No Email Last Week

"Sorry I didn't get the chance to send out an email last week. We were having some technical difficulties with my sons email account.... Still havn't gotten it sorted so that's a bit of a bummer.

Its been raining a lot lately, actually a ton, quite different for Free State area but its been good for the crops, we have been praying for rain for years this side. I think it might have to do with the dineo storm hitting the coast. It is sometimes hard to get motivated  to go out and tract in the rain, but nothing can stop us!

Anyways yes my son is Elder Mbangi from Cape Town SA, he is Xhosa. Maybe I will be able to learn a bit of xhosa now, xhosa is like isiZulu but has even more clicks. When I speak Zulu a fluent Xhosa can pick up the jist of what I am saying but when it comes to me hearing anything in Xhosa its over!

He is 19 yrs old, just a week younger than me and is the only member in his family. He is a power dude. He already is a great and powerful teacher and loves the book of mormon and the gospel. We both share a strong testimony of our Father in Heaven.

I know I have probably mentioned it before but Ill do it again and it probably wont be the last time. Who is God? think about that! He is the creator, the reason for everything the one who showers us with blessings right!? well that is correct, He is our creator which makes Him our Father. He is a perfect Father and because of that all He wants to do is bless us. He only wants the best things for us. (Matt7:7-11)  When we truly begin to understand that God is our loving Heavenly Father it answers just about everything! Why am I suffering, well if you know that God is your Father and loves you perfectly and would never do anything to hurt you then you begin to realize that these trials or sufferings are for our gain, our learning, our benefit in every way. If a parent was to scared to let their baby fall down while trying to walk, would the baby ever learn to walk? NO! We learn through trials. it just seems to be the nature of humanity. Even Christ himself learned through suffering (Heb5:8) 

God is perfect right?

-yes

Him being perfect can He make mistakes?

-no

So, every thing he does is??.....

-Perfect

Exactly, God our Father being perfect can not make mistakes, He can only make perfection, all He does is perfect.

So, who made you?

-God

And if He cant make mistakes that means you are perfect, we are all divine, we all have the potential for perfection, we were made destined for perfection. (Matt5:48)  You are perfect just the way you are! Not while you are trying to be someone else or do things to fit in, you, just the way your are is literally perfection. Because the way you are is the way God made you and we dont have to try to conform or change to feel acceptance or self worth. When we know that God is our Father than we already have an infinite worth and self value. Your Father is the greatest King known to all of humanity and you are his son or daughter. You are all Prince's or princesses! and the best part is you dont have to do anything to be that. you are just that. Perfect. I love knowing that we have a Heavenly Father who is there for us. just like the baby who falls down trying to walk. He picks us up. and encourages us to move forward.

Elder Mbangi and I have been continuing to try and find new investigators to teach. its going okay. We have had a few set back this week as some people have decided they would not like to visit with us anymore but hey, such is life and it just moves on and so do we. 

We are really excited about the people we do have though. Today we get to go see three young women we have been teaching for a little bit. Boy do I love them! I just love how excited some people are about the gospel. It makes me excited and so happy. I love seeing people smile and find joy and I think thats why I love being a missionary, because I just get to help others find that in their lives!!! its wonderful!

We will be teaching them about Faith, Repentance and baptism today. I am excited, they tend to ask a lot of interesting questions. like, What tribe is moses from or, Why was marry chosen to be the mother of Christ, or other wonderful and interesting biblical questions. I love them but we are going to try to shift the focus on to the things we have prepared to help them progress more.

I love kids! We are teaching this boy Nati who is a recent converts child. he is 8 years old and teaching him is a blast. We are hoping to get him baptized the beginning of the month but we will see. Kids just have this extra light about them and when they learn something new or for the first time you see that spark just fare a bit and its the coolest thing ever!

I see more and more why Children are the kingdom of heaven! (Matt19:14)

Sindi is also doing well, we just finished all the missionary discussion and will now be focusing on more direct principles and ordinances. She still isnt ready for baptism but I hope and pray she will be soon. It gets hard when you grow to love the people you are teaching so much and then they dont progress like you hope. It literally hurts my heart and just makes me super sad. Everyone has their time though and no effort is ever wasted, no good deed goes without reward.

I am excited for this week, we will see how everything goes. I am trying my best to keep up the energy and enthusiasm. Its a great feeling coming home at the end of the day just so tired that you dont even want to plan for tomorrow. The only thing you want to do is sleep so you skip cooking dinner and just go to bed.

oh that reminds me haha we made an awesome dinner last night. So like normal we get home about 9 to 9:30 and then we plan for tomorrow. this takes us to 10 we then have to cook to eat dinner. so I started boiling the chicken and then realized we had potatoes so I started boiling those as well. through some frozen veggies in it as well. Started to boil the rice. and then make the beans. We then baked the chicken to crisp it up and put it all together. It was a really thrown together meal because I started the chicken and rice not knowing what we would eat it with, then I realized we had potatoes and veggies but still we didnt have anything to make a nice chicken stew so then we found some beans and started those and by the end everything turned out nice and delicious. so we eat at 11 and then go to bed. I am used to eating late, my son is getting used to it now after two weeks. we eat lunch around 12 and then dinner around 10-11 somewhere in their. so its quite the gap.

Anyways I love you all and pray you are well,

Elder North"

He did mention to me that his companion was struggling a little bit with feeling homesick. He is the only member of the church in his family so they aren't really thrilled about him being away for two years and his father is sick as well as some other family issues. But I hope that he starts to get immersed the the work and his family is able to see the blessings of him serving. 

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"

Bloemfontein

We got some details about his new companion this week, so that was good! And while it seemed like the work was slow at first, they have found some people to teach and are super excited about it.

"So sorry for the short email last week. let me make up for it :D

So Elder Fransen, my new companion. Awesome dude from cali! (mom, what city are our relatives in california from?)  He was a wrestler in high school so we are starting to work out hard in the morning! getting "yoked" or "swoll" as they call it haha. he also did a lot of welding which is pretty cool so he would make his own knives and belt buckles and what not. pretty impressive.

He has been on mission just over a year now. We are really getting a long and the work is starting up now.

Bloemfontein is a town area, and towns are known for being a bit rough and tough on missionary work. Because of the holiday season a lot of our investigators are out of town so we have a lot of open time.... like all day.... so we go tracking, try to set up booths and get denied and all. the frustrating part about town is when you knock on someones gate you will see them peak out the window and then hide and not answer the door.... silly people don't they know that their families can be together forever through the message we share.... I guess they don't otherwise I don't know why they wouldn't answer."

"So the work has been a bit slow and disheartening. but luckily these past two days we were actually able to find some awesome people. things are starting to look upwards and momentum is coming. We met this guy name Thapelo and his two buds. they are going to the university and they had quite a few questions about why there are so many interpretations of the bible and all that jazz, we were happy to invite them to learn more of the restoration of the gospel that answers that question perfectly and how God has provided a way for us to know exactly what he wants us to know. to get rid of all confusion. its through the Book of Mormon.

NO one can know if the Book of Mormon is TRUE unless they READ, and PRAY about it! the best part is if they actually do that, they find out it is true and life becomes so much brighter!!!!

We also found this young women named Sindi, she is studying Psychology and is super cool. Her parents are pastors of her church but in recent times she has had lots of questions about the bible and things not making sense so she has stopped reading it. we told her its normal to not understand everything. I mean I teach the gospel 7 days a week and still learn more each day. the gospel is like a puzzle. you start with the corners. if I give you a middle peace and you haven't built the sides then you wont know where it goes. the peace none the less still has a purpose and place in the big picture but it needs to wait. we need a foundation. it is the same with the gospel and principles in it. for example if I don't have faith then why pray. there would be no point in prayer if I didnt have a belief that God hears me and answers my prayers, that He loves me, and Knows me. So we see we have to build from the foundation and hold on to those pieces we don't quite understand yet and continue to build our knowledge until we find out where it fits.

The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is awesome because it puts forth the doctrine of salvation so clearly and helps us really understand the teachings that get so mixed and confused in the bible. I love the Bible, I love the Book of Mormon and know them to be the word of God. I know the best way to find peace in your life is to read the Book of Mormon and pray. search it for answers. It is full of them.... you'll be surprised! :)

My good friend Kayla asked me this week what has been my favorite thing on mission... what a good question, I couldn't really give an answer because I just love so many things and there are to many to chose just one but  I did try my best with this reply.

I have loved being able to just meet so many wonderful people on my mission to see all the different backgrounds people come from and how the teachings and love of Jesus Christ fit perfectly into each of their lives. I have loved being able to learn more about my Savior and also about myself and I have done my best to serve with all I got. As a missionary people seem to naturally trust you and that is one of my favorite things is people trusting me enough to tell me whats really going on and coming for help. I love seeing how in all these different struggles, weather it be money, family, relationship, personal, or other all these struggles seem to find answers through Christ and it amazes me. It is something I didn't know before or even understand. Its still crazy to me how it happens. I have loved meeting new and incredible people everyday. learning different cultures and coming to love them. it'll be hard to leave them. I don't know its hard to say just one thing. I have loved my mission and look forward to the last months I have.

its been tough though. some days really suck. you just go out and try to find people to teach and no one wants to even look at you. it can get discouraging but one thing I have learned is hard work. I have really learned to work on my mission. to not get discouraged. and to press forward knowing all will work out. I have learned so much about life and how great it is. 

It doesn't come close to describing the love and joy of missionary service but maybe it gives you a hint of some things I love about being a missionary."

"The Roberts. Sadly they go home next month"

"Elder Henley and I"

"Elder Benissan and I"

"This was a great week. It has been a bit of a tough start. A lot of our investigators are out of town due to the holiday season and because of the recent baptisms we are really trying to build a teaching pool. We haven't been successful in the past as we have been doing all we could think of to find until these past two days. it seems like people are now just showing up, and real people with potential. Its actually really exciting. I was starting to worry about this area and that it would be too hard to get things going but now things really are starting to happen and it gave us the much needed moral boost to start of this week. We both look forward to working hard this week and getting all the little things in. Ie studies right on time, out to the area early and finding meaningful activity for every hour of the day. I look forward to great memories, and love to be had here in Bloemfontein. I am feeling more and more a sense of urgency as I feel I have lots of time to make a change not only in myself but in the area and others but at the same time I don't have anytime to waste, I really have to use it all and be effective in the way we do use our time.

Also gotta give a shout out to Hailey for getting a call to go on a camp with the U23 US Womens national team.... isnt she just incredible!!!! WOW!!!! :)

I love you all so dearly and I am grateful to be here in South Africa. It is home. God bless you all with the best new years ever!!!!

Elder North"

"New investigator Lethabo"

"She gave me a braid!"

It was super cute of him to give me a little shout out for going to camp. :) Camp was super fun and a really good experience. I learned a lot and hopefully it will only help me to progress even more!

2017

The last two emails we've gotten were kind of short, so I'm just combining them into one! After Christmas, he was transferred to Bloemfontein and got a new companion, Elder Fransen. We don't know much about his area or his companion yet.

December 26

"well lets see.... what happened this week.

We went to see Sphe who is our most promising investigator. He was unable to come to church this week but hopefully he will come next week. We are teaching him about living and keeping the commandments and he is ready to follow them! He is a power dude and likes to rap.

We found a few new investigators while trying to find less actives in mzingazi. We found this girl thando and guy Chris, they both used to live with a member so they have seen missionaries but have never been taught by them, we spent a good hour talking and getting to know them better and then they started asking all sorts of questions that all lead to the restoration of the church. so we left them with a pamphlet and will try to see them some times this week.

It sometimes gets hard to work during the Christmas season but we keep up the cheer by singing to carols and looking for adventures and service a long the way."

It was awesome to be able to skype with my family this week, they are incredible. All of my younger siblings have gotten lots lots taller.... not sure how I feel about that but eish, life moves on. 

Being a missionary has and continues to change my life every day. I may say I knew about the Savior a little bit before mission, but as a missionary I am blessed to try my best to represent Him every day, to try and do what He would do. As you strive to be like Him you come to know Him and understand just a bit more of His endless love for you. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to come to know my Savior who is Christ. He was born of humble birth, in a dark cave in a manger. He lived an exemplary life. and died in suffering for you. I love the Lord, He is my reason for hope, for love, for peace in all things. 

I love you all and hope you had a wonderful Christmas" 

It was only the day after Christmas that he emailed that week, so it felt like there wasn't much to tell in our emails since we had just talked the day before haha. But his email was really sweet so I'll share it :)

"flipits that was huge news I didnt know how to react honestly!!! ah you are so amazing I just want to go around telling everyone how awesome you are.  

I was talking to some kids the other day and they were just so happy that santa came and they had stories and all sorts of fun things to say.

Christmas is an awesome time of year. I loved skypeing. I never really got "trunky" missed home a lot after skypeing but I dont know, this time I just missed you so much like it was weird how much I missed you after just seeing you.... but life goes on. Some how you are just more beautiful in every way than I remember and ah just everything you do makes me just swoon haha. 

The new area will be a tough one. we will see how it goes. Mission President called me to tell me about my comp, appearently he has had some struggles with companions and what not. He said that he is doing better but just hasnt hit the ground running sort to speak and he wants that to change, Elder Francen is from Cali I think and he has been out for about a year now. 

Babe, I just dont know how to express in words the way I feel about you, I have been praying a lot, like a lot a lot. About us about the future about all that good stuff. Over and over again I feel so good about it all. I feel assured that its right, its not all just in my head, some fantasy or delusion that I have come up with. I want to be with you, every second of every day for the rest of forever. its just it. I love you. nothing can will or ever can change that simple fact. You blow me a way each and every day and I will try my best to keep up you, hopefully I dont slow you down to much. Thank you, thank you for emailing me every week and never mission one. thank you for being there for skype, thank you for making me feel loved at every low, sad, and down moment. thank you for your example of love, charity, dedication, work, perseverance and joy. Thank you for being you! I love that :)"

January 2nd

"Not much time this week,

It was a great week Elder Fransen is a dope dude,

we have done a lot of tracting in town.... eish... but somehow it has been pretty successful.

Because of New Years there arn't a lot of teaching appointments

Love,

Elder North"

I can't believe it's 2017!! He comes home this year!!! Looking back, so much has changed since he left and originally, that's what I was afraid of. But now I'm so excited to be able to show him this new life that I have been living and for us to adventure and have fun together again. It's crazy to think that we're nearing the end of our time apart.

"No-tract November"

He didn't send any pictures this week so this is all we got. Since his companion went home he's been bounced around a little but it sounds like now he'll be with two other Elders in a nearby area.

"Oh boy oh boy this week was grand!

So as many of you know my companion finished his mission and went home but the six week transfer cycle is still not over so I worked with a mini missionary. His name is Thobane Chiliza he is a return missionary from Enseleni, and he served in Zambia. It was so awesome to work with him and it helped a lot that he spoke Zulu. I am still trying to learn as much Zulu as I can, I get better each week but still have a long way to go. Ngifuna ukukhuluma isizulu, kodwa ngiyazi ngikhaluma kancane. Ngiyafunda.

So this week we made a lot of progress in the area by walking around greeting people with members. We were able to find a potential family that I am really excited about. our teaching pool is growing a lot and we are becoming very very busy.

(From his letter to the mission president)
This week was so good, as you know I had brother Chiliza as my companion. We worked hard and saw so much growth in just one week!

Well to start off and answer on how I will be exercising faith in the Lord is by starting "notract November" we are going to go the whole month without tracting, instead we will be networking and finding everyone we teach through members, less actives and other investigators. So far its been working so well. Our teaching pool is building rapidly and also we are finding more males by finding this way. It is hard to come up with creative ideas that will be more productive and effective than tracting but I think its already blessed the area a lot and got members more in the spirit of missionary work.

We are also going to try doing area blitzing, where we set up a booth in one area and the zone all comes to that area for a few hours that day and we contact as many people in a heavy foot traffic area. We believe this will allow us to get a whole lot of contacts from more than one area, especially so we can teach people who live in town. I believe that this will bring energy to the zone and also make a great impact for the area. More people will see us and know who we are. Instead of knocking on doors that we have no clue whats behind them we can spend the rest of the time we would be tracting following up on potential investigators.

We have walked a lot more this week. we park our car in a centralized area and just walk so we cant contact on our way to appointments and be seen. We also have had a member walk with us through the township and introduce us to everyone she knows, all we did was greet the people and get to know their names and numbers and let the member tell them we are missionaries from church and thats about all. We would then be on our way. Now when we go back to those houses they already kind of know us and we have found great success in coming back to their homes. We have also founds this to be one of our most effective ways in finding families to teach.

Brother Chiliza got a job and so I will no longer be working with him, instead I will be in a threesome with the missionaries in Enseleni which is Elder Waeni and Elder Reed. It's going to be hard not being in my area as much but I am excited to see how their area is progressing and see what we can do to make it even better.

Love,
Elder North"

Why Being a Missionary is Awesome!

Three posts in one once again this week. This semester has been kicking my butt, especially now that our games are played on Thursdays and Sundays. When we travel we're gone from Wednesday to Sunday night and we miss a lot of class which means we're constantly behind in our work which makes for some stressful days. But that's alright! I'm loving this semester and our season is going really well so I can't complain :)

September 26th

"So this week was awesome! Wait did I say that last week???? Okay then this week was spectacular! Wait maybe the was what I said two weeks ago, fantastic? Nope used that one already, flipping, fetching wow, sweg, swoosh swap, slam dunking, goal scoring, crowd cheering, incredible week..... ya.....

So why you may ask? Well to start off I am serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! How could it not be incredible!?!? rhetorical question, because the answer is that you can only have amazing weeks as a missionary!

Why? Because while you are serving people you just get a big ol smile when you see them smile.

Why else? Well because I am serving in Lesotho Africa meeting some awesome people who I can't understand but I am trying to learn the language and enjoying making them laugh as I say the little Sotho I do know.

Another reason you ask? Well simply because as a missionary you get to see peoples lives change as the gospel and spirit of God enter into their lives!

Still want more? I'll give you more! I get to see people who are so lost in this life and so confused, find such peace and calmness through the simple truths we share!"

"Keep going you say? Okay! I get to smile everyday, I am healthy, and strong (compared to a 12 year old girl) Because as a missionary you get to be a light, a light in darkness and a light in troubling times for people you don't even know but some how love them so deeply. I believe that if you feel the spirit while you are with someone, you will love them! You just gotta love em!

Okay so now you can see that mission is great.... Oh you still havn't gotten enough..... okay well let me say some more about why mission is incredible and why every day I feel so blessed! On mission you change if you allow it. Now I don't feel different and I don't think I have change much but whenever I meet someone who knew me when I started my mission or even just 8 months ago then they tell me of the change that has happened to me. Now change can be great because I know I am becoming the person who God intends me to be. I hope I can become that "man" by the end of my mission. I hope I don't miss out on any opportunities to learn and grow.

On mission you get to be filled with love as you serve with all your heart, might, mind and strength!

On mission you get to feel in a very real sense that we have a loving God and a Savior who is Christ the Lord. You get to know them, feel them and love them!

On mission you see miracles all around you. If you diligently serve and look, you will see how much God does for His children! What a profound and great truth to hold on to. We have a loving Heavenly Father, God, who does everything he does out of pure love and the hope of our progression towards eternal perfection! WOW! Isn't it just WOW!"

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Dinner at a member's house

"Well let me start talking about my week....

So we started the week of with a great lesson with a member named Neo and his wife who is not a member of the church. They live in a building with three houses room to room. His house is about the size of my room. In that they have a electric stove, buckets of water to shower, cook, and drink, a tv, a bed, and a dresser, and some cabinets. That is it. The room/home next door is separated by a concrete wall but the space between the wall and roof are not entirely closed off. His neighbor does tattoos and loves to play his music loud and smoke a lot so our great lesson with Neo was accompanied by Lil Wayn, Drake, and all the hip hop pop artist and the looming smell of much weed... haha it was interesting to say the least. I think through the haze of the smoke and intense beat the spirit was able to penetrate into our hearts and confirm the message to be true. Sadly she still didn't come to church though :/ next week I hope!

Another awesome thing that happened this week is that an investigator from Bloem called us and told us to visit and teach his girlfriend. That is cool and investigator bringing us more people to teach! We had an awesome lesson with the two of them sitting on the floor of her home much like the one describe above. One room and they both came to church!!! yes yes yes!  

Well those are some great things this week and the work continues to grow this side. I am loving it and I am tired at the end of every day. What a great feeling!"

So cute!!

"Got the chance to confirm Brother Mohau!"

October 3rd

"What an exuberant week.

Sooooo Transfers came and….. I am going to Richards Bay! (Back to the coast, area 5 on the map) Its in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. I am super excited and I will get to be able to start practicing my Zulu again, (his mom looked it up and it says they speak Afrikaans, so we will see what he ends up speaking most) but its going to be hard to not speak seSotho with everyone I see."

"Some guy with too much money completely chromed his Jaguar."

"And he has two bodyguards."

"My old neighbor from hathetsene, he is an awesome kid."

"Sister Ntsala in a traditional print dress. I love these dresses."

"President said he wants the same flame that we have ignited here in Lesotho to also start in Richards Bay, and area known for not being liked by missionaries. I am excited though, its going to be grand.

So this week was interesting because a lot of schools were graduating so we couldn’t see anyone which was a boo. And also we had to take elder king to south Africa because he is going home from his mission. (Watch out Montana) So we spent the whole day in SA and when we tried to come back to Lesotho we were met by the worst traffic I have ever seen in my life. We waited almost 4 hours at the border when our mission president then told us he didn’t want us waiting through the night and we had to drive an hour back to where we came from and spend the night. We also had a member with us from Lesotho so it was quite the experience. The next day still took three hours to get through the boarder. I never want to relive that experience again…."

This little guy made his own kite out of sticks and a plastic bag.

Elder Shinga and Brother Mosewa

It was one of the member's graduation, but he doesn't remember her name haha.

"this is likeleli (dekeledi) she is an investigator of ours that is going to be baptized soon this month"

"this is elsi she will also be baptized soon."

"Me with BoMe"

"my Sister mampho Bridget, she is like a sister to me."

Sister Lerato and Sister Liako.

 Brother Mohau

Sister Khaleso

In our email last week I was teasing him that I can beat him in bowling now because my team went while we were in Arizona and I did pretty well. He and I used to go bowling together a lot and we actually went on our first date so we have this ongoing competition between us over who is actually better at it. We all know it's me though ;)

"now now now You see just because you are getting some extra bowling practice does not mean you can beat me, I have found my inner peace on mission and will be one with the ball as it glides down the track... #StrikesFerDays!

2 more goals!!! what, no one can stop you!!!! so how many is that now? and what are the school records... I mean we gotta go for breaking all of them right!?

I love you babe, I love when I get the chance to talk about you which isnt often becasue most guys have been deer johned so I dont like to bring up girlfriends. I am getting transfered and will no longer be able to talk for 6 hours straight to Elder Depriest about us. He says hi by the way and his girl also said she is stoked for some back woods adventure camping. :)

I just was told by another missionary that this new are could be my second to last area.... wow." (That's craziness!!!)

October 10th

Richard's Bay! New Companion: Elder Muphuma

"I got transferred to Richards Bay as you all know, commonly known as the Bay.

So where to begin? I left Lesotho for a two hour drive to Bloem, we then boarded a 11 hr bus ride to Durban, immediately after we got on another bus for three hours to go to the Bay.... yikes.

It was fun though on our 11 hour ride we sat next to some girl who we talked to most the way and around 1 o'clock in the morning we taught her the restoration of the gospel. it was cool. Then we all tried to get some rest. For some reason me and Elder Harper had some problem sleeping and kept getting pretty rambunctious."

"The best part was the next bus ride, the three hour ride from Durbs to the Bay. we got on the bus and sat near the back of the top floor. We took our seats and began to get comfortable. About 5 minutes after leaving we heard a women crying a row back and across the isle. We were not sure what was the cause of her crying and I just felt terrible. I hate seeing other people sad. Those of you that know my silly, obnoxious personality know that about me. I act that way because I like to make other people smile and laugh, even if its at me. So I was pretty dishearten at hearing her sobs. I was praying for an opportunity to just talk to her. But how!? I felt awkward to go and just sit next to her. I don't know why because I do stuff like that all the time as a missionary but it was harder this time. So we continued for another 5 minutes as my heart just ached for this pain that she was feeling and I didn't know what the problem was or who she was. Then she asked if I could take a picture of her with her phone. I gladly accepted the invitation and knew that I had a way in. I then asked a few basic questions, about where she is going. If she has family and kids etc. the basic BRT (building relationship trust) She talked a bit but obviously was in no state to have a cheerful conversation. I then asked if I could come sit by her. She accepted and I sat their for a bit in silence and then just put my arm around this women. Probably in her thirties, she started sobbing again and just opened her heart to me. She had been going through a rough time and recently tried to take her life for what appeared to be the tenth time. She was scared laden up and down her arms and she confided in telling me her history, how she was into drugs and alcohol. How she used to be a prostitute, how she had to give her children up for adoption because she could not give them the necessities of life. She grasped my hand, with the other wrapped around her. My heart swelled for this woman at this low in spirit women time in her life.  I have never felt such a love for a complete stranger in my life. As she asked me why, why God has kept her alive, and her confusion it what to do with her life and how to find true happiness in love. I could see her as a divine, pure, and precious daughter of God. I knew of her mistakes and hardships, her shortcomings and let downs. All of it seemed to matter very little. Actually, not at all. I saw her for her. A daughter of God with devine potential and every right to be perfect. We sat together for the next 2 hours as she continued to tell me about her problems and mistakes. We shared tears, smiles, and a warming comfort of the spirit. This bus ride had been the best and most spiritual experience of my entire mission thus far. I can't explain it. I sat for hours listening to the pain this women had gone through and endured and I was just filled with love that I have never felt before." (This definitely made me cry)

"Now onto some stuff about my new area.

My area is a town area but with some township as well. The town of course is hard and they probably are Afrikaans and the township is Zulu. I don't speak any Zulu anymore.... its terrible..... eish.....

I stay in a 4 man boarding with Elder Reed, and Waeni, and my comp Mupumha. It's pretty nice and the senior couple are religious about cleaning... dang it...

We live next to the beach so we go running down by the beach front sometimes. the other day we were down their and their were a group of young adults singing and dancing. I of course decided to jump around and share a laugh and as we left some of the girls came and stopped us saying that we needed to come back and play spin the bottle..... I ran...... I ran far far away... it was scary....

My comp is going home in 4 weeks so I am killing him. He wakes up at 5 and begins lifting weights every day... eish.."

"I am in richards bay, a notoriously hard area and president told me he wants me to change that conception of the place... eish....

Who knows, I think this working with joseph thing will be good for you. You can learn a lot by what you dont like about others, you can learn better how you wont teach and manage your class. You can see very personally the effect and importance of individual care for each student. thats something so important in any type of leadership or stewardship. Love is always the key to success in my mind.

I read that article about you and definitely printing it out and putting it up on my wall. (He's pretty much the cutest)

ah what I havnt seen that part of my family in like 5 years now, you are lucky. I love my aunt amy, she always was so nice to me and seemed to have a special place in her heart for my craziness. well soon youll get to see them a lot more ;)

I remember the beginning of the injury and how our conversations would end up talking about how this well be for your good and all the growth that will come from it all. and it happened, I knew you would bounce back and that this would be nothing but a motivator and an experience to make you grow and realize so much more. 

I just do fist pumps and all sorts of little celebrations when I hear about another goal or good result it just excites me for next season when I get to see it all first hand.

a joke that we play on the greenies is when we see a plain we point and ask them how far it is, their response is like uhh acouple thousand feet or kilometers or what what, we then say nope.... its 24 months! well now the months are coming closer and now its exactly 8 months.... not to far right? I love you babe. Ill see you soon."

It's been exactly one year since my injury today and I can't believe how fast it's gone by. I remember the two weeks that I had to wait for surgery feeling like an eternity, and every day going to therapy felt like it would never end. But now here I am, playing again, but changed because of what I learned from this experience. I still continue to learn from it. It's just crazy to me thinking about how Mikel had only been out for 4 months when I got injured, and now there's a little more than 8 months left! Ahhh!