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"