Conrad graduates law school! And a trip to the Grand Canyon!

 

 

 

May 18th W. Conrad Mickelsen received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from

The Phoenix School of Law!

W. Conrad Mickelsen JD

 

We are so proud of all of his hard work and long hours of study and research papers and more study and more papers...

 

Hailey deserves congratulations and credit also for supporting him in this quest!

She spent many long, lonely evenings while Conrad studied at the library.

 

Here he is receiving his hood.

 



Happy to receive his diploma - but - the study isn't over yet.  He now begins his long preparations to take the BAR exam in July.

 

Hal and I traveled to Phoenix to celebrate this event (we wouldn't have missed it for anything!).  We enjoyed going to dinner and spending time with Hailey and Conrad.  To celebrate the event we took them to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for a most delicious meal.  Conrad enjoyed a well deserved filet mignon and lobster tail.  We all ate way too much but the food was delicious!  Of course I forgot to take a picture - I think I was too busy eating to think about it!

 

We went to church with them on Sunday (a very welcoming and friendly ward) and then Monday morning we went together to the Grand Canyon.  Hal and Hailey and Conrad had never been there and I visited it as a child - so it was time to go and enjoy the beauty and splendor.  We were blessed with an absolutely perfect day - not too hot and not too cold.  The crowds of visitors were not too great and we loved seeing this natural wonder.

I'm afraid that pictures don't do justice to the beauty and colors we saw in the canyon.

We finished our tour of the canyon and viewed an IMAX presentation.

We then drove to Flagstaff and had a delicious dinner together at a local restaurant and then spent the night in Flagstaff.

The next morning Hal and I left for home and Hailey and Conrad returned to Phoenix.  We loved this opportunity to spend time with them!

Special MTC Relief Society

Every Sunday (except Fast Sunday) Relief Society is held in the large auditorium/gym for all of the sister missionaries at the MTC.  Relief Society format is a little different there -  after Music and the Spoken Word is finished, the sister all stand and sing together As Sisters in Zion.  Then Relief Society begins with an opening exercise and announcements followed by a young sister sharing her conversion story - then we enjoy a musical number presented by sister missionaries and finally we have a guest speaker.  These speakers are often Relief Society, Young Women and Primary general presidency and board members from SLC.  When have also had the opportunity to hear Sheri Dew and other great speakers.  This past Sunday our speaker was Janice Kapp Perry. 

We stood and sang her song: As Sisters in Zion. Two thousand plus sister missionaries singing together is powerful!  The Relief Society meeting began and we sang A Child's Prayer - dividing into two groups to sing both parts. Two sisters were invited to share their conversion stories that morning and then sister Perry spoke to us.  She is humble, unassuming and a very down to earth lady that has been blessed with a talent to write beautiful melodies that we all enjoy.  Her songs teach the gospel simply and clearly and their messages teach us truth.  As she spoke, she shared experiences and what she had learned as she and her husband served a mission together in Chile.  She told us how some of her songs came to be written.  We then sang together a medley of  some of those songs.  Finally as she finished her remarks she told us that she was preparing a new CD of music for sister missionaries and that she had written some new verses to As Sisters in Zion.  Her new version  is called: The Sisters of Zion and speaks about the sister missionaries invited by the prophet to serve and their response to the invitation and the great work that they will do to build the kingdom in these latter days.  Then, the congregation of sisters 2000 strong stood and sang these new verses - this was the first time they had been presented and sung.  There were not many dry eyes as we joined together in singing this special missionary song.  It was truly a very spiritual experience!  I count this time serving at the MTC as a wonderful privilege and blessing in my life.  It is inspiring to rub shoulders with the young missionaries and feel their excitement and commitment to serve the Lord.

Big changes ahead!

We are almost ready to turn our papers in for another mission.  On Sunday we have our interview with the Stake President and then they will be submitted!  It has taken longer than we thought to get everything together and interviews lined up. We hope to go next month but we will see what happens when we actually receive our call.  In the meantime...

The MTC is ramping up as more and more missionaries come.

 

 Last night we attended a special meeting with the MTC presidency and the branch presidents and wives of 8 of the MTC branches - (there are currently 68 branches at the MTC with new branches being created weekly as the number of missionaries grows). We were asked to be a part of the pilot branches that will go to the 2nd MTC campus at Raintree Commons with housing at nearby Wyview Park.  Each of the 8 branches will have 35- 45 missionaries and will be a part of this pilot group as they work out the kinks and get ready for many more branches of missionaries to come this summer and fall. They believe the peak will be in October. Our branch along with 3 other branches will make the move May 28th and the other 5 branches of this pilot group will move over to what they are calling the West Campus during the following 5 weeks. The Raintree apartments have been cleared of all furniture and are being painted and fixed to house classrooms and teaching stations in the three bedrooms and living room.

  They will bring in some kind of module or modules to the parking lot to be used as a cafeteria. We don't know exactly where these will be placed or if there will be more than one. Lots of planning and work is going on at a furious pace to have everything prepared in time. MTC Devotionals will be held at the Marriot Center. It is wonderful to see so many missionaries at the MTC with 47% sisters  currently- this number changes weekly as the missionaries arrive and depart. 

 

 You can feel the excitement in the air!

 

 

 

Three new languages will be added to our branch in the weeks to come - Malagasy, Indonesian and Malay. We now have missionaries learning - Latvian, Lithuanian, Armenian, Georgian and Greek.

We love working with these young men and women and watching their remarkable growth and progress as they learn difficult languages and how to be an effective missionary.

It is truly awesome to see the prophet Daniel's prophecy fulfilled as "...a stone was cut without hands...became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." Daniel 2:34-35  This surge of righteous young missionaries is certainly a part of that fulfillment!

 

For us, we will continue to serve at the MTC and await our call to see what changes the coming weeks will bring for us - we will keep you posted!