4 Months!!

Time sure is flying. Next weekend is Halloween and it feels like I blinked and October is almost over. Mikel says he feels like it is flying as well, so I guess it's a good thing! Four months has been long but compared to what's ahead it's pretty short haha.

The little girl doing his hair in these pictures name is Olorato. He said she would do his hair and then in a cute little voice say, "Oh you look nice Elder!" So cute :)

So a super gross story that he sent in the mass email this week almost made me gag.. "This week I got pretty upset when we found out that we have some visitors in our boarding that don't want to leave. We have had ants for a long time, like thousands of them. If you take a scoop of sugar you scoop 70 percent sugar and the rest ants haha. We haven't minded them just because they are ants and who cares. We like the crunch anyways... (joking) but then we recently discovered that the ants were lonely and decided to invite some of their friends, the cockroaches. Me personally well I don't like the cockroaches, they are always so rude and just crash the party. With the ants we could have some fun but when the roaches roll into town all the fun stops. So we now got some more roomies. At least the roaches here are not as big as the oneins back home but still they suck... Mission is tough...." Um, that's super gross. I don't think I could handle that hahaha.

Soccer!

"Dinner's get tough at the end of the month"

Beggars get creative! They walk around and lean down next to your car with their can for money.

A few weeks back they met a guy named Kennedy who seemed really promising and was very interested in the gospel. He is from Nigeria and Nigerians love religion, the church thrives there. But at their last meeting he gave back all of the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon and said that unless they could show him where it says the word "mormon" in the Bible he doesn't want to read it. So that was too bad. But, their investigator Philda is progressing very well! She is getting baptized at the end of the month! :) Her son, Shanadean, isn't quite as interested and they don't think he will be ready to be baptized then. 

His shirt ripped so he's not a greenie anymore!

The Hul's left home for Idaho. He will miss them!

He said in the mass email that they were focusing on a certain thing in their lessons this week, and I loved what he said: "The past week we have focused on bring the spirit of Elijah into our lessons. The spirit of Elijah refers to temples. I have taught about temples every day this week and the implications there of are outstanding. The temple is truly the house of the Lord, where you can feel His presence more closely than anywhere else on the planet. I was blessed to live so close to a temple and had the opportunity to go frequently. I was able to first hand witness and feel of the power and strength of the temple and how it can bless your life endlessly. Going to the temple here is not an easy thing and takes months of saving money to make the trip. It is so worth it and the blessings add up ten fold. I know that going to the temple will strengthen you and those you go with, you will build a new love. The love of eternity as you come close to the presence of God and His kingdom. It has been amazing for me to see the impact the temple has had on our investigators as we discuss about it. Ah this church is so true! If you don't have a temple recommend, I suggest you get one. If that means meeting with missionaries, bishop, or whoever. Do it, it is so worth it I can promise you and testify to you that you will find answers to prayers, peace of mind and of heart, and feel a love for God that you have never felt before. It is where you can be sealed with your family forever!

If you have time go to https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-07-127-strength-beyond-my-own?lang=eng and watch the video of the temple, don't have any distractions while doing so. Just sit, watch and listen to the feelings you get and I can promise you that you will be touched and fill the spirit."

The church building in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

He called these a "family picture" and tried explaining it but I was just confused.

This week's Q&A:

What is Heritage Day, I hear it is September 24th. - Heritage day is like the biggest holiday, sadly our ward didn't do anything because of who knows what and then it was supposed to be pushed to last Saturday but they still didn't do anything haha but ya people wear their traditional clothing and what what but missionaries have to wear whites still.

How are you and your companion getting along? - We are getting pretty good, I get a long much better now. Instead of bringing up something that he says or does that bothers me I just sit quietly, I don't know if he notices but usually I forget about whatever it was anyways so we end up getting a long better. Its hard just because I am used to having Hailey who understands the way I think and I could bring anything up with her and it would be fine but Mashava has a different personality and so we are still learning but things have been going pretty well. (Aw cute :) )

How do transfers work for you? - Usually if we are in Kimberley since we are so far from the zone, (two hour drive, 160 kilometers) they call us Saturday night and tell us the news of who is going and what what. Then we get logistics on when and where we travel, we go to Bleom and depending on when the person comes is if we stay the night or something like that. We usually will stay the night in Bloem because we have to be in and safe by 9 and if we drive home we wont get there till late. So we meet in Bloem and then everyone disperses from there.  The districts in my zone are Lesotho, Thaba Nchu, Kimberly and Velkom. We all meet in Bloem for Zone conferences or transfers.

Who is in your boarding with you now? - In my boarding is me, Mashava, Razafindrakoto, and Katimbo.

No explanation for these... hahaha

Joyful travels :)

Hopefully I'll get this week's post done a little bit sooner than I did this one :) So excited to hear from him in the morning! 

"Ah you never cease to amaze me! I dont know how I managed to find you, I have met a lot of people and talked to a lot of missionaries and the girls they have met and none are like you, I honestly dont know how I found someone who has such a beautiful spirit, a bright testimony and a love I have never seen nor felt before. I love you babe so much or as Elder Mashava say, I love you so bad haha

Ek es leif vir my meisie (Afrikaans)

Ke rata motho waka (Tswana)

I love my girlfriend (English)

love

Elder North"

God Will Do The Rest

It's been quite the week of ups and downs in both experiences and emotions, which is why I haven't gotten around to this post until now. In my game on Sunday we were playing the University of Washington, and about 13 minutes into the first half I took a step and tore my left ACL. In order to recover from this I need surgery, and after surgery it will take 6-9 months to get back on the field. I've always been absolutely terrified of this injury so it still doesn't feel real that this really happened to me. The longest I've taken off of soccer was 5 weeks when I broke my collar bone in 5th grade and since then I haven't had any major injuries, which was a huge blessing. I know that there is something to be learned from this injury and that I will come out on the other end better and stronger both as an athlete and as a person, but that doesn't make it any easier for the moment. Mikel has always known that this was my biggest fear so I knew it would be hard for him to hear as well. This was his response to it, which really comforted me and helped me through this first week: "Well, I don't really know how to reply to this, I first read the news from my mah saying you tore your ACL and my heart sunk deep... you know that feeling you get when you get pulled over by a cop, kind of like that feeling but 100x worse. But then I read your email, and I see how positive you are being and I know partly hiding some emotion so I dont focus to much on you. What you said is true though. there is a purpose, a lesson, a reason. Why and what we may not know for now but when we sink in our lowest of lows we are forced to rely on Christ for our strength because we have nowhere else to turn to. I of course would like to be able to say the perfect thing to make everything make sense and to help make you feel better but I don't know what that is, but I do know where to find the peace, the answers and the comfort that you need, and it is through the gospel, sounds like I am just a missionary now teaching another lesson on how the gospel can solve our problems but I look back and see the times when I was talking to either my mah or yours and when they gave advise they would incorporate the gospel in it. I would usually disregard that portion of the advice and try and do it on my own, try to fix my problems, by myself. I know can look back and see that the advice they gave was the best thing for me to do at the time and would have helped me more than anything else. and the reason for that is because there advice was centered around the gospel, around Christ. I can know see in a new clarity that He is the solution, he is the one who has all the answers and will help us through our trials. I hate sounding like Im just talking gospel because Im a missionary, but it is so true that the gospel, the book of Mormon, the prophets, and Heavenly Father and Christ have all the answers. I know I dont have the answer, the reason, or the anything for that matter but I know who does and I know he will help us see the purpose behind everything."

He mentioned in his last email that his companion is really stubborn, but he is starting to realize that he needs as much improvement as he thinks he companion does. He says that Elder Mashava works hard though and always pushes him to be his best. He connects well with their investigators because of his age and what he has gone through which makes a big impact on them.

The Hul's and President Z and his wife and the missionaries.

The Hul's are going home soon.  Makes him sad because

sister Hul was a great help to him when he first arrived and

was missing his mom a lot.

In high school, one of Mikel's favorite quotes was "Do your best and forget the rest", but he's tweaked that a little since he left. "Do your best and God will do the rest", I love this! After all we can do, it is God who will make up the difference because He loves us.

He got to give another blessing this week, this time to a very troubled 8 year old girl. Here is what he says about the experience: "So I got to see the power of the priesthood as I was able to give a troubled girl a blessing. This young girl at the age of 8 was troubled emotionally, physically and spiritually, she was abused, mistreated and scared. She was seemingly beyond the help of therapist and psychologist alike, but not beyond the help of God. I had the opportunity to give this girl a blessing. We came back to visit the family a few days later and to their amazement their daughter was back to her normal self after quite a lengthy period of being troubled angry, and aggressive. Trough the power and grace of God she was "healed" from her troubled state, I was a firsthand witness of the true divine power and authenticity of the priesthood, God lives and loves us and I know it for sure!"

There were a few questions he answered in the mass email that I thought were interesting, so I'll share them here.
Do you keep your passport on you?  I don't carry my actual passport with me, it is in a safe at the mission home. I carry a paper copy though.

What are the professions of the people you teach?  Most people are in construction, nurse, or teacher. There is a lot of unemployment.

Are there really no sister missionaries in South Africa?  There are no sister missionaries not even native ones. They used to have sisters in the mission but cars get hijacked too often, people get robbed a lot and then two sister missionaries got raped so they no longer allow them in the whole of South Africa. It is a pretty dangerous mission, just two days ago a senior couple got robbed. Every 2 months or so you here about some missionary getting Hijacked which is when they smash your car and take it and everything it or they do what we call a smash and grab, when you are parked at a robot with a car in front and behind you so that you can go anywhere they will smash your windows and grab everything out of your car and by the time you realize what is happening they have already taken everything. Missionaries get robbed at knife and gun point pretty often, I've heard of since I have been here a couple of smash and grabs and of a couple missionaries getting robbed at knife point, one got sliced in the foot. So if you go through your two years without getting mugged once then you are pretty lucky it seems. haha.
(this last question really freaked me out.. haha. Let's hope he is one of the lucky ones!)

I'm so SO grateful for Mikel and his awesome family, especially his mom. Every day this week she has taken time out of her day to come and visit with me and brought me a present "from Mikel". Each day it was a present with some of my favorite things in it and a card with something Mikel told her to put in it, which usually included a scripture or an uplifting quote. They almost make me cry every day :) It's so sweet and thoughtful that even halfway across the world he is thinking of me, remembers my favorite things and that his mom is willing to do something for me that he can't.

I know that the next little while is going to be hard for me, but I know that I won't be alone and that I will be able to rely on the Lord. He is my strength and I find so much comfort in knowing that this is His plan for me and that everything is going to work out. I'm so thankful for Mikel and his uplifting words of encouragement and that he will be by my side every step of the way, even if he can't physically be here. The road to recovery begins now!

"I miss you so much babe and as much I was want to get on the first flight back home to see you and hold your hand and help make everything okay I know that, that would end up doing more harm than good, I need to be where I am right now no matter how hard things get and how much I wish to see and be with you. I need to still learn so much so that when I do get to be with you again I can be what you need. It looks like we are both going through a bit of the refiners fire at the moment now to become something else, something better and stronger.

With all My LOVE,

truly forever yours, Elder Mookie North"

New Companion: Elder Mashava!

How is it October already?? I feel like summer just started and it's already fall!

He got a new companion this week! His name is Elder Mashava and he is from Zimbabwe. He is 26 and has been on his mission for 10 months. Mikel said that he has a pretty thick accent so he's hard to understand sometimes. His native language is Shona and he learned Zulu while serving in Durban. Most Africans speak both their native language and english, so it's pretty easy for them to pick up on other African languages. Mikel has been trying to learn Afrikaans the whole time he's been in Kimberly and Elder Mashava is already better than him at it haha. This is what he told me about his new companion: "I am still getting used to Elder Mashava, Ill talk more about him in my mass email. You know how opionated I get and how stubborn I can be so I have struggled with this not only now but also with Jena but with Jena he understood me pretty well and we would be able to resolve it. People from Zimbabwe, at least out of the 6 I know are all stubborn people. they are hard to get through to sometimes and I am the same way so you can imagine haha. Im praying that I can be more submissive and understanding and let stupid small stuff that isnt even worth arguing over go. I just tell myselft I am becoming a loving husband, I dont want to argue with you, cough I mean my wife ;), I want to be able to understand and see her point of view, so right now I am practicing and trying my best but, eish I like to tell poeple Im not a nice person so itll be tuff haha." I hope that they are getting along and are able to work together well.

Mikel and one of their investigators

With Elder Mashava

Elder Mashava

Mikel is excited about his new companion though because he feels that he's a really powerful guy and that a lot of changes will be happening in the area as they start to get members more involved in the work. He talked about in his mass email how important members are. We are actually more effective than the missionaries because we're here for good, while the missionaries leave after a while. It was a good reminder for me because member missionary work is so important and we should focus on that!

He got one of the letters I sent in July this week... I guess better late than never :)

Cool picture of the moon!

Sadly, he doesn't get to listen to or watch conference for a while until they get a DVD copy. He's so excited to watch it though, he's been looking forward to it for weeks! I'm excited to catch up on it too, I didn't get to watch much because we were traveling for soccer last weekend. 

If you know Mikel, you know he loves spicy food and this is one of his favorite seasonings. He was so excited when his new companion brought it with him! Apparently they sell it in Durban.

(Random side note: It's way funny to read his emails and notice all of the little sayings he's picked up while he has been out. :)

In his email to me he first talked about how important morning prayers are. Last week I had some of the worst days I've ever had, and I figured out that I hadn't been saying my morning prayers. As soon as I started my days went better! Morning prayers are so important, why would we ever want to face the world without first talking to our Heavenly Father? He wants to hear from us and wants to bless us!

Then he apologized for being a "sucky boyfriend at this whole long distance thing". Okay, he doesn't even suck at it!! And honestly, even if he did I wouldn't be mad. His purpose for being halfway across the world isn't to be thinking of me and sending me lovey dovey letters all the time. He's there to be serving the Lord with everything he has and bringing the gospel to those who need it! I don't care if he doesn't get around to sending me a letter or writing a long email. I'm okay with just hearing from him. I will admit that at first it was hard to accept that, but now I know that it's supposed to be this way. It's been so cool to notice how much he has learned and grown in these 3 short months, and I know that as he dedicates himself even more to serving that he will continue to grow closer to the Lord. I'm so grateful for him!

I love him and I am so proud of him! Another week down :)

"I love morning prayers. My morning prayers seem to be full of thanks as I wake up I am thankful to have a new day to have a chance to serve to love and to grow I am thankful that I have a fam and the most amazing girlfriend ever I am just so happy that I get to start out the day and remember that I have so much and then ask for the strength to get through the day. We have bad weeks sometimes, even I do on mission. I get discouraged or sad but like you said, time is a constant thing, it just keeps right on moving. the day will end and the good times are sure to come. I just try when things are tuff to say screw it, Ill be happy, I put on a smile and say nah. Life is tuff but I can still be silly and what what. haha Its so hard not having you here with me and I miss you more each day. I got a letter from you this week and ah do I just love you. I suck at writing letters. I get home study my scriptures if I have time, cook eat and usually its around 11 and I just go to bed and dont write letters. I feel like I have been a pretty sucky boyfriend in this whole long distance thing. You write me these amazing emails. send the best letters I could ever as for, and just always love me and I feel like I dont do enough for you, so I am sorry for that but its not because of a lack of love. I love you so much and more than anything else in this world. Elder Mashava told me he had continued with elder Jenas prayer that we will get married because he knows I would die without you... You are just everything to me and I dont care if people dont like me talking a bout a girl from home because I love you and I want them to know how amazing you are. I love when people ask me about you or if I have a girlfriend because then I just get to go on and on about how amazing you are and all the things we did together and all the things youve acomplished and how great you are and how much I love you and then I just feel so happy as I think about us. :)

I like the quote "if you cant stand it, kneel it" Like you said prayer makes all the difference and we shouldnt step one foot into the world without first talking to God. I always use your example of talking to God as if he were in the seat next to you. Thats how prayer can and should be. He lives and can and will communicate back to us if we are willing to act on his guidance. Things happen his way and in his own good time but it is bound.

It sounded like your days got better though and that makes me happy. I have been missing you like crazy this week as I fear more than anything that Ill forget a single detail about you. Just always know that I ALWAYS love you for time and eternity. :)

Player of the match eh, that is awesome, you are pretty much the best soccer player I know so thats cool. :) Im scared now because when I get back I wont even be a challenge for you and you are going to destroy me at soccer haha, you are going to have to go easy and let me win so I can still feel manly you know ;)

I love you babe and its soo good to hear from you. I dont know why but I teared up as I read this email, good tears, just I miss you and its hard but worth it and I cant wait to have our happily ever after story to tell :) the storys of happy ever after never come easy, you have to slay the dragon, do this do that or what what but in the end it is always worth it <3

Love you babe
Elder Mookie"