Elder Rakotomalala

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

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

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

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

Elder Rakotomalala and Elder North

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

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

New transfer, new planner cover!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love,
Elder North"

Last Week with Elder Adams

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

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

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

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

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

are from the second game and I played goalie."

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

"Elder Adams being cute"

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

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

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

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

McDonald's delivers in South Africa..

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

"Hi Sister North, 

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

Take Care and enjoy the photos. 

Tish"

And it came with pictures!

Not a single good smile... typical. Hahaha

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

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

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

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

Love with all my heart

Elder Mookie"

Dedeli Igazi - Let the Blood Flow!

The title of this post is a zulu phrase: Dedeli Igazi which means let the blood flow or relax. Mikel said he and Elder Adams love that saying. It's been a great reminder to me because I'm the kind of person that is constantly go go go-ing and stressed about all the things I need to do. But sometimes I just need to relax and "let the blood flow" instead of stressing. It makes life a bit more enjoyable :)

A little story to start out: "To start off the week we had DDM (district development meeting) we drove down to margate which is about an hour away (How far? about an hour) (Inside joke for the fam) when we arrived at the chapel we were called to action! the whole chapel flooded! a pipe in the cycling burst causing about 2-3 inches of water in the entire building. Needless to say we were unable to attend our meeting, we instead spent the next 3 hours bailing out the chapel and sorting all the ruined books from the still okay ones. It was quite the mess indeed. The best part about the trip to margate though was fish and chips. there is an amazing fish and chips place that is to die for, any time we go to margate we make sure we stop for the best fish in SA.... well as far as I am concerned."

They had their ward soccer game last week which he said they were training for, and I guess it's a pretty big deal haha. They have uniforms and everything. He said that he played keeper because he didn't trust anyone else back there and he was happy not to have to run in the heat, but they lost 3-0 so you can see where that got them haha. He said it got pretty heated but that's typical for a church sporting event. Out of control haha.

"an interesting statement said in church this week was "by keeping the commandments we are becoming heros" we really are, they arnt easy and we are overcoming such temptation when we obey Gods commands. its no easy feat by any means.

Its been an interesting feeling throughout this week when I have reflected to see how I have been doing, am I working hard enough? Am I doing what the Lord expects of me? I must admit I have felt pretty lax this past week in the sense of feeling like I wasnt working hard enough. I brought it up with elder adams mentioning my concern that I dont know what else I could change to work harder. We then went through the week to see what we have accomplished. We came to realize that we have been working very hard and I think why I dont feel like it is because I was used to tracting all day and getting nothing out of it but a sweaty shirt and stinky feat. We realized that every single time we have gone tracting we have found people to teach and it ends up taking all of our time. I felt like we wernt working hard enough because I wasnt knocking 100 doors a day but it was such a great realization to see that I have been working very hard and it is paying off. So I guess thats what I would like to report on a bit is how your promise is definitely coming to pass and we are finding people and there are so many people who are being prepared and have been prepared and we just need to talk to them, put our selves out there and let the Lord guide our paths. So all in all its been a good week and I feel very satisfied with the work put in and I do feel we did work hard and well. Of course there is always room for improvement. dont get me wrong, we have been working hard and the Lord is definitely in this work!"

Their car is now in the shop which makes it hard for them to contact people as far as they would like, but now they get to do more street contacting and walking around.

He had two really cool stories that I wanted to share as well: "I have had a couple of powerful tender mercies this week from less actives opening up to us and telling us there concerns and struggles and how we are trying to help them overcome them, to powerful strong members giving us encouragement and lifting us up even higher. I have felt the Lord work through me this week. I was asked a question about some doctrine that I had never been taught. I have never even thought about the question myself but I began to answer, not necessarily knowing what I was saying but knowing that it was true. I could feel the spirit confirming every word which proceeded out of my mouth and I pray that they could fee that same confirmation. It was a testament to me of the power of the Holy Ghost and how he will guide us and direct us on what to say in the very hour as long as we have prepared our selves. Being a missionary has thus far been the greatest experience of my life.

I ran into Elder Ikube who is currently going through the post mission training thing. He working at the car dealer ship that we dropped our car off to get fixed. He goes home in a week and is now preparing for that and no longer proselyting like we are. Now he didnt say this but to me I saw the look in his eyes, it looked as if he was looking in envy and hope, with passion, love, faith and devotion, and in a sense it seemed like he looked up to us. Now I dont know if this was just me being crazy but it seemed so to me. It was just a witness of how we as missionaries are changed, we are representatives of the Lord and people can see that, people can feel it. I have had members tell Elder Adams and I that when we begin teaching a lesson, our countenance changes and we become something else, no longer young boys, but into real men and servants of the Lord. Now of course you would like people to distinguish you always and not just as you teach, hopeful I can get there someday.

a week full of tender mercies for sure and blessings from the Lord. I am so blessed be able to hold the Priesthood and wear the name of Christ boldly across my chest"

The past few weeks I've started doing some service hours in an elementary school for one of my classes, and I love it so much! I was telling him all about it and the kids I get to work with and how happy it makes me and this is what he said: "Oh my days Haiy I could just picture you in class helping these kids, I know its perfect for you and it just made me smile so much hearing about how much you enjoyed it, you are going to learn so much from these kids, it will blow you away. what a wonderful opportunity you have to get some real experience in a class, with real kids that you can and will ahve an affect on for the rest of their lives! Kind of scary but kind of incredible right? wow you are one amazing women, thats for sure. I just had a second where I could almost see us together and you coming home from a great day at work telling me all about the kids and the funny thing that the boy kaden said to you and what natalie the little girl in the back did to the boy next to her and all the funny things and amazing moments that will happen. I am excited for the future, I am excited for our future. I love you so much!!! :)"

I have loved reading his stories and getting updates about him every week for the last 7 months. Even though I wish that he was just a call away, I'm thankful for this time that we get to spend apart for him to grow into the man he needs to be and for me to grow into the woman I need to be. It's been amazing to see the change in him and to see his love and testimony of the gospel grow.

"I have been thinking a lot about you recently, Like a lot a lot. I am not sure why but its made me just a tad home sick, I just miss you so much and I miss being able to show my love to you every day and to see you and hear your voice and see your smile and your face light up when you talk about something you love like teaching or soccer or even those times when I look at you and you get that cute little smile. Just everything a bout you. maybe its because  Ihave opened up to Elder Adams more about you and just talked about how much I love you and some of our adventures and I think it just made me miss all of that. But dont worry I am still focused here and on what I am supposed to :) Its just that I cant not think about the best two years of my life and how much fun I had and how much love I have for you.

You are the best! I am so lucky to have you, I mean most guys girlfriends stop writing by six months or the letters get really short, but nope not for you, even when I am so bogus and suck at writing my emails and letters you still stay strong and I am so thankful for that. I think the Lord knew that I would need it.

Love always
Elder Mookie"

Hope

"It was interesting last night as we were reviewing the week and realized that we actually did a lot! (wahoo) The weeks just keep coming and they don't slow down at all. It is true what they say, the days are long, the weeks are fast, and now this transfer is coming close to an end which is sad because I may be leaving Elder Adams when it is over.  That's not for a little while so I wont depress myself quite yet by thinking of such." He really loves having Elder Adams as his companion, they work hard and get along really well. He said this last week they wanted to focus more on working in the town to get more members there. I guess that there are a lot of Afrikaans people there, because he said they get yelled at a lot by them haha. They don't want much to do with any religion compared to the Zulu people. He said that they have been focusing on working hard lately because "We were promised by our mission president that if we worked hard and had the desire that we would be able to find a new family to teach every week. He wasn't kidding. ever since then (two weeks ago) we have found a fam to teach. Sadly none are really progressing but good things come to those who wait (so I am told)." Hopefully those people they are teaching progress and have the desire to come closer to the Lord!

"The area is still great, I still just love the view all around and seeing all the green vegetation and beautiful ocean! It is such a pretty place here and I would love to come visit as a tourist on holiday when I can just relax and soak up all the  beauty. They said that they had 2 million foreigners during the holidays here in Durban! crazy!!! You can see why I say life was tough during that time as a missionary haha."

He found his mom's name on a license plate!

"I do it for the FAM"

"So the ward I am in is really into soccer, we get to play a lot. Every Friday to be exact. We have that as our weekly practice and now they are starting up the season where we will have games more often. We play against other wards and we are probably the second best soccer team in the stake. (We still arn't that good)  I was just now assigned to be in charge of running practice and doing drills and what not, so I guess it looks like I am the new appointed coach which is a little weird. I have been playing full back and its been pretty okay but our goalie was not up to par so I will now replace him in hopes of not being scored on every shot. Its really fun being able to play soccer frequently. Perks of serving outside of the states I guess. The only problem playing here is the humidity. You are super sweaty by the time you have taken a short jog. It can be rough in the heat. We are playing against another ward on Saturday so I am supposed to come up with a game plan and practice to make us win.... we will see haha..."

They got to go to a place called Croc World for their zone activity last week which means we got awesome pictures!

Tucans!

An Eagle

Comforting sign

Croc burger!

The craziest thing he said to me in our personal email was that he wants to read books when he gets back... What??? He always said he didn't like reading or "What are books?" haha so this is a pretty big deal. I'm quoting exactly what he said so I have evidence that he actually said it :) "You sound like you are happy and doing verry well, I dont know I could just hear your voice in this email and they way you were saying things haha its seemed like you were happy and it made me super giddly, I giggled a couple times reading your email haha. Classes sound both great and bad haha hopefully the teaching ones will be nice! I am kind of jealous that you get to be learning all these cool things and I feel like I am becoming more and more uneducated. I have decided that I actually have a desire to read some books now, not necessarily story but books about economics or how things work and what what. I really do enjoy learning and just having knowledge over a wide range, as a missionary we meet lots of people and its always cool to talk to super smart people that just know a lot of things and how they got to that point was usually by reading books. so there is some incentive now for me to read.... weird, I really am growing up arnt I.... I dont wanna grow up, I like being a silly kid haha, I guess I will just be one of those adults who is still a teenager at heart :) I am excited to go on camp outs and stuff with my kids especially the boys when they are in scouts and stuff :)"

He talked about hope in the group email and I really liked what he had to say. Hope has always been a topic that I've liked studying because I think hope is a wonderful thing for all of us to have. "HOPE

I love hope, Hope is a bit different then a lot of people think. It isn't just the want for something good to come your way but it in fact is the assurance that good will come your way! It is quite interesting. according to wikipedia "definitions include: "expect with confidence" " it is something that we optimistically look forward to with confidence in the good will of God sure that He will uplift, support, encourage, and give good things to us. The world now a days has put a connotation of hope being a wishful type of thought and not really believing that it will happen

From a talk that President Uchtdorf gave he said:

"We hope in Jesus the Christ, in the goodness of God, in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, in the knowledge that prayers are heard and answered. Because God has been faithful and kept His promises in the past, we can hope with confidence that God will keep His promises to us in the present and in the future. In times of distress, we can hold tightly to the hope that things will “work together for [our] good” (D&C 90:24) as we follow the counsel of God’s prophets. This type of hope in God, His goodness, and His power refreshes us with courage during difficult challenges and gives strength to those who feel threatened by enclosing walls of fear, doubt, and despair." (Conference Address, October 2008)"

It's so crazy because as of tomorrow, Mikel and I will have been dating for two whole years! Looking back on it it feels like time has flown by. And also as of this week, he's been out for 7 months!! I have no idea where the time is going but it's both wonderful and scary all at the same time. Of course I want him to come home and by the time 2 years is over I'll be ready for him to come home, but I always worry that time will change me in a way that will lead to our relationship not working out. I know that no matter what happens it will be exactly what the Lord has planned for us, but I like to think that I have control of it sometimes :) I just hope that by the time he comes home both of us will have grown as a person into exactly who we need to be. 2 years goes a lot faster than you think, and there's only 17 more months left!

"My week was pretty great :) I dont know, it was interesting, I feel like we didnt work super hard but yet our stats beg to differ so I guess we worked smart not hard haha we found some success in finding a couple new people so thats always good. Um I am not sure what thing I focused on the most, I dont really have much time to just study what I want, I usually read some of PMG and then book of mormon to just learn more and to better teach. I guess I studied a bit on peace and hope this week though, I really love hope and Ill talk more of it soon. I also have been reading my patriarchal  blessing to become more antiquated with it. um I guess something that I am struggling with is being more optimistic and having that hope (assurance for good) in mission and after mission, you know me, I worry to much and think to much in my head then just with my heart and hoping and believing that all will work out. In isiZulu (I dont know how to spell it but you get the idea) de deli kas which means let the blood flow, just relax and let the blood flow haha.  Um I dont know if there really is anything that I am excelling in, I am still just trying to learn how to be a good missionary so I think excelling may come much later :)

I never thought that I would be day dreaming of the love of my life 10235 miles away and praying for the day I get to see her again.

With all the love of my heart and soul

Elder Mookie"