Life is Good!

Long email this week with lots of good stuff! Transfers, a baptism and some insight from some things he's learning while on his mission. I love when he talks about things he's learned because I always learn something and grow from it as well!

"So Brother Thebe who is less active has come to church twice in a row now and also Sis Joyce and her son who are also less actives! Ah its such an amazing feeling when you work so hard and you get to see it pay of. All our troubles melt away when we see people coming to church.

BAPTISM!!!!
So who remembers Bolelang?!?!? I began teaching her with Elder Woodland but then she moved a while ago into the zone leaders area (Maseru 1)  Well I taught her almost everything before she moved and we were working on helping her quit her addiction to smoking. She used to smoke up to 20 a day about a year ago and was now down to around 5 a day when we started teaching her. With much prayer and a lot of work on her side she has quit and was ready for baptism. My Saturday was made when I got a sms from the other missionaries telling me that Bolelang would like me to baptize her!!! EEEE!!! yippie! Ah it was amazing she has just been incredible and hasn't missed church in three months since we met her. I was so honored and humbled when I got the message. I am grateful that I get to represent the Lord in this work. He works through us! How else could young men teach about such profound and amazing life changing principles!?"

"When I told her I was getting transferred she hugged me for like 10 minutes"

"Well the water was freaking cold because there is no heater and its cold in Lesotho so that was rough but totally worth it! She gave a powerful testimony afterwards as well. Ah Mission is good, makes me smile. Crazy to think that Christmas is around the corner..... Yes I know its August, but still and come Christmas I will have six months left of my mission. That is just insane! Where is it all going!?

Lets see what else. oh well we got transfer news. I have been in the Lesotho for 6 months now so we were all knowing I was getting transferred but the news came to surprise us all. Elder Leonard is getting transferred to Bloem, and I am going from Maseru 3 to Maseru 1. I will be leaving my area but still in Lesotho, Maseru. Its crazy! but I am excited."

He gave me a little more detail in our personal email about transfers... "ya it was transfers this week and on saturday I was told the news. I have been in lesotho for 6 months and Now Elder Leonard will be leaving to go to bloem and I will also be leaving but to another area in lesotho, its the same chapel and the same members so its going to be almost like not moving, I am moving from maseru 3 to maseru 1 being a zone leader with Elder shinga. I kinda wish I was leaving lesotho but I am pumped for the new challenge in this area. this area does soooo good and they baptize like every transfer which is awesome, they have members that are good there too so I am excited. I will still be going to the same shops and seeing the same roads. I may end up being in Lesotho for a full year of my mission.... but the thing that makes me happy is that I get to take on the new role of leading the zone by example and revelation. I hope I do well and what the Lord expects I know there are many miracles awaiting in Lesotho."

"Tacos!!!"

"We knocked.. but nope we're not teaching them"

"I learned and important life lesson when I got the news. I started my mission in Kimberley and they speak a lot of seTswanna their. I figured that 80 percent of our mission is in areas that speak mostly Zulu so I didn't bother to learn the language of Tswanna which is almost the same as seSotho. When I went to KZN and learned some Zulu for 4 months before I was transferred out to Lesotho, where they speak only Sotho and nothing else. You would be surprised how many people I meet on a daily basis that don't speak English and I cannot communicate with them. Well I figured I would spend 4 months here and then go back to KZN and work on my Zulu. When I found out I would stay for six months I was kinda bummed that I didn't try to learn Sotho, because I will have spent 10 months of my mission in an area where it would have been so useful! I figured I only have 2 more months in Lesotho so I wont try to learn it and I'll still go to KZN and learn Zulu. (I love Zulu because all the clicks in the language.) Well I spent my six months and found out that I am getting transferred but still here in Lesotho and I still don't know hardly anything in Sotho! I learned a lesson from it all. Don't not learn something. If you have an opportunity to learn something then take it! Don't let it pass by, knowledge is one of the very few things that we get to take with us in the next life. So why not learn everything we can. I never had a good reason to not learn Sotho, I just wanted to learn zulu more but now I don't know either language when I could have at least known a lot of Sotho. So I guess I learned that we should learn. Soak up as much as we can and don't let knowledge pass you by.

I am excited to start in this new area, I know the Lord has big plans for Lesotho and I am happy and blessed to be a part of it."

"Who am I?"

"church tent thing"

"My favorite brand of truck"

This was my favorite part of this week's email! "A questioned that was asked to me this week and has been asked several times and you may have asked it as well. Why does God speak to some people but not all? Why do some people hear His voice, but I don't? 

Well maybe I can answer a little bit. God does speak to everyone, and He does speak to you! Now let me ask you a question... would God send an angel to tell you to pray when He could send a representative of an angel in the form of say your mom to do the same thing? Are you the same as me? No of course not you are different, we all are, and we know that we all learn differently from each other. God speaks to us in the way the will best get His message across, if its through a friend, or family, thoughts or literal words or dreams then so be it. But I promise if we listen we will see that God speaks to us and loves us very much. To me the sun rising each morning is God telling me I love you and here, let me lighten up you way. To hear the birds sing in the morning! its all about Gods love and it all depends on if you want to see it or not! Ask and you shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. This promise is a promise from the Lord and his promises are sure! we will answer, open and guide! Of this I have seen, of this I know! 

I have thought a lot this week about how when we look for bad we find it. I could find a reason to dislike every single one of you reading this email, and to be honest it wouldn't be that hard. But... I can also look for reason why you are brilliant and bright, why you are lovely and amazing, why you are special and precious and I am telling you I would find so many reasons. We will find what we look for. If we look for bad it will show because it is always there, but if we choose, and it is a choice, to look for the good then I know we will find it all around us. As we try to look at others the way our Savoir and Father does we will begin to see a glimpse of the divine queens and kings that walk around us. Let us look for good, and acknowledge it. Give thanks, give approval! Validation is important. We all need to feel like what we say or do is validated in the best of ways. We all seek it and need it, and we all can give it :)

This gospel is the gospel of love, truth and light! It is here for you and me. Its like a nice Chicago style deep dish pizza. So good, so much just oozing with goodness and love. You take a piece and let me tell ya, you are happy, and you just want more and more! It also takes time for a deep dish Chicago style pizza to be made. I remember going with my parents and sister and waiting and waiting for this pizza to come. I think about how pizza hut can cook and deliver its pizza in thirty minute or less. Well, we were there at the restaurant so it should be even faster but no. What's truly good takes time. It took around 45 minutes and sometimes longer for us to get the deep dish pizza. The gospel is the same, you can go here or there and get quick and instant gratifying satisfaction but its not the same. You can settle for an alright piece of pizza or for the best. The best takes time, but to me it is obviously worth it. If the gospel is not currently working for you then be patient, maybe put some more time into it. I am positive it is still  "cooking" I know its good. It's literally the best thing ever.... even better than Chicago deep dish..... 

Any ways much love! If I could I would give each of you a big hug and smile, and let you know that God is thinking of you, helping you and lifting you. He loves you. cares for you and is there for you. 

God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good!

Stay cute and fresh out in the big world

Love 

Elder North"

"I wonder if this is a bad number to get as a missionary..."

FROM ELDER LEONARD:

greetings to you i hope you had a blessed week i had a wonderful week  i feel the lord had tested me in a big way this week but thanks God his grace is all in all all i can tell you today hold on to jesus christ his all you  need the gospel has made me a better person in these last 17months God has carried me in times when i wanted to give up if you trust the savior  he will carry you from hear to t the end my faith is so strong to the point that i know everything will be ok if  God is live and he will do what he said he will do he has not givien up on you so dont give up n him,

do you know what will help ypu ? faith repentance baptism and the holy ghost  prayer reading the sricptures every day and going to church this is what help me if you believe God will bless you in a way you never could see i testifty to you this day remember you ways is not Gods way place you hand in the hand of the man this still the water to those of you who know that song but all in all serving a mission is the bet thing you can do i thank God for my parents  for all they have done with out them i could have not had it this far i thank God  i thank my companion  today elder north for all his has done for me  i gone thru a lot but he has stuck by me throught  thank you for your prayers and for thinking of me on my misison i pray God riches blessings over you life you are more then a over comer thur Crist who strenghen you please write to me and share of how your week has been i love you dearly 

have a great week and dont loose hope in chris

i love you 

Elder leonard

Mikel also forwarded me Elder Leonard's goodbye email to him and I thought it was sweet :)

dear north thank you for all you have done for me words cant express what it means to me you taught me so much when i need a help you were ther for me yes you gave me fire at times but i got to know you i want you to know that i love you brother do you know that i come to trust you more then any of my companions  in every thing you had my back for sure  in the most darkest day of my life you were ther for me  when i had prolems with my family you supported you spoke to me you cryed with me you joked with me i wil never  for got that for the rest of my life 

remember you are worth everything dont settle less then you are heavenly father loves you i seen you cry man you are so soft why 🙂dont forget i want a  photo with you still for you to give me that other photos  mookie i love you i guess i the only one alowed to call you that lol MOOKIE .......  i hope it ok? but thank you fro the bottom of my little heart 😊

NORTH AND LEO

FRIENDS 4 LIFE

Since I scored my first goal in my first game back since my injury I told him about it all excited in my last email and this was his response, which I loved and was so cute:

"EEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You scored babe oh my thats amazing! I wish you could have seen my face when I read that I am sure it just radiated with light. (it kinda already does that when I read your emails) but this was more! I love you and I am so happy that you are back at it again and I cant wait to hear how this season goes! You never cease to amaze me :)"

I love him!

Humility

Definitely been a slacker as of late when it comes to posting, so this week will be two in one! It's been crazy getting back into the busy season of soccer and getting settled into my new place and all of that. It's about to get even busier when school starts on Monday! What I'm really excited for, though, is that our first game of the season is tonight!! It will be my first game back since my injury and it's crazy to me that it's been almost 10 months since my last game. I'm looking forward to what this season holds for this team! I have a feeling it's going to be a good one.

Transfers are coming up pretty soon and it's crazy that he's been in Lesotho for about 6 months now. He feels like he will be getting transferred and while he loves where he is now, he's ready for something new.

August 8th
"Okay fam,
Tract..... knock..... buzz....... all of these things have been a big part of my week. we dont really have to many progressing investigators at the moment and our teaching pool has shrunk which means we go back to the grind and get knocking on those doors.
Bolelang, our old investigator moved to the other missionaries area so we are no longer teaching her which kinds sucks for me because I love this women and pray constantly that she will be able to progress in the gospel.
Nelson and his wife have been super busy and out of town a lot so its still a work in progress with them.
We do have a new girl named Kilebile. We found her tracting a while ago and now she is progressing well, She can't come to church often because she has school on Sundays, but we are very hopeful of her.
We are really trying to get the less active members to start coming back to church and we may not have success in the numbers department but I do feel like our work is getting us somewhere. We are trying our best out here and really that's all we can do.
I have really been enjoying the scriptures this week. I mean ah they are good. I always try to read them with a pen in hand and when I do find things that speak to me, I can mark them.  Lessons that I need to learn and important messages and truths that I otherwise miss. If we study with real intent and a desire to know more we will gain so much more out of our studies.
Lesotho is starting to get pretty cold most days and we are bundling up for it.
I road a taxis to church this week which was quite a fun experience. Now taxis here aren't like what we got in the USofA. They are soccer mom vans that they fill to the brim with passengers.  They stop anywhere all time cutting everyone off to unload and load different passengers. Its quite hectic but it got us there. It makes it even more difficult because you find that a lot of them don't speak any English so explaining to them our destination can be a struggle and a half."

His email to me that week included a lot about what is on his mind about what will happen post mission. There's still a long way to go until he gets home, but I can see why he's starting to think about it because it is getting much closer.

"I have been thinking so much about life and whats going to happen after mission. I want to do so many things and I want everything to work and happen and it just makes me think constantly about it because I dont know how I am going to do it all. I am a person who likes to have a solid plan, I like to know when where and how it is all going down. I am not sure if I was like that before my mission but I am now. and you know how my brain is in the logical sense that thinks have to work logically. so thats been kinda hectic.

I dont think I have told you about my idea for school when i get back. so there is this thing called dev mountain. its a three month intense programming class that gets you a career job at the end of it. it cost ten grand. my brother did it and my parents both think that it was an awesome program and he is now truly qualified to work for any company in the work field. so I want to do programming as a carrer and this could jump start me in a career by three years and also save a lot of many. you know I didnt necessarily do the best in high school. and so I dont do anything unique or special that would qualify for scholarships. Now the down side is that I want to go to the U for a couple of reasons. one and prob first is you, I want to spend every second of every day as close as possible to you. now dev mountain has class in downtown so its not far but still. and two I want to have a college degree as a back up. so I think maybe after I get a job I can do some night classes and slowly work on getting a degree but most people who say they will go back to school never do. and three I want to atmosphere and experience of going to college and living at college and ll that. but  it dosnt really make the most sense. What I really want is to get married to you and have a job to support us. and this dev mountain thing looks like it can do that in an amazing time frame. I figure I will still get to be with you when we are married and come home to you every single day. I also want to coach. It would be amazing to do it at the highschool for the girls team but even a club team would be amazing so I want to get my coaching license. I still want to ref but I dont think I will have time. I want to work at the temple when I get back for a while so that I can have those blessings that I have missed so much on mission. I also want to play soccer so that takes time as well. I dont want to go into debt or take out a big loan so I have though about working at a call center for a couple months to save some money to be able to do this dev mountain thing and then get a job quickly after it. but then I also think It would be better to do the course sooner and then have a real job with real income and just pay off the loan. so there are a lot of things I hope to do when I get back. and above all of this I want to spend time with you and of course marry you so finding time for all of these things is a bit stressful. but I really shouldn't be worrying about it now seeing as I have quite some time before I come home and I will have time when I am home to make these decisions and get a feel for it all but like I said, I like having plan and I dont like flying blind so eish. haha thats a bit of what has been going on in my head a lot this week. I pray so much that you will know how much I love you and how much our Father in Heaven loves you. Not a moment passes where I dont have you in my heart and in my prayers."

Pretty much I just told him that he needs to take one thing at a time instead of feeling like he has to take everything on all at once. Adjusting to being home is going to be hard enough, but trying to take on all of those things that he wants to do would make it harder. And as much as I would love going to school with him here at the U I don't think that's the most logical option when put in comparison with the 3 month programming class, so I'm kind of trying to steer him in that direction. I guess we'll see what happens!

August 15th

"So this week we had quite a lot of interesting and for me humbling experiences.

To start off there is a less active member in the area who is really struggling right now.  Not with just coming to church but family issues as well as work. One of his daughters had to leave her husband and needed a new place to stay so he did some looking and found a humble home for her and her son. We helped pick up this brother, his daughter and his daughters son. They had just a handful of possessions, we drove to another village to the home they will now be staying in. It has two rooms. No kitchen, no bathroom really nothing. You open the door and enter into a room smaller than my bedroom back home. Then there is an even smaller room through the next door. That is the whole house. This kind of housing is actually really common and we teach people that live in these circumstances all the time.  It really hit me this time though. She borrowed a mattress from the neighbor and sat down her four or so bags, all her and her young boys possessions. They had no heater to keep warm but a few blankets. The nights get cold here and I sleep with a heater blanket all night to stay warm. We left her to her house and headed home. I wanted to cry as I though about how much I have. I have clothes, food, electricity, water, tables, kitchens, chairs, rugs, and so so so much. She really didn't have anything and I am constantly ungrateful for the many things I do have. I pictured how they would spend the night as the boy would cuddle up next to his mom on the only thin mattress in the place with some blankets trying to keep warm. I though on how she will probably continue to live like this for a while, and my heart aches that I am helpless to do more. I just see it. And I see it daily. People who are suffering. who are sick and literally dying. I can't do anything but watch, and it hurts to see it, to love these people and watch their pain. Their struggle. 

Another man who we teach goes by the name of Zacharia. He is really struggling and works a twelve hour day seven days a week for a pay of thirty two rand. That is practically nothing. In one month he would make around 900 rand if he worked every day without a day off. As missionaries we get 1500 rand a month and that is just for food and toiletries and other things we need to buy but our electricity is paid for, our housing, our car, our petrol (gas) and we still struggle sometimes.  When I tell people that is how much we live on month to month they are surprised that its so small, it is about 100 USD.  This man has to buy food, gas to cook his food, rent and all the things of life on less money than we missionaries without a day of rest. You cant do it, and he is but is suffering pretty bad. It's tough and we don't know what to say but to just encourage and be there.

So those are two of the humbling things this week. My mission is teaching me a lot. And I hope I can really learn from the experiences here."

It's crazy to me to think that there are so many people in the world who live in situations like that. I've always had more than I need in every aspect of my life and here these people are just trying to get basic necessities. It is very humbling to think about.

We have an inside joke about tanks so this picture made me smile :)

"I'll share a bit of a conversation I am having with Hailey about the book of Mormon,

It is amazing to me the Love the Jesus Christ has for us. He led and guided prophets throughout time to record which may have seemed at the time insignificant, but in reality with a grand purpose. I know that God would preserve or have written down one particular verse or even chapter for just one person. That is how much he loves each of us.

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it is so true and so so good. If we but read and pray with sincerity and our whole hearts, wishing with every fiber of our existence, God will answer. I have read and prayed many times about the message this book contains and I am met each time with a prick in my heart that screams to the the very sinews of my being YES!  To me the book of Mormon is a testament not only of Christ himself but of his great love for us. I know it was translated by the power of God. I love what Elder Holland says from his father " No bad man could write such a book. And no good man would, unless it was true" There is a light contained within the book that seems to connect with the light within each of us when we allow it to.

I love that I can feel my Savior near as I read through the pages. I find answers, council, and comfort from withing the pages.  You will feel the love of Him who died for us if you read this book. You will know who the Savior, Jesus Christ was and is. You will know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, You will know that you are a daughter or son of God, you will know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His church.

I love it, I live it, it's good for me its good for you. Read it!

I love you all and am truly thankful for your prayers, you are in mine.

Love,

Elder North"

Firefly Moments

Oh my goodness what a week!! From moving into my new place, to starting soccer again and getting back into the swing of things, it's been quite a busy, crazy week. It's been rather trying and frustrating at times, but it has been a learning experience of patience and trust in the Lord. I'm so excited for what this soccer season holds and to finally be back to doing what I love with the people I love! Two weeks until our first games!!

I loved Mikel's emails this week because you can just feel how happy he is and how much he is enjoying himself.

"We are back in Lesotho and it has been amazing since we have come back. Before that, while in Bloem we did some tracting and found an amazing investigator, needless to say I am bummed I wont be able to continue teaching them but the other missionaries will, I got a call from them telling me that they have met with this investigator and that they had an amazing week, it was just a great tender mercy to see that no effort is wasted. Our time in Bloem was not a holiday.

We have returned to the kingdom of the sky. What amazing blessing have we seen in the short time we have been back. We were worried it was going to be tough, like starting all over but some how everything just fell into place and we are busier than we ever were before. I don't know how it happened but I love it! We now are meeting with so many more people and more less actives which I love!

It is just good to be home. It is weird to think that I will be in Lesotho  for six months which is a fourth of my mission but it dosn't feel like that, the time has gone and the year is going I mean its just awesome everything is awesome.

We met a wonderful Mme name Mme Joyce (Mme is like saying mom or ma its what you call women.) So Mme is awesome, she is currently less active but finding her way back, she has been the relief society president twice and just has a huge ol heart and I love her. she is going to teach me how to cook moroho, which is pretty much spinach boiled but you eat it with pap. its the most traditional sotho meal, I am excited to cook it for all of you soon :)"

"This was made out of cardboard as an art project by college students."

"You take a sharpie and write something good about the city on it. It was cool."

"I think I would make a good art critic. As you can see by my pose"

"Only a couple thousand rand..."

He mentioned this part of the email both in the group one and in his email to me so I'll include both parts of that here.

"Man you were all over the place this week, park city, Ogden and what what. adventuring for sure! enjoy the small moments. I now call them fire fly moments. the little sparks of light we get in our lives. If we hold on to them we can begin to have a collection of these sparks which will make an illuminating and bright light that fills our lives and souls"

He explains it a little more in the group email..

"We had interviews and zone conference this week! Ya, I know awesome. President came to Lesotho on Wednesday and then we had conference on Monday in Bloem, that is why I am not writing until today. Our interview was great I really love our mission president and our zone conference was even better. He mentioned something that I have been struggling with for a while. My favorite scripture is 2 Nephi 31:20 which at one points mentions a perfect brightness of hope.
 20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.
I love it but I have felt inadequacy to it. I try to be hopeful but my dang mind makes me think of the pessimistic side of it all. He told a story about his family and how they would get an ice cream cone and go to an empty field at night and watch fireflies. he said that while he was struggling with this same concern he got the answer as to what it meant to him to have a perfect brightness of hope and how to do it. He said that he had many fireflies in his life, sparks here, and little there. and that when you take these little firefly or spiritual moments if you will. you can put them together and it will create much more than a simple spark but in fact a bright light. Now I hope you are following and this makes sense but anyways this was exactly what I needed. I have been so worried about this or that and not been hopeful despite my efforts. I truly want to have this perfect brightness of hope that the scripture talks about but it seemed so distant and impossible, encouraging yes, but distant. We can all have this hope though. If we look at our days. and see the times that we smiled. those little and fantastic blessings of bliss. and put them all together we can see just how great it all is. Everything starts to come together and we begin to gain a sense of hope from it all. wow.... I love it. Hope it made some sense, I should probably read through it all again to see if it does... I'm lazy..."

"Made a real American meal! Fried chicken, corn and mash."

"Well what else, I mean there was so much! Okay our theme! Lead kindly light. This is our mission's new theme. and boy gee wiz is it grand! I mean just think about it! Lead, kindly light! Light is an amazing thing! What is light? that's a good question you ask! Well lets rephrase that! who is light! Jesus said I am the light and life of the world! We read in many accounts on how Christ is the light makes sense that his sign of birth was a day a nigh and a day of light and the sign of his death was darkness (the light of the earth was no more here) He really is the light! Gee that's cool, but wait there is more!!!!! We too are the light of the world in Matthew 5, it says something along the lights of, ye are the light of the world, neither does a man put his light under a bush but on a hill for all to see!

 (13  ¶Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.)

We too are the light. Why? Because we have been promised if we receive Christ then we receive all He has and all He is! That is power! Well hopefully I am not being to confusing but I do hope my enthusiasm is oozzing out of your computer!

And more! Yes I aint done yet!

Why not SHOUT! This is something that sister Thompson, our mission mom talked about. she talked about treasure and adventure that comes with it! Did you know we have real treasure today! Something metal and shiny that was buried and then dug up! Yes of course I am talking about the Book of Mormon!!!!!! If you don't have one and want to see what it is about you can read it here. Book of Mormon it is a treasure! Is that how we see it? Well we should, let us treasure the Book of Mormon.  Is it not something fantastic and just o wow and ah yes and amazing! It really makes me want to shout just eeeee!!!! It is so cool and it is ours!  Yours and mine!

Well there is just so much more I could go on to say but I think my excitement is clouding my memory. So eish...

I love Jesus Christ, I really really do. He is everything. He is my brother, my friend and my Savior.  He is my example, my truth, my crutch. He is my redeemer, and source of strength. He is the great Jehovah, the great I am and the king of kings. Please, it is my prayer that we turn to him, that we feel his love. Open our hearts and let him in. Allow his spirit to enlighten, invigorate and expound your mind and senses. You will feel a spirit of power and conviction and comfort like never before. Let him in. I love Him and He loves me, and He loves YOU too."

"Found these so what did we do? Play hide and seek!"

New planner cover

Mormon helping hands