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'Sunday, September 7, 2014
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'Sat in the house most of the week
July 13, 2014
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Lots of lovin'Alright well this week was fairly unimpressive, sat in the house for most of the week to help m's back heal, which should be good now, at least I hope so. Watched the work and the glory which was really really good, not going to lie! That's how I kept myself sane this week. We had like 3 lessons this week total, with 5 coming to church, which is fairly mind blowing. I guess that just means the Lord is preparing people in this area. But yeah that was kind of cool to see! And what else, oh yeah everyone got their packages and you're probably going to get a ridiculous amount of letters here fairly shortly! So have fun reading all of those and then responding?? Don't know if you'll have time for that, but you got people like the perfect things and they were all pretty excited about it. So thank you so much for doing that, hopefully everyone will get their packages fairly soon, I hope they send them out to the outer islands! But yeah everyone loves the things that they got so you're awesome! What else, oh just trying to figure out some details with president regarding my release date and things like that, which is really weird, I also couldn't sleep all last night so I came up with a rough plan of what I want to do when I get home. It sounds pretty good to me, but there are a lot of variables and I'm going to have to check to make sure my plan isn't absolutely ridiculous, because it could be in all honesty but I'm really trying to analyze it and figure things out. But that's not that important right now, because I still have quite a while left to serve. But the district is doing fairly well, had another baptism this week which was nice, but everything will be changing now so I don't know. I guess I have the whole zone to worry about now, so that'll be a different experience, but I'm looking forward to it. Especially since I get to work with Elder Parkinson, that'll be way nice! Oh and random Ps Sister Kayla Tago says hi and to give you some love so that's from her. But yeah I think that's about it for the week, nothing all that exciting, but this next week should be better!
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Nothing too exciting
July 6, 2014
Alright well nothing too terribly exciting for the week, just kind of boring and what not, m has been in and out of the hospital because he's having back problems and I've spent quite a bit of time in the house, which is not all that exciting at times. But all is well, and really nothing to say for this week, I think we're about to go though and since I didn't get an email from you, I don't exactly know what to say, maybe we'll come back and email later, but I donno.. Hope you had a fantastic week, love you lots!
Mom's note
I sent an email he just didn't get it:( He didn't come back
Alright well nothing too terribly exciting for the week, just kind of boring and what not, m has been in and out of the hospital because he's having back problems and I've spent quite a bit of time in the house, which is not all that exciting at times. But all is well, and really nothing to say for this week, I think we're about to go though and since I didn't get an email from you, I don't exactly know what to say, maybe we'll come back and email later, but I donno.. Hope you had a fantastic week, love you lots!
Mom's note
I sent an email he just didn't get it:( He didn't come back
Friday, July 4, 2014
It's amazing to see what the spirit can do!!
June 29, 2014
Alright Iakwe aolep!! This week was pretty exciting, definitely had some good experiences and learned a couple of things for sure, still a whole lot of frustrations at times and I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing but hey as long as I rely on The Lord everything will work out for the best. I guess the first story I'll tell is about one of our investigators named Ennah. She is around 30 years old and she is a really nice lady, her boyfriend is a member and they are working on getting married which is nice. She agreed to study with us at the beginning of last week and the lessons have been going fairly well, then we got to the lesson of Joseph Smith and the Restoration and she had quite a few questions. She didn't disagree with anything we were saying she just had a difficult time believing it. So anyways on Monday we were supposed to do a family home evening there with her and her husband, but when we got there she was really sick, both her and her daughter. They couldn't eat anything, they were dizzy and trouble moving around and were just not doing that well. So my companion and I went and gave them both a blessing and literally within 5 minutes, they were eating walking around and they felt as if they were never sick. The main question that she had about this church was where Joseph Smith received that authority from and if there really was any such thing. That experience was definitely an answer to her question, as she spoke I could tell that she was beginning to understand the truth of these things and the things that we were teaching her. After she recovered from her sickness the first thing she did was she went and watched the restoration video, and started asking her soon to be husband a bunch of questions. I really love this couple and they are doing well, plus they both came to church on Sunday and stayed for all the classes which is a feat in and of itself. So that was a huge blessing and definitely see miracles in this work. The second investigator is a man named Clay, who is probably one the most prepared people I've ever studied with. We just started with him last week, but he's very intelligent and understands a lot about the bible, which truly does help. Every lesson that we have with him, the spirit is always there, and as we were teaching him about the plan of salvation, he started talking about his father. His father was a religious man, but he didn't always keep the commandments and things like that, he was a smoker, and his son wanted to help him change, but before he knew it he had passed away. That experience set us up perfectly for the temple and the knowledge that he can do his father's work still, that it's not too late and there is a way to still help him. I have honestly never felt the spirit testify so strongly to me of my Father in Heaven's love for each one of his Children, it's amazing to see what the spirit can do. He also said that in the week that he has been studying with my companion and I, that he feels that he knows us better and feels more connected to us than he does his own son who he has known for 18 years. Now we're just trying to take all that and help him strengthen his own family and build that relationship with his son, and all of his other kids. But that was a pretty cool experience as well, and I've been having more and more of those lately. I've also had some of the best personal studies I've had lately and I've been focusing a lot on preach my gospel. The two cool things that I learned this week, were about service and success. I believe in chapter 3 lesson 5 it talks about service, and I love the first sentence in that section it says "one of the great blessings of the church is the opportunity to serve." That really stuck out to me because I've never really thought about it like that before, it's not that we have to do all these things, or we're forced to, it's that we are blessed to have the opportunity to do it. No matter if we're busy or we get tired or whatever, when we serve and fulfill our callings we are, first and foremost, allowing the Lord to bless us and help shape us into better people and more successful people. I really found that interesting and when we change our perspective, on service, and working and doing all these things, we serve because we want to and it does not become a burden. Then I gave my district meeting on being successful missionaries and one of the interesting things that I saw about success is that success stems from our desires, and there are different levels of success. If our desire is simply to just get through the day, and at the end of the day we got through it, okay I guess that was successful, you achieved the outcome of your desire. But if you change your desire and remember that desire, before you go out and work, or do whatever, your level of success will be vastly increased. If your desire is to go out and help everyone you come in contact with, and then go and do it, you will become a successful missionary, that's the key. You can be successful according to your own wants and desires, but in the grand scheme of things, that is not really success. We need to allign our desires with that Supreme Being that knows all, and then we will become happier than we can even begin to realize. Hopefully that made sense, because I thought it was a pretty cool study and I learned a lot!! But yeah let's see what else did you ask about.. haha this email is huge.. The district is doing well, the comp still is having struggles. I have just made the sad realization that I am quite his mom. I cook, clean and take care of him. The family from Wotje will be sealed sometime in December, most likely in Hawaii, if I could some how be there, that would be awesome! But I think that's all for now, nothing else I think, since I said a lot, but I love you all a ton and hope that all is going well back at home!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Mom's note
Jordan didn't send pictures for a bit they don't really go with this email but they are pictures and fun to see.
Elder Mafuli is from Samoa but is Half Tongan too. He is pretty artistic.
Alright Iakwe aolep!! This week was pretty exciting, definitely had some good experiences and learned a couple of things for sure, still a whole lot of frustrations at times and I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing but hey as long as I rely on The Lord everything will work out for the best. I guess the first story I'll tell is about one of our investigators named Ennah. She is around 30 years old and she is a really nice lady, her boyfriend is a member and they are working on getting married which is nice. She agreed to study with us at the beginning of last week and the lessons have been going fairly well, then we got to the lesson of Joseph Smith and the Restoration and she had quite a few questions. She didn't disagree with anything we were saying she just had a difficult time believing it. So anyways on Monday we were supposed to do a family home evening there with her and her husband, but when we got there she was really sick, both her and her daughter. They couldn't eat anything, they were dizzy and trouble moving around and were just not doing that well. So my companion and I went and gave them both a blessing and literally within 5 minutes, they were eating walking around and they felt as if they were never sick. The main question that she had about this church was where Joseph Smith received that authority from and if there really was any such thing. That experience was definitely an answer to her question, as she spoke I could tell that she was beginning to understand the truth of these things and the things that we were teaching her. After she recovered from her sickness the first thing she did was she went and watched the restoration video, and started asking her soon to be husband a bunch of questions. I really love this couple and they are doing well, plus they both came to church on Sunday and stayed for all the classes which is a feat in and of itself. So that was a huge blessing and definitely see miracles in this work. The second investigator is a man named Clay, who is probably one the most prepared people I've ever studied with. We just started with him last week, but he's very intelligent and understands a lot about the bible, which truly does help. Every lesson that we have with him, the spirit is always there, and as we were teaching him about the plan of salvation, he started talking about his father. His father was a religious man, but he didn't always keep the commandments and things like that, he was a smoker, and his son wanted to help him change, but before he knew it he had passed away. That experience set us up perfectly for the temple and the knowledge that he can do his father's work still, that it's not too late and there is a way to still help him. I have honestly never felt the spirit testify so strongly to me of my Father in Heaven's love for each one of his Children, it's amazing to see what the spirit can do. He also said that in the week that he has been studying with my companion and I, that he feels that he knows us better and feels more connected to us than he does his own son who he has known for 18 years. Now we're just trying to take all that and help him strengthen his own family and build that relationship with his son, and all of his other kids. But that was a pretty cool experience as well, and I've been having more and more of those lately. I've also had some of the best personal studies I've had lately and I've been focusing a lot on preach my gospel. The two cool things that I learned this week, were about service and success. I believe in chapter 3 lesson 5 it talks about service, and I love the first sentence in that section it says "one of the great blessings of the church is the opportunity to serve." That really stuck out to me because I've never really thought about it like that before, it's not that we have to do all these things, or we're forced to, it's that we are blessed to have the opportunity to do it. No matter if we're busy or we get tired or whatever, when we serve and fulfill our callings we are, first and foremost, allowing the Lord to bless us and help shape us into better people and more successful people. I really found that interesting and when we change our perspective, on service, and working and doing all these things, we serve because we want to and it does not become a burden. Then I gave my district meeting on being successful missionaries and one of the interesting things that I saw about success is that success stems from our desires, and there are different levels of success. If our desire is simply to just get through the day, and at the end of the day we got through it, okay I guess that was successful, you achieved the outcome of your desire. But if you change your desire and remember that desire, before you go out and work, or do whatever, your level of success will be vastly increased. If your desire is to go out and help everyone you come in contact with, and then go and do it, you will become a successful missionary, that's the key. You can be successful according to your own wants and desires, but in the grand scheme of things, that is not really success. We need to allign our desires with that Supreme Being that knows all, and then we will become happier than we can even begin to realize. Hopefully that made sense, because I thought it was a pretty cool study and I learned a lot!! But yeah let's see what else did you ask about.. haha this email is huge.. The district is doing well, the comp still is having struggles. I have just made the sad realization that I am quite his mom. I cook, clean and take care of him. The family from Wotje will be sealed sometime in December, most likely in Hawaii, if I could some how be there, that would be awesome! But I think that's all for now, nothing else I think, since I said a lot, but I love you all a ton and hope that all is going well back at home!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Mom's note
Jordan didn't send pictures for a bit they don't really go with this email but they are pictures and fun to see.
Elder Michelson and his BYU football playing companion Elder Mafuli
Loved this one!!!
I am half Kirabati and half Canadian hahaha
June 22, 2014
Tuesday was awesome, I got to work with Elder Ingalls!!!! It was awesome. I'll send you some pictures and stuff but that was pretty magical, I wish I could work with him so bad. He came from another island because he had to get some dental work done and then we got to work together because I was close to the Dental office. Then later on that night I went to a party with my Kiribati family that came back from Wotje for the summer, it was mama Bonnie's 49th birthday, and then also she made the announcement that as part of her Kiribati culture she officially adopted me into her family and I am now half Kiribati and half Canadian hahaha. It was really cool in all honesty. In terms of lessons and people and stuff, this week was kind of slow, but every single one of the lessons we had this week were just powerful, and we have a lot of people who are progressing and doing well. It's really not about the numbers or how many lessons you get, it's about changing people and inviting them to make that change. So that was a good lesson I learned from this past week, that sometimes just based on your numbers you feel like you're not accomplishing anything but then you begin to realize and see all the people that are doing well. As long as we are going out and trying our best based on the situation we are put in, so that was nice. What else... Oh the sister's had a baptism this week and also another set of elders in my district, so they are doing well. I was able to baptize the sister's investigators and I will send some pictures, because I got some pretty good ones this week, I think that's about all for the week, I love you all a bunch!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
Elder Michelson and Elder Ingalls together again
Tuesday was awesome, I got to work with Elder Ingalls!!!! It was awesome. I'll send you some pictures and stuff but that was pretty magical, I wish I could work with him so bad. He came from another island because he had to get some dental work done and then we got to work together because I was close to the Dental office. Then later on that night I went to a party with my Kiribati family that came back from Wotje for the summer, it was mama Bonnie's 49th birthday, and then also she made the announcement that as part of her Kiribati culture she officially adopted me into her family and I am now half Kiribati and half Canadian hahaha. It was really cool in all honesty. In terms of lessons and people and stuff, this week was kind of slow, but every single one of the lessons we had this week were just powerful, and we have a lot of people who are progressing and doing well. It's really not about the numbers or how many lessons you get, it's about changing people and inviting them to make that change. So that was a good lesson I learned from this past week, that sometimes just based on your numbers you feel like you're not accomplishing anything but then you begin to realize and see all the people that are doing well. As long as we are going out and trying our best based on the situation we are put in, so that was nice. What else... Oh the sister's had a baptism this week and also another set of elders in my district, so they are doing well. I was able to baptize the sister's investigators and I will send some pictures, because I got some pretty good ones this week, I think that's about all for the week, I love you all a bunch!
Lots of lovin'
From Elder Jordan Michelson
This is from the island of Wotje
Sisters baptisms Elder Michelson got to perform
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