Power

"This was a pretty power week, it went by way to fast though, I feel like Monday was two days ago but here I am again.

We had zone conference this week which is always awesome, to make it even better we finally got to watch the world wide broadcast to all the missionaries, this happend like a month ago but because it would have been aired while we were sleeping we watched it later. It was awesome and I learned a lot of things from it. Its so funny how much I enjoy things like church, conference and talks compared to when I was home and struggled to get through them looking at the clock wishing the time to go. But now! I love it, maybe its because its talking about my life pretty much, they talk about gospel things and as missionaries we eat and sleep the gospel, heck I dream about teaching investigators, or investigators being bogus and want not haha.

Teaching is not talking, it is listening and observing. this is what David A Bednar stated in a teaching discussion he had. I really liked this because he talked about how we need to be present in the lessons, when our companion is teaching we need to be teaching as well by paying attention and discerning the investigators needs. there was so much taught that I would love to share but I realize that it would be quite boring for me to practically teach a missionary conference to you."

His Zone, Umlazi

One of their investigators that was supposed to get baptized last week bunked them for his interview and they haven't been able to see him again to see what's going on. Mikel said that makes him sad because he's worked with him since his first week in this area and knows that he's sincere and wants to be baptized. Hopefully they can figure out what's going on. He wants to see him make those first steps towards the Savior and be baptized before he gets transferred.

Last week I was telling him about how badly I want to be able to play when we go on our international trip in May, even though that's probably not very realistic. I just thought it was cute what his reply was :) "I knew it would be your goal to play by then, and I have been praying that you will be able to atleast play a minute while there. I always worry that you will push yourself to hard though and it scares me, so remember to listen to your traineer, and I am sure they have said the same thing to you way to many times and I am the last person who you want to hear it from but I love you and want you to be 100 percent as fast as possible with no unexpected set backs. I always smile when I hear about your improvement and I can just hear the joy in your voice when you get to touch the ball. I miss playing soccer with you!!!"

A bird in their apartment, still alive

I also was telling him about how I've been feeling lonely, which isn't new because I've been feeling that way pretty much since college started haha. It's hard to find friends in such a big school and I'm not a super outgoing person so that makes it even harder. Some days are better than others and I will say that I'm very happy right now and most of the time I don't feel lonely, but there are occasions where I do and it's not very fun. He told me that's he's feeling pretty lonely too which always makes me sad. I wish there was a way that I could fix that.

Washing their clothes in the sink because their washer broke

"My favorite pictures :)"

Railroad!

"So I really like Elder Adams, He is awesome and I got a long well with him and our personalities really matched up, he was only here for 5 weeks then got transfered. When he left it was crazy to see how much the members really loved him and it made me feel I guess inadequate would be the word. I was here longer but I dont feel like I have made the impact that he did and that everyone likes him so much more #curseyoupride And Elder Adams calls Kaitoo, who lives with us and who he talked to often while here but he never calls me and I always just feel like I suck haha I mean I was his companion and I really like Adams and thought we were good friends but he hasnt called me once and calls K2 twice a week or more, so It makes me feel kind of lonely too, and throws me back to High school where I felt the same way, I had friends but were they really really my friends and did they actually want to be around me.... I dont know I just felt like sharing with you especially since I think it relates to you also feeling lonely. we can be lonely together haha. It makes me ever more greateful for you and having someone that actaully makes me feel loved, someone who I feel actaully sincerley cares about me, for me. I am so lucky to have you. thank you, and I cant say it enough of how much I love and respect you. You are an example to me every single day and I desire to become more like you so much, you are so amazing and when I look at myself I honestly dont see how we ended up together and how I managed to even know someone as special as you.

always with love,
Elder Mookie"

8 Months!

"I learned that malala means "I am sleepy" which fits Elder malala quite nicely so it was kinda funny.

So there were a few tender mercies this week which is always just fantastic. We were in town tracting which means we were ringing buzzers. You don't knock because there is a gate so you can't get to the door so instead you just ring the buzzer and hope they answer. If they do answer they tell you to go away. So we finished an hour of rejection and headed back to our car. We were almost back when a guy stopped us and asked if we could speak. He is a pastor of another church and he recognized us from the area. It just went to show that we need to be out, even if we are thinking we are unproductive and getting no where. People see us and people recognize us. So I am looking forward to our meeting with him.

Every night I wake up with at least 5 more bug bites and it has been pretty annoying. I ended up spraying bug spray all over my bed to go to sleep haha."

HAHA this made me laugh out loud :)

Something that Mikel and I talked about in our personal email this week was what I learned at my institute devotional. Marshall McDonald, a famous composer, came and spoke to us about direction. He talked about how we may not always know where we are going, but if we just keep moving God will direct us. It's easier to guide something while it is moving than when it's standing still. I loved that because sometimes I feel like I am just going through life without any real direction and I want God to tell me right away where I should go. But that's not how He works :) He will guide us as we are moving, not while we are waiting to be told what to do. I loved what he said about it: "That is such a true thought that we need to be moving and let him guide us. I have seen it in my own life that God will wait for us to act then help us along the path we have chosen or help us correct back to the right path but he usually doesnt just answer our questions, trials, and fears off the bat without any of our own effort."

"My fav soccer player!" :)

"Okay so I said I would talk about the Cebekulu family, Well I hope I spelled their name right because I honestly have no idea haha. They are one of our favorite families ever! We get to see them once a week and share a short message or join them for FHE and they always feed us. When they feed, they feed. What I mean by that is by the time you leave the house you have gained 2kg (thats about 2.5lbs)  its crazy, its like they want to kill us..... with food! It's a love hate relationship for sure. The best part is they are a strong family and when you go there you just feel at home. You can have fun, laugh and enjoy and also get real serious when you need to talk about the gospel. It is an appointment we look forward to every week. They are a Zulu family and we always have a good time visiting. The family consist of Ma and Baba, then Hle, who has a child 8 years old named Buhle which means beautiful and then Pindi who is 29 but looks 19 and Toola who is 22.

A Mormon message which made me think of and miss Zaner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWU6UbGgmT4" (Zane is his little brother who is the cutest little guy! Love him.)

I love this picture!

This week he will have been out for 8 MONTHS. WHAT. Where has the time gone?? It still feels like every day is so slow but every week is so fast. This week also marks 4 months since my knee surgery! That's gone by fast too. I'm so thankful that I still have his support and love in everything I do, even if he is 10,235 miles away. Here's to an even quicker 16 more months! ;)

"Yes definitely a not ideal valentines day. especially when all I think about is you and how many awesome adventures we went on and how much fun we had. and how much I love you and miss just being able to snuggle you and give your forehead a kiss as I am enchanted by the smell of your perfume that makes me fall comfortably asleep haha.. aye I miss it so so much!!!!

well my week was pretty good I would say :) We had some great tender mercies and met some cool people that seem interested in coming church or coming back to church which is always a good thing, but we will see if they actually follow through. Sorry didnt mean to scare you, I am fine. exhausted and sore from all the soccer I have been playing. we practice on friday and then the missionaries got together and played again on saturday. I am happy not because I am out of the GK position. they decided I would play midfield because they dont have someone that will track back to defend and hold the ball to get up, so itll be nice to play there now. Elder Malala is still great! Miss you a ton still, which after 8 months it still physically hurts to miss you, which I guess is a good thing haha. Malala caught me sitting on my bed looking at pictures of you the other day. I just said hey, what can a guy do haha.

You should totally talk to tish! she is so funny! friend her on FB! I know my mom has haha. Oh ya I may have mentioned you here or there while we were visiting portia and sam.... okay you got me, maybe I talked about you a lot a lot.

Love,

Elder North."

Elder Rakotomalala

"Elder Rakotomalala. yes I know its long, you can say malala for short, plus its fun to say. malala. malala. malala.... sorry

Any how it has been a power week for sure! so my new companion again is from Madagascar and he is such a power dude! His english is so so, he can understand just about everything you say but not real deep conversations and speaking can be challenging for him. I have been so impressed with his desire to keep learning and not just English but to continue his learning and growth in the gospel and all aspects of his life. He really wants to learn all he can and its so great to see and I hope  I can pick up on the trait as well.

Although his English can be spotty and hard to understand, when he testifies, he testifies. By that I mean he is powerful. You can feel it so strong as it floods the room of uber goober goodness! He is way funny and we laugh a lot together, I think he could very easily become my favorite companion on my mission! I enjoy every minute thus far with him and its only been one week! He is humble and loves to laugh, I love to laugh so it is a good combination.

He always says, we work hard, then we enjoy! I love it because its been my thought on mission. there is a balance to everything and we need to work and give it all we got out here but at the end of the day we need to be able look back and have enjoyed the day, enjoyed the work, and enjoyed the people. No one will make your mission fun for you, you have to do it yourself. And so far we have worked hard, and we are definitely enjoying!"

Elder Rakotomalala and Elder North

He told a story this week that made me laugh because a member fed them cake and he really doesn't like cake. He felt bad turning it down so he thought that he would just eat it but he took one bite and said no way. Turns out that the cake was fermented! He apologized to the lady that fed them and said that he didn't eat cake but poor Elder Adams was left to eat the whole thing. It was the second time she'd given them expired food hahaha.

He also told another story that gave me a heart attack... "another crazy story is when I almost died! Again Elder Adams and I were driving down the road when a huge garbage truck swerved into the middle of our lane coming right at us. Its a one lane road both ways so we had no where to go, luckily they were able to serve out of the way just in time and we squeezed right past... scary.... and to prove our manliness we didnt even sequel, of course not. we are men and screaming like men do...."

New transfer, new planner cover!

"So I guess I should speak a little bit a bout members. ie (Sister Tish read my blog and was highly disappointed in me for not mentioning her... ;) ) So there are two families here that I would like to talk about. First would be Brother Johan and Tish's family. Their family consist of two girls and two boys. Steph, the oldest who is preparing to go on mission and will be a fantastic missionary, Jen who is 15 I believe and going through the struggles of High school (our condolences) then the two boys, Andrew who is I think 13 or 14 and Michael who is 13 or 12. Michael is a hoot, he always comes up to me on Sunday and tells me a new terrible joke which inevitable makes me laugh and starts the Sunday of with a cheerful mood. Andrew and Micheal enjoy their mincraft so I think they would fit in with my family quite well seeing as how my younger brother lives and breaths mincraft. Now Sister Tish... boy oh boy where do I begin!  and then there is Brother Johan. He is a way cool guy and father. He does this wink when he shakes your hand which is just the best thing ever haha I guess you would have to see it to understand. He loves soccer and coaches the church's soccer team so we have plenty to talk about plus he supports Man U!

The second family is the Cebekulu fam. I'll talk about them next week so this email wont be as long.

And now for Sister Tish, (you always save the best for last) She is the mom of this wonderful family which has been taking care of us missionaries. she is so so funny! we constantly throw jokes back and forth and just laugh and have a good time, and we also have times where we can #realTalk and get serious about the gospel and feel the spirit. She is an awesome lady and has really made this area a place I am glad to be in. I wish I could explain how cool she is and how much fun we have visiting and teaching her family."

"An interesting thought I had this week was a correlation of two scriptures. 2 nephi 2:25 which reads "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy" and Alma 34:32 which states "For behold, this is the time for men to prepare to meet God;yea, the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors" the correlation I saw between the to is that we are here to prepare, and to have joy. but these to things are interdependent, the way I see it. If you want to have joy, you prepare to meet God which means you are living the gospel of Jesus Christ. by living the gospel you find true and everlasting joy. if we really want to have joy then its simple, live and love the gospel and I can promise you that your life will be filled with measurable joy. I have felt it, I have seen it, and so can you!"

I loved the message that he shared at the end of his mass email, because it was something that I thought a lot about this past week. "Life is a journey not a destination. sometimes we get so caught up in the future and the end goal, we lose sight of where we are and what we should be doing. sometimes we become overwhelmed by the various possibilities of multiple destinations. but you will never know till you get there. we need to just enjoy this journey that we have been given and ride it to the end. I would say more about the quote, I have much more on my mind about it, but I would like to leave more up to your own interpretation." I went to a devotional this last week and the person who spoke talked about how we may not always know where we're going, but as long as we're moving God will guide us to where we need to be. Thankful for reminders that we are doing better than we think we are. :)

"If you are half the women you were when I left then you are still out of my league but I wont complain about improvement :) I know you are doing what you should even when you feel inadiquit. We are our worst critics. I miss being able to tell you every day how much I love and look up to you.

Hey this is going to be the worst valentines day ever... I will be spending it all night with another dude..... eish.

Love,
Elder North"

Last Week with Elder Adams

Elder Adams is getting transferred which Mikel is pretty sad about, but he's excited that he gets to stay in Amanzimtoti for another few weeks! "So this week is transfer week and we got the call on Saturday telling us that  the news is..............

Elder Adams is going and I am staying, not necessarily what I expected but not necessarily bad news, I love some of the families here in Toti and I am blessed to stay with them for at least another six weeks which will have in store many memories of that I am sure!

So Elder Adams is moving to Umlazi, it is about ten minutes away so I will still see him often and probably on Mondays a lot. Umlazi is a very dangerous area and the missionaries get robbed quite frequent so he is pretty scared being the scrawny guy he is.

It's sad to see Elder Adams leaving because he has been such a great companion to me, it made me take a step back and remember how it felt leaving home and all of my friends which wasn't all in all good but you know, you can't help but think about home every now and then haha. I have really learned a lot from him and maybe one day I can be close to the kind of man he is. I have learned that you can be bold and straight forward as long as you have love, with love you can never be over bearing. I have learned how important it is to rely on the spirit in a lesson, yes you can have good lessons by just teaching what you know to be true, but when the spirit is the one teaching, you then have a great lesson. He is a dedicated and hard working missionary who is always looking for ways to improve himself and do more. I sure am going to miss him and wish him all the best in his new area with his new companion." I would love to meet Elder Adams one day, it really sounds like Mikel likes him a lot. He told me in our email that when he heard that Adams was getting transferred it was like he was leaving me all over again and it was really hard for him. It's hard for me to remember when he left too because my best friend was leaving me so that was really hard. But he's really excited to be getting his new companion! "I will be getting Elder Rakotomalala who is of course from Madagascar! I am stoked, he is only 4 and a half months on mission and this is his second area. His English from what I hear from people isn't that great, but when he teaches, it is profound and powerful. I have met him just a few times when I was in Bloemfontein. He seemed like a very humble guy full of smiles. I am super excited to get to know him and laugh and learn and grow. Its going to be an awesome six weeks with this guy, I just gotta feeling! :)"

"Our ward soccer team!  I usually play defense but these pictures 

are from the second game and I played goalie."

"Elder Adams and I had the opportunity to come up with the new ward mission plan. We focused on unity, and temples as our plan. we believe that if we have the ward unified and a feeling of unity in the ward, when we bring investigators to church they will feel it, see it, and love and want to be apart of it. but its not an easy task and starts from the small and simple things that we all can do to improve our wards. also we made it a goal for everyone to hold a temple recommend even if they are unable to go to the temple because of financial circumstances. there is a lot more we talked about but those were some of the major points that I really loved and think that everyone can and should do :) we have no control on the actions of others, its their agency, their choice, a God given gift to make up our own minds. we can not impose on that, all we can do is change ourselves and be and example and invite others to follow the example set by our Savior."

"Elder Adams being cute"

"So an awesome thing happened last week! Illovu became a branch and got a segment in Mormon news room so I'll attach the link.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.co.za/article/dedicated-saints-in-ilovu-receive-answer-to-prayers

I know Sister Lembede very well and have been able to visit her in the past and got to be around illovu a couple times. It's right next to Toti, and the two missionaries you see in that picture are sitting right next to me right now! It is cool to be apart of this work that is actually making real changes! POWER!

Quiniso came to church! I dont know how much I have talked about Quiniso (pallet click for the Q) but he is a power dude, He has some issues and has had a very rough background and family life. He came to church again for the first time in like three weeks and it was super exciting, we have been meeting with him twice a week for a while and he has progressed a ton and really wants to change and be a good kid. He is 19 years old I believe and just awesome and funny! I hope he will be getting baptized in 3 weeks! I would very much enjoy that. oh yes yes yes :)"

McDonald's delivers in South Africa..

Mikel's mom forwarded me a special little email she got this week and it was awesome! :)

"Hi Sister North, 

My name is Tish Riese. My sister Tanya Human sent me your email address. We love Elder North.   He is a wonderful missionary and has such a great spirit about him. We took some pictures for you tonight. I tried to get him to smile nicely. We had just finished our weekly dinner appointment and lesson with him and his companion. Elder North says to tell you, cuddle cuddle cuddle. 

Take Care and enjoy the photos. 

Tish"

And it came with pictures!

Not a single good smile... typical. Hahaha

"I really am so excited and you would be that third grade teacher that everyone just remembers and loves, and they will all look up to you, I mean fetch you are my biggest example and I want to be like you some day, and I left third grade a long time ago.... well physically.....

crap crap crap, I am just getting fat while you are getting shredded over there, crap I am going to get my but kicked into shape when I get home haha. well atleast I think I can still dont like 5 pull ups so I guess I dont have to start working out utill you can beat that ;)

I have always admired the way you care about people you dont even know, It is something that I have wished I could be  better at and you have always been a great example to me of that. You are sympathetic and caring for seemingly strangers (strangers are friends you just havnt met yet...... or a rapist.... but hey gambling is fun right?) I am really trying to work on just being a patient and loving person, I really want to be a changed person and a better person so that even people that knew me before can tell that I have grown and matured, I hope I have alittle already but I know there is much work to be done. Luckily for me I have a great model to look up to... I mean role model, well no I mean both ;)

You are the brightest source of light and energy and life that I have, just under my Lord and savior. Just as I couldnt get by day to day without Him, I dont think I could manage without you! You are my world, my everything my all and I will love you till the day we are making worlds together in kolob! haha Mission flirt :)

Love with all my heart

Elder Mookie"