miss drinking coconut, that stuff is delicious and I'm going to miss that once I go back home, here in town you can hardly find any. What else happened... Oh we went out crab hunting and just picked up some crabs, that was fun, and we also went shark fishing, but didn't catch anything. The people on that island are also way good, I say there should be a good amount of baptisms there soon and that's kind of exciting. I definitely liked having a little taste of outer island life again, and it was nice with 4 elders out there as well, we worked hard and had fun too. Coming back today was kind of interesting because you forget how much you appreciate the little things like having a fridge in your house, or air conditioning or having a car, just simple groceries all that stuff, haha I feel like the culture shock is going to be fairly interesting coming home as well when I go to the pantry and there is actually food in it and stuff, but we'll wait until that one actually happens to see. I've been studying about the atonement a decent amount lately and read the book "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister and it definitely had some cool thoughts and perspectives on it that really improved my appreciation for our Saviour and his sacrifices that he performed for us. It's honestly truly remarkable how perfect he was and how perfect that plan was, without it there would be no purpose to life. So I enjoyed those studies quite a bit, and if you can find that book I would suggest reading it! As far as investigators go, I literally have no idea, we have one guy who left to Hawaii but should be back on the 15th so I guess we'll see, he's definitely our best one right now. But everybody else I haven't seen in a week so I guess we'll see... The people in Arno are good though! And when I come back I'm definitely going to go to Arno, it's got some cool things to see out there. Anywho I think that's about all for the week, it was an exciting one which was good seeing as the last couple have been a little dull at times. But love you all and thank you for all the help!From Elder Jordan Michelson
Sunday, September 7, 2014
This week we go to Arno... one of the outer islands
August 31, 2014
Just sounds like I keep missing out on the big parties! But life over here is pretty good, I got the package that you sent me, and one of the huckleberry jams kind of exploded everywhere,the senior couples had some fun with that one, but most of the package was still in pretty good shape regardless, and I still got a huckleberry jam so that's all fine! I was literally saying the day before that it would be nice if I could get a package, and then the next day the package came, so that was really nice! And no I still suck at letter writing... haha it's just hard to find the time, but I need to start sending some out before it gets too late, I'm just a punk and I will acknowledge that fully! I really do appreciate all the love and support though and I wish I could thank people for all that they do to help, it just kind of gets put on the back burner sometimes. But this week was pretty good, we had a baptism and she is doing well, has a couple of friends and is continuing to come to church, also we gave a guy named George and his wife Bertine a baptismal date and hopefully they will be able to be baptized before Elder P goes home in October. I guess just a couple of random stories for you this week, I believe on Tuesday night I wake up to this yelling... "Bro!!!!" and I see Elder P come out of the bathroom with a broom and was just really confused, turns out that a cat had somehow gotten through our screen window in the bathroom and then came in our house. I think he might have smelt some tuna or something, but that was pretty entertaining.. And then on Friday I randomly woke up at 1 in the morning and just had these eerie feelings and couldn't get back to sleep.. then at around 2:30 I was just kind of laying there and then all of a sudden I see this kid in our house. Some kid had broken into our house and was trying to steal some stuff, and this was kind of ridiculous because over the past 2 weeks Elder P had lost over 400 dollars and his ipod, so obviously this kid had been coming in quite a few times. We had fun chasing him out of our house and not really knowing where he went seeing as we are both really blind... Of course the kid picks the house with the 2 blind Elders to steal from haha kind of ironic, so yeah that was a little adventure for sure. We still haven't caught the kid, but it was this little 14 year old kid, and just didn't put the best spin on the things for the week. Oh well nothing too important was stolen and no one was hurt. What else happened... oh this week we will be going to Arno, one of the outer Islands to go help a struggling companionship. Hopefully we can go help out there, but that will also just be a good trip, you can get there by boat, and it will be just a short ride. So we leave on Wednesday and will come back on Friday, and I'm definitely looking forward to that it's always nice to jumbo! We also had a Zone Conference this past week, and that was pretty good, enjoyed the training given and they focused a lot on Preach My Gospel, which was nice because I feel like we definitely overlook the importance of that book. I have often wondered what would happen if a missionary truly applied everything from Preach My Gospel and how successful that missionary would be? We're obviously not perfect and will fall short, but if we just had faith to do those simple things, missionary work would honestly be so much easier, it definitely is a combined effort both from the missionaries themselves and the members. So that's a little of what I learned and I hope it helps some of the newer missionaries, because some of them haven't exactly figured it out. But eventually they'll get it! Anyways I think that's all from the week, definitely busy running around doing errands for everyone and that takes away from the proselyting time, but sometimes you have to do those things as they come up. Hope that you guys have an awesome week and I love you all a ton!
Just sounds like I keep missing out on the big parties! But life over here is pretty good, I got the package that you sent me, and one of the huckleberry jams kind of exploded everywhere,the senior couples had some fun with that one, but most of the package was still in pretty good shape regardless, and I still got a huckleberry jam so that's all fine! I was literally saying the day before that it would be nice if I could get a package, and then the next day the package came, so that was really nice! And no I still suck at letter writing... haha it's just hard to find the time, but I need to start sending some out before it gets too late, I'm just a punk and I will acknowledge that fully! I really do appreciate all the love and support though and I wish I could thank people for all that they do to help, it just kind of gets put on the back burner sometimes. But this week was pretty good, we had a baptism and she is doing well, has a couple of friends and is continuing to come to church, also we gave a guy named George and his wife Bertine a baptismal date and hopefully they will be able to be baptized before Elder P goes home in October. I guess just a couple of random stories for you this week, I believe on Tuesday night I wake up to this yelling... "Bro!!!!" and I see Elder P come out of the bathroom with a broom and was just really confused, turns out that a cat had somehow gotten through our screen window in the bathroom and then came in our house. I think he might have smelt some tuna or something, but that was pretty entertaining.. And then on Friday I randomly woke up at 1 in the morning and just had these eerie feelings and couldn't get back to sleep.. then at around 2:30 I was just kind of laying there and then all of a sudden I see this kid in our house. Some kid had broken into our house and was trying to steal some stuff, and this was kind of ridiculous because over the past 2 weeks Elder P had lost over 400 dollars and his ipod, so obviously this kid had been coming in quite a few times. We had fun chasing him out of our house and not really knowing where he went seeing as we are both really blind... Of course the kid picks the house with the 2 blind Elders to steal from haha kind of ironic, so yeah that was a little adventure for sure. We still haven't caught the kid, but it was this little 14 year old kid, and just didn't put the best spin on the things for the week. Oh well nothing too important was stolen and no one was hurt. What else happened... oh this week we will be going to Arno, one of the outer Islands to go help a struggling companionship. Hopefully we can go help out there, but that will also just be a good trip, you can get there by boat, and it will be just a short ride. So we leave on Wednesday and will come back on Friday, and I'm definitely looking forward to that it's always nice to jumbo! We also had a Zone Conference this past week, and that was pretty good, enjoyed the training given and they focused a lot on Preach My Gospel, which was nice because I feel like we definitely overlook the importance of that book. I have often wondered what would happen if a missionary truly applied everything from Preach My Gospel and how successful that missionary would be? We're obviously not perfect and will fall short, but if we just had faith to do those simple things, missionary work would honestly be so much easier, it definitely is a combined effort both from the missionaries themselves and the members. So that's a little of what I learned and I hope it helps some of the newer missionaries, because some of them haven't exactly figured it out. But eventually they'll get it! Anyways I think that's all from the week, definitely busy running around doing errands for everyone and that takes away from the proselyting time, but sometimes you have to do those things as they come up. Hope that you guys have an awesome week and I love you all a ton!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Just taking care of the needs
August 24, 2014
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Iakwe iakwe!
Hmm sorry that these weeks aren't all that exciting, just kind of going through the same old same old, working with Elder P is really nice and it's just so easy to do everything. But this week since the president and the assistants were still gone so we still have to do everything and have to go try to take care of the needs for the outer islands and things like that, we bought this ridiculous amount of food for this one companionship and I think they'll be pretty pumped about that, I remember how much I missed real food when I was out on Wotje, so just thought we'd spread some love! I figured out how to make a french bread more or less so I've been making a lot of like hot sandwiches and things like that, haha Subway in Majol pretty much. You're week sounds pretty good though and that's so weird that Emily is finished school, I remember when she didn't even know what she wanted to do! What's her plan and stuff though, and is she dating anyone or anything right about now?? What about any cousins or anything like that, is there any potential for them to get married or have been dating anyone serious? Haha just curious and what the hector, Tanner Brooks is engaged??? I'm just way surprised that happened pretty fast! If you could you should send me a picture or something? Umm let's see this week there is a zone conference, which should be pretty good, always looking forward to those and it will be nice to have president back on island. The missionaries are doing pretty good we keep having baptisms in the wards and things like that, they are just struggling to get them to stay in the church. That's always been the struggle. But I feel like that will come with time, and in terms of people writing me, I hear from some other missionaries, I get letter's from Aunt Deanne and Grandma quite often... I should probably write them back, I! What else did you ask... I'll probably work for the whole year, there's no way I'm going to school in January that's just way too fast!! I don't really want to rush into everything, I think I'll wait roughly like 2 or 3 weeks until all the Christmas holidays and stuff are finished and then I'll start work if I can. That's my plan for right now, and in terms of P-day it's just playing sports and just kind of boring bajjik nothing all that exciting, but I'm glad that people know how to play volleyball at least, that makes things fun! Also I drive pretty much everyday, we got permission to go the gym in Long Island every morning, it's a really nice gym and hopefully I'll be looking not too fat when I come home I think that's about it though. It's going to be weird when all the missionaries from the intake before me go home! That's all the news from over here, we have some pretty good investigators that hopefully will progress, trying to get them just know that these things are true but it's kind of hard when you have to do random errands, it just throws off the schedule and stuff. From Elder Jordan Michelson
We did a lot of running around
August 17, 2014
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Alright so nothing all that exciting this week, it was just really slow because the assistants and the president were off island so we were the highest leadership on island and that meant that we had to do a lot of running around and just reporting numbers and all sorts of things like that. So just kind of busy with that and it sucks that the mission office is about 20 minutes away so to do anything over there takes some time for sure. Then I got somewhat sick this week and just slept like a rock until I was feeling better, so that was fun... Had to get our shower fixed which took a huge amount of time, and hence didn't really get to see a ton of investigators, but we do have a baptismal interview coming up this saturday which is nice, she's a 17 year old girl named mina and she's pretty solid, it's nice to see when people actually change. So yeah that's that, and then I guess to answer your questions, yep I still see the ocean everyday and it just makes me want to go barefooting and what not, still missing that, but I guess once again just have to wait. Recently I've been studying general conference talks a decent amount, and have just gained a huge appreciation for talks and things like that. Also I find that weird that Brendan is home now, just mind-blowing really and send some loving his way! In terms of helping the sisters it happens only in special circumstances and that was the man that I was studying with previously, so I had made a pretty good connection with him. He is really worried about the Sabbath and the law of moses and things like that, and I hope that he figures it out soon. I don't know about the most unique food I've eaten, probably turtle?? That was pretty good, or a dried fruit leather kind of thing made from pandanus, that was pretty good, and fairly unique, definitely eat a lot more unique things on an outer island. But I think that's about all for now, just kind of the same old same old! But I'm doing well and I'm still learning a lot, hopefully this next week won't be as slow! I love you all bunches, and thanks for all the love and support.
Lots of lovin'It's nice to see people are changing
August 10, 2014
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Alright so this week was pretty good, having some investigators progress fairly well, and it's nice to see that people are actually changing a little bit, it's not about getting them baptized because honestly here, that's easy to do. Lots of people can be converted to missionaries or personalities and they never actually stay in the church, which is hard to see, but it's nice to see some people who are trying to search for the truth and we are bearing testimony of the truthfulness of these things. I went back to my old area to study with Clay, an SDA man who has been strong in that church for a very long time, he's been having problems accepting Sunday as the Sabbath Day and things like that, and we went and had a pretty good lesson with him, I definitely felt the spirit testify through me. I know that he will get baptized at some point he just has to get a testimony of these things, I hope that he changes at some point. We went and helped the sister's because they just didn't really know what to say to him at the point, and I feel like we helped. Also the Assistants are off island over on Kiribati for this week, so Elder P and I are kind of running the Island which will mean that we will be doing a lot more errand running and taking care of missionaries needs, which I have no problem doing. I feel like my first responsibility is to help the missionaries be able to be successful in their own respective areas and then focus on mine. But it's been good on both aspects of it, hmm what else.. I read a really good talk from the october 2013 general conference about doing things the Lord's way, it was a talk by Stanley G. Ellis and it really stuck out to me for some reason.. I just really enjoy highlighting and analyzing conference talks these days, that's what I've been focusing on a lot more lately and it's really been helping me to understand the importance of revelation. I guess in terms of food I made a maple glazed salmon with creme brulee for dessert... Best meal I've had on my mission that was really nice, and never ever ever did I think I would be able to make creme brulee on my misson, and that was really good. I've been making tacos with homemade tortilla shells and all other sorts of things I don't know it's been nice being with someone who knows how to save money and enjoys eating good food as well. But I think that would be about all for the week, other than the fact that our zone had 9 baptisms this past week, which was awesome and I got to baptize a kid named Golden Jello!! haha thought that was kind of funny, but other than that nothing too terribly exciting just loving life really!
Lots of lovin'We saw some miracles!
August 3, 2014
Alright so don't have a ton of time, but just thought I'd share that I made it back out to Arrak, we're kind of doing a jumbo down here for p-day and it's freakin awesome! I forgot how much I miss the green side of the island, also this week we saw some miracles getting people to the temple this week. My family from Wotje, is on island and happens to be in my new area, so we really focused on getting them to the temple and getting Kooteti the melchezidek priesthood before they
left this wednesday, and we had so much running around to do and only had one day to do it, and some way somehow everything just fell into place exactly when we needed it to. I've honestly never had anything run so smoothly over the course of my mission, where I tell someone to be somewhere at a certain time, or we have to get something and it's
actually there, or whatever. Just everything worked together, so now they have their temple recommends and should be going to the temple this december, which I'm really excited for. That is going to help that family so much, and it's nice to see people who receive all the blessings of the gospel rather than just being baptized and then forgetting about it. I think that's about all this week, and I don't exactly need anything from home, but getting stuff is always nice, and Elder P and I are going to write some letters soon!
Ps also apologize to everyone that I am a HORRIBLE letter writer, I fully realize that, I just really don't have a lot of spare time to sit down and write a letter, but I'm going to try to respond to a couple, because I know how awesome that is to get a letter. But yeah I think that's about all for the week, sorry that it was short and sweet!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Alright so don't have a ton of time, but just thought I'd share that I made it back out to Arrak, we're kind of doing a jumbo down here for p-day and it's freakin awesome! I forgot how much I miss the green side of the island, also this week we saw some miracles getting people to the temple this week. My family from Wotje, is on island and happens to be in my new area, so we really focused on getting them to the temple and getting Kooteti the melchezidek priesthood before they
left this wednesday, and we had so much running around to do and only had one day to do it, and some way somehow everything just fell into place exactly when we needed it to. I've honestly never had anything run so smoothly over the course of my mission, where I tell someone to be somewhere at a certain time, or we have to get something and it's
actually there, or whatever. Just everything worked together, so now they have their temple recommends and should be going to the temple this december, which I'm really excited for. That is going to help that family so much, and it's nice to see people who receive all the blessings of the gospel rather than just being baptized and then forgetting about it. I think that's about all this week, and I don't exactly need anything from home, but getting stuff is always nice, and Elder P and I are going to write some letters soon!
Ps also apologize to everyone that I am a HORRIBLE letter writer, I fully realize that, I just really don't have a lot of spare time to sit down and write a letter, but I'm going to try to respond to a couple, because I know how awesome that is to get a letter. But yeah I think that's about all for the week, sorry that it was short and sweet!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
It's not about obeying because we have to, its because we want to and we trust in the Lord
July 27, 2014
From Elder Jordan Michelson
This week was pretty good, working with Elder P is awesome, because it gives me feedback and shows me ways in which I can improve. I like working with an older missionary, things just generally go smoother. I'm definitely learning a lot, and it's been helping me, although not going to lie, I miss my investigators in Jenrok. I don't really know this people and haven't established that relationship with them yet, and I wish I could go back and teach those people again. But it's okay, I know I'm where I'm supposed to be right now, and I'll find more prepared people to teach. Just have to be patient, and work hard, and then we'll be able to help those people in the same way. I also got my license this week, which was weird I can officially drive again, and it's honestly like riding a bike, you just don't forget. And I haven't even crashed yet and I don't plan on it! In terms of investigators and all that, I don't really know any of them well enough to say who is progressing and who's not but we did have 4 people come to church which is always nice to see. Plus I've been seeing a ton of people from Wotje here, they pretty much came for the summer, and that's nice to have just random people come up to me and remember who I was and that I did some good out on Wotje. Hopefully I planted a couple seeds and the Elders out on Wotje will be able to continue to work with them. Also have been studying with mama and papa about the temple because they live in my area, which is awesome because it makes me feel at home again I love that family so much. But we're trying to get them to the temple this December if at all possible, the only problem is the fact that they live on the outer island. So we'll see what we can do, but they are definitely ready in my mind. I would love to see them at the temple, that would just be awesome! Which leads me to another question.. Would it be possible to send a game system with some games? Like the ps2 or whatever that we don't use, just put that in a box with the controller's and all that stuff, or whatever game system we could get for relatively cheap, because here it literally costs an arm and a leg and papa kooteti was asking me for one, so if you could do that, that would be awesome! And also if you could send some more of that huckleberry jam, I would love that, made some huckleberry milkshakes out of that with maple syrup and brown sugar, and that was probably one of the best things that I've tasted on the island what else do I have to say... Umm oh yeah, I shaved all my leg hair off and stuff like that, I'm basically a hairless cat now :p so Elder Parkinson and I made a little deal, that I would shave off all my body hair if I could teach him how to play volleyball. Since I figured we'll probably be working together until he goes home, I figured everyday of him playing volleyball was worth me shaving all my hair off, that did create quite the pile of hair though, I must say. But yeah it looks weird, I don't even feel the same, but on the plus side I am less hot, and I might maintain it a little bit I don't know though. So that's probably the funny story from the week! What else did I learn.. Oh been studying quite a bit about sacrifice, just trying to finish the Book of Mormon and loved the story of the Anti-Nephi-lehies, those people truly understood the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I wish I had that same amount of conviction. Despite all trials and sufferings they encountered, they never ever fell back after the time they were truly converted, and that's what I am trying to do right now, is help people become converted so they will never fall away. It's tough to look back and see that some of those people I baptized have already fallen away, and I don't blame myself for it, it just shows a lack of true conversion. I've been focusing on that lately as well, is helping people become converted, not just relaying information, because sometimes we as missionaries tend to get into that rut, of just relaying the same information over and over, which is really not what we are called to do, we are called to help people change, and in order to do that, we first must make that change. To live that higher law that we have been called to live, so people can literally feel the difference when we enter their home, I know maybe that won't happen every time, but that's what I'm working towards. It's not about obeying because we have to, it's because we want to and we trust the Lord enough to be submissive. So I guess that was something that I learned from my studies this week, and just randomly putting this out there, but it is crazy how fast time is going, not too long ago I just realized that I had been out for 18 months. Pretty soon I'll be home trying to adjust to living in a freezer and trying to figure out how to relate to normal white people but I'm excited for sure. I think that's all for the week though, thanks for everything and hope that you had yourselves a fantastical week!
Lots of lovin'
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)