MY FIRST WHITE COMPANION, COOL STAKE CONFERENCE & BLACK RAIN!

Elder Mikesell's Adventures in Aberdeen

Sister Chan is doing great! She has been really excited about missionary work and has given us probably over 6 referrals, haha. They are all deaf, but I don't mind. Not very many want to keep meeting, but it doesn't matter, it's the effort that she is making that makes it worth it. She's given more referrals since being baptized than any member or ward combined in such a short amount of time, haha. 

My companion is really cool, his name is Elder Phillips. He's a move younger than me, but his Chinese is way better, so it's pretty humbling. He's my first white companion, haha. It's weird to think I've been out a year, I still feel really new. Especially with the language. Chinese is a whole different animal. Just when you think you are starting to get it... you get humbled. The members are great. We are really trying to get them to give us more referrals. We just had stake conference and literally the entire adult session was about missionary work. It was cool! Our mission president spoke about how the prophet says that it is the members responsibility to find investigators and the missionaries responsibility to teach them. I hope something comes out of it. We have a couple investigators right now. March, honestly, has been pretty rough. We are hoping it picks up in April. Aberdeen doesn't have a ton of good "finding spots" where we normally go to try and contact people, like parks and stuff. The street itself is impossible cuz there are too many people and their isn't enough room. Plus they are all busy going somewhere. 

Last night I experienced something I've always wanted to since I got to the field. Hong Kong has a series of warnings for the amount of rain fall when it becomes dangerous. It starts with yellow rain, then amber, then red and finally black. I'd never actually seen it get to black before. It is the only time we can't go out. During red we are just supposed to stay close to somewhere we can get safe if it turns to black. So, last night we had a huge thunderstorm roll through. It was literally a wall of water like I had never seen before in my life. It was dark but with constant lighting flashes and so loud we couldn't hear each other. It was the most water I've ever seen. Super cool. I can't remember what qualifies for black, but it's something like a few inches a minute or something crazy, and I believe it. So cool. Anyways, we are safe. 

Thanks for everything, love you all, keep the faith, never quit, just keep swimming.

Love,
Elder Mikesell

Yes, I really did eat the spicy duck tongue. It kind of taste like jerky but not nearly as good, haha.