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"
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