CRAZY DRIVING, MANY STREET VENDORS, SLOW COMPUTERS AND UPDATE ON THE WORK

Driving with T. Good times.

The people drive crazy here, aha, but I manage just fine. I've adapted. The roads are thin and full of pot holes, there is no law enforcement, everyone drives super fast and will randomly stop in the middle of the road and park. So yeah, driving is fun. Also, people sell everything from fresh coconuts to pirated movies on the side of the road. Ice cold coconut water is a cool experience, but coconut water is not my favorite.. aha.. the juice here is amazing, though, and they have so many different types I've never heard of. Luckily, the water here is clean, so I drink plenty of it seeing as I'm in the hot sun all day.

Sorry about the lack of long letters. The computers here are really slow and sometimes the power surges, and I loose everything I was writing and other stuff, but I should tell you how the work is going. It's been less than stellar, but there's some amazing aspects as well. So this has been my life for the past few weeks. If you remember from my previous letter, we had three baptism dates a month ago... and now we have one and a half. One lady avoids us because her mom told her not to associate with our church and this if she's baptized she'll go to hell because you are only supposed to be baptized once, among other things. Moesha is 18, but she kind of has to obey her mother, so we haven't seen her in quite a while.

The other baptismal date was Brian. He's been living with Sister Halloway (a member) and has been for a very long time. They are practically married just without actually being married. So, we've been trying to set a marriage date for them. Sister Halloway is good to go whenever, but Brian is a little less sure. He's the one I gave the blessing to, by the way. So, we are teaching them together about the importance and beauty of marriage this week to try and set that wedding date. Just pray for us.

Lastly, is Kay. She's our golden investigator. Always progressing, keeps commitments, knows the church is true. But, the baptism date that she gave us was January 2nd because she wanted to do it at the new years to turn her life around. That's a solid baptism date, but I don't know if I'll still be here because it's after transfers. I guess that's not really the important part but I just wanted to be there to see the result of hard work. Kind of selfish thinking, I know.

Other than that, we've been contacting and meeting amazing people. The problem is, just because they are amazing doesn't mean they accept the restoration or care enough to change their lives. This letter might sound pretty down, but I want you to know that I'm doing fine. It's just the reality of missionary work. I guess people's agency just makes things very unpredictable. (:

Thank you for your prayers, love and support. It helps more than you know.

Love,
Elder Mikesell the 4th

So, it's election season here, and the two major parties are NDP (new democratic party) and Labor. So, Elder T and I got Labor t-shirts... and NDP shirts... I just haven't taken a picture in my NDP shirt yet, aha. 

I'M THE ONLY MISSIONARY IN MY ZONE WHO CAN DRIVE... SUPER BUSY

Thank you so much for telling me all about Thanksgiving and for all the questions, too! I plan on responding next week, I promise. I have just been super busy driving people around the island today because missionaries in my zone were moving, and I'm the only one who can drive. I just hopped on the computer to let you know I'm alive, I love you, and I'll email you next Monday! Trust me, I have a lot to say!

Elder Mikesell the 4th

DINNER WITH SISTER MCDOWELL, A HOMEMADE SWING & ATTACKED BY 4 PUPPIES

Dinner with Sister McDowell and her two daughters (:

Homemade swing

Hey! Elder T and I get along very well and are doing wonders in our area. We're mainly working on reactivation right now, though, because sacrament attendance is dropping... which isn't good.

It's crazy that Alec gets home in a month. I called him "trunky". College will be awesome for him. He's a smart one he is. (Just needs to learn some organization and time management skills) I wonder if the mission has helped at all in that sense... hmm.

Yes, we retaught the restoration to him, and it went well. We just need him to talk more. He's super quiet which can be hard with teaching sometimes. I'll let you know more about him and others next week (:

There is no temple in the Caribbean. No wards either. On St. Vincent there are two branches and one group. It's amazing none the less.

Love you lots,

Elder Mikesell the Fourth

4 puppies that attacked me in the streets.

ELDER T IS AWESOME, AMAZING EXPERIENCE GIVING A PRIESTHOOD BLESSINGS & BEAUTIFUL ST. VINCENT

Elder T and I

Yellow!

These little guys are everywhere.

I know, time is going by quickly! I just wish I had more time to email, answer questions and then talk about everything else, but it's just impossible! aha! Elder T is awesome. So nice and giving and a great trainer. He's also loud and funny. aha. Like he will yell "Elder Mysell! I will shot you!" In our apartment and stuff like that. So expect another good 6 weeks (: Our apartment is still pretty nice. The shower is a little jank. It's either high pressure cold showers or low pressure warm showers. So, I do the 2nd. I hate cold showers.

Most islands are a zone. I think Barbados has 2. Elder Merrell will be the new zone leader there now cause he is awesome.

Yes, yes... I'm facing the fact that the my farmers tan after a 2 year mission will be real bad...

Guess what happened this morning? So, I didn't personally have a super strong testimony on priesthood blessings, but this experience was quite amazing. Last Saturday, a member called Elder T and I and asked if we could come giver her husband (a nonmember) a blessing of comfort. So, we asked what's going on and she said that he had lost his job and gone through some "other things" that have thrown him into a deep depression and that he was talking about suicide and that she was scared. So, we head over there and he says he doesn't want the blessings. I was pretty disappointed because I know that priesthood blessings work soley on the faith of the person giving the blessing and the person receiving the blessing. We couldn't force him to want a blessing. So, Sunday goes by and we go to bed, but this morning at 6am his wife calls us and asks if we can come over right now because he would like a blessing. So, we get up and head down there again, this time because he asked for it. I explained priesthood blessings to him and begin to give him a blessings and although I was pretty nervous, my words were completely led by the Spirit. Directly after finishing the blessing he asks if he can be baptized. (He has apparently taken a few lessons before). We were like "Yes, of course!" and so we are going to teach him again and he said he is going to come to church. Keep him in your prayers. His name is Brian.

I have to go now. Thank you for all you do for me. I love you lots.

Elder Mikesell the Fourth

Beautiful St. Vincent

CELEBRATING ST. VINCENT'S INDEPENDENCE DAY, CLIMBING A COCONUT TREE & GETTING TRANSFERRED TO KINGSTOWN

Halloween was fun, and by fun, I mean a normal day... except we were fasting, aha. I know no one in the states did a 24 hour fast, though, aha, Halloween would make that impossible. Elder Merrell and I are doing well. We got transfer calls! I'm going down to Kingstown to be the new zone leader's companion. So, I will be driving now. (Pray for me. They drive crazy here...) My new companion is Elder Tulikahakau, aha, or Elder T as we call him. He is from Tonga. I already know him because he's in our tiny zone. He's pretty chill. Elder Merrell is going to Grenada. Oh, I don't know if I ever told you. I can only go to 5 islands in the mission: St. Vincent, St. Martin, St. Lucia, Grenada, and Barbados. The others are french speaking, so yeah.

This week has been good. Last Tuesday was St. Vincent's Independence day, so we kind of got to have fun all day, which was nice. We had a picnic at this beach park place, played cricket (which is big here), played football (or soccer), and all that good stuff. (: I even climbed a coconut tree! Other than that, this week has been quite busy. Oh, we also met this lady named Monica last week. She's about 40 and has lived here her whole life, but she suffered from a stroke about 2 years ago and can't really control the right side of her body anymore and has trouble speaking so Elder Merrell and I have been over there a lot teacher her and helping her around her house. She has a 20 year old son that usually helps her do things, but he's been really busy with work. He's helping to build the International Airport here. We've been doing that and a whole lot of other stuff, but now that I'm being moved, I won't see her or any of my other investigators anymore... but I'm sure the Sisters who are taking our area will do great. aha.

Keep letting me know how things are going at home. I love y'all.

Lots of Love,

Elder Mikesell IV

Selfie on the beach.

Elder Merrell and I on the beach expressing our comp unity.

Me and one of my favorite children. (: She is the daughter of Brother and Sister McDowell.
A less active family in our ward that we visit.

JANK COMPUTER, CULTURAL DIFFERENCES, SUPER HEALTHY EATING & NO HALLOWEEN IN ST. VINCENT "WHY YA WANTA INVITE DE EVIL SPIRITS?"

We made homemade chocolate shakes! So good!

So, long story short, I have very little time today. The people who run the little internet cafe put me on this jank computer, and I wasted 40 minutes before I was like, "Can I get another computer?" and they wouldn't refund the wasted time, aha, but anyways...

Me and Elder Merrell

We taught our investigator, Malinda, this week. Kennald had his semi-finals football games, so of course we went to support him. :P Nicole... we're not sure where she went. We can't get a hold of her, and she didn't show up to our last lesson. Let's pray she's okay. The Preach My Gospel talks about not feeling discouraged because it drains your productivity. I just naturally haven't been discouraged, though. I just do my work the best I can and have fun :D and the people ultimately decide to progress, you know? It's disappointing sometimes but not discouraging.

You asked about any cultural differences... I'm actually keeping a list of everything that I find strange here. It's a loooong list, but I'll give you a couple. Dad might find this interesting... Some poor people, in order to get food, will walk to the beach and fish with nothing but a hook and fishing line. No pole.. which I would imagine would be difficult. And, I have now had two women just randomly start breastfeeding during a lesson. LOL. I'll keep adding to the list, though!

You can get "American" food at the grocery stores. We eat super healthy... everything from frozen pizzas to cereal, really. With the occasional taco night. We make spaghetti, just with fatter shorter noodles. The only two fast food places here are KFC and Subway. There's not a whole lot of tourism here in St. Vincent that I've seen. As a missionary, you move around your island for maybe 4 to 6 transfers then move to a new island. Time really has been going fast!

They don't celebrate Halloween in St. Vincent. They think it's weird and kind of satanic. aha. They're like, "Why ya wanta invite de evil spirits!" It makes no sense!"aha!

I'll send some pictures now. Love you all!

Elder Mikesell IV

A wedding we went to in another ward. I love weddings. aha!

A random cat.

GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR, CRAZY PEOPLE, THE BOOK OF MORMON IS AWESOME AND A MURDER IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE

Another pic from my La Soufriere volcano hike!

Yep, I'm in a month now... Oh! We have a golden investigator... kind of.. her name is Nicole. She's 25 years old and super interested in the Book of Mormon and where it came from and what it is all about. The whole first lesson was answering her many, many questions. We taught her a few days ago about the restoration of the gospel. It was a long lesson, but it was amazing. When I told her about the first vision, she said she was getting goose bumps, and I told her, "That's the Spirit Nicole." Then we got her to come to church this Sunday, but she had to leave after Sacrament meeting. She says she'll stay the whole time next week, though. (: But, I just really learned to love her last lesson because she really opened up about how she felt really confused and lost and just needed some sort of help from God, so she's looking for Him right now and what we are teaching feels right. So, yeah... that's Nicole. She's awesome.

Our other investigators are Malinda and Kennald. Malinda is sick, so our last appointment was canceled, but other than that she's well. She keeps all of the commitments. Kennald is... busy. Like actually busy. If he weren't so awesome and friendly and most of all NORMAL, we would think he's avoiding us, but he just got a job as an elementary gym teacher, and he plays football (soccer, not American football.. that's not even a thing here.) We just never find time to teach him, but we'll keep trying. The reason I said NORMAL by the way is because a lot of people you meet here are just crazy people, aha. There's crazy Rasta men, crazy old ladies, and just all sorts of crazy people. aha. We have a lot of investigators, that's not too big of a problem, it's just that they don't progress usually. We do a lot of work with inactive members as well. We get an occasional referral, but most investigators are from street contacts.

You don't knock doors here. You walk up to the house and say, "Good day inside!" or "Good night inside!" depending on the time of day, but we have talked to a few people that way as well. That's how we found Kennald.

Me and Elder Merrell

What is a typical day like for me? Wake up... shower, eat, get dressed, study forever, lunch, go out and teach investigators or inactives, when an appointment falls through at the last second, use that time to contact new people, go home, eat, shower again, sleep. That's pretty typical, I'd say. Elder Merrell and I get along a little too well sometimes, aha. Because we have a similar sense of humor, we can sometimes get a little "distracted" from the work. aha. But, we are doing great. I think my mission experience can only get worse from here (:

What's the biggest thing I've learned so far? hmmm... how little I knew about the Book of Mormon, so I'd say the biggest thing I've learned is how awesome The Book of Mormon really is. It is a spiritual nourishment like none other but more than that it's just entertaining, ya know? When you actually know who's who and where they are and what's going on and all that. So, I've learned to love the Book of Mormon.

Beautiful scenery here in St. Vincent

St. Vincent is just great. I love... the people the most. They are so nice (most of them anyways) and willing to just sit down for a second and listen to some white boys talk about Jesus. I've had bread fruit, five finger fruit, golden apple and sugar apple. Bread fruit is very strange... the others are just fruity and sometimes good, sometimes bad, aha, just like other fruit. Mangoes are really good here, though!

Oh! I forgot to tell you! A few weeks ago, there was a strait up murder right outside our house. aha. The gunshots woke me up. That morning Elder Merrell and I go check it out and there were a bunch of scary military looking people with assault rifles securing the area and the dead body was just through the bushes. They ended up just burning the bush.

Love,
Elder Mikesell the Fourth

Another pic from my La Soufriere volcano hike!