Happy Mother's Day!

May 9, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

Elder Tangen and I at Zone Conference

I believe that when you put Zone Conference and Mother's Day in the same week, you're bound to have plenty to write home about. As you all can tell, this has been quite an eventful week!

We drove to Oslo for Zone Conference this last week. We had a great conference. There were a couple points that I took away from the conference.

1. Studying effectively allows us to better prepare for the day.

2. Reading the Book of Mormon each day will bring spiritual strength.

I believe that these points can make a difference in everyone's lives, not just for those that are missionaries. No matter what we do in life, we should always be striving to grow. That means that throughout our lives, we ought to be continually learning. By taking some time every day to study (study of the scriptures, school, learning more about your career field) it allows us to grow. It allows us to be greater that day than the day before because we are better prepared to take on the world, and better prepared to move forward in life.

A giant art piece in the middle
of a roundabout.  I saw a picture
once of it somewhere so it must
be a popular.

Daily study and personal application of the Book of Mormon will bring us closer to Christ than by any other means. Many times I think we take for granted the necessity of the Book of Mormon in our lives. Daily study allows us to greater understand Christ's teachings and doctrine. It allows us to daily continue to build upon our faith and testimony of Christ. By doing so, we will find ourselves closer to Him and have a greater understanding of what He really means for each of us personally.

Yesterday was Mother's Day! It meant that I got to Skype home to my family! It was so wonderful to talk with them and see how everything was going. It was so amazing to see them all and talk about life. I'm sure every Mother with a missionary out serving loved yesterday because they got to talk with their son or daughter and see their smiling faces!

A beautiful view from the street somewhere
we were at in Sandvika.

While I was thinking yesterday, I remembered a couple talks that have been given by different general authorities of the church. A couple have been titled, "Behold, thy Mother". If you haven't heard them or haven't listened to them in a while, do it! They are wonderful talks about mothers and the great impact that they make in our lives.

I wish you all a great week and hope you all enjoy the upcoming Spring weather!

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

A part of our district in a place called Baerums Verk
(Sister Petersen, Elder Mickelson, Sister Neilson, Elder Tangen)