Tuesday, November 25, 2014

tarted out freezing and ended raining...

Got a skirt for $6.00!  SWEET!!!
Date:  November 24, 2014
Area:  Hyde Park, Chicago
Companion:  Sister Lepule
Transfer 12 - Week 2

Hey friends, 

Man this week went by so fast! It was crazy! And it was so cold! Tuesday we get a text from our District Leader telling us that with the wind chill it was -6 oh man! And now then the weekend has been in the 40's and it was so nice not to be cold. This week was grand and very spiritual and all I can say is I know there is a God! He is so real and I know he is very aware of all of us! We must do our part and turn to him. 

Tuesday
Coldest day of my life! (at least since last winter anyway) And I had exchanges with sister Olenjeck 

Friday
We had the best zone conference in the world! I love meetings! The spirit was so strong and it was just the best and a lot of answers to prayers. :) 

Sunday was the best and that all that matters. 

This is PinGin the most yummy Chinese food ever!
It is like a crepe but spicy and yummy!
Bahaha! The morning started out with a lame bus driver but he wasn't going to rain on my parade! We ran to his bus and he drove off without us and then he honked at us so we ran to it again and he takes off...that was lame! But…we then went to the 15 and both Sister Lepule and I talked to people on the bus that we met last Sunday! It was cool! Which is why the bus driver didn't let us on his bus! It was meant to be.  We got to talk to our friends again. :)

Han, Laura, and Freddie came to church today! And they enjoyed it! Han Told Sister Lepule he felt good and that he wants to come back! Oh man I am so excited! They are so so awesome! 

We had dinner with the VanDenBergs and they are so great! And we had yummy Korean food! And he is cousins to some people I went to high school with so that's cool. They are going to come out to lessons with us and I'm pretty excited! :) 

Went to see Brother Tucker and sing for him.
We had the biggest miracles! We went to contact a Referral and on our way we felt like we should stop by Musu and Clarence.  We got in the building and knocked on the door and no one answered.  After a while we wrote a note and went to leave but it didn’t feel right so we stopped on the stairs and said a prayer.  After we went back and knock again and guess what?!? They answered! Ahh yay! Oh my goodness I am beyond excited! We haven't been able to contact them since my first week here...forever ago! They are the family from South Africa, Liberia. Clarence wants to come to young men's and to church and see how it is. It was so great to see them! We will call them the end of the week and hopefully meet with them next week!

Then we walked home in the rain and it was just so glorious! 

Pretty much I don't feel like emailing but just know this week was great and I love you all! 

Have a great thanksgiving! I'm super excited for this week and all the food I will eat we have lots of awesome plans!

Sorry Mom for not answering any of your questions I'm being a bum today. 

Love you though!

Love, 
💕Sister North 🐒
📫✉📪✉️📬️📭✉️
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview IL 60025
Chicago is cold!!!!



Monday, November 17, 2014

Bring out the Layers!

On the bus where it is warm!
Date:  November 17, 2014
Area:  Hyde Park, Chicago
Companion:  Sister Lepule

Hey friends and family!!

Have I ever told you that Missionary work is hard? And sometimes it is really lame and makes me sad and when you feel like you can't go any further all you can do is pray and turn to your Father in Heaven and just ask him to help you make it to the end of the day. Then next thing you know it is already Sunday and life is good again. :) I definitely have a Testimony of going to church but this week was of partaking of the Sacrament and remembering our Savior and the sacrifice he has made for me and to have comfort know that everything will be alright and I don't have to worry. I am so grateful for the sacrifice of my Savior.   

All of church was awesome! In Relief Society we talked of being int eh world but not of the world and I love this scripture. 

"I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." 

The Weaver Family.
John 17:14-16

And sometimes You have to close the bad doors in order to open the good doors.. #foodforthought

This is Transfer 12 for me and Week 1 of it, pretty crazy that I have been here that long but I do loved it!

Letter:
-Mom :) you are the best! Hope you know. :) the letter was inspired! And then your other one! And then we opened the mailbox and it was full of surprises! I got your letter with the SD card I'll send you mind in the coming weeks. :) oh and the notes from Deven's shin dig was so fun! I do recall seeing a picture of Mr Mark! That boy needs to write me! You should tell him Mom :)
- Grandma Mary
-Rachel Fishtau 
-Bluffdale Stake
-Sister Jen Bishop from my last area o my goodness just melts my heart. :)

Monday 
We started out the mornings seeing Brother and Sister Tucker at Chicago hospital and that was so fun to see them. 

Thank you Grandma Pam for the gift card!
After that we went to Walmart to get some groceries and we we are shopping all the sudden I see an arm go give me a hug and I'm like huh...and then I turn around and it is Sister Williams from the ward. Oh my goodness she is so cute. She later asked if she could take us home which was so nice so we didn't have to carry our groceries on the buses. Then she asks us what we are going to do and we told her how we planned to go to Forever 21 outlet because we heard they were having a sweet sell and then she asks if she can come with and take us. We said if she wants to and she did. She also has a cute seven month old baby girl named Navy. The outlet store was lame, a lot of it was summer stuff and immodest but after we went to H&M and I bought a new gray beanie and I love it! It was fun, and she also gave us left over deep dish pizza yummy!

We ended the night with Family Home Evening at the Stevens with Brother Rudd and JZ. It went well, at first I was nervous he was going to come because he didn't respond and was late but he called us back and came. For the first twenty minutes are so we just talked and when we got started JZ was like oh sorry and we just told him no it's fine. Part of FHE is getting to know each other and building a relationship. Our lesson went well and then we did an activity using cups and that was fun. I was grateful that it turned out good. 

Yep Monday was good haha

Alright what happened the rest of the week? Good question not sure if I remember....but I can say it is cold here! And I am already dressing with layers and I suspect it's going to get worse so if I don't see you In February you know I have frozen! We have gotten Amber's release date it is February 4th. And I'll see you in the spirit world ⛄️ the high today is 21 and this morning we went to the church to do Yoga that a ward member teachers and it was 8 degrees! Brrrr!!! 

We have three new missionaries in our Ward and two of them are in our district. They all graduated in 2014....makes me feel super old haha but they are cool! One is a visa waiter to Brazil so he didn't plan for the cold poor guy. 

The Crooks, heading home to Wyoming.  Going to miss them.
We helped the Parkers a few times this week pack boxes, they are moving..sorta to Milwaukee where their son plays Basketball. But we will still see them. They aren't selling the house right now, they are an awesome family! We went out to Dinner with Sister Parker and she honestly is like my favorite person! She is so cute and so sweet in every way!

We had an awesome lesson with Zhoaxia and man she is the best! Sister Decker came with us which was perfect! At the end she shared an experience in Chinese. We talked about Mormoni's promise in regards to making a choice if her family should stay here or move back to China. She is one amazing lady and wants to know everything she can. Her testimony is growing! We just are praying that her husbands heart will be softened. 

-so we are sitting here at the mall typing this up right and this high schooler comes up and is like so my friends just dared me to come ask for your number and I don't really care but I can't look like a punk ha so we gave him our card and number ha hopefully he'll check out the website ha, totally remember doing stuff like that with my friends. The end -

We had a great lesson with Christopher and we taught him the strong hold lesson from Alma 50 and that went well and pretty much he knows he is going to be baptized and he is just great and he is in the triple digits in the Book of Mormon!! Yahoo! Which is super awesome! Page 100! 

Things are slow but good. I know this week is going to be super awesome! I love you al so much! Thank you so much for all the love and support! 

Love, 
Sister North 
✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview IL 60025
Welcome to Hyde Park

PLEASE

Lock up your bikes!


Monday, November 10, 2014

Three and One, staying together!

Beautiful Chicago at Night
Date:  November 10, 2014
Area:  Hyde Park, Chicago
Companion:  Sister Lepule

Transfer 11 Week 6!

Hello World!!!

So it is official! I will have all my companions for three or on transfers! Sister Lepule and I are staying together one more transfer! Woot! I am super excited! The likely of us staying together one more really isn't too likely. I am like 90% sure that I'll end my mission here and I'll have seven weeks to show the area to someone else. But for now I get to party it up with Lepule! Love her so it is gonna be a good one!

Letters...okay so something is up with the mail these days. I've gotten letters from September! And they all seem to come this week! So thank you oh so much! 
-Rachel Fishetau
-Grandma Mary (4 of them! And I loved the picture! I need to buy more tape so I can hang it on my wall :)
-Sister Brittany Attanasio! Love the pictures! I finally got it after a few long months sorry it kept getting back to you, I'll be sure to write you soon. I had been wondering when I'd get a letter from you. I was like man she usually doesn't take this long but I enjoyed the two letters in one and the pictures! They made me laugh. :) you are the best!
-Elder Skylar Deweese
-Nutty! Yes you are a slacker but I still love you! And I expect more details ;)
-Grandma North, I was like hey it's handwritten and then I laughed when that was the first thing I read. Ha you are the best! Give Great Grandma a hug for me! And Hi great Grandma because I know you read this. I love you! :) can't wait to give you a real hug! :) and Great Grandma give Grandma a hug for me too okay? 




Monday
What was the top secret thing I did? We went and toured the United Center! Which is where the bulls play.  Which was super cool! And I for sure took tons of pics :) we got to go on the court and check out there locker rooms and all that jazz. It was pretty sweet! Not going to lie. 




We were able to contact this cool referral named Casey who wanted a Book of Mormon and honestly it is pretty rare for someone to request one. It is usually a bible. When we asked him why he wanted one he was like do you want the honest answer? We said of course and he said the Book of Mormon musical. So that's pretty sweet. We left him the restoration Pamphlet and Moroni's promise to read and he said he'll get back to us in a few weeks so we are praying he does...and then we will let the YSA take over. 
  
We had a lesson with JZ at his apartment. You know the ward has been being involved when you haven't met at someone's place you have been teaching for a while. So that's cool. Our lesson was on the Armor of God. He is struggling right now. It hopefully things will pick up for him. 

SWEET
Alright so I don't have time to tell you a day to day thing but this week has been great and a ton of things have happened and we have seen so many miracles!!

A few of the miracles where getting into peoples houses! One an investigator and one a referral so pretty much everywhere here you have to buzz and they either have a gate or the main door into the apartment complex.  For both of them we had no way to contact them but to somehow get in and all I have to say is the Lord provides!! It is so amazing!! The main doors where open and we were able to go knock on there door! It was the best!

This week I had crazy experience with Males, for some weird reason they all seem to be attract with me.  Last week I had some old guy pretty much ask me if I would be his girlfriend, this week I had an investigator ask if I would try on this dress;...then he called a few days later asking again and if he could take pictures of me in it..(we aren't gong to be teaching him anymore), and then this one was cool we were walking home and I said hi to this guy on a bike and he was white and about my age and he stopped and turned around and came and talked to me, I was rather surprised, I gave him our card but didn't get his number I was shocked I guess. ha oh and then this other guy I met keeps texting us...UGH so annoying! One of the Elders said it is because I am going home in 12 weeks...Uh...Yeah GO AWAY! Is how I feel.

We have gotten to meet with JZ this week which has been good but he didn't come to church again :/ his Grandmother passed yesterday :( which is sad, everything is being thrown at him so he doesn't come to church and in reality that is the one thing he needs.  If he comes to church he will be able to receive answers there I know he will!  So keep him in your prayers.

We had a super amazing lesson with Misty yesterday at the Masumora's house after dinner and taught the Storng
Hold lesson and it was just the best!

Man I am about out of time,  This week Dasha was with us which was fun! We had a blast and she is awesome!

The Primary program was yesterday and it is just my favorite thing in the entire world! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT :D YAY

and Charels is getting the priesthood AHHH!! I am so excited for him!!!

Things are going well here!
I love you all!!!

Take care!!!

Love,

Sister North
✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview IL 60025


Got a three dollar cupcake from the gangster cupcakes!
It was good but I doubt I will buy it again.  HAHA



District Picture:
Elder Homes, West, Sister Lepule, Elder Adams, Patina, Sh... and Bawden.
Dasha and Me





Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The week of Dinners...YUM!

Happy Halloween
To my sweet Mother and loved ones :)

Transfer 11 Week 5

Letters:
-Sister Tiffany Rassmusen, have you gotten my letter yet? Hopefully you get it before you leave. :)
- Grandma Mary, Sister Lepule appreciated her letter too. 

Monday  
Well I sent you pictures from my adventures from last week going to the sky deck and that was super awesome and fun! And today we are going on a top secret adventure! I'll tell you all next week. :)

We then had dinner at the Cottrell's which we speed walked ten blocks to get there and were still late, ugh I hate being late. But it was awesome and they are a great family! It was my first time getting to know them and they have the cutest son ever! 

Then we went and picked up my package at FedEx and on our way back we met Maria and she was lugging this huge dresser coat thing and we get closer and we ask if we can help and before we finished saying this she said Yes! And we got to help her and we exchanged information! Ahh Yay! We had an appointment with her but it got moved to next week. We also found out she doesn't live in our area but we are meeting with her and the Elders on Tuesday so that will be good. :) but it was awesome because she actually let us help! I love this area! People actually accept our services!  
check out the chicken head

Tuesday
We spent the morning in and near China Town. We had the honor to be a part of a funeral. We all planned to be there at 9:30 and we left our apartment at 8:30.  We sadly walked around and took the long way and walked for a good haft hour to forty minutes. (We were speed walking again...our legs got so tired!) But we got there with fifteen or so minutes to spare and we got to meet the family which was fun and I was the sunshine of the party...as in my dress. Here I am wearing the brightest outfit I own and everyone else is wearing black...but I was the sun because I was wearing yellow. Ha good times. :)





On our way to the location where we were invited to dinner we are waiting at the bus stop and this Guy asks me "why are you so happy" so I tell him how I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and how the gospel has blessed my life and he asks a few questions. He took a card but when asked if he wanted missionaries to teach him more, he said no never.  So that was lame but hopefully he'll want to know more. 


When we got to the area where lunch was we had time to spare and the place had free wifi so we got on Facebook and updated our area book until lunch at this fancy Chinese restaurant. It was yummy and fun and memories were formed. 

We had a lesson with Xavior, he is super cool! So the STL's (sister trainer leaders) met him a month or so ago and invited him to church. He lives in there building and he came for the first hour but then left before it ended so we didn't get his contact information and then last week the Sisters said they have it! We met with him and set up another appointment. He is cool, he is an artist, and very soft spoken. Karen came with us and we go into his apartment right and he takes us to his back room and I guess the best way to describe it is like this man cave with pictures all over...it didn't look like a room. It was like a museum or a little shrine. Ha there wasn't a lot of room. 

Then we ended the night with dinner at the Drnec's and it was so yummy! I had molé for the first time and it was tasty! It reminded me back in my Spanish days at Snow singing the days of the week song saying "Merceles Molé" good times, I miss that class, and school for that matter, I look forward to going back next fall. Speaking of school Mom I might have you apply for UVU for me. I'll email you :) 

Wednesday 
We had district meeting and it was super! I got called on to give a talk on one of my favorite talks from conference which caught me a little of guard and I forgot my study journal but it all went well. My district really has grown and we work well together. At first it was rough but we have really found the balance...just in time to have it all change again. But it's chill and I love them. We have really become a family. Lately I have really had positive experience with role plays and I've decided the zone leaders make me feel like I am a good teacher. I role played with Elder Robbins about the Book of Mormon and I used the pictures and he'd never seen that before and he really liked it and he then told everyone else...it made me feel cool not gonna lie. 

Then we helped Christy and Billie with there laundry again and thank goodness there washer and dryers are fixed last time it took us forever! Ha but this time it was perfect and we did other things around the house for them and left them with a little message and off we went to dinner at Paula's and her son George joined us to he goes to the YSA branch and is super cool. :) 


Thursday
We had interviews with President and how I just love him! I can tell him everything but when he asks me if I have any questions for him I always forget them ha oh well. But he is an inspired man and is just amazing! 

We had a lesson with Christopher and Sister Elcen came with us and man she likes to talk but she connected really well with Christopher and the lesson went well. We watched the Restoration DVD and he is moving his way along in the Book of Mormon. He pretty much told us that he won't make a decision until after he finish the book which is okay, and he is reading it on a daily basis where most people who have said that aren't even putting any effort so I am excited for his progress. :)

The. We had dinner at the Gannaways and oh my goodness I love them so so much! They are an incredible family! We talked about having interviews and they shared experiences from there mission and it was just so fun. They are such an awesome family! And they sincerely care about everyone and are always asking us how everyone is doing and so willing to help. They are definitely an example of how I want to be with my future family. We shared the strong hold lesson with them and it went really well and then we talked about journal writing and man need to get better at that one... 

Then we ended the night with scripture study which Carmella came, she teaches nursery and she loved it and is going to invite her friends. We were grateful she came because she was the only one that came so we still had it yay! And she is so cute! We rode the bus home with her and pretty much she is my new favorite! And I was going to show her some pictures of Temples on my iPad on Sunday because I wasn't going to show her on the bus but then Sunday I forgot my iPad so I'll show her later. We talked about fasting and it went well.  
Friday

Happy Halloween!!! Aka the windiest day ever! I'll send a short video of how windy it was ha!  

We started off the morning with an amazing lesson with Zhoaxia on the Holy Ghost and when we told her that is what we were going to talk about she was really excited! She understands more why baptism is important because that is how you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  And it was just a really good lesson! This week we are talking about repentance. I love teaching her!

Then we walked over to the church for English class which went well. It is fun to be there. And Wia's English has improved so much! And then Ling Ling and Zhoaxia were there too. So far just us and Amy is teaching and Sister Decker has come too. It is weird to be helping with something that we don't start and end with a prayer haha

After that we went and saw Rebecca and I just adore this girl. (Mookie have you talked with her?) we had cinnamon roles which was yummy...and we were hungry ha. Oh my goodness Mom I just remembered those days you made those yummy cinnamon rolls!  You'll have to make them when I come home, pretty much I look forward to being home and having your cooking because all of it is so yummy! 

Then we went to contact a referral and the bus wouldn't come for ten minutes so we new we would be late so we called her and she moved it to Monday so we went and saw Lowanda instead which was good. And as we went to Lowanda's the bus ride was interesting we first get on and this lady is making some big deal how we shouldn't celebrate Halloween and that was crazy, awkward for everyone but we just talked with the kids to try and help the situation and it was fun and I had a piece of candy and I gave to one of the girls.  She was adorable! And the. A car was parked at the bus stop and we had to wait and I was just glad I was on the bus where it was warm.

Saturday
There was a baptism this morning and we thought it started at 10:30 but turns out it was at 10 but I was still in time to give the closing prayer, so that was good and the part that we were there for was sweet. Patrick is a cool guy and it will be good to see him every week at church. 

On our way to Cassandra this guy stopped us asking if we could help him and he was cool and compared to a lot of the other people he seemed sincere and like he was trying to get back on his feet.  Well to keep the story short we gave him a fruit snack and he goes and gives Sister Lepule a hug and she tries to just give him a hand shake but it didn't work and then he gives her a kiss and then he goes to me and I move my face as far away and he just gave me a hug...oh the moments Sister Lepule and I have!

Our lesson with Cassandra went well, she is Karen's friend and she came with us too and we taught her the Restoration and it went really well and she said she isn't searching for a church but she hasn't found the one for her.  I know that if she truly prays and asks God she will find what she is looking for here. She is super cool and I look forward to teaching her. 

We went and saw Xavier's art show and he paints with shoe polish, so that is cool. And we might even be in the Hyde Park newspaper! So that is pretty cool! Hopefully we can find out if we are in it and buy a copy. :)

Sunday
Oh my goodness! I was thinking with daylight savings we were loosing an hour but to my surprise we gained an hour and boy was that so so nice!! And church was so amazing! I really have grown to love this ward so much! There are so many good things happening!

And Dasha is with us for the week for a mini mission! Yay! It's gonna be grand. :) she is awesome! And it is going to be an awesome week!

I love you all so much, thank you so much for all the prayers and support! 

Check out this story, I feel like I would be the missionary asking Why do you like it? 

The Jadeite Cabbage

President Thomas S. Monson, “Canaries with Gray on Their Wings,” Ensign, June 2010, 4.

It's really good so take the time to read it. :)

I love you all! Write me! :)

Love,

Sister North 
✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️✉️
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview IL 60025