From Pietr

9/29: We're working with a lot of investigators, a couple of them around my age. It is a struggle to keep them progressing & continually applying the gospel to their life. The BOM is difficult for them to understand often. Try explaining "circumsized of heart," which is very directly translated in the Chinese version, as they read with a mix of fear & bewilderment. The last transfer just ended - I will have been in the same area for 6 months at the end of this one. We continue to search for Bruce Lee....

Lizard Love and Butterfly Baby

I have a little boy captivated and bewitched by everything lizard. Will was hovering over fussing Baby Audrey last week, caressing her head and singing his homemade lullaby to her. I was so happy he was willing to reproduce his loving song for me. I only recorded for a few seconds before my camera died, but trust me when I say it went on and on and on and on and on...

And speaking of, here's a little video I snagged of our dear baby relaxing as much as she ever does. As you watch, remember that I had this critter inside me for over nine months (way over!). You know the phrase "butterflies in my stomach?" I do. Literally.

Weirdy Cats

For an art project in homeschool today Mom and I had fun "editing" pictures! We made lots of funny editings and we laughed really hard. Here are a few of them.


This is Troll Doll Audrey. We didn't make too many changes for this one actually. (This one is for Uncle Pug who thinks Audrey looks like a troll doll.)

This is the mean elf that I paintballed! The elf (William) obviously didn't like it!

This is The Weirdo with a Beardo, or Isaac the fawn. He had just gotten a falcon haircut for the BYU game!

This is skinny dancing Meg! She is only obedient enough to get one meal a day! Don't be fooled by looks! (She really did just lose her first tooth.)

This is Jimmy Trouble Troll. As you can see, the name fits! Mom was really mad when he colored on the wall!

This is me, CRAZED JAKE! The red eyes, the oooooooooooing mouth, the hairy shoulders, you've got to admit that I made myself pretty creepy! (I had a haircut for the BYU game too!)

This is my other sister Bucky! My parents don't claim her!

I didn't have time to do Mom and Dad because I have math to do...

Jacob

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Mikkelsen sisters at Rivka's wedding.

One thing I was always conscious of growing up is how much my pop liked being with his kids. It delights me to know that he enjoys his grandchildren just as much, and to see their unfeined joy at being with him. When we were visiting a couple of weeks ago, I asked the kids whose ward they'd like to attend on Sunday. Grandma's and Grandpa's was the unanimous choice. I asked why they liked going there so much and they each had their reasons.

Isaac: "Because Grandpa scratches my back through the WHOLE sacrament meeting. He's the best scratcher ever. Sorry, Mom, but it's true."

Jacob: "Because last time we were in Primary and the chorister asked Grandpa (the primary pianist) to play the tune to Love Is Spoken Here and he played the Star Wars Theme. It was awesome!"

Meg: "Because I'm planning on pulling my tooth out during church today and I'm pretty sure they'd like to be there for it." (She pulled it out during sacrament meeting. I'm afraid the speaker played second fiddle to that show. Lots of blood, even more enthusiasm, and a personal tour of her mouth to anyone interested.)

Will: "Because Grandma's the VERY BEST Sunbeam teacher. And, she usually talks about lizards when I'm there."

So we went.

Missionary Brothers

I enjoy getting letters from my brothers (both serving their missions in Taiwan) oh so much. They are so them! I was just reading one from Adam and the brilliant idea came to me to post bits of their letters for the enjoyment of all. With that, introducing:

Elder Pietr Mikkelsen
3/16: "Time is strange here in the MTC. Chace was dead on when he said "a day seems like a week, and a week seems like a day."

3/30: "My companions and I were teaching a little family, a father, a mother and their teenage boy. We were in the process of explaining what the Holy Ghost was, & what the spirit felt like, when my companion (Elder Cloud, he's odd but a cool guy) says to the mother, "The spirit is like a warm calmness, like.., like.., How did you feel when Mark was born?" it took all I had to contain my laughter, the father and mother just looked at us like 'what did you just ask?' I'm sure whatever that mother was feeling when she passed her 9.5 pound kid it wasn't the spirit."

"I love to tell the MTC kitchen workers to make me giant plates of meat to disgust of all the sisters."

4/13: "This week we had a Grape Nut challenge. To see who could go the longest eating nothing but water, & Grape Nuts. I went the longest at 3 days, of the 8 that started the challenge everyone washed out."

5/25: "Our apartment [in Taiwan] is quaint, we don't have any cockroaches, which is good because they won't be crawling on me as I sleep, but bad because we won't be able to have competitions with them..."

8/16: "I survived the typhoon here, it wasn't very bad in Taibei. But the southern part of Taiwan (Kaoshung namely) didn't do so well. There were some towns in the south that got completely covered by giant mudslides & a lot of people died. The missionaries in the Taichung mission having been doing a lot of service digging mud out of homes. It was the worst typhoon in 50 years. It's a good thing Yard-Work-Adam got there when he did, with his countless hours of horse-stall cleaning experience he will be a HUGE asset to relief efforts, doubtless to become "Mudder Teresa" of Taiwan."

Elder Adam Mikkelsen
6/1: "PIETR ("Man Beast") IS A LEGEND HERE [in the MTC]! I am not kidding in the least. Within minutes of getting to my room I heard "little MAN BEAST?" shouted from the door...all the older elders came to see what Pietr's little brother was like. He said good things about me fortunately. I will list some of the things he is legendary for: 1) His 4-square skills...a game they play in the gym, talk to Pug. He was really good at it and everyone knew it. When he got someone out he would run at them with arms outstretched like Wolverine and shout "FORGET ABOUT IT!" 2) His chinese...they all say he had some of the best chinese of any of the elders... 3) His crazy diet. The first meal all the older missionaries came to check my plate and and see if I was a patron of the legendary "Meat Salad"...a plate stacked with nothing but meat. Then days of nothing but Grape Nuts...the fiber cleanse. 4)His work in the referral center which he wrote about so much. Last night two of the sisters went on and on about how great he was in there... They said he had pages of investigators that he found and that he called and taught each week..."

6/29: "Once agian I find myself on a getto keyboard so forgive my bad spelling...it isn't totally my fault. We had a special fireside and seven of the twelve were there!!! I sat close enough that I didn't need to watch the screen. It was amazing and as intense as ever. Elders Bednar and Oaks gave some of the elders chest bumps as they came in but I didn't get one. This week I broke Pietr's fiber cleanse record of three days and went a solid four, of which I am very proud! Being as how it is coming up on the halfway mark it is expedient that my system be cleansed in preparation for going to the island."

8/19: "The second night [in Taiwan] we went to a night market and all the new missionaries took turns getting on a box and preaching as loud as they could, then going with a senior missionary and contacting people and setting them up for appointments. I yelled pretty darn loud and turned a lot of heads and got got 6 people to meet with us."

9/9: "I got some pot stickers for dinner on Sunday but left them out and ants got into them, but I can't afford to buy new ones and there are a lot in there so I just refroze them and am eating them with ants on them, mmm."

Audrey

Okay, here are the real photos taken of our little one by my friend and photographer, Keri Blue. She is just short of 2 weeks here. Thanks for the attempt to keep me on schedule, Rivka, but I'm thinking she's just a little cuter in these.