Christmas

Date:  December 28, 2015
Area:  Amanzimtoti, South Africa
Companion:  Elder Adams
Week 27

So Christmas happened, and yes it was amazing!!!!! so because of the festivities all around this week not much happened in the sense of being able to teach people or get into homes. something the was great but also not great was when we went to check up on an old gogo named angel who is a new investigator. last time we met with her which was a couple of days or a week previous we were told that her husband who was in hospital died. So the day we went to visit which was Wednesday we came up to a huge funeral tent across the yard, so we put two and two together and realized that the funeral was today, we decided to leave our bags in the car and go and try an help all we could, we spent 10:00 to 2:00 there just helping set up, cook and anything they needed sharing short gospel thoughts along the way. It was a great experience to be able to just serve and bring gospel into that service, we hope that some of the people we contacted will call us and visit more with us to hear the rest of the lessons and our messages but it was a great day and we were so tired at the end of the day I almost slept in my white shirt and tie.

Christmas day was power, we spent the day at a members house where we played board games and other games like such. we got to spend time with a family which made being away from our own family not so bad. I got to skype my family as well and while doing so had a special surprise! It was so good to talk to my family face to face for a short while, we spent and hour that felt like 5 min, I wish we could have had longer but, I guess I have to wait till next year! :) It was good to see everyone doing so well and happy and such a beautiful morning to celebrate and commemorate the birth of the savior!

I got some gifts from ma, the ward and primary, and also from grandma/pa North

I love you all and wish you all a happy coming new year!

Elder North

Christmas!!!!!

traditional headress

Date:  December 21, 2015
Area:  Amanzimtoti, South Africa
Companion:  Elder Saibeko
Week 26

It's beginning to look a lot like summer, everywhere I go.... its funny how back home you never think about how in other places of the world its not cold this season. so I was feeling like our boarding was Christmas lacking so I made a tree, isn't it cute! definitely helped me feel like it was Christmas.

So this month is kind of hard for work because a lot of holiday makers (vacationers) so a lot of people dont even live here, or its summer and they are just partying and not thinking about Christ at all, but no need to be sad because its Christmas and we have so much to celebrate. 

On to this week, well I picked up my new companion Elder Adams, and yes he is the best! we came out on mission at the same time so we are both only six months out and we were already friends from our previous area. so from the day I got him we went to a lesson and in the middle of teaching we stopped and just sat for a couple seconds and then Adams asked a truly inspired question that really opened up the lesson. its changed from us talking person to person, to us talking spirit to spirit. We may be the same time out but I have so much to learn from this guy! I am stoked for the next couple weeks we have together. 

A great experience I had this week was when we got bunked and were deciding what to do when I just kept thinking about xolani an investigator who we have been unable to visit in about 4 weeks because he started working but we decided we should try to see if he was home anyways. When we got there you would never believe it.... he wasn't there.... of course haha its what we expected but what we didn't expect was to find his sister, we

At a wedding

talked with her a bit to get to know her and ended up teaching her the restoration, at the end of the lesson we talked about how important prayer is and how we can actually receive an answer from our father in heaven. just like any parent they want to hear from us and are there for us. We invited her to pray right there and then, while she was praying she started crying and laughing all at the same time and the spirit was so strong It was incredible, it was amazing to feel the Savior work through us a missionaries and guide us to those who are ready for us!

Well I wish to talk more but I am out of time, marry Christmas! I know that Christ was born for us he lived for You and loves you! I have felt his arms lift me up and and strengthen me in times of weakness. I love this gospel and I love the Savior.

Love

Elder M.North

It's beginning to look a lot like....summer?

Beautiful Amanzimtoti

Date:  December 14, 2015
Area:  Amanzimtoti, South Africa
Companion:  Elder Saibeko
Week 25

Well looks like I am in for my first Christmas without snow.... weird......

What a great week! so first off I had an awesome lesson with this new investigator named Darril. He is a pretty cool guy and while were teaching him all the sudden I was hit by a wall of smiley goodness! It was an awesome feeling just out of no where I started to smile, wanted to cry and I just felt happy! I was just wondering if he was feeling happy as well, I couldn't tell but I hope so! That happiness is so great, it was a sort of feeling that assures you that God is pleased with what you are doing! As I left that house I left with a sort of spring in my step that I think has been long since missing! Mission is good! :)

trying to be like my brother Jered.....(He went to
Guatemala on his mission and was always sending
home pictures of bugs and critters)

My mom informed me of an awesome opportunity you all could have! So if you are trying to decide if a mission is right for you and you arn't really sure.  Maybe your worried about being home or how hard mission life is.  Well I have good news for you! You can go on a mini mission for 6-12 weeks, living and working with the full time missionaries and get to have and experience the joys and rigorous of mission life, you will get to feel the same kind of giddy happiness that I felt as I have taught the "good news" to people in my mission. Then after those 12 weeks you can know for sure if you could handle it and how it is.  So don't delay, call your bishop/Stake Pres. now to start your own mini mission to help you decide if mission is right for you!!......

Onward ever onward!  This Sunday was incredible, I had a baptism!!! oh my goodness, I have missed the water, as a missionary we don't get to swim, and its summer season here in Africa and I live next to the beach and don't get to swim. So its a little extra incentive to baptize people so you can get into the water... (that's a joke, not the reason why we don't swim or why we get baptisms) so this awesome man Cebo is 15 years old but he acts more like he around 18, really a level headed guy who knows what he wants in life and he is so young! He could make such a great missionary and leader on day! so we have been teaching him for a while and he has really grasped the gospel with two hands and has not let go for even a second! I was honored with the opportunity to perform the baptism with him and dunk him in the water twice. His head didn't go all the way under the first time because he slipped so we had to do it again, not fun because the water was really cold..... He bore a powerful testimony afterward about what he knows to be true, it was short sweet and to the point. just the I like it! So mission isnt about how many people you can dunk in the water or anything like that but more about the love you give and the love you feel but a baptism doesn't hurt :) There is a special feeling at baptisms of just new life beginning and old habits dying and new joy soon coming. 

Pictures of us and cebo. The other man in white with the little girl is
Thula and his sister Bushla, he baptized her the same day.

GUESS WHAT!!! God lives! and so does his son Jesus! and best of all they love you!!!!

so today was the end of transfers, Elder Sibeko is leaving me and I am getting Elder Adams. Elder Sibeko is a great guy and a fantastic missionary, he is going to go die in his last area only having 3 months left on mission. sometimes when people get close to the end of their mission they get trunky and want to go home and not work, but not this guy, he is to power. We worked really hard in this area and I can look back and say we did all we were supposed to do and all we could do #NoRegrets He was always quick to complement me which is something that I think helped me a lot, to feel like I was actually a good missionary and can do this. I am thankful I got to know him. so now I have had a companion from Zimbabwe, and two from South Africa. Now I get my American buddy/German  So Elder Adams is from the USA but has lived in Germany for the past 5 years. He is in my MTC group meaning we are the same age on mission, he was serving in Bloemfontein which I was able to visit about 2 or 3 times a month while I was in Kimberley so I got to know him pretty well and I love this guy so when I heard the news, I literally flipped, I cant wait to see my brother again! Usually you don't get two young missionaries put together like us. young on mission I mean. we both are only six months out and are serving together! so needless to say I am looking forward to the next couple months :)

Consecration is the only surrender which is also a victory.

I love this scripture in 2 Nephi 33:10

 hearken unto these words and believein Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

ME and Sibeko with Alrfed a member

We had a ward Christmas party which was off the hook crazy, well as crazy as a Mormon party gets that is!  That means there were skits, food, and laughs, and some time to mingle after haha. I really enjoyed it and even us missionaries got to participate. We did the 12 days of Christmas song, I saw some people recording it so I will have to get it from them to send you guys, I think you would get a kick out of it.

In Margate for a meeting then went for some grub at the beach,
from left to right. Kaitoo, Dean, Knight, Hamilton, Me, Sibeko 

I got mail this week!!!! two from grandma marry and then I got some packages from mom, haiy, and grandpa/ma North, haven't opened them because I have to wait for Christmas.

Write me!

Love,

Elder Mookie North

December....Wait what!

Date:  December 7, 2015
Area:  Amanzimtoti, South Africa
Companion:  Elder SAibeko
Week 24

wo wo wo what happend to November? I am super confused right now.... wasn't it just... where did Novem.... how come its..... hmmmm.....

Well according to everyone around me it seems like we decided just to skip November and go to December, I mean they keep telling me that its december 7th and I was just trying to explain to them that yesterday was November 6th so it has to still be November, but the people are quite persistent, I mean they even changed all the dates on the phones to say its december, I guess people just cant wait for this Christmas season.  Who can blame them! Christmas! I think of Spanish word mas which means more so I read Christ-mas as more Christ!!!! thats how I think it should be as we approach the day we commemorate the birth of our savior. We should focus more on Christ and less on us, More on service and less on self indulgence. Its quite a different feeling here on the other side of the world because December is summer and so people start to party like crazy during this month. The thoughts of most are far from Christ. During this month we should discover more about why #ASaviorIsBorn and learn how we can come closer to Him, and be more like Him. There still none the less is a special feeling in the air, partly due to the summer buzz but also that Christmas spirit that has just been emitted out of the festive hearts of those we meet. We have focused on teaching about the Savior this season and how he is the true and greatest gift given. A special spirit comes while you testify of the birth and reality of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, His greatest gift. 

I know with all my heart that the son of God, Jesus Christ, the way of truth and light, came to earth, just as you and I have. Unlike you and I He did something extraordinary. He gave us this incredible gift I have hinted to. He suffered, bleed and died for us. through Him we may return to Heaven with Him. I know it to be true! Guess what, SO CAN YOU!!! I encourage you during this time of Christ-mas to find out who He is to you.

This is Jude the crab we caught. We like catching crabs... he is so cute :) I tried to feed him my cheerios. Elder Sibeko thought that the crab looked quite tasty.

Mission life has been pretty great here in Amanzimtoti. Love is the key, they are the door. If you want them to open up to you, Love them. You need to key to open the door. When you love the people you meet on mission your mission becomes something else entirely. When you gain a love for the people you serve your whole attitude changes, you begin to have a new found source of strength and energy to get you out knocking doors, talking to people. You love them and want the best for them. We know that the gospel truly is the best thing for everyone and that's what pushes us to go from door to door, gate to gate, after rejection again and again. If you dont love the people you will not love your mission I can promise you that. I am thankful that the people her in Toti have made it so easy for me to fall in love with them. Loving them makes every day a good day!

Went to a less active members house
and found it empty and abandoned but a cool
little mermaid painting was on the wall

Lessons have been good, days have been packed, and progress has been made. We are scheduled to have a baptism next week of a boy named Cebo (the C is a click from your front teeth) He is 15 turning 16 next month. I have had the amazing opportunity to teach him and see his understanding grow. I am so excited to see him take this step and put his trust in Christ by following His example to enter to the water of baptism. its the first step of a long journey and no it dosnt mean it will be easy but we know its worth it!

My little sis sent me this picture and rainbow and told
me to smile every day. so far so good. Thank you!
(The photo of Taylynne so goofy is her school picture.
She wanted to keep alive Mikel's tradition of a silly
yearbook photo.)

Always follow true north, couldn't have said it better myself.

Love you all, miss you all, and pray for you all! 

Elder M.North