Oh What a Beautiful Morning!!!

Hey Family and Friends!!!!

Sister Kershaw and I had Culvers.  We had our first
 meal here in Gurnee when we became companions
and now one of our last.

How is it going??  Like for reals YOU ALL should tell me!!!  Yes, that is a HINT HINT to write me!  HEHEHE  :)

Letters this week:
- Rachel Fisihetau
- Momma :) thanks for the sticker
- Brother Scott

So the reason why I say "Oh what a beautiful morning" is because this morning the Hermanas and the Sisters in our Zone went to a light hosue (it made me think of Grandma North) at Lake Michigan and we watched the Sunrise!!  It was pretty sweet!!  It was windy and chilly but wonderful!!!  Then we went to Ihop for breakfast!!  So funny story...as we were leaving this guy had caught a fish!  It was a pretty big fish too and so we took a picture.  Way great!!!

Okay so this week has been full of ups and downs, but it is back to always going up!

Hanging out by the lighthouse

Look Lake Michigan!  Isn't it pretty.

I'm cool just chilling at the lake.

The fish the guy caught!

Look we can see the city!

Ihop after the lake and lighthouse!

So we had Transfers on Tuesday and I am no training Sister Winn.  She is from Texas and will turn 22 next month.  She has had three years at BYU and she is super awesome!!  We get a long very well.

President Woodbury, me, Sister Winn, and Sister Woodbury

At Transfer meeting.
Sister Winn and Me, Elder Larkin, Murillo, and Yeates

Our first day together was Awesome!!  We had two lessons one with M**** and another with K****! They both went GREAT!!  Then we went shopping and so it was a crazy busy day but awesome!!

Then Wednesday was when the really hardship of training began..not going to like being a training it is stressful!  You are the one who is "in charge" and I am the one that "knows" the area!  So yeah tons of craziness really.  But it really it has been wonderful!!

Silly one of course!

I really just don't even know what to say  BUT  I wrote a list of random things that I have learned or thought were cool or that are just different out here, so here ya go....

Transfer 1 Random:
- Squirrels are everywhere!!!  There are creepy black ones too!  Yeah and there are bunnies in some areas.
- Parking lots here make the cars sound like they are going crazy or going to crash.  I think it has something to do with the winters...and I heard that it might be a bad winter.  Hmmm
- Everyone and their Dog has a DOG!
- It's weird when you can't find a door to the house....
- They like to use the same street names in every city (super annoying)
- Thunder storms here are pretty awesome and I also love watching the Thunder! :) Wonder if she means lightning?  
- Christmas Time - Having Beds to sleep on
- Once while tracting we were told we were not Christian  hmmm
- Yummy Pie!So a ward member told us how to make a pie way easy and good.  You got your pie crust and then get whip cream and yogurt!!  It is Tasty!! :)

That is just a few that I wrote down there could be more but yeah  haha ;)

So pretty much things are good.  We have three investigators progressing right now.  K****, M****, and C****.  It is super great!

So way awesome!  C**** still isn't sure if she believes/has a testimony about the church but she has already started to defend it!! Pretty much awesome!!!

Last night we also met with a less active family and it was so good to meet them and talk with them.  The husband is super busy with the Navy so it makes things hard  but they are pretty solid.  They just need to come to church when they can.  We'll be working on that one.

We helped C**** put together this house for K**** :)  We are pretty much Adorable!
Love this little girl ;D

Okay so I might end up writing more later but I want to send pictures home YEAH :)  Hope you all are doing great!!!

I Love you!!!

Love,
Sister North :)

I'm going to be a "Mom".

Hello my lovely friends and family!!!!!!!

How are you all??  I am doing so wonderful!!  So much has happened and hopefully I will be able to remember some of the awesomeness!  heheh  :)

C**** and Sister North

So I bet you are wondering why it says "i'm going to be a mom", well...Tomorrow is transfers and I will be training a new Missionary!!!  Yep only been out six weeks and I will be training!!  Pretty crazy huh?  The Lord must trust me or something.  hehehe  :)  I am pretty excited!!!  So here on the mission when you train a new missionary they are your daughter and to them you are their mom.  So Sister Kershaw is my mom and then I will be getting a new Sister and Sister Kershaw will be training in Woodstock which is still int he same stake but we will be in different Zones.  Sister Kershaw will be a Grandma to my new daughter!  haha  :)  So that is some of the fun language out here on the mission.

This morning we were able to do some service!  We helped sort donations that will be going out and helping people...I am not really sure where but it was good.  We got a lot done.

C****s baptism/confirmation

C***** got baptized on Saturday, September 14th and it was so amazing!!!  Nothing like watching someone come closer to the Gospel and then take that first step to come even closer to our Father in Heaven.  It is so fun to watch them grow and their faces just show it all.  The Spirit was so strong at her baptism and when she received the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  She kept saying that everything seems brighter and man I don't even know how to tell you how great it was but it was wonderful!!!!



M**** her husband was able to be there for both and it was perfect!!  :)  She is so amazing!!!  We are going to hang out with her later.

Us being a little silly after C****'s baptism.

We met with J**** at the Church this week and showed him where we worship, the lesson was good but we took a few steps backwards.  It is interesting because he is like, "yeah I believe in the Book of Mormon", but he doesn't believe Joseph Smith was a prophet so we are still figuring out that hurdle.  He is super busy this week so we don't know if we get to see him but we are going to be trying and to bring different ward members with us to that.

We picked up two new investigators this week!!

The first one is M**** and we met her at the beginning of transfers.  Her husband died and we have stopped by a few times and she wasn't home and then there was once that she was but she couldn't talk and was going out of town but told us she still wants to talk.  She is an older lady and is super nice and very open to the Gospel.  She wants to read the Book of Mormon and was excited to have a copy of her own.  We told her to read the Intro and just start reading if she wanted.  We are meeting with her Tuesday.  She was an elementary ed teacher so we talked about that and I am excited to teach her.

If anyone doesn't know Amber's major is Elementry Ed with a focus on Special Needs.

The 2nd is K****, the Spanish Elders gave her to us, she was learning from them but wants to come to the English ward instead.  So we are also meeting with her tomorrow afternoon.  She is in High School and is very bright.  So because the Elders just handed her off to us it was all four of us Missionaries and we told her how I will be getting a brand new Missionary that day.  We decided when we come that she is going to have a tennis racket and be like, "I told you not to come back!", and then tell her she was just kidding...We will see if she does something like that or not.  That will most likely be the first thing we do because we have a lot of stuff to do like go get bedding for my new companion and food and stuff.  :)  It is going to be a busy but GREAT day tomorrow!!!  I am excited to meet my new companion!

They received 36 new missionaries today.  25 Sisters and 11 Elders!!!  That is sooo amazing.  I am so excited for Amber to get this chance to train.  I am sure she will do amazing.

I don't remember if I have told you about C**** at all.  We have been teaching her and she is a former investigator.  We wee over there Saturday night and she told us some things and then said that her dad asked her if she finds out what happens after this life to let him know.  Well...we have these great pamphlets about the Plan of Salvation and guess what?  We had one for her and her Father.  It was awesome!!  There are miracles EVERYWHERE!!!  Just gotta look for them!

If your interested in learning about what we believe you can find information on The Plan of Salvation here.
http://www.lds.org/topics/plan-of-salvation

So here is a cool story from tracting this week!  We were about done tracting and the 2nd to the last house we knocked on we talked to this guy K**** and his son.  They are really strong in their religion and we had a nice conversation and we asked if we could do anything.  He was like funny you ask that, so it ends up being that he has a sister who has been having a hard time and he wants missionaries to go visit her.  So we got her info to have some missionaries go visit her and before we left Sister Kershaw and I both were like, we want to say a prayer.  Well K**** ended up praying for us and it was such a sweet prayer!  It was super nice!  Yeah that was cool.  It is always refreshing to talk to nice people even when they don't want to hear what we have to share.

Here is something funny...Bugs in House = I kill you!

Story 1:  Sister Kershaw and I were singing, "I am a Child of God" to start off our companionship study.  Next thing I know there is this tiny bug (still gross) and I grabbed the Kleenex box and start smashing it.  She was like what the...but kept singing.  Yeah not the most reverent while singing.  HAHHA

Story 2:  We were having a lesson with C**** with Brother B**** and we were all just laughing at the start and as we get into the lesson I see a spider.  For those of you who don't know, I hate spiders!  So I see it and the next thing I know my foot is on that thing killing it!  Everyone else was like WOW!  C**** was like I just saw it and then you were THERE!!!  It was pretty great!!!

So moral of the story bugs should not be in homes, or they will die!!!

Letters:
- Grandma Mary
- Looslie Family

THANK YOU!!! for the letters!!! and I look forward to hearing from the rest of you soon!!!!

Congrats to Daniel and Laurel on their Engagement! :)

Well I love you all so much!!!  Thank you for all you do!!  It is always fun hearing how everyone is doing!!  Keep working hard and be safe!!!

I love you!!!

Love,
Sister North :)

Sister C**** and I.  She is one of the members we visit.
She is awesome and so sweet!!  She likes to do everything by herself
but sometimes we can get her to let us help her.
It is always a treat to see her!

Baptism!!! Saturday!! YAHOO!!! :)

Hello Everyone!!!

Oh man, how are you all?????  Man I am just splendid!!!!!!!

So BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!

C**** is being BAPTIZED on Saturday!!!  Yep Saturday! at four and we are so super excited for her!!  And she is excited too!!!!  Man it has been so cool to see her grow closer to our Heavenly Father!  She is so incredible and I love her so much!!!  I am so excited to be a part of this special day with her!!  Sister Kershaw and I want to go buy her a skirt or something because she doesn't have one, but then we decided that we might just give her a gift card to buy one, we aren't sure yet but we are going to do something special for her!  It is going to be wonderful!!!!!

And...Guess what else?!?  M**** came to church on Sunday and said that he enjoyed it!!!  YAHOO!!! We are excited to see him grow closer to God too!!  It is just the best!!!!

This is for sure the greatest thing about being a missionary is seeing people come to really know there Father in Heaven and that he loves them and all of us SO SO much!!!  He really does and I invite ALL of you to ask him how much he loves you and I know that he will show you that he loves you.  I know he loves us more than we could ever imagine!  This Gospel is So amazing and brings you the Most happiness you could ever picture!!  I promise God will answer any questions you have if you believe and have that faith!!!  Times are going to be hard, being on a mission is hard and makes you exhausted but when you feel like you cannot move or do anything anymore that is when we get that extra help from above!!  He is watching over all of his children and he loves everyone of us!!  I know that! and I have seen some of the love he has for the people here that I serve and it is the Best!!!  :)

Questions from Mom:

We do have a washer and dryer, two of them in our apartment complex, it costs a dollar to do a load and half the time we will just let our clothes air dry because we don't want to go get more quarters.  hahha Why not right?  hahah but we do sometimes dry our clothes in the dryer, we are going to do that today  ;)

Mosquitoes, I haven't had too much a problem besides the firs week or so I was here.  I guess they liked that I was "fresh meat".  hahha but I only get one once in awhile now so that is nice.  That stinks that the misquotes are loving Bryen.  Mom, you need to send me his e-mails because that is the only way I get them.

I do send e-mails from the Gurnee Library it is pretty grand!  You may be wondering why our P-day is today, a Tuesday?  Well we are going to the Temple as a zone!  WOOT  :)  Yeah we are pretty spoiled because we just went to the Temple so that is awesome!!  That is what we are doing after this!  :)  Love the Temple!!  :D  You all should go!!  :)

Best tracting story this week?  Hummm...Okay here is one but it wasn't really tracting but it still works.  We wanted to see a less active but she wasn't home but when we were leaving we ran into this Hispanic Guy...I don't remember his name and we talked to him.  He seemed pretty interested but he doesn't know a lot of English and well I am terrible at my Spanish but he wanted to learn more and we left him with a Book of Mormon (we try to have a Spanish copy just for this reason!)  and told him to read the Introduction Page.  Which is awesome!  If you haven't read it lately go read it!!!  :)  Then we gave him the Spanish Elders information and gave the Elders his information.  It was pretty crazy trying to understand each other but it all worked out and hopefully he will read the intro and have the desire to learn more!  :)
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/introduction?lang=eng

The Spanish Elders are also giving us one of their investigators because she wants to go to the English ward instead of the Spanish Branch.  She is 15 and she came to our ward a few weeks ago, she is really cute and that will be fun to teach her!  :)  Her name is C****...not sure how to spell her name...but I will learn!  :)

Favorite meal or place to eat here in Chicago?  Hummm....At Members houses!  hahah ;)  I love when members feed us, for the most part it is SO SO AMAZING and YUMMY!!!  :D  hmmm...There are Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robins everywhere here!  I don't know but food is good  :)  hahah ;)

Have I been feed anything interesting?  hmmm....good question We had Curry at a members that was Yummy!  but I don't know, I just love eating food  hahah ;)

So I don't remember if I told you but every Monday we go and teach the A****'s family FHE.  The Grandma is a member and her grand kids who we teach and visit with her too.  Their names are D**** and J**** and yesterday we talked about choosing the right and it went really well and we played Red Light Green Light and before we could go again they had to say something that they can do to "Choose The Right".  They LOVED it!!!  And J**** who is three said the closing prayer!  It was awesome because the last time we met we talked about Prayer and he didn't really pay attention and this week he was like oh yeah!  This and that!!!  It was pretty great!  :)  They are cute boys!

Sister Johnson and I on exchanges

We had exchanges lats week.  It was pretty weird to be away from Sister Kershaw, and me being in charge of everything.  It was also weird to have the car keys and the phone.  (usually we just have one).  Like today I am driving so Sister Kershaw has the phone, it works out pretty nicely.  One of the things I learned is being unified as a companionship is so important!  When I train I am going to make sure I know my companion so we are able to work together just like Sister Kershaw and I.  It was good  :)

Letters:
- Rachel Fisihetau - THANKS for writing me!!!!  :)

Everyone else should write me too!!  This Saturday is transfer calls so they will be holding our mail the end of the week until Tuesday.  So the plan is to have LOTS of mail when I go to transfers.  :)  Yep Yep, so write!!  YAY  :D  It makes me happy!!!!:)  Like I said last week it is rather sad when there is nothing in the mailbox!

Hmmm..what else can I tell you....I love it here and the ward members have been awesome to fellowship the Burger family!!  It is so nice to know that they have people to help them and encourage them!!!

Yesterday was hot and highs of 97, and HUMID.   HUMIDDITY= YUCK!  I guess today is suppose to be hotter!  ha it is fun right?

Well I better write President Woodburry.

I love you all so much!!!  Be a missionary, there are opportunities EVERYWHERE!!!!  :D

Love,
Sister North  :)

Baptism Coming Soon!!!

Chicago Temple

Hello Everyone!!!!!

I sure hope you all had a GREAT Holiday!!!  I sure did!!  I was able to go to the Chicago Temple and it was divine!!!  The Temple is really the house of God and it was so nice to go!!  :)  Everyone else here in the Chicago Missin but my Stake had their P-day on Tuesday but we had an awesome Zone Conference yesterday so ours was still on Monday but we get to e-mail for a little bit today!  YAY!!! :)

Sister north at the Chicago Temple - She says it is
a small Temple but very wonderful.

Sister Kershaw and Sister North at the Chicago Temple

We had a District Lunch after our meeting  :)  we had some food at Denny's it was great!  and Oh story when we were leaving I talked to two lady's and invited them to come to church.  Sadly they didn't come but maybe they will another day!  We gave them our card though!  It was pretty cool.  They asked us if we were in a choir because we were all dressed up and stuff so it was perfect that we got to talk to her.  Pretty much I got brownie points from the Zone leaders because Sister Kershaw and I talked to them and I am a Greenie, it was pretty great! :)

There is not much green about my girl, she is anxious and willing and not scared at all to share the gospel and be out there in Chicago.  I am sure she is learning a ton and will make a fine trainer some day.  

Okay another story!

Guess what!!?!!  C**** came to church for the first time on Sunday!!  It was amazing!!!  So as we were sitting there listening to everyone sharing their Testimonies C**** whispers to us that she thinks she is going to go up.  Well she did!!!  Her first time at church she shared her Testimony!!!  It was so awesome and precious!!!  :)  She is such an amazing person!!  I love her so much!!!  The ward was and is very welcoming and she enjoyed church.  Her daughter loved going to Nursery!  At church temples came up a lot and she asked us what those were so we talked about that after church.  It was super funny at church she found out that she could feed us so she was like Oh my goodness I have sandwiches for you guys so we went and visited her after church and ended up having lunch with her too.  She loved hearing about the Temple and she wants to do that.  M**** doesn't have duty this weekend so he should be at church this Sunday, we are hopefully meeting with him this Saturday too!

Once a month on the first Sunday of each month we call it Fast Sunday.  To fast is to go without food and drink voluntarily for a period of time (typically three meals).  We donate additional moneys as fast offerings. We also have the opportunity if we would like to bear testimony of our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the truths of the restored gospel.

The other thing Sister North talks about is Temple's.  If you would like to know more about our Temples you may go to this link and read why we build them, what happens in them, etc.

http://www.lds.org/church/temples/why-we-build-temples?lang=eng

But it doesn't end there!!!  We had a lesson with her yesterday and she is now on date for baptism!!! AHH!!!  So amazing!!!  She will be getting baptized on September 21st!!!!  So yeah that is SUPER exciting!!!  :)

We are still teaching J****!  He is so nice and he looks forward to meeting with us!  We are still talking about some of the basics but he is doing his reading and learning more and it is the best!!!

We sadly couldn't meet with K**** this past week because her nephew was in the hospital but we are hoping we will be meeting with her soon.

QUESTIONS FROM MOM:

Honestly so far I don't think there is anything I am missing from home that I can't get here, at least I haven't thought about it much.  I do miss seeing the mountains  haha ;) but the skies here are really pretty.

There is a Senior Couple the Jensen's and they are in charge of the base that we can't get onto...they are super nice, we see them sometimes at District Meetings.

My ward meets in Gurnee.  We are like five minutes away, not that far at all.  I am actually across the street from our building right now, almost.

Did I tract into anyone interesting this week?  hahaha Always!!!  The coolest one is this boy who we said hi to and he was like oh I don't want to talk to you.  Then he found out that we were Mormons and was like, NO WAY!!!!  I've never actually met one of you before.  So we got to talk to him and we are hoping to see him again soon.

I do have air conditioning in my apartment it is pretty great!  :)  and it has gotten pretty warm in the high 90's. Yesterday was like high 70's low 80's and that was nice.

A favorite time of each day?  hmmm..It would be when we are teaching a lesson!  For sure!!  I love teaching and watching who we are teaching understand and come closer to Christ!!  It is really awesome!!!

Oh so on Monday after the Temple we went to Portillo's and we were eating and then some Members cam up and gave us all a Milkshake.  It was SUPER DUPER Nice!!! and Yumy too!!!  :)

Since she had bought a strawberry shake after the members
gave them each a shake she had two!  She wasn't complaining.

Sister Kershaw and Sister Hone at Portillos after the Temple.

Sister Nelson

That is Awesome that Taylor's papers are almost in!  I'm excited to hear where the Lord needs him!!  AHHH !!!  YAY!!!  :D

Taylor is Sister North's cousin who has submitted his papers and this past Sunday had his meeting with the Stake President.  So hopefully we will hear where he is going in the next couple of weeks.

Letters:
-Mom
-Gma Mary
-Karly Willes
-Gma/Gpa North
Then today well it came yesterday but I picked it up today.  A package from my mom.  I actually opened it on the way here.  Thank you for all the FHE stuff and the snacks.  I was super excited to have my favorite fruit snacks!!!  :)
- Jessica and Adam's wedding announcement!!  SO CUTE!!! - Write me Jessica!!!

Mail seems to take longer to get to Chicago to Sister North than to Arkansas to Elder North.  Not sure what's up with that but be warned if it seems like she is not mentioning your letter it seems like it is taking an extra couple of days to get to her.  She had asked for Family Home evening lesson stuff for kids so I sent her a bunch of stuff we had.  I through in half a box of her favorite fruit snacks (Black Forest ones from Smith's).

So I have written EVERYONE who has written me!  So you all should WRITE me!!  I promise I will write you back!!!  I may be out of stamps but I will buy more on Monday so write me Letters!!!  It is a very sad day coming back to the apartment and opening the mail and it being empty  ;)  Just saying hehehhe :)

Anyone else think that was a shameless plug for people to write her and send her stamps, or was it just me?  O well, it can't hurt!  Missionaries can always use stamps and Sister North especially.  

hmmm....We have had a few rain storms this past week, the lightning is really cool to watch here!!  :)  I have exchanges tonight/tomorrow so I will be with one of the Sister Training Leaders and I'll be staying here in my area.  It is going to be weird to not be with Sister Kershaw but I am super excited!!!  It will I think show me more what I need to work on...and will help me be ready to train.

Oh and someone aslked if it is windy in the "windy city"  I guess it is a little bit, but I like it because it makes it cooler  :)

And that is Awesome that the Blackham's house has sold!!  And moving to Herriman, Sweet!!!  :)

Well that changed and they are not going to be moving to Herriman and will be in West Jordan.  Their house is sold and they are moved to temporary housing while they build a house though.  

Well I better write to President!!  I love you all so much!!!  Thank you so much for your prayers and support!  It really does mean A LOT!!!  I love you all so much!!!  I know that this is the true church!  I know that if you look for opportunities to share this great message you WILL have them!!! Stay Strong!! and I can't wait to hear from you!!!

Love,
Sister North  :)