Monday, December 29, 2014

Christmas brings me Joy :)

Christmas 2014
Date:  December 29, 2014
Area:  Hyde Park, Illinois
Companion:  Sister Graham

Hola mi familia!!! Con mi amigos!

This week is Week 2 of Transfer 13

Oh my goodness words cannot express how good it was to see and talk to you this week! It honestly made me so so so excited to see you! And now I can't wait! I just love you all so much and I am so glad I get to be a part of this great family! Next time I see you I get to embrace you! Ahh! That is so weird! Yet so wonderful! But don't worry I am not about to get trunky here I got work to do, miracles to see. 

Christmas! It was so so amazing! I sure do love it! And I am so grateful to say that I had the best Christmas! And the best one on the mish! I'm grateful to have another one and to be healthy this year.  What a blessing! 

Christmas Morning
On Christmas Eve we helped Martha around the house.
So you won't believe what game I played after dinner with the Cannons! Ticket to Ride! I finally played it! Haha it has only taken me how long? And I even won second place! So that was pretty cool! And even better is I had Mexican food for Christmas dinner! It really felt like home it was so wonderful! :) It was a very enjoyable day! :) and the Cannons are awesome! I love them a lot! They have a daughter going to BYU right now Ali and in April Dita who's in high school is coming to visit and go to conference and we talked about going together! That would be so much fun! So weird to plan things with my fellow Chicagoans for events in Utah! Then there is Stanley who loves dancing and is 11 and awesome! A really sweet kid and the twins who like to just play. And Brother and Sister Cannon who of course are the best!

The rest of the week was of course an adventure but of course in a different way. 

Elder Bawden, Elder Lewis, Elder Ellis,
Sister North and Sister Graham
One of the highlights is we were walking and these two people were bringing in stuff so I went and asked if we could help and they said YES! Oh yay! And it gets even better! We got to share the He is the Gift video and we got there information! And we have been helping Sabrina out this week! It has been way awesome! We have plans to help her more and teach her and invite her to be baptized. She really is awesome!  It was cool to see the He is the Gift video open doors. :) it was such an easy starter. I'm going to miss sharing it every chance I get. 

Our Christmas Lunch of TACO SOUP!!!!
Sister Graham, North, Nelsen and O
Another highlight would be seeing a less active that the relief society gave us named Linda she isn't in our area but we called her and she said we could come over the next day. I know her husband fairly well, he is a ward missionary and I honestly didn't know he was married. Well needless to say we had an amazing lesson on the Restoration and she said she would come to church and start reading the Book of Mormon and has a goal to finish it by summer! It was crazy! And pretty much the coolest first lesson with a less active I've ever had. 

Other things happened but those were the highlights. We are pretty much starting over with our teaching pool because no one is progressing but I know the Lord is going to bless us as we keep working hard. I believe he already is.  
 
Me and my stocking
Before I go I want to share my testimony on Patriarchal Blessings, I know that these blessings are from God and they will give us insights throughout our entire life. As I read mine last night I received personal revelation and new insights about my life that I've never seen before. It is so so cool! God has so much in store for us! But it is up to us to live according to his will or to "Face God" like in the lesson we taught in Relief Society; to do everything we can to become more like Christ so we can receive all the blessing God wants to give us. It is so awesome! I invite all of you to read yours or to pray about getting one and if you don't know what it is ask me or someone who does know. :) 
I loved talking to my family!



I love you guys! Thank you for the love and support!
Thank you for those you sent me packages for Christmas! Man I definitely felt super spoiled! I got three this week!
-The Souths, so great to hear from them!
-Karoline's still need to play piñata hehe 
-Sister Bishop a member in my last area, so sweet!
Letters:
-The Crooks, I miss serving with them
-Bryce and Emma's wedding invite! I can't believe they are getting married this weekend! So weird! I wish I could be there. I also think this is the first wedding invite I have gotten on my mission. Still a lot of first happening. 

A silly one of course.
Thanks for all the love! I LOVE hearing from you all! Remember family I want a hand written letter from you all before I come home (this includes you Bryen you weren't there for that and Bear I am sure I have one coming my way from you soon if not better send it out asap;) you should get my Christmas card soon too I sent it a few weeks ago. 

I love you all bunches! Have a great week and Happy New Year! I talk to you next year! I can't believe it is almost 2015 my mind is a little blown!

Some of the amazing Cannons - We had Christmas dinner with them.

The way cool Advent Calendar from my Aunt Bethany!


Christmas Jammies from my Grandma.  And a cool headband from another grandma.
check out the cool are work on the envelope from Nutty!

Love you all!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
.....See ya'll next year!!....
Love,
Sister North
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview IL 60025


Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Merry Christmas!!!

Transfer 12...I mean Transfer 13 week 1
Chicago Temple

Hello all you little Elfs!

One of my favorite Christmas movies is Elf! One year at school I borrowed it from my neighbor for like a month haha it is just so great! And can I just say Kenn and Amy I loved your Christmas card! 

And other letters from Nutty, and Grandma Mary. And I'll have to take a picture of Nuts envelope because it is so so cool!! I just forgot to do that haha. 

Sisters Grahm, North, Olenjeck, Nelsen, Green, and Parker
Thanks again for the mail! It always makes a day brighter! Not gonna lie I had high expectations for mail this Christmas season because last Christmas I felt like the coolest person ever! So thanks to everyone that wrote me! And yes this is suppose to be a guilt trip ya'll should send me a card! I love hearing how you are doing! You still have time to write me and get a letter from me! ✉️

So yep it is a new transfer and also my last! It is pretty crazy to think about and to know that I will be "dying" at the end of this one. So my new companion is super awesome and I love her a lot! We are pretty different people and I feel like I have so much to learn from her. Sister Graham is from Orem, Utah and has been out for 14 months. She is the boldest missionary I have ever served with which is pretty refreshing and she just knows her purpose as a missionary! She is 23, she loves things clean, and she loves to get things done, and she loves working out! This week has been good and we get along great. It is different for both of us and we are just learning how to work together. She is perfect for this area and I am excited for these next six weeks I have to serve with her! 
Our whole zone.
The sisters are all dying off. (going home soon)

This week we did a ton of singing! I loved it! Sister Graham doesn't care for singing but she will do anything because she loves the Lord! And she sang her little heart out and I was so proud of her. She is so awesome!

We sang with the Youth Tuesday night in Hyde Park and even got someone's information for the YSA branch and that was fun!

Then on Saturday we went down town and sang for a few hours there and passed out cards my voice was so tired but I enjoyed it and my toes got cold which was lame but totally worth it! 

We spent like four hours just calling potentials this week and dropping all of them unless they wanted to meet with us. Just figuring out who we should spend our time on and who we should help progress to baptism. 

Update on our awesome peeps!

So we dropped Christopher this week but his lesson went really well. He is still reading the Book of Mormon and will continue reading it but he told us he won't follow through with any other commitments until after he finishes. I told him I'd make him cheesecake for his birthday which is the end of Jan. So that will be a perfect time to follow up with him and see how he is doing. But he is doing well with reading but it is time to follow through with more. 

This week we went to the Temple which was so wonderful and so peaceful. I really do love that place so so much! And then we went to the mission home for lunch and had a Christmas meeting and it was just super duper awesome!
We sang and had people write down what
they are thankful for.

We also had a ward Christmas shin dig where we went Christmas Caroling at an old folks place and went back to the church for Pizza.  Then we all played lighting..knock out...whatever people call it. And Bishop Nydegger is really good at that game and I survived like six rounds with him behind me. It was so nerve racking! My basketball skills are just not what they use to be ha but it was fun. I even played dominoes with some of the little kids! 

Not a lot happened this week and it all is kinda a blur. We haven't heard from Laura since they left for China which is lame because we need to have FaceTime lessons with them to teach them everything. We still have a lot to teach them before they are baptized so pray that we will be able to teach them this week! 

Well I hope you all have a super wonderful Christmas! My mind is still a little bit blown that it is Christmas time! But I love it still! I don't really have much else to say. 
Sister Graham, President Woodbury, and Sister North


At the mission home with Elder M.. and
Elder Porter and that is Elder Admas in the back ground.

Sister North and Sister Grham

Sister North with Sister Woodbury

Take care and have a blast!
And then write me and tell me what you did. 

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


Monday, December 15, 2014

💕Jesus Loves me Yes I know 💕

Date:  December 15, 2014
Area:  Hyde Park, Chicago
Companion:  Sister Lepule
Transfer 12 Week 5

Wow! Hello World! 

I don't even know what to say! Honestly this week has been so so hard but miracles do happen and I could not be happier! :) and now I can say that it was the best week ever instead of the worst. Why you may ask?

One family! Laura, Han, and Freddy! ❤️
They are the most amazing people in the world! Not even lying! They are definitely the highlight of my week and maybe even my mission! I love them so much! I would do anything for them! So on Tuesday we had an incredible lesson with them!

We met at the church! Before scouts started we watched He is The gift with Freddy which was really good and got us talking about when they didn't believe in God to believing in Him and just there conversation process. It is really sweet and Freddy told us that the video was about a gift and then he went to Scouts and loved it.
We talked about the Holy Ghost and receiving answers and it was a really good lesson. Sister Larsen was able to come and shared experiences that she has had that showed how God hears our prayers and how it was answered. They said that they are so glad that they found the truth. Laura said that when they come and open the doors to the church they feel the spirit very strong and when they leave they feel like something is missing. And we invited them to be baptized on the 17th of Jan and they thought about it and said yes that would work. And informed us about how they are going to China for three weeks but will be back which is cool to see how Prayer works as we pray about a date! We had no idea! But it was so sweet to have them both really want to be baptized!

Then In Saturday they came to a baptism and it was just amazing and they loved it and made them even more excited! 

Then last night we had the best lesson I have had my entire mission! It sure was awesome! And I loved it! :) we had dinner at the Popes and Sister Pope made the best tacos in the world! And they also have the cutest little girl! After our tummies were filled and I ate six tacos (Brother Pope told me too haha) we had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. Which was amazing!

But the sweetest part was during the lesson was Freddy who is 10 all on his own told us he wants to be baptized and started talking about that Jesus loves me and then sang the song Jesus Loves me Yes I know and the spirit was so powerful it just about brought tears to my eyes! They are all going to be baptized together! Ahh words can NOT describe the joy I feel for them! I love them so much! 

So you might be wondering what will happen while they are gone for three weeks? Well we gave the "Homework" to do while they are in China and we are going to have FaceTime lessons with them ahh!! I am so so so excited!! And they are going to even go to church which is petty amazing!

The Lord is working Miracles! The goal is to have them to the Temple two weeks after they are baptized...which is also my last Saturday on my Mission. That would be the BEST thing in the world!!

Family they look forward to meeting you next summer. :) I can't wait for you to meet them. :) 

There was a lot that happened this week and it was hard but I know this Gospel is so true and sharing it makes me so so happy!

For example on Tuesday morning we found out that our sweet friend Billie who is a Less Active Sister passed away Monday night and I love Billie and she loved us singing hymns to her and her heart has truly softened towards us and the church. It was so sweet to see. Well we happen to be able to go over Tuesday and help out and we were on the bus on our way and just sad but then we started talking to this guy about the Gospel and it just makes me happy. There were other things buggy us too. But when it all comes down to it I know if we do what God asks he will bless us so much! He loves us all so much! I know there is a plan for all of us and that he is here to help! I know the Plan of Salvation is so real and that Billie will learn the rest of the Gospel in he spirit world because we didn't get to teach her.  This gospel makes me so happy!

People like Laura, Han, and Freddy make all the hard times being a missionary worth it and they don't even matter anymore! I love being a missionary! I don't want it to end! 

My mind is just all of them! 

We also got transfer calls and can I say a five week transfer goes by so much fast then six! Haha anyway. 
 
Transfer Doctrine: Sister Lepule is going to Morgan Park to be a Sister Training Leader and Sister Graham will be my new companion. And I'll tell you more about her next week. She is cool and I know she loves to work out and well that's about it haha. 

Letters:
-Grandma Mary
-Blackhams, I love the Christmas count down! Thank you so much!
Packages:
Man you all are spoiling me! I've never gotten so many packages! Yesterday after church I was told I have four! And to my surprise all from different people! 
-Grandma Pam
-GMA GPA North
- Grandma Maxine
- Mommy 
Thank you! For your love! It means the world to me to know you care!

I love you all so so much!! Thank you for the prayers! 

Just my favorite people ever! Laura, Han, and Freddy
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Our Christmas card adventure last week. :) speaking of which Mom did you get yours? 
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Trying out Yellow Mellow...it wasn't that good...
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We went thrifting today...almost bought it ha

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💕Sister North 🐒
✉️📫✉️📪✉️📬✉️📭✉️
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview IL 60025

Monday, December 8, 2014

Christmas is in the air! Tree decorations everywhere!

Date:  December 8, 2014
Area:  Hyde Park, Chicago
Companion:  Sister Lepule
Transfer 12 Week 4

To the People I love Most!!

How are you?? I am doing so wonderful!! How did you love the Christmas Devotional last night?? Because words can NOT describe how much I loved it! It was breath taking! And if you haven't watched go to lds.org right now and watch it! You won't regret it, I promise! 

A few things I liked is:

-Sometimes Small things mean the Most
- The Spirit of Christmas is the Spirt of Love
- Just like the Saviors birth was important so was ours. We all have a purpose here. :)
Those are just a few points I really liked if you haven't again I say go watch it because it was so amazing! 😀

This week was pretty grand and full of miracles and some disappointment but in the end you tend to just remember the good. Just like an Elder says on the Preach My Gospel videos. It is so true. So much happens as a missionary and I wish I was better about writing in my journal but lately I have been a real slacker and I seriously need to pick up my game. 

But anyways let’s get to the good stuff. 

Laura, Han, and Freddy:
Can I just tell you how much I love and adore them?!? They are honestly the best and I love them so dearly! Laura is just so sweet and loving, Han is so humble, and Freddy just makes me smile. They came to church for the third Sunday in a row which is amazing! We are really hoping and praying that they will have a date for baptism this week. We had an awesome lesson with Laura and Han on Tuesday while Freddy went to Scouts(which he loved) we talked about prayer and how to pray and Lowanda joined us and it was a great lesson. We also talked a little about baptism and how Laura wants it to be special because the last time she was baptized she felt pressured and it was good but wants it to mean more and Lowanda shared her experience on how before she was baptized in May she was baptized before and she was doing drugs and it didn't mean anything to her then and wanted it to be the same
thing and that when she was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints it meant something real to her.  So they both connected on that which was cool. It was a sweet lesson and I look forward to teaching them this week. 

Our Ward mission leader told us in our meeting yesterday that the font it ready for them which made us laugh. But made me smile because he feels like they are going in the right direction. :) 

Christopher:
So we were supposed to meet with him on Wednesday but we failed to get a member so during our lunch time after district meeting we called people for over an hour and no one could come. Finally we called and told him we could either meet at McDonalds and walk with him or meet a different day. Well he choose to just meet next week and I was super bummed. Even more so is right after we talked to him and set up another appointment someone said they could come...which made me even more bummed but God is great and works in mysterious ways because we met with him on Thursday with Dita one of the young women which was awesome! And we shared #HeistheGift video and the spirit was so so strong! It was so wonderful! We are wanting to get the youth more involved and his lessons are always good so I think we are going to try and have them come to his so they have a good idea what lessons are like in a good environment. After we walked to the church for scripture study and Dita's mom met us there to pick her up and they had something for us and it was one of those cute red Christ as leaf plant things. Oh my goodness it just melted my heart and I honestly almost brought tears to my eyes. It was just so so sweet! 

Theola and Leory:
We went and helped put up there Christmas tree which was oh so fun! And then started talking after Ward and we were able to find out her concern with praying with us and set expectations for both of us. She she wants and what we expect. And it was just really good and then leaving Leory was doing his own thing while we were there but he rode down the elevator with us and waited for the but with us and we talked and he told us thank you for coming and how he notices a difference and he is just opening a lot more to us and it is awesome! I am excited to really start teaching them. All I can say is I know God has a plan for all of us and he will guide us as we do our best and ask for his direction! It is super awesome!

Clarence and Musu:
We hadn't called them to set up an appointment but we were riding by and decided to hop off the bus and go see them! And they were home! Oh yay! After Sister Lepule hurt her arm trying to open the door(the buzzer thing was letting us in but it didn't want to open) we got in and shared the He is the Gift video and had a great lesson and laughed a lot. And on Tuesday we are going to walk with Clarence to the church for Young Men's. He even said if he liked it he might join the church. Haha there is more than that but it is a start. :) they both are awesome! We just need the husbands heart to soften and then they can all be baptized together. :)

JZ:
He is officially passed to the YSA sister which will be awesome for him. 

On Tuesday we taught Young Women's which was super fun and awesome! They are all so awesome! We told them our story about coming on a mission, then we did a contacting activity that we did at our Zone Training so thank you AP's for the idea. We gave them all a Band-Aid and related it to how the first time you talk to someone it is like a Band-Aid and it hurts. They really liked it and then Lowanda shared her testimony and then they asked us questions. It went really well. :) .

All I am just loving life and I just love you guys! 

This week I heard from:
-Grandma Mary (2) and Grandma do I have a date for Valentines? Yes I do it is with you! Do you want to go get ice cream with me? Or better yet I'll just bring ice cream to your place and we will just have our own little shindig. :) I love you so much! Thanks for being my number one fan! :)
-Skylar Deweese 

I hope you all have a wonderful day and that you find joy in this Christmas Season! 

I love you all so much!
And I love pictures :)

Take care! Talk to you next week! And I'll see who my last companion is ahh! Can't believe transfer calls are Saturday I am going to miss Sister Lepule so much she is the best! 

Love,
💕Sister North 🐒
✉📫✉📪✉✉✉
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview IL 60025


Monday, December 1, 2014

Just Chalax


Happy Thanksgiving

Transfer 12 week 3
Or the week we got stuffed!

Greetings to you!

This week in a nutshell: instead of Turkeys being stuffed, we got stuffed, and not even lying! For four days people fed us both lunch and dinner! It was so crazy!  And tasty too! And I guess we have some spider friend....and he thinks I am tasty because I now have NINE bites on my person...NOT okay! Still don't know if it is dead! No me gusto nada! 

Last night I called a handful of people and asked if we could come share a Christmas message and they said yes! Some will call us back later this week or we will! But we set up a few! Which is super cool! We have this huge list of potential investigators, which is people who said they would be interested and we are trying to kill the list and start teaching these people or drop them. Some we only have their address and we are going to go Christmas Caroling to them! So if they live there or not it's gonna be a good time! 

If you haven't heard yet the church just came out with a super duper awesome Christmas video called
Our Christmas sweaters.  It doesn't look cold but trust me it is!
He is the Gift and I love it!

Check it out!


It is so awesome! And now that thanksgiving is over we have been sharing it and oh my goodness I love it! And it brings the spirit every time! It is the best! I know that Jesus Christ truly is the most amazing gift we could ever have! I am beyond grateful for the sacrifice He made for all of us to have a purpose to be here and be able to be forgiven for all our wrong doings and get to live with Him and God and our families again. It is just so wonderful! And makes me really happy! 

Hopefully this thought process will make since and make you think in a good way....Sometimes as a missionary you become distracted and frustrated and I was really pondering about it this week on how me, as a missionary, being a servant of God sometimes loses my focus and maybe I get jealous over something, and then I think about how God must feel when we let our potential fall because we become distracted with other things and not make Him our center. And how being a missionary I sometimes get frustrated when people aren't keeping their commitments or promises and then I think about how God must feel. The scripture where it talks about God being a jealous God took on a new meaning for me this week and makes me want to do better. 
Eating lunch and e-mailing.

I just said to Sister Lepule what should I say to my family today? She says to tell you she loves you. :) I love you guys too! 

So my subject line is also thanks to Sister Lepule she said that is what it should be. So the story behind it is we were in church and it was a combined Sunday School and they asked if there were any more announcements and I said yes there is scripture study in Thursday and it is great bring your friends and it is a super chalax environment and the Bishop goes up to teach his lesson and explains what chalax means.  So yeah, it was funny. 

Thanksgiving was wonderful! Pictures are coming! We had lunch with Mele who is in the Singles Branch and with her cousin Cook he just moved here in August from the other side of the mountain, from the Toole area. We ate Tongan food and it was tasty and I couldn't tell you what the food was called I just know it was yummy!

Food!
And for dinner we went to the Drnec's and it was yummy and we laughed! They are the best and it was a great time! Sister D's Dad is so funny! I love them! :) 

One of the highlights of this week was that even though we didn't get to me with Laura, Han, and Freddie they still came to church! They missed the first hour but they made it for Gospel Principles and Sacrament! And they brought two extra kids with them because hat morning they were dropped off. So that was awesome!

Also Leory called us and said Theola wasn't feeling well so they couldn't come but that is a huge step! Our lesson with them this week was good and Leory was actually part of the lesson and I'd say leading it! It was the best!

We met with Christopher and he is still reading and he is just the best and I love him! We taught him the Plan of Salvation. And filled in the missing pieces we hadn't taught him before. It is great with him because he knows he is going to be baptized he just wants to take baby steps we are just trying to help him to come to church. But he is still reading the Book of Mormon so that's awesome! :)
Helping people move is always fun.

One word...
Chitlins...I ate it....eww! It was gross and I won't have it again! 

Hmm...well this will be good enough for this week! 
Letters:
-Mommy
-Aunt Karoline and kiddos, thanks again for the card. :)

O this morning we went and help someone move and I got trapped on the bus and my companion was off....and of course it is where the next bus stop was around the corner a half a block away and so we weren't together for like ten fifteen minutes. ...needless to say we had a joyous Reunion.
Have a great week! It is December! So enjoy it! It is going to be awesome! And Remember the Gift this CHRISTmas :)

Love Always :) 
💕Sister North 🐒
✉📫✉📪✉ 📫 ✉ 📫 ✉
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview IL 60025
Looking out from our balcony. 

My companion took me to lunch at a Vietnamese food.  YUM


Made a smiley out of my bug bites.

Turkey Day!

Its cold outside waiting for the bus.

We like taking pictures.