It begins today. We stayed the night in Erik’s house and came to the MTC at 10:20. What a wonderful blessing to have entered into the service of the Lord. We had a wonderful orientation session. There are 65 couples here serving all over the world. We met Pat Faught’s brother and his wife and a couple from South Weber that knows the Osbornes, Ralph and family.
The first one D&C 100:1 with our names added
“ 1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends sidney and Joseph (Ned and Janet), your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seethe me good; for in me there is all power.
Then D&C 84:88
88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angles round about you, to bear you up.
D&C 68:6
6 Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.
And a quote from President Hinkley
“Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great
cause. Lend your efforts to helping people. . . . Stand higher, lift those with
feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of
Jesus Christ.”
This is a wonderful experience to be here serving with wonderful people who will travel all over the world to bless the lives of others. 63 people this week 30 couples and three single sisters. Looking forward to working in the Lords vineyard.
We were divided into districts this is a photo of our district.
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| Brother Swallow trainer Mamalles' going to Nauvoo Benson's going to Singapore |
Week of Feb. 16, 2015
Our last week at the MTC, we are in training for
office couples. I actually enjoyed it
quite a bit. It was a bit tedious in the
morning discussing MS office. But in the
afternoon I learned several things I didn’t know about in Excel. There is always something we can learn. I also was introduced to IMOS system, which
is the accounting system of the church for missions. It is a treasure trove of information. What was really fun was that our training
module allowed us to see the Kyiv Ukraine Mission. So we had the opportunity to
see all the missionaries and where they are being assigned and their areas. It
will be a great blessing to to work with all those missionaries and get to know
them.
In our training we learned that without office couple a companionship would have to spend 6 hours a week and if the mission has 200 missionaries doing 6 hours of office related work that would equate to 46,500 hours of office work which is 5 years of missionary service. So you office types you are needed!!!! you would make a big difference in the Lords work. Just a thought.
We learned so much this week we just don't realize what the church is doing to protect and use the sacred funds of the church. Missionary work is very expensive but it is well planned out by the Brethren to get the most out of the tithing funds.
Thursday was our last day of training and so we packed to the trip to Ukraine. We arrive at the SLC airport at about 6:15 AM and look who was there to greet us.
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| Erik & Erika Farewell vistiors at the Airport |
I can't imagine what the pioneers did with 17 lb. of per person. The picture below is 280+ pounds and we left a lot of stuff at home that we would have loved to have. This is a testimony that we have way too much "Stuff" in our lives.
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| No handcart here. |
We traveled to Chicago and then on to Frankfurt Germany. We meet a Ukrainian couple at the Airport there and had a wonderful talk with them. His broken English and our broken Russian. You can communicate with a little understanding and love. I didn't get permission to post their picture but they were wonderful. We did get their address so we are sending the missionaries over with a copy of the picture and a B of M. This picture of Janet boarding the plane to Kyiv.
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| The lady in the purple coat and the man behind her were the ones we visited with |
After 24 hours of travel we arrive in Kyiv. We just had our passports stamped and no inspection of luggage. President and Sister Packer and the Callisters were waiting for us. They had their driver with him. Only the President and his wife are the only ones in the entire mission that drive. So when we get home you will have to watch out for the Mikkelsen's.
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| On the left is our Mission President and wife Callisters on the Right. |
What a blessing it is to be in the mission field. One quick testimony of how the Lord's hand is in the work. As we were resting ready to leave the MTC we were checking to make sure we didn't forget anything Janet found a large plastic bag that was completely full of packages of different types of seeds. All the seeds were things that will grow in the Ukraine. I felt for some reason we needed to bring the seeds with us. Yesterday as we were interviewing with President Packer the reason for that feeling was discovered. He was telling us about the area that we will be serving in and about one member and the problems they were having and how we needed to find a way to make a difference in his and his families lives. As we talked we discovered that he had a farm and that there was a project that needed to be done to build some green houses. It was shown to us how we will be able to use our seeds to plant eternal seeds of friendship and love. I can't wait to get there and work with them and allow the seeds of the gospel to sprout and grow.
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| Seeds of the gospel!!! |
It is so wonderful to be here, a little intimidating as you walk down the street the people will not meet your eyes but we are smiling and saying доброе утро (Good Morning).
We went to church today to the International Branch it is an English speaking Branch. There are a lot of temple couples and US government people that attend. The Temple President and his wife spoke today it was wonderful. Our Sunday school teachers is a retired BYU professors. It was a wonderful day. And if you look out of about any window of the church you see the Temple. What a beautiful place it is.
Hope you all have a great week I know we will. We will leave for Vinnistya on Tuesday and will stay in a hotel for 2 weeks until our apartment is ready. So we are still homeless but we are getting use to that. Love the Mikkelsen's
до свидания (Good By)
