Final E-mail

Date:  June 12, 2017

Area:  Bloemfontein, South Africa

Companion:  Elder Sithole

Well its been two years and this is my last email home. if ya'll want to get some information you can contact my wonderful momma at 8014490088 she can fill you in on all the details. I would love to see you all at my homecoming address on Sunday, June 18th at 11:00am, as well and get to share the experiences I have had over these past two years.

This week was great. I was very grateful for the priesthood as we were able to give four blessings throughout the course of the week. I have loved being someone who can be called upon when heavens help is needed. I have loved being in the service of my God for these two years and the learning and growth that have come from it. We were able to see three new investigators accept the invitation to baptism as well this week which has made it just grand. I am going to miss SA, it has literally become my home. Hope I am not to culturally awkward when I get home.

Love you all and I am forever thankful for the support that you have given me through these past two years.

Elder North

Another great lesson

Date:  June 5, 2017

Area:  Bloemfontein, South Africa

Companion:  Elder Sithole

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.

I love you all! stay well!

Elder North