GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR, PLANTING SEEDS & GACHAI BENG... THE MOST DELICIOUS THING KNOWN TO MAN!

 

YES!! I got the Halloween package this week! Thank you so much! The whole apartment loved it. It was great, thanks! I feel like I'm missing out on a ton sometimes, but other times it's like.. yeah they are all the same, haha. I'm in the worst shape of my life right now I think.. Super fat from the rice and fatty dumplings and stuff. We only have a stove, so we fry everything... and McDonald's is the cheapest place to eat and pretty much the only thing we can afford so yeah.. I'm pretty sure I couldn't run a half marathon right now at all, and it will only get worse cuz we are the only missionaries in the mission who have bikes, and we bike all day everyday, so when I get transferred... even less exercise. I really want do better, but there is just like ZERO time. It's depressing, but I'll get it back when I go home. Haha, yeah I don't know, but I definitely need some deodorant, haha. 

Elder Mikesell & summer missionary Elder Mahk

Oh, the elder I'm standing with in front of the church was my sukeih, my summer missionary. They lived with us for 2 weeks and were our companions, we taught them how to do missionary work and stuff. He has the same last name as me, haha Mahk (麥) spoke ZERO English.. it was a challenging 2 weeks, haha. 

Elder Mikesell with his companion Elder Wong

Elder Mikesell with his companion Elder Wong

Training is going well, my comp is great, and we work well together. My comp's name is Elder Wong. (For anybody who knows Cantonese it's not wongsik ge wong, but wongdaih ge wong) (王長老) There was a lot of pressure at first because I was a new missionary myself when I started training him, but we've been blessed. We actually found this golden investigator the other day that was a potential from a year ago. I just called him up for the heck of it, to practice calls.. cuz I hate calls, and he was actually willing to talk to us. He thought my Chinese was awesome and asked how many years I had lived in China.. so yeah, we got along really well after that, haha. He wants to come to church and everything! But the only problem is he lives in teun muhn, so we had to pass him to the tuen muhn elders, who are our zone leaders and also are on fire... teaching a ton. I was a little disappointed. I wish we could teach him, but we are progressing the work as best we can. Lot of planting seeds, tilling the ground, weeding, watering.. and all that other stuff. But we will reap eventually. We also met up with a returned missionary who served in yuen long 22 years ago! He was in the same building we use now, so we gave him a tour. He said it was trippy being back. I'll bet it was, haha. Anyways, I love all of you! If you ever come to China, you need to get a gachai beng!! It's the most delicious thing known to man. Some kind of waffle, with tons of butter, sugar, honey of some kind and peanut butter mixed with a dose of Chinese magic. Awesome. The best ones are in TST. So yeah, I'll send you a bunch more pics when I get the SD card! Thanks for everything! Love you!

I HAD TO PRAY THE ENTIRE TIME FROM PUTTING IT INTO MY MOUTH TO SWALLOWING THE LAST BITE, A MIRACLE & GOD GAVE US THIS ONE, AND IT'S NOT THE ONE WE EXPECTED

Our church building. This is actually the first one ever in Hong Kong. The dedicatory thing says, "Southern Far East Mission" haha

AHH general conference was awesome!! I can't believe how fast it went by! It NEVER went that fast before my mission. And I didn't even watch the Saturday conferences that often.. It's insane. I was talking with Elder Walter about it, and we were wondering if it was just because we were missionaries and this is what we are focused on 24/7... or if it's cuz we are closer to the spirit... or just because sitting in an air conditioned room is better than going outside and finding, hahaha. We concluded it was probably a combination of all 3. 

We actually had a cheng out the other day! I ate pig skin, chicken feet, cuddle fish, some innards of pig and/or cow, and some other stuff I wasn't sure about. I won't lie, the pig skin was the worst. It was really hard. I had to pray the entire time, from putting it into my mouth to swallowing the last bite. You just chew and chew and chew. It's like a disgusting piece of pure fat, but the skin has like bumps on it... that was the worst. Ughhgghghghszb. 

Anyways, we didn't have a great numbers week a couple weeks ago, but it was moves so that's kinda normal. I stayed in Kam Tin which is what I expected. I'll probably stay my whole mission here, haha. Our new district leader is super funny. I love the kid. Elder ward emailed me from home... crazy he's on the other side of the world now.. I just saw him last week... but anyways we had a miracle a occur this week. A while back we were going through our area book and found this kid who was a former investigator, so we called him up to see if he would meet with us. He said he liked to run, so we set up a time to go running with him. We found out that he was leaving for Seattle the following week, so we weren't going to be able to teach him. We just gave a short lesson on prayer and the Book of Mormon. The next week we were finding at the MTR, and I met a lady who was willing to talk with me. She told us that she had a son who used to investigate our church. We ended up finding out that she was the mom of that kid. She was really nice but wasn't willing to hear our message or anything. We didn't want to push her cuz she was nice, so we just left it at that. 

Anyways, she would walk her dogs at the MTR a lot and would see us finding. We would talk to her from time to time, not really about the gospel very often but just chat. Then eventually she invited us to dinner because we told her that we would be away from home for 2 years, and she said that was too long to not have a meal made by your mom, haha. Plus I think she was sad because her son was in Seattle, and she missed him. So, we go to this cheng out not expecting too much. After dinner we asked if we could share a short message. She said that would be ok, so we read 1 nephi 1:1 and talked about families, and the Book of Mormon, really simple and fast, only a few minutes. Then she started talking about her family, which lead to her past and then she started saying how she didn't know God's will for her, and she was confused. She's had a hard life, and had to get divorced and stuff. She said she told us stuff she never even told her kids. Then she asked if she could come to church. She said that because she saw us working so hard everyday, getting rejected, sometimes really meanly but never retorting - that our motives must be to bring people to Christ and have Christ like love. I never thought about it. I'm really excited and hope it works out. She would be such an awesome Relief Society president. I know that God gave us this one, and it was not the one we expected.. but I guess it normally isn't. Anyways, just something I'm excited about and wanted to share. 

We got to go on this picnic with the yuen yih ward. Sooooo cool. Way up in the mountains there is a bamboo forest and an awesome lake. Oh, also guess what? So there was this HUGE fire right outside of Kamtin last week. I thought we were going to have to evacuate, but they got in under control. It burned the whole mountain that is outside our window and we have to look at a black mountain instead of a green one. But that night it was all orange, soooo coool.

So, jacket season is coming up, well it actually already started after general conference, but it's been hot so President Hawks delayed it for a few weeks. Anyways, I needed to get a black jacket so I could wear it with any black pants because the suit that I brought with me is blue with pin stripes, so i can only wear those pants.. and after a few days of that they get nasty.. so 6 months is probably stretching it. Anyways, I bought a suit jacket today in Monkok for $268 (that's like $33 American, haha). I really want a p-day I can just relax, but they are busier than normal days. I'm glad you got the card!! Yeah, Kamtin is really the only area in the mission like that. Everywhere else is exactly how you would imagine it.  Yeah, that was a lesson about faith, if you have a sure foundation (keep you hand steady) then the lord will help you over come your trials. I tried it, too... it burned my hand, haha, guess I don't have enough faith. I didn't realize there were a lot of people speaking in that video, that's funny. 

The language isss... coming. I think. I can understand more than I can say myself, but it is coming. Still struggle everyday. I don't know how long that will last, but I'll get there eventually. Alec is going to be a boss missionary. I tell every philly I come across, cuz there are a ton in China, that I have a brother going to Baguio, and they're all like "whaaa that's the best place in the Philippines!!"

We found this kid the other day who is half black half Asian. He loves basketball, so we told him if he wanted we could play with him, if, after we played we taught him a little about our church. So we played, and he was ok, especially for Hong Kong. There aren't very many good basketball players here. Anyways, he thinks I'm like the end all, be all, NBA star for America. So he keeps calling me coach and compares me to this guy called the professor (he's like the one white dude on the And 1 streetball team, ya know like the harlam glob trotters stuff) anyways it's kinda funny. But he also has potential. Unfortunately, he doesn't live in our area, so we have to turn him over to the yeun yih elders, but it's whatever. We're moving the work along in every way we can. 

I'm starting a Christmas list for anyone interested, haha. Number one on the list.. deodorant because I can't find it anywhere. I don't understand.. there are a TON of body sprays and stuff but no actual deodorant. Weird right? You'd think everyone would stink but they don't.. I don't know what the trick is, but I guess apparently it's too hot for deodorant and it melts here.. but I don't know if that's a valid excuse. Well, I love all of you! Keep the faith, never give up.

Love,

Love Elder Mikesell / Mahk Jeung Louh / 麥長君

PICTURES!!! AUGUST - OCTOBER 2013
 

TEMPLE TRIP, SISTER MOODY'S BAPTISM & LANGUAGE EYE OPENER

Well, I wish I had some awesome story to share with you, but this week hasn't been anything special... Elder Ward is going home.. Super sad. He is one of my best friends on the mission. I'm going to miss him a lot. Last Monday we got a bunch of people together and played soccer which was super fun. Then on Tuesday our stake had a temple trip, so we got one of our less actives who is a school bus driver to take the ward, and he had a really good spiritual experience which was good. Oh, on Saturday we got to go to Sister Moody's baptism which was awesome! She's a great missionary. I guess she was supposed to go to Maccau but ended up not going, so it's been a weird week for her. Last night we got to go to a special fireside in Kowloontong called the "My Conversion" fireside. It's where all the missionaries who are going home pick one of their recent converts to bear their testimony. It was cool. We were able to get D, our investigator, to come which was good, I think she had a good experience.

So, I was just going through the Mormon messages on mormon.org cuz I love them and think they're great. I'd watch them all day if I could. I came across the Stella one; the lady from Hong Kong. 

Click here for Stella's mormon.org message

I've never met her cuz she is way out in Kowloon, but I remember watching that video like a dozen times [before coming to Hong Kong] and not understanding a single word they said. Like at all, and thinking... "Man, I'll never learn that language." I actually still have days like that, but I just watched it again just now and was amazed. I understood everything! Not exactly every word, but I knew enough to know what they were talking about the entire time. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I find that I compare myself a lot with other missionaries. There are some who have been out for the same time as me or even less, and I feel like their language is better, but I have to get over it and stop worrying about it. I am learning as fast as I allow myself to learn with the Lords help, and that should be good enough. I don't know, I'm just grateful I guess. It was an eye opener. 

Anyways, I don't have much else to report! We have moves coming up, but I doubt I'll go anywhere. I'm still training, so I don't think they will split us up. I'll probably be here next week, but if not I'll let you know where I am. You never really know with President Hawks. Love you all! Keep the faith!

Love,
Elder Mikesell

SERVICE WITH MAGGOTS AND SPIDERS, UNDERSTANDING THE LANGUAGE MORE AND MTC & LIFE COMPARISONS...

Hey dad! Wow, that's awesome! He [Alec] is going to be great. That's a ton of rainfall. I don't know how much we get here, but it feels like a lot. I email with Paul, and he said that it's a super nice place, cooler than most in the Philippines. We have a ton of Filipinos here that come for work, and I always tell them that my brother is going there. Yeah, he won't be very far at all! I can't wait to be able to email back and forth with him since we are in the same time zone. He'll have a ton of success. The work is exploding there. We had a bunch of Filipino missionaries in our zone in the MTC, and right after they left we got 54 new ones. They can't throw them in fast enough. That's so awesome. Haha, I know it's funny cuz one of my best friends here in the Hong Kong mission is Elder Ward, and his older brother served in Japan, and his younger brother is serving in Taiwan, haha. I hope Chase goes Mandarin speaking, that would be awesome! 

Yeah, I can get pictures from email but only a few at a time I think.. I'll send you a couple over email, but I'm copying a lot of pictures from my card and putting them on the card Kelly gave me and then sending it back with a letter, so you'll have a lot more. My investigators are doing okay. D came to church 2 weeks in a row which is awesome. The only reason she came this week is because it was raining, so she couldn't go on a hike like she wanted to. I told her God did that so she could come to church, haha. I'm still really worried about her though because she still goes to her other church, and she's still not for sure about here date yet, so we keep doing our best and praying. Leaving it up to the Lord after all we can do.. The other one is a construction worker and and can't come to church, so it's really hard, but he really has a desire to learn more, so I'm hoping we can progress with him. New investigators are hard to come by, but we are making it a priority this week. We have to find 1 new investigator.

The language is the language. I probably understand 40-60 percent of words spoken of a really basic conversation. 80 percent of a gospel discussion. But now the hard part is processing the words that I've learned, fast enough that I can keep up and understand the meaning of the sentences/ discussion. I'll know the subject of what's being talked about a lot of times but not the details. But, yeah I have good days where I think maybe I actually can do this... then I get humbled really quickly.. My companion and I are doing well. He has a desire for the work, so it's going well. I will write Alec for sure, and Chase. That's so awesome he works for Baskin Robbins. I'd kill to eat ice cream, haha. 

Well this week for me hasn't been too crazy. We've been doing a lot of service; moving people, visiting old peoples homes, stuff like that. We had one of yeun 2's investigators stuff get damaged from the typhoon, so we helped her clean it up. 

We also helped a less active's brother move.. It was awful. I won't lie. He was moving from one broken down, ripped apart shed to another down the street. The condition of living was just unnecessarily horrible. You know that show hoarders? They got nothing on this dude. I was trying to move a table, the one he eats off of, and a ton of maggots and spiders came out of it, and then when I freaked out he was like, "Oh you don't have to worry about the spiders, it's that snake over there that is the problem." IN THE MAN'S HOUSE" well kinda, there really is only 3 walls so i think the snake comes and goes as he pleases. Anyways. 


Oh, also I got the package from the Activity Day Girls!!! Thank you so much!! It was awesome, I loved it. 

The Los Prados Activity Day Girls sent Elder Mikesell a package with candy and a letter!

Oh and also last Friday we had zone 24's, and I was put with my MTC companion, haha. It was cool and kinda weird at the same time. We had a talk the other night about the mission, kinda about how it is like life. A lot of times we see only a super small perspective of this weeks goals or whatever, but if you step back you can draw parallels between the mission as a whole and life as a whole. Not just this life but eternal life. We lived with our parents before the mission. We chose to come out to learn and grow and share the gospel, we start out getting babied in the MTC, learning how to be a good missionary but with no real responsibility, kinda like when we grow up and are living with our parents, then we get kicked out and have to do stuff on our own, and it is really hard. There are ups and downs, you learn and grow, and it may seem like a long time. Sometimes more than others, but in actuality it's so short. Which is the same perspective God has of our mortal life. We are separated from our parents. We can communicate, but we are not in their presence. We grow old (in the mission we normally say that when you start your mission your just being born or you are a baby, then you are middle aged at a year and then you die at 2) you have kids (we call trainers dads, trainees sons) then die and go back to live with your family. And if you do well, you will not be ashamed about being in their presence. I learned something that I guess I had thought of before but not really deeply. Elder Walter pointed out that we go to whatever kingdom we are assigned due to our desires and actions. Simple doctrine, but what he said was that if someone doesn't make it to the Celestial kingdom it's not just because God forced him to go to a lower kingdom. If he is an unrepentant sinner he will want to be as far from God, from the guilt and shame as he can be (i.e. terrestrial/ telestial kingdom.) so we really do choose literally where we go. It says in the Book of Mormon that they would feel worse living in the presence of God knowing that they are unworthy, than going to hell.. crazy thought. Anyways that was kinda deep, but something cool to think about. 

Anyways, I love you all! One thing you can do to help me if you want is to offer your services to the missionaries in your area. We've been having a really hard time getting member presence in our lessons. It's YOUR ward people, not the missionaries. They are here to help you, but yeah. Love you miss you, talk you you next week!

Elder Mikesell

TYPHOON USAGI, PROGRESSING INVESTIGATORS & EMAILING AT THE APPLE STORE IN KOWLOON TONG

Typhoon Usagi, the strongest storm to hit the Western Pacific this year!

Hey! Yeah so Everyone here was freaking out about the typhoon, saying it was the biggest in Hong Kong's history, it has two eyes, it will be a level 10! But, it actually wasn't that bad. Maybe it's cuz we are so far inland, but it only knocked down a couple trees and stuff. Nothing big. We had to stay in Sunday night, but we could go back out by Monday morning. The reason I didn't email Monday isn't because of the typhoon but because we had our temple day this week, and it was Wednesday (today), so whenever we have temple day, which is once every other month, whatever day we go becomes our p-day that week. So, that's why, it was just a coincidence, haha. Unfortunately, I didn't save any babies from drowning, and I didn't get to find out if my comp could swim. BUT we did have a plan if something did go bad, we were going to a place way up in the mountains, we call it happy valley cuz it's a beautiful valley in the top of the mountains over looking Kam Tin and Yuen Long. We figure the higher ground would be the best place to be. I was actually secretly hoping it would be big, so I could say I lived through an awesome typhoon, and we would be able to like re-build houses for people then convert them, haha. But, that's not what the Lord wants right now, I guess. 

"I know his name!"

We do have an investigator with a baptismal date, though! November 3rd! I don't know if I told you yet, but if I did, I'm not sorry.. I tell everyone, haha. She has read the Book of Mormon for two weeks in a row AND came to church last Sunday. I'm really hoping she works through and continues to keep commitments. We've been working with here since like June or July.. Actually, Elder Ward and I found her. Elder Ward is going home in a couple weeks. I'm pretty bummed.. but I'll see him again in a year and a half so it's fine. We've also been been working with an awesome guy who has a ton of potential and real intent to learn the gospel, but he is dirt poor. He lives in a shed with his wife, mom and son. He is a construction worker and has to travel two hours to and from work.. and he works everyday, which means every Sunday.. so he hasn't been able to get to church.. He's been trying to read the Book of Mormon, but he isn't very literate and doesn't understand a lot, so it's tough. We read together when we can, but it's really hard to schedule him, so keep him in your prayers.. We have to find a way to get him to church. He's funny though cuz he asks great questions about the gospel. One time when we asked him if he read he was like yeah but I don't understand why the Nephi guy keeps saying "I Nephi, I Nephi, I Nephi, I know his name!!!" Haha, it was funny. 

Apple Store, Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong

Anyways, I don't have a whole lot of time, we are way out in Kowloontong at the Apple store, using the sample computers, haha, so next week I'll send you some pics from the library computers. I love you all though! Keep the faith. Back home sounds like the usual. I love how Chase has finally realized his childhood dream of becoming an ice cream man, haha. Alec sounds good, too. I can't wait to email back and forth with him cuz the Philippines and Hong Kong are in the same time zone. And the Make-A-Wish thing sounds awesome! The missionaries in my district were cracking up about all Brandon's wishes. We all thought they were pretty valid, awesome wishes, haha. Dad sounds like he is perpetually in some kind of youth event, haha, but that's where I think he likes to be anyways. Love you all!! I'll send pics on Monday!

Elder Jay

21st BIRTHDAY, SPARTANS OF THE MISSION, MOONCAKES, PARK-N-SHOPS & COW INTESTINES (SURPRISINGLY GOOD)

A Little Q&A With Elder Mikesell...

 

Hey! Yeah, I heard he [Alec] was going to the Philippines!! That's so crazy! The Filipino missions are baptizing like crazy. I was actually in a zone with a ton of Filipino missionaries in the MTC. They are some of my best freinds in the mission. I wonder if Alec is going to the same mission.. I can't remember where they are, though. I'll have to ask. 

 

 

I got your package!!! Thank you so much, it was awesome!! I ate all the chocolate in like 2 days and then felt sick, haha. I wasn't actually able to  bake the brownies, though because we don't have an oven. But, I think we may be able to do it at the church cuz they have one. I just gotta find the time, haha.  Actually, two of the elders in my apartment went to Kowloon for  something and saw my package and grabbed it, then hid it until by birthday, so it was an awesome surprise, haha. Tell everyone thanks for all the birthday wishes and cards and prayers and emails and everything else. It meant a lot. I can't really believe I'm 21. It felt weird that morning cuz I was thinking about what most 21 year olds do on their birthday, and I was up by 7 in the morning running though the streets of Kam Tin, Hong Kong, China for morning exercises. Kind of a contrast, haha, but it's awesome. 

 

Wow, that's cool that President Hawks sent you a letter. He is awesome. 

 

I can answer your questions here. 

 

Do you have regular dinner appointments at member homes? What kind of food do the members feed you? What are some of the craziest things you've eaten? Anything surprise you about the food there?

 

As far as dinner appointments, no not regularly... I've been changed out (it's chinglish, literally meaning "please out" like, please, let me take you out to eat cheng, meaning please, but anyways that's what we call them) about 4 times since I've gotten here, so not very regularly. Some missionaries get more, but the Kam Tin elders are the Spartans of the mission, haha. The food is different, but good. I've had chicken feet and liver, fungus soup, cow intestines, lots of rice, lots of different parts of pig, most of which I'm not sure what it was, lots of crazy veggies, that kinda stuff. Oh and curry. Curry is crazy spicy.. noodle soup, lots of dumplings.. and because the mid autumn festival is coming up, people give us a lot of moon cakes, which are little cake things with a duck egg in the middle. 

 

Mooncakes

 

To be honest, I'm not sure what the craziest thing I've eaten is because I don't ask a lot of times what I'm eating, haha. Yeah, there are some foods like cow intestine that I thought was good, so that was surprising. 

 

 
Do you spend a lot of time each day riding your bikes? Did your previous companion or your current companion have much bike riding experience before being called on their mission?

 

Yeah, the Kam Tin elders are the only elders in the mission with bikes, and we are on them everyday, and no neither of my companions have much experience, and I get kind of

How to j-hop on a bike...

scared for them because the traffic can get pretty crazy and the roads are super bad, so I taught them how to j-hop up and down curbs. Actually, my last companion ate it really bad and went to the hospital cuz he was trying to keep up with me once, so I've slowed down a lot.. My new companion has fallen a couple times too, and once into a rice patty, haha. So, I go slower now. 

 

What are the grocery stores like there? Similar to America grocery stores? Do they have similar brands?

 

Grocery stores are pretty similar, but a lot more packed.. All 4 wheels of the grocery cart swivels instead of the front two, so you can get around people. They have most everything that America has at "park-N-shop" which is like their Walmart, but the American stuff is really expensive, like syrup, peanut butter, mac and cheese, ice cream, chocolate, that kinda stuff. So we just buy ramin, rice and dumplings, haha. 

Do you speak a lot in church or teach a lot in church? You mentioned you've been working a lot with less actives. Has your branch had success with reactivation?

 

I actually spoke last Sunday in the yeun long 2 ward, but that was only my 3rd time speaking. Expressing the Spirit can be hard in Chinese, but I'm getting better at it. We don't teach any classes in church themselves, but we will teach investigators who come to church afterwards sometimes. Um, the less active work is a slow process, we are doing our best and have had some success, but there is a lot more to be done. I'd say only about 20 percent or so of members are active, so there are a lot of lost sheep we can't find. But we keep trying! One of our investigators has a baptismal date, so we are excited. She belongs to another church right now and read 2 Peter 2 from the Bible, and is worried that we are a false church. A lot of people get antied here because the translation of Mormon sounds like (Mo Muhn) which means "devils door"... So, we talked to her about how only good trees bring forth good fruits and vice versa from Matthew 7 and 3 Nephi also Alma 32. We read the Book of Mormon with her every time we meet with her, so I think that is helping.

 

Well thanks for keeping me informed on whats going on back home! I'm crazy stoked about Alec! Sister Moody is too, she says hi. We are emailing together right now, and she said that her ward is freaking out that we are in the same mission, haha.  I guess I just take it for granted,  but it is pretty cool. Anyways, I love you all. Alec, do work man!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh! You have a good amount of time to prep, so don't get lazy! It will go by soooo fast. I love you bro.

Love, 

Jay