Good Week!

"Eish I forgot my camera so now pictures this week.... sorry. I have also been really bad at taking pictures so Ill try to start taking some more this week.

Where do we start.

Monday -
So Monday's in this area have been nice because we play soccer. We go to the university which has super nice fields and play with the missionaries, we play 4v4.  It's really fun. Then we sometimes go out to eat together and then email which of course is nice to hear from everyone. Next we go out and teach. Today we have some appointments at 5,6, and 7.  So, we met with Thapelo. He is an adamant Roman Catholic. The Catholic belief is that the authority of God never was lost. As to our belief that authority and power was lost at the death of the apostles and Christ. The only way to really know is to pray and ask God. So we gave him the book of Mormon and just invited him to pray saying the only way to know what is really true is to ask of God if these things that we share are indeed true. We will be seeing him tonight so I hope he read, if he did then its easy. No one can read and sincerely pray about the book of Mormon without feeling something in their heart telling them that its true. So I am excited for that. We also teach his roommates but I can't remember their names because they are Xhosa names with lots of clicks. I am starting up my Zulu study again because a lot of people here speak Xhosa so they can understand Zulu. my Sotho is still shaky though.

Tuesday! A LOT OF FINDING
Another grand day came to pass as we started our morning work out. I am always sore and its bitter sweet. We got bunked at our first appointment which was fantastic because it gave us the opportunity to go out and find other people to teach. The thing is if you are just motivated as a missionary then knocking on doors all day really isn't as terrible as it seems. If you are just melancholy when it comes to the thought then you will just want to die....
The bad thing is that I am trying to drink a lot of water which is kinda of turning into a bad thing, I think I was blessed with my moms small bladder so I have to go pee like 8 times a day. We are walking down the street in the middle of town and then it hits me hard like oh I really really need to pee now. We just start walking down the street passing every house looking for a hiding spot where I can well ya.... sadly this isn't a township. While serving in townships everywhere and anywhere can be your toilet. (you don't want to know how many kids I have seen pop a squat in parking lots) but nope this is town and they have rules. I thought I was going to die!  Luckily we were able to solve the problem with a nice group of trees we found. haha We did a lot of street contacting. I love street contacting because we just teach lessons for Africa! We teach everyone and its awesome!

Wednesday
ELDER ROBERTS
The Roberts, they have been mentioned here and there throughout my mission but pretty much Elder Roberts is a scripture guru, he has memorized the entire Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants and the whole Bible. If you ask him any question or scripture he will tell you where the answer is. So he goes home in three weeks so we had a good bye night with the whole zone where we got to sit for a few hours and ask him lot of questions. It was dope.

Thurs,Fri ZONE CONF AND NTATI TLADI
So we had zone conference which is always a blast and we focused on our purpose.  We then went to see Ntati Tladi, His wife is a member who was introduced to the gospel about a year and a half ago by Elder Adams. At the time Ntati had no interest in listening to the missionaries. Now he has committed to come to church whenever he is home and to be baptized. He works in the military which can be a struggle because of his hectic schedule.
We then saw Sindi, she unfortunately was not able to come to church this week do to financial strains but we are working that out with some members who will be able to give her a ride. We taught about the Book of Mormon and wow, boy oh boy was it powerful, the spirit was strong through the entire lesson. We are excited to follow up with her tomorrow and how her prayers have gone and we will set her on a baptism date.

Well...now the email is getting too long aye?

We taught some more lessons on Saturday and it was pretty normal and then we had church on Sunday.

Over all I think it was a pretty good week.

I got mail from the ward, a sweet package! Thank you!!!
Also got a south Africa flag tie from mom.

Love you all!
Elder North"

Sad because he hasn't gotten my Christmas package yet :( Guess that's what I get for waiting too long to send it!

I started my first week of spring semester last Tuesday and I'm sure you can guess that's why I'm a little behind on this post. :) Spring is different soccer wise for me because it's our off season and we're only allowed to play so many games. So we run, and run, and lift, and run, and play a little bit of soccer here and there haha. All of our trainings are in the morning though so we have the rest of the day for classes and homework and somewhat of a social life. My roommate and I have some good friends in our ward that live down the street so we're hoping to hang out with them a lot more! Its been hard for me to make friends in college for whatever reason, so I'm excited that we have friends now!

In our personal email last week I told him about U23 camp and how it went and all of that, but I also talked about playing professionally and how that could potentially be an option one day for me. I say one day as if it's far away but I really only have two more fall seasons left which is crazy. But anyway, I just kind of told him that it stresses me out a little bit to think about how things would work with that if we did get married, and his email to me surprised me haha, he had thought everything out pretty thoroughly. But whatever happens, I know that as long as I trust in the Lord that He will show me the path that I need to take.

"I have thought a lot of about that too, what exactly it would mean if you were to play professionally. I have prayed and prayed and I feel confident in doing the dev mountain schooling. that means Ill be working in less than 6 months of being home. ya I would like a formal degree but for what I want in life it actually isnt the best option. secondly the best thing a bout computer programming is no matter where we live I can find a job as long as their is a city with a decent population then I will have ample opportunity. at any city there are plenty of certification courses to increase my skills in computer software and development so I can continue to climb the business latter. I support you whole heartedly in going professional. Think about it, you wont be playing your whole life. when you retire from soccer you can pick right up with teaching. I just like the idea of being by your side. if its in Chicago, Portland, Washington, new york, Seattle, Kansas, Huston, Boston, ect or even over seas. I am down! lets do it babe, dont let anything stop you. eventually I see us moving back to utah having a family and being around family we can have both. I just want to let you know that I have thought about it. One thing I know is I want to marry you Hailey Kaye Skolmoski, and I want to marry the you now and the you then and forever. the soccer you, the Friend you, the shy you, the outgoing you. the embarrassed because of my dancing you, the mom you, the old cute granny you. all of it. It is honestly the only decision that just brings so much peace in my heart. I have never been so sure about anything. When it comes time to draft or what not then we will find out whats right. Heavenly Father always confirms. He will not just leave us guessing. Just know that I am following you wherever you run to babe, you cant shake me :) The beauty of what I want to do for a living is that it fits in perfectly with whatever we decide there is such opportunity in computer programming and they need people all over the nation. As much as I love Utah, I know I would love exploring new places with my you whom I will call my wife. nothing sounds better. just thought I would let you know that you dont gotta worry about me babe, Im stuck to you and no matter what things will work out :) the only thing that wont work is living apart, after 19 months of that and 5 more I am sick of it, I aint never leaving you again. haha

I really do love you! :) It is real babe, can you believe it! soon we will be together, it is starting to seem like it actually might happen, I at the beginning of my mission just thought it would never end, that the end was so far that for some reason it would never come but now I know it will. I know we will be together. I know I will get to love you all over again! I know that we will get to be together for eternity. That is my motivation, my hope, my dream. its what gets me out of bed in the morning knowing if I work hard, if I am a good boy and do what I am supposed to do then I will be one day closer to being with you forever.


Always
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."