The Twelve Tribes

Week of September 28- October 4, 2015
What a blessing to be here on Earth in these last days.  We are so blessed to be working with these wonderful people here in the Northern Country.  Every time we ask someone what tribe they are from we find a person from one of the 12 tribes we have never heard of before.  We have different people over for dinner each week. We are trying to invite all the members of the branch over, enjoy dinner together and then they share with us their amazing stories of conversion and the blessings of the gospel.  In two weeks we had people from six of the twelve tribes(14) over for dinner. They included the tribe of Mannasseh, Dan, Ruben, Naphtali, Benjamin, and of course Ephraim.  We hope to host the rest of the tribes while we serve here.  

We are ticking them off as they visit for dinner

The bottom line is that the 10 tribes are not lost.  They are right here learning the gospel and faithfully serving their Heavenly Father.  We had a visit this past Sunday from the first Counselor in the mission Presidency.  President Lobada is a very spiritual man.  The men here, who understand the gospel, take the concept of service to an entirely different level.  This man is a perfect example of that.  He has such a strong testimony of the gospel and is not hesitant in sharing it.  He speaks passable English and leads by example.  He spent two days here in town assisting the Branch President in administrative duties.  On Sunday he spent the entire day here attending all the classes and giving many wonderful testimonies.  On Sunday I prepared a short lesson to introduce the new Apostles to the branch members.  He bore special witness to the group that they were called of God.  He knew a lot about their background and shared things that I had missed. Now you might not think that is very cool but think of the timing.  He was away from home (he lives in Kyiv) and the Apostles were announced after 11 PM Saturday night here in Ukraine.  He had no internet to work with but he was adding to my internet research Sunday morning from his own knowledge. These are the men the Lord is preparing to lead the church in this part of His Kingdom.

Helping Hands branch activity

Vests one size fits most. NOT!

Elders, Branch President, his wife and 1st counselor

Lunch time with the branch

We had a wonderful experience this week that involved a good man from a small village outside of town.  We have been helping him with his house trying to get things fixed up.  This week we took our new elders out to meet him.

Elder Kudiabergen

Elder Albert

Laying in a new floor the Ukrainian way

I'm the cement mixer

Sister Anna puts on a feast

 Elder Kudaibergen who is from Kasikstan said that he would give him a spiritual thought.  Well it was in Russian so I didn't understand much but you could see that the man was a little uncomfortable as he was sharing his spiritual thought with him.  As we left I asked Elder K. what he had said.  He told me that he just told him "Why are you not a member. Your family has been members for almost 15 years. You need to be baptised".  He then challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and come to church.  I didn't think much more about it and just chalked it up to another very zealous elder baring his testimony. But at the end of Sacrament Meeting on Sunday I walked out into the hallway and there was that brother sitting in a chair listening to the meeting.  This is the first time he has been in the building in many years and it takes 45 minutes to get to the church from where he lives.  I guess it was me that was getting the lesson on following the spirit.  Elder Kudaibergen felt that the spirit told him what to say, he said it, and a miracle happened. He left just after I had a chance to shake his hand but he was there that is a wonderful start.

Elder Kudiabergen enjoying a well earned treat

I love conference weekend and was very excited to see who the Lord would choose to replace three wonderful Apostles.

Wonderful new Apostles

What a wonderful blessing to be part of a perfect organization that is lead by the Savior Jesus Christ. It brings comfort to my heart to know that we have a living prophet that is in communication with Him.  What a wonderful journey.  We are on here on this Earth and as we continue faithful we will see many wonderful blessings as the gospel continues to spread forth among the children of men.  So if you're bored with life and need a new challenge retire and go on a mission.

This is the type of things we see every weekend. After couples
get married they drive all over town honking their horns, stopping
 at all the most beautiful spots for pictures.  We see them all the
time here, in the park by the tower.

This fountain is in the main park by the church. See what you
are missing by not being on a mission!

The missionaries are the best.  We love working with them
These missionaries serve in Cancun you might recognise the
second one from the left.  Elder Mikkelsen is having a great time.

This is our favourite Bakery. They have amazing treats here.

 Not all of you who are reading this can do it right now but you can find a way to make a difference by simply sharing your testimony. As we learn in Preach My Gospel "No effort is Wasted"  Take the opportunity to be a friend and make a difference and you will bless the life of someone special.
Have a great week we love you and are too busy to miss you sorry about that.
Love Elder and Sister Mikkelsen

The statement above is not true.  We do miss all of you
but this is where we need to be right now.