A great week in deed!

Date:  January 18, 2016

Area:  Amanzimtoti, South AFrica

Companion:  Elder Adams

Week 30

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.

Church was pretty great, Cebo, the boy I baptized 6 or so weeks ago gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the light of Christ, He crushed it. You could tell he was so nervous. We helped him prepare a lot and he had it go for like 7 min but when he actually did it during sacrament meeting he lasted just under 3 min haha. Still pretty great for his first time. 

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)

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.

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...

I love working with Elder Adams, swell guy indeed, really enjoying his company as my companion. We are looking forward to this week to get real down and dirty knocking on gates till our knuckles bleed and we can't hear anymore due to being yelled at by all the angry Afrikaners. Now that is a stereotype which isnt 100 percent true but it mostly is. the Afrikaans people just don't want anything to do with gospel in general compared to the Zulu people. But we have decided that we have to work in the town and get more members there. 

For Pday this week we got to go to Croc World and it was great.

A shirt at croc world

Real comforting sign.

Now I have had croc meet!  It was expensive
but I had to try it.  It was yummy.l

Elder Adams and Kaito

FAM - yeah buddy

Mommy I found your license plate

Tucan

old drill

Old fridge still works

We had to get a new windshield

staring contest...I won of course.

This is an eagle that was at croc world, its not a bald eagle but close enough. the best part was his name is Isis..... He was pretty big and had these huge talons and was pretty freaking awesome

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)

I hope and pray that you all are doing well and as we trust in God and put for our faith (which is action) we will come out of this test with a great big pass.

I love you all deeply and am thankful for your prayers and support

I got mail this week from ma, Grandma marry, Callie Carter, and Haiy.

I hope I don't slack and writing letters as I have thus far.

Love,

Elder North