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

RUNNING AROUND LIKE CHICKENS WITH OUR HEADS CUT OFF, CHICKEN FARMS & ENGLISH CLASSES

So, this week has been pretty busy. We've been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, haha, trying to figure out how do everything on our own! But, God has blessed us, probably out of pity. We have been able to teach a few solid lessons, and we have a new investigator who has really good potential. The major problem is that he is a factory worker, and he works on Sundays. We've been praying to figure out how to help him.. He makes next to nothing and lives in a shack with his mom and son, but even though we've only met him twice, he's started reading the Book of Mormon and asks really good questions. I'm hoping he can overcome his challenges and be able to come to church. Other than that, we've been working with a lot of less actives. 

 

Also found and old guy named Tommy who used to be in the British army, his English is pretty good, and he loves to talk about the good old days, haha. We also met a farmer who has a pretty incredible story. He snuck his way into Hong Kong in the 60's because his family was starving, started a chicken coup farm, figured out some way to make it better than every other chicken farm of the day (not sure about the details, still don't speak a whole lot of Chinese...) and made a ton of money, built his house (like actually built it..) which is really nice, out in the middle of a ton of rice patties near the base of a mountain wayyyy out in the middle of nowhere, haha. Now he's just hanging out.. taught himself how to read and invest, lives off the interest of his chicken farm that he sold. Super smart guy. Though he has been through crazy challenges early in his life... I hope we can find a way to help him come unto Christ and realize his blessings. Right now he doesn't really believe in anything because of all the hardships he's been through and only believes in himself.. 

 

We also were able to do a service project for Sister Wong (the  "I'm a Mormon" lady from the video) and taught her less active daughter. She told us about how she was picked and the whole process behind the "I'm a Mormon" video thing. There is a ton that goes into those things, it's crazy. I really want to do that kind of stuff when I get back [make those kind of videos]. Anyway, it was good. 

 

We are also working on revising and improving our English class that we are doing every week. We've been told in other Asian missions that 90 percent of their baptisms come from English class, so we are taking it more seriously. We figure if we go up to people and offer a free English class they will be more willing to talk than if we just walk up on the street and talk about the gospel out of nowhere. Hopefully that yields some success. Well until next week! Alec, where are you going already?!!! Come to China!!! haha Love you all, keep the faith.

 

Love,

Elder Mikesell

TRAINING MY NEW COMPANION, TIM TAM SLAMS & FUN FACTS ABOUT THE CHINA HONG KONG MISSION

Okay, so I've been training for the last few days... I don't know why either, so don't ask, haha. My companion is a good kid though. He was born in Canada but speaks pretty good Chinese because his parents are from Hong Kong, so I got lucky. He knows how to talk with people about normal stuff but doesn't know a lot of gospel terms, which is the only thing I know, so it works out ok, haha. He told me he has the vocabulary of a 6 year old, which is about 5 1/2 years farther along than me, haha, but we've been doing ok. Running around trying to figure out what to do.

One of the elders in my our apartment passed his one year mark yesterday, so we had a tim tam slam which is the greatest thing since chocolate. You take these things called tim tams,  I think you can get them in the states, and freeze them. Then you bite off 2 of the opposite corners, make hot cocoa, and use the tim tam as a straw. The middle melts, and you try and see who can go the longest before you have to bail out and eat the tim tam or have it fall into the cocoa and be lost forever. It's pretty fun, haha. 

Another fun fact about the China Hong Kong mission... to be an effective missionary we've established you need to be fluent in about at least 7 different languages/forms of communication. You need to be able to 1. speak English 2. read/write English 3. Speak Cantonese 4. read/write traditional characters (the closest thing to a written form of Cantonese there is.) 5. Speak Mandarin 6. read/write simplified characters (Mandarin written language) 6. Read/write Yale (American) Pinyin. (they way we learn to speak Chinese) 7. be able to read/write British Pinyin (kinda like yale but the way the British do it, and the way the Hong Kong maps/signs are written) if you can do those you have a good start.. well, you at least be able to read most of the teaching and progress records, haha. Other languages that are really useful are Tagalog, Nigerian, Malaysian, and every middle eastern language, haha. Hong Kong is a big mixing pot.

Well, we are still working hard here in the New Territories. We have a good investigator right now who is willing to meet with us regularly, but she has pretty strong ties to her other church, so it's been a challenge to help her understand the truthfulness of the gospel. Mostly because she won't read the Book of Mormon, but she'll come around eventually! I love you all. I really wish I had more to report ,as far as the work, but it's been the same as it was when I got here. No break through yet, but it's coming. It's a process not an event, as my mission president would say. Keep knocking doors and talking to people on the street! Thanks for all the love and support. I can feel it. Keep the faith. Love you.

 

Love,

Elder Mikesell

 

 

 

 

WORKING HARD, CHINESE CHESS, USING MY FIRST SQUATTER & STAY TUNED!

Hey Mikesell Family!!! How's everything back home?! I hear you guys are starting school soon. Good luck!! Things here are still rolling. We are working hard trying to find people to teach. We do have one investigator who definitely has potential for baptism, but it will probably take some time.

Oh! Did you know that there is such a thing as Chinese chess? Not Chinese checkers, Chinese chess, and there are elephants and cannons involved!!! I've never played, but it looks cool. Oh, I also used my first squatter the other day... It wasn't too bad. Though, kind of intimidating when you see just a hole in the ground, haha. Sorry I don't have a whole lot of time to write, we had to give our summer missionaries back all the way in Kowloongtong and that takes a while. 

Also, I was just informed this morning that next move, starting Thursday, I will be training, so please pray that I don't mess up my new missionary for life, haha. I'll let you know how it goes next week. So, for now, I'm staying put. I'll probably spend two years here in the village of Kam Tin, haha, but that's not so bad. It's super pretty out here. Anyways, I love you all, keep the faith. I'll write more next week, so stay tuned... hahah. 

Love,
Jay

THE MYSTERY BEEPS, TYPHOON, WORKING HARD & MHDAKHAN (TOO BUSY) FOR CHRIST!

Hey! So this week has been pretty challenging... I've spent a week speaking very little English and very little understandable Chinese,  hahaha, but my summer missionary companion who's name is also Mahk (though that's his real last name) is awesome. He's 17, and his brother is actually a missionary here in Hong Kong right now. He's a really hard worker and never complains. We've done a loooot of finding this week with not a ton of success, but he doesn't let that get him down. We've got another week together, so I'm hoping to make some progress. 

THE BEEPS... It's a mystery!

In other news, we got an apartment phone! The land line has been broken, but we got it fixed. I know that's not the most exciting thing in the world, haha, but the story isn't finished.. So, we got the phone fixed, but at random times it will ring and then when you answer, no one is on the other line. It just goes dead.. kinda creepy, right? We call it THE BEEPS... It happens at least a few times a day, and it's acually more annoying than anything else, haha. 



Oh, also, we had a typhoon come close to shore this week. The warning level got up to a level 9 which is pretty intense, but most of it was during the night and in the morning, so we only had to stay in our apartment for an extra 2 hours before the warning went back down to a 5,  and we could go out. I was kinda hoping we'd get a hard core typhoon,  but twas not so. Where we are in Kam Tin, there was a lot of wind and more rain than I've ever seen in my life. Other than that, we've just been doing what we always do. Work hard. We were told in our last zone conference that we aren't allowed to have backpacks anymore while finding, they want us to use shoulder/messenger bags. I'll just buy one here becasue it would be cheaper than you sending me one. They are pretty cheap in American dollars.

Also, I thought of something I wanted to share on a spiritual note that I just remembered. We were paking muhns the other day (knocking doors) and a man opened tho door, and we told him who we were. He responded with the usual "mhdakhan" which is busy, or not free right now. That's how they reject us, anyways, after he closed the door,  we turned to go and someone else inside yelled "Who was that?" and the man responded "JESUS." In Chinese  to say christian you just say "Christ church" but people will sometimes just call us "Jesus people" or even shorter, "Jesus". When that happened, I thought about what if Christ really was at the door? Would he still slam it? As missionaries, we are literal representatives of Christ, and in more sense than one. Christ was rejected by the people who proclaimed to be waiting for him. By the people He saved. As I get rejected by literally dozens and some times hundreds of people per day (like if we're finding at Long Ping Bridge, where there are a ton of people), I experience some of what Christ experienced, in an infinitely tiny amount. I understand the atonement more because of it. Just a thought. Make sure we aren't closing the door, because we are "mhdakhan" or too busy for Christ in our lives. 

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-missionary-life

I love the second one! It really hit home!

I love you! Keep the faith!

Love,

Jay

And the picture with the t-shirt... I don't think Alec knew what it said when he sent it to me. I just got down to the bottom of the box with all the treats that it came in and saw it. It basically says "hooray" for some communist leader in China. Seeing how I am definitely not communist, nor is communism popular here in Hong Kong, I definitely can't EVER where this shirt! Thanks, Alec!

BIKING, GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, SHARING THE BOOK OF MORMON & TRAINING SUMMER MISSIONARIES

 

Hey, so first I just want to thank all of you for writing me!! Other missionaries get jealous because I get so many letters, :)))) so thank you. It's the best. Man, Alec, I can't wait for you to get your call!!! It's gunnna be awesome!! Almost ready to get those teeth yanked out, haha.

So, last Monday we actually went up into the mountains with a scout group from mainland. It was super fun. We sang campfire songs and stuff. When they started the fire all the kids were freaked out, haha. I don't think they had ever seen a fire before :p It made me realize how blessed I am to be able to do all that stuff before my mission. 

 

Also, the other day Elder Kwan and I decided we were going to tract out a chyun (village) that we had never been to before because it was on the edge of our area, on the other side of where we live. We started out and came to this big hill. I loved it, haha, it reminded me of when I used to ride up Beaver canyon on my bike. Kwan didn't like it so much though, haha. He couldn't understand why I loved biking up this hill, and I'm not sure myself, either haha. Anyways, we got to the top and the road kept getting smaller and smaller, and the forest kept getting bigger and bigger, until we were in the straight up jungle! 

 

Haha, no kidding! I was waiting for George of the jungle to swing by, haha. Then, finally it opened up to this little valley overlooking all of Kam Tin and parts of Yeun Long. It was the most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen, and this little chyun nestled in the middle. At first we didn't have much success, and we were absolutely soaking wet from the climb. I've never sweated so much in my life, but right before we were going to come down I stopped at another house, and the guy let us into his backyard. We taught him and his wife. I thought the lesson went really well. He liked to talk to us, but wasn't super interested in our message, but his wife seemed like she might be, so we gave her a Book of Mormon and she agreed to read it. So even though this wasn't an immediate success story, it was cool. 

 

 

We also had moves this week. My companionship stayed the same, but we lost Elder Ward and Au in the apartment which made me sad because I love those guys. And this is Elder Ward's last move, so he'll go home, and I probably won't be able to see him before he goes because he got transferred to the other side of Hong Kong. But we'll hang out after the mission. We also got a call Saturday that we were getting summer missionaries again and that Elder Kwan and I would be training them. I don't know why because I'm about as far from qualified for this as I can be, but the Lord wants me to do it, so I promised him to do my best. We picked them up this morning and my summer missionaries don't speak English... So, I'm training in all Chinese. Please pray for me, haha. These next two weeks are gunna be interesting, but we'll work hard!! Thanks for everything. I love you all. Keep the faith!

 

Love

Elder Mikesell