Almost There

So I'm just really behind on these posts because I am just really ready for him to be home. Haha :) But actually I've been super busy the last 3 weeks with a week long intensive class, a weekend of away games with RSL Women, and watching my younger siblings while my parents have been out of town. It's been pretty crazy to say the least. HE WILL BE HOME IN ONE WEEK. From yesterday to be exact... ahhhh!!

May 22nd

"We had a few events this week one of which was zone conference. It was good and we talked about how we can increase the spirit of the mission in rescuing the one, the doctrine of Christ and the fundamentals of missionary work.  One of the missionaries giving a teaching segment passed out in the middle of his speech. it was quite the moment, after that the meeting just kind of lost focus.

We also had the amazing opportunity to learn from Elder Rasband of the quorum of the twelve apostles. He was in Durban for a priesthood leadership meeting and was able to spare two hours for the missionaries. Unfortunately I was not able to see him in person because of the distance but we were able to watch via satellite. It was awesome! He gave some great advice as he answered different questions posed by the missionaries in the audience. He taught about how we can be more unified with Christ and how we have given our word that we would do his work. We all have signed up voluntarily and signed an agreement that we will do what He would want. He also spoke about becoming excellent finders, how we need to find more people to teach and find them in every situation.

I got to go on Exchanges to Kimberley, the area where I started my mission. I had this great idea of going to the house of the very first person I taught on my mission, the man never really progressed and I thought how great would it be if we were to try, two years later and he was prepared. Well we went to the door, I am glad I remembered where it was after so long, knocked on the door and his wife answered. we began talking (it was a bit awkward) and they were not interested.... haha oh well, such is mission, it was worth a shot though"

"We had a great opportunity to teach one of our investigators named Thlompho, I am positive none of you pronounced that correctly.... its okay) We were planing on talking more about the Book of Mormon, but she didn't read the introduction that we left with her. We began talking when she brought up some questions that she has long had on her mind. Questions about, why bad things happen to good people. What if I do something that I know is wrong but for some reason I just keep doing it? and a few more great questions. We very quickly changed our lesson plan and began to talk and testify to her about Gods plan for us, the gift of agency, the gift of repentance and much more. it was a wonderful experience and we were able to find so much love for her as she sincerely sought for guidance.

Sister Humble is doing great! She has been nothing but power since her baptism and continues to ask amazing questions that come to her mind and also from the book of Mormon. We are currently teaching two of her friends that she has introduced us to and we love seeing them as well. She will be going home to Pretoria soon and I am hopeful that she will be able to go to the temple while she is there. She has become a dear friend of mine whom I will never forget!

Mission is great, you come across people from all sorts of walks of life. Different cultures, backgrounds, beliefs, likes and more. The gospel brings us all together. Who would have though two years ago that some of my favorite people in the entire world would be in South Africa!? It is amazing to feel such love for people as you try your best to serve them as the Savior would. it is amazing to see peoples spirit and life change as they come to live the teaching of Jesus Christ. It is amazing to be a missionary each day!"

May 29th

"Not going to lie, emailing is getting tough haha I am ready to not have to recap my week in an email anymore.

In all it was a good week though. We got two new investigators this week who we met on campus. We met them while we were walking through our area, we saw two sisters caring some groceries and milk so I asked if we could carry it for them. they allowed us and then we began talking. They eventually asked the question of dreams! Who are you guys? why are you here? It is nice when we get someone to ask us those questions because then they are more interested in listening to our response rather than us just approaching them with an agenda to say who we are. We explained we were missionaries and talked about Jesus Christ for a little bit. unfortunately we met the end our our road and split paths. we gave them a pamphlet to read about the restoration. When we met them this week they had some great questions about the book of Mormon and where it came from, how Joseph smith got the plates and who the Nephite were! It was grand, the only problem was that we were sitting on a park bench the cold south African air. I know, you probably think that sounds weird. cold air in Africa. but let me tell ya, it was probably 17 degrees while we were sitting there!!! okay 17 degrees Celsius but still. it was cold....

Some of the students are going home now, and by the end of the week most will be gone. They are ending school for a month for the winter holiday. It means that our whole teaching pool except for a few people will be gone.... Oh well, just means we will get a lot of time to knock on peoples gates!

We went to visit Mme Violet this week, when we got their her neighbor was also their. She is about 40 yrs old, has three children and one on the way. We spent some time getting to know them while drinking our Herbal tea and bran muffins... it was really nice. We then started answering Mme Violet's friend's questions. We explained who missionaries are, what we do and a brief summery of the restored gospel. The Mme then asked us how people take us, because we are so young and they are much older than us. I turned the question to Mme violet and asked her, how was your perspective of the missionaries changed from two young boys walking the streets to what you see today. She then bore a powerful testimony of missionaries being Heaven sent, selfless and full of service and love. She bore testimony of the book of Mormon, she bore testimony of the restored and true church of Jesus Christ. The awesome part is that she knows all this but has never come to church. because of financial circumstances she has not been able to attend and also she recently had a baby and couldn't go out. She reads the book of Mormon whenever she cant sleep and continues to increase in faith and love for our savior Jesus Christ.

The days keep seeming to fly by, I thought they would slow down on this last stretch but I have been anything but wrong with that assumption. time doesn't care and I am trying to use every bit of it I can while I still have it. being a missionary is the most incredible thing and I love it so much!"

June 5th

"We had another great lesson with mme violet! We reviewed the restoration and talked more about what "apostasy" means (if you have any questions, please contact your local missionaries for more help ;) ) She continues to read the book of Mormon and is excited to come to church.

This week we were able to have stake conference and it was awesome. The mission President and his wife came down and spoke in both sessions. Whenever President Thompson speaks he invites the spirit and I learn so much! After the conference we had a little zone conference and he taught us more as we discussed the recent visit from Elder Rasband and how we can be 100% missionaries and strictly obedient! It was a really nice meeting and I learned a lot from it.

One thing that I liked from stake conference and I have heard it before but this time it stood out to me was a quote from Alice in wonderland. When Alice comes to a point where the road forks she meets a cat. She asks the cat which path she should take, the cat replies, well that depends on where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, then it does not matter. I just started thinking about how important having a plan and destination really is. If we do not have any plans then our choices become unguided and meaningless. With clear direction and focus, our choice have great impact and can determine if we get to where we want to go. Our ultimate destination should be to return to be with our Father in Heaven. Having that as our goal, every choice we make is influenced. without purpose our choices are irrelevant.

We were able to have a ton of investigators come to the stake conference as well which was amazing! I think we had 7 there!!!!

Elder Benissan and I had the privilege to sit down with the Porters, the senior couple here in Bloem, and talk about our mission and what we have learned and experience over the past two years. It was weird to be talking about my mission in terms of two years. It doesn't feel real at all that I will be home next week. It was a nice meeting though to sit and talk about the blessings of missionary service and the testimonies that have grown from it."

Only one more email that we'll ever have to write each other, and then he is coming home!!! It hasn't quite sunk in yet, so when I get around to posting his last email I'll talk about it some more. But for now... T-5days!!!!

What a Week(s)

Well, the end of the semester really had me stressed so that's why I'm late on all three of these letters. The semester is officially over for me now! I am no longer a sophomore, which means I'm now an upperclassman, which also means I'm halfway through my collegiate career... I don't want to talk about it. Time seriously flies and it's crazy to think that this summer, Mikel is coming home! It doesn't feel like it was that long ago that we were just graduating and starting our adventures. We got the official flight itinerary this week!! June 16 is the official day. It's starting to feel so real!

April 10th

"We had a lot of conference this week. General conference and then normal church and then zone conference. I was pretty exhausted by the end of it all.

Zone conference was super awesome! We talked about our desires as missionaries and discovering what our inner desires are and should be and how to fulfill them.

I learned something I thought was interesting. Two words were put up. "motivation" "uplifted" we were comparing the two. We kind of came down to this. It's like working out. If your goal is to get a six pack, then after you get the six pack you stop working out. However, if your goal is to be healthy, even when you get the six pack, you continue to work out to stay healthy.  One is short term and the other is more long term. Also, motivation is more temporal while upliftment is more spiritual. In life we sometimes get motivated to become better and do more and then it fades, we really want to get uplifted so that we can maintain that same motivation over an extended period of time. It was a really good discussion over the two words.

Something my companion mentioned was "becoming the real you".  Something that I always talk about is how we are all sons and daughters of God and how that is something quite extraordinary and special. Our Father is the greatest King to ever exist! He is our dad and that's why he loves us. I have talked about this before but I don't care. He is God, he is incapable of doing anything less than perfect. He created us and by divine design we are perfect, for God is unable to do anything but that. The problem is that perfection is deep down in us. Throughout this life we take on corruption, from all around us we see and consume corruption. Nevertheless, their is perfection in each on of us. The question then lies, How do we pull this perfection out of us? Now that is an interesting topic! Well, we always want some grand explanation or demonstration. If someone told us that to bring out the perfection in you and to become that perfected person you must climb the highest mountain and eat of the fruit there on, we would probably try it. The thing is, its much more simple and we can all do it. We just need to focus on the basic. Scripture study, prayerful conversation and relation, and thoughtful church attendance. If we are to do these small and simple things then great things are brought to pass. In turn we begin to bring the perfection out of us. the "real you" begins to shine. I could go on and on but sadly time never seems to be on my side.

I know that we all have perfection placed in us. We don't have to try to imitate someone or something else, just be you, do you and become who you really are! That's what God intends. Now this rarely is achieved here and now but is an eternal pursuit full of trials and learning. As we learn to become the "real you" You begin to see the "real you" in others around you. You begin to see the potential and value of all of God's children and grow to love them all in their faults, quirks and shortcomings.

Be the Real You! find the joy in life, find the presence of God within and around you! live it and love it!"


April 17th

"So we had some deep stuff happen this week.

First was with Nokozotsa, one of our investigators getting baptized on the 30th. We left her with a copy of "Family a proclamation to the world" and we were going to go over it. We got to her house at 3 o'clock and knocked on her bedroom door. no answer. We tried again.... no answer. We looked through the key hole and saw her in bed. We assumed she was sleeping. This was on Easter day. We came into the room and planned to scare her, you know me and my silly games. Well turns out she was not sleeping but was crying. We had no idea what was going on. She took a few minutes to try and compose herself and left the room. She came back and then proceeded as if everything was normal. We took her hand and asked her how she was and then she lost it all over again. We spent the next 15 minutes in silence, sitting on the bed side just being there for her. She began to tell us what was wrong. She explained how she didn't know what family feels like anymore. The pamphlet was too much for her, both her parents died while she was young and she had she had to take on the role of Mother for her siblings. She was in High school trying to do her best and also acting as a parent. no easy task. It was Easter Day and she was still in Bloem, she didn't go home for the holiday because there wasn't a true home to go to, at least not one with love. She sobbed as she told us the pain she has felt as she couldn't understand why she had to go through this pain. Why God had to take both her parents away, and so much more.

Its moments like this when you feel completely unqualified. After awhile I couldn't help but smile as my mind was flooded with pictures of the temple. As I remembered many experience while inside and also other experience about eternal family. After listening for a while we were able to gain composure and she proceeded to ask what we had to share. I lit up and said excitedly, this! While pointing to a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. I asked her what she saw. She told us she saw a beautiful building. I went on to say, let me tell you what makes it so beautiful. We began to talk about temple sealing, and baptism for the dead. We talked about how God will restore everything and every opportunity will be had again. I shared from experiences in my life of close ones being lost and how knowing where they are, how they are and how I can be with them again makes it all bearable. The spirit was felt and we were able to realize Gods love for us, even in the darkest moments. We then expressed on how we are on big family and we are never really alone."

"We were met with another instance of great turmoil as one young women whom also is studying at the college UFS here told us of some bad news. She has had a cyst on her ovary and has been in the process of removing it. She discovered at her last check up that it had spread and that they would now have to perform a more intensive operation that will no longer allow her to have children. She is in her early 20's and the news was devastating. Again, we felt unqualified and unsure of what to say to a soul weighed down so much. We listened and listened some more. I have come to learn a great way to solve a problem is by listening. As we listen not just to the person present but to the Holy Spirit, our minds begin to light up with insight and direction. We testified again to her and offered a Priesthood blessing. After which we were able to smile and to enjoy the rest of the day. Her outlook remains positive still and we are hopeful for good news tomorrow after her check up.

Wow isn't mission an adventure. I have come to learn as Elder Stevenson of the twelve apostles shared, The spirit is seemingly the only way we can gain comfort and peace in the tragedies of life.

Also, happiness never comes from looking around us but rather by looking up. Look up to our savior, look up to our Father and look to their guidance and love. The world looks to compare, discriminate everyone and thing. True happiness is not found in becoming better than another or having more of something but rather from within. From the peace of the Spirit of the Lord. True happiness is found in the soul and shine forth from the eyes.."

April 24th

"We are preparing two people for baptism on the 30th! One named Rethabile, she has met with missionaries in the past, just over two years ago but it didn't go anywhere. She grew up around some members and one even brought her to church a few years ago. She saw us in the street about two months ago and stopped us. She asked us to come see her that week! As we have taught her its been as if she has been teaching us. She really studies what we give her and has a great understanding of the gospel. She has been going through a lot of trials lately but through it all she says she has just been happier, more patient, and hopeful since we have started teaching her. She knows its true!

Nokozotsa is our other investigator getting baptized on Sunday. We met her almost three months ago. We stopped her in the road and began sharing our purpose. She said that she was new to Bloem for school and didn't have a church but really wants to go. She promised us she would visit that Sunday.... she didn't.... but we didn't give up. We saw real potential and new she was ready. We called her, it didn't work, called again she was busy. She had soccer. We decided to go and watch her soccer match. She afterwards came to church and has been ever since. She has had an incredible history and a tough one as well. She has risen to every occasion. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and is in 2Nephi. She loves it! We are really excited for her to make the next steps towards entering the celestial Kingdom."


I love hearing about his investigators and how well they are doing. The thing I love about it is that each of the people he is teaching or has taught has had different experiences and are in different walks of life, but the gospel applies to each of us. There is always something to teach us regardless of what we have done or who we are.

Just some quotes from church today that I loved:

"We are called, we are chosen, we are Christ for one another."
"It shouldn't be fake it til you make it, it should be faith it til you make it."
"Don't try to do one great thing in your life, just do many small things with great love."

The Spirit Will Testify

"We had zone conference and interviews this week which is always fantastic. Any time that we get to spend with the mission president always leaves me motivated and encouraged. He is such an inspired dude! Our zone conference was centered on teaching the Saviors way and we learned a lot. I really learned about active listening and how to better understand the questions people are asking by putting it their emotions. I keep thinking though of something president once said in MLC "You have 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason" haha so true, a lot of us could be better off if we did twice as much listening and understanding as we did talking.

We finally got our new schedule change that every missionary has been talking about. Really nothing has changed though except we do some planing in the morning instead of night but we still go to bed at the same time, wake up same time and all of that. so not much really changed. but its good."

Selfie with mission mom!

"My group! 20 months out and 2 more transfers to go"

Elder Mbangi and I

"We had an awesome lesson this week with three wonderful sisters we have been teaching for the past couple weeks. They haven't really started progressing a ton but they do keep their commitments and read what we leave them with. They have just been struggling accepting the book of Mormon and gaining a testimony. We spent a good hour testifying of the love the Jesus has for us and His sacrifice that He made for us. We testified of the Love of God and His plan. Eventually as we stumbled through the lesson we invited one sister to close with a prayer and ask God here and now if the Book of Mormon is true. She prayed and pleaded that we would feel of the spirit to know if it is true. By the end of the prayer we all said amen and sat in silence. time went buy as we all just listened. I turned to the one next to me and said how do you feel. "happy, and I don't know why" she said, I looked across to the other and asked the same question "I just cant stop smiling" she explained and then to the last she simply said "the spirit is here" We all could feel that peace and joy that comes from God. We could feel it and it was strong!!! 

That was the highlight of the week! ah mission is good

I love you all! thank you for your support,

Elder North"

I loved that story about the three sisters that they have been teaching. It's so cool to me that the spirit will testify to each person that the Book of Mormon is true, even if each person receives that confirmation in different ways. I love the Book of Mormon and I challenge anyone who has never gotten that confirmation that it is true to get on their knees and ask because the Lord will answer. :)

Book of Mormon and Investigators

"This week we drove 750miles, YES miles thats crazy! we had MLC in ladysmith this week where we got to meet with all the other zone leaders and talk about stuff with the mission prez.  It was super sweet! :)

We also got to teach Baba Nnkosi and we will see him again tonight.  He is a reverend for his church and was in Swaziland this weeked for church stuff, buuuutttt he said that he would read the Book of Mormon and if it is true he will follow! Well, if he reads then its game over! It is  true and he will know it! Our last lesson was really grand, the spirit was strong and Baba was nigh to tears at the end as we testified of the Book of Mormon.

We found a new lady this week who is power, her name is Mpume and she is cool. We extended a baptismal date the first time we sat with her and she accepted!  It was stupendous! We just taught her about the restoration and she was getting everything, Usually when we ask question and get them thinking its kinda hard. They dont always put things together but she was getting it, she was putting it all together which is just awesome, she is awesome, mission is awesome!"

Driving to MLC

MLC

 best cooks in town. L to R Elder Thorkolsen, Smith, Thorsen, yours truly.

"Playing games at the mission home before MLC the next morning."

"Isn't our mission president just the cutest"

"elder Katimbo from Kimberely its been over a year since I saw him last, he goes home in about 3 months"

Elder Shinga

Elder Depriest

"We were able to teach Sphe as well and he is stud x2! We taught him about the Book of Mormon and when we followed up with him about it he bore a simple and powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. He said "I just feel like its real" and that was cool! Sadly he wasn't able to come to church, not sure why yet. We are out of airtime and can't call anyone so we will be seeing him tomorrow.  I hope he gets baptized.

We are really trying to set things on fire and make December an incredibly awesome month. It's tough though because December is summer here and holiday and people party for days! We set a goal for the zone in baptisms and in our area we are going to try to get 10 by the end of December, well this area usually get ten a year so its gonna be tough but it is possible. I mean all we need to do is find one more family to teach and then boom! So much prayer and fasting will be put into effect.  

Well I am out of time so I gotta go buuuuuuuuttttttttt, I love ya'll lots! stay blessed!

Love
Elder North"

"so much crabs, such wow, many waves, very crawel."

"Weekly planning at the beach."

"Toothpaste proves the word of wisdom"

"soooo, we went to visit someone in the hospital and while walking down one of the halls we looked at a door and saw that it was barricaded. I think there must have been a small zombie outbreak....."

"Missionary or....."

Well I finally got his Christmas package sent this week, so that will probably be late but it's sent! And thankfully the semester is coming to an end. This is the last week of classes and then finals! Just gotta push through to the end. We're coming up on his 6 months to go mark, which is absolutely insane. One more semester and he's home! I'm really excited to skype him on Christmas. :)