Sunday, March 29, 2015

Grandparents, working on the farm, and blessing of a missionary

Week of March 23-29, 2015

We're Grandparents!!!!! It happened at 4:25 Columbus time this morning.  Riley Anne Mikkelsen entered the world a couple of days early but well and strong 6lbs 3 oz and 18” long.  Well it’s good to have a grandbaby we just hope we have many more in the years to come.  It is wonderful to see the blessing of the plan of salvation take place.  Loving parents that have preceded us in death sent her down to us. Now she has her little body so that she can learn and grow and gain knowledge. Papa Jonathan and Mama Kelsey are doing well and adjusting to a new life of adventure!  I will share a couple of pictures but I could fill several pages but I'll restrain myself.
This is the first picture we got of her as her daddy called us on FaceTime and I did a screen capture
Here are a couple of my favorite pictures please bare with me, most you understand this situation.  You need to be patient with old people.

Mama doing well

The Proud Papa
That was a great way to start the week and it just gets better everyday in the mission field. Like when you get this type of cute picture a couple of days after your grand daughter was born.
I promise this is the last one this week!!  But look how cute!!!
I had the opportunity to go out to the country and work with a wonderful family on their farm.  We got there in the morning and went right to work transplanting Cranberry bushes.  We planted about 400 plants which require us to dig up 400 of them up, then to dig 400 holes to plant them in, and then we had to plant them.  I'm here to tell you that was a lot of work for an old guy like me.  It was fun to get you hands into the soil.  The dirt here is so rich and black it is like opening a bag of potting soil.  They were telling me that this is not very good dirt.  I did not dig up one rock then entire time we were working!! For us Nevada Desert people that is truly a Miracle.  We then went to lunch we had brought our lunch with us but the family insisted on feeding us so we shared our sandwich materials with them and the sister had made some wonderful soup.  I guess the cheese and sausage and cookies is something the kids don't get very often they quite enjoyed themselves and I loved watching them eat.  After lunch we went to work laying out the location for a Greenhouse.  We had to cut down two small trees and we couldn't finish because there is a 80' tall pear tree that is in the way.  This little village was once the pear producer of the area and this tree is over 100 years old.  That is the project for next week.  There was a neighbor that was working next door she was 88 years old and was working when we started and was still going strong when we left.  We called out to her to say good bye and she yelled back to us "leave the Grandpa for me, the sweet sister we were with told her I had a wife already.  What a cute lady and talk about a hard worker she would work me into the ground. As we boarded the bus for the 45 minute ride back to town is was so impressed with the simple hard working life of these people.  They are so humble and grateful for everything they have.  
Sister Mikkelsen worked with one of our investigators and a wonderful sister in the branch on teaching them how to make Cinnamon Roles.  I can tell you they turned out really nice.  They also shared with our next door neighbor.  You know they are a hit when 30 minutes after you deliver them they come back and want the recipe. The challenge is not being able to communicate.  We are working on that problem we have this week just restarted our online tutoring with the BYU MTC training for Senior Couples.  So we are working on different scenarios of communicating we just haven't got to the one about sharing recipes.  I'm not quite sure there is one of those scenarios.  So in the effort to improve our language we studied the task on purchasing transportation and then made our way to the train station to buy a round trip ticket to Kyiv.  (We are going to a couples meeting with the president on Friday.) So with task in hand and after a morning of practicing it and a heart felt prayer to heaven to assist us in our adventure we walked into the the train station.  We were not even sure we were in the right line but we were not going to be turned away from our task even after the mission trip advisor said he would purchase our tickets, we were in for the adventure.  Just before we got to the window a very nice girl walked up and got in line behind us. As we walked up to the window knowing we could easily take care of this situation I presented the well rehearsed Я хочу купнть Дба билет в Кив (I want two tickets to Kyiv). The down side to this task is they never tell you that people are going to ask question.  So as the agent asked the first question the angle girl that stepped in line behind us took over and before long we had two round trip tickets to Kyiv.  I handed my credit card to the agent and she said Het NO I looked at sister Mikkelsen and said I don't have 700 Grieven.  My wonderful companion reached into her security pouch and pulled our a 500 Grieven bill.  So two miracles within just a few minutes.  The Lord certainly does protect and care for his missionaries.  
Tickets to Kyiv proof positive that the Lord blesses us with the things we need.
What a miracle we can go for days and never find one person who speaks English and at the very moment when you need someone the Lord provides.  Some may say that it was a coincidence but I know different. What a blessing to be set apart as a servant of God and have a call to serve in this wonderful country.  So that is the type of thing that happens all the time. Here in this country all the missionaries have filter systems on their water supply to protect them from bad water.  We had a tough time getting our filter system hooked up and finally with the Elders help we found the needed parts.  It was a very tentative installation the other morning I knocked the filter line right off our sink and broke the part that we had worked so hard to find.  So with that same determination we headed to the рынок (Open air market) and went to the hardware section after several failed attempts we found a young man working at a very small shop at first he said No and then he started to think (or receive inspiration) and he knew just enough English and exactly what we needed and put it together for us now we have a bullet proof connection as you can see.
Please don't share this I have not got the patent on it yet
Just kidding
Well it has been a blessed week from having our first Grandchild to knowing that God is watching over us.  This is his work and everything we need is given to us in the very hour we need it.  I know that this true. D&C 84:80-81, 83, 85 And any man (Sister) that shall go and preach this gospel of the kingdom, and fail not to continue faithful in all things, shall not be weary in mind, neither darkened, neither in body, limb, nor joint: and a hair of his head shall not fall to the ground unnoticed. And they shall not go hungry, neither athirst. 81 Therefore, take ye no thought for the morrow, for what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed. 83 For your Father, who is in heaven, knoweth that you have of all these things. 85 Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say, but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.  
I know this is true I see it happening in our experiences everyday I really like the part about not being darkened in body, limb, nor joint (may artificial hip appreciates this and the hair I'm losing is not going unnoticed.)  Well may you each have a blessed week I know we will and until next week keep the faith and live the gospel!