PICTURES from the MTC

 These pictures are from my not quite even 13 days at the MTC.  It was a blast and I loved it!  Such a spiritual high that place is.  I am excited to get to Chicago though and get to work!

Enjoying Mamma's yummy package!  Yummy popcorn and chocolate chip cookies.
The cookies were gone in a blink of an eye.  We all (my district) enjoyed them  very much!
Elder Tooley and Elder Little are in the picture.

Elder Morley and Elder Hurd

Elder Little, Stephenson, Sister Winward and Grant

Sister Becca Sirrine and I were in
high school choir together

Relaxing after a walk.

There was a heart in the trees.  Ahhh

Elder James Cooper and I (and his comp)

Dinner Time!  Sister Winward makes great faces!

Map pictures!!!!

One of the sisters who is going to the Ukraine helped
with taking our districts pictures.

Our district pointing at the map!

Elders are going to Santa Rosa California and
Sister are going to Chicago, Illinois.

I am so excited to serve in Chicago!!!!

Elder Clement making silly faces.

Best District Ever!!!

In front of the Provo Temple

Sister Delany Smith

Ahh, look at Sister Winward and I, we match!  We are soo cool.

Alexa Tood and I, we were in the same ward at Snow.

Sister Victoria DeLeon and I.
We went to high school and Snow together.

SIster Winward at the MTC

Elder Trenton Grifiths - High School Choir Buddy, me and Sister Grant.

Sister Holly Cuthburt and I

This is what happens when we take a bathroom break
and you are in a trio and there are only two stalls,
one waits - and takes a few pictures of self.
Sister Winward is a Model.

Our room!  Three beds for three gals - we are special.

Laundry day!  We only got one in the MTC since our P-day was Wednesday.  

Walking to the Marriott Center for devotional.  

Amazing sight watching all those missionaries.

Truly amazing there are soo many missionaries.
Devotionals have to be held at the Marriott Center now.

Us being goofy....Sister Grant missed the memo!

Best District EVER!!!!
Elder Morely, Hurd, Tooley, Stephenson, Little, and Clement.
Sister Grand, Winward, and North

Our Trio - Sister North, Grant, and Winward

Being silly I am

Temple walk time.

Around the temple - lots and lots of missionaries 

Waiting for class to start

Sister Jennifer Detrick's and I at meal time.

Elder Brandon Christenson and I were in the same zone for a week, pretty cool!

Temple walk!  Yay!  Walking to the Temple!

Sister Grant, Sister Winward, and me Sister North

Sister North and Elder Sims - We were in the
same Mission Prep class.  He is also from Riverton.

When we were unpacking we found a drawer full of snacks.

Since we were in a trio they liked to have us wash windows because
we could get them super clean!

We had personal gym and so we went on a walk around
campus and chilled.

Elder Tooley and Stephenson and in back is Elder Little and Clement

Sister Grant, Me, and Sister Winward

I'm a Missionary!  

Taking a break/breather from class.

Smelling the tree that smells like cream soda.  Meh...hahaha

Sister Janelle Clark and I at 2am the mroning we all left the MTC.
Sister Clark is going to Japan and me to Chicago!

Tracting = Piece of Cake

Hey Family and Friends!!!!

How is it going??  You know what?!?  You all should write me because I LOVE LVOE LOVE...did I say LOVE mail!!!!!  hehhe  :)

I have received mail from:
- Bishop Lindsey/Sister Lindsey
-FHE Family cards!! (LOVED!!)
- Greenie Package from Mom :)  YAY for being Green!
- Grandma Mary
- Janelle Shanchez (Love the pics)

You all should send me Pictures!!!  because I only have like five and I would just LOVE MORE!!!  :)  YAY!!!

Okay a few things first:
Deven just making sure that you gave my tithing to the Bishop right? Yes he did.
and
Mom:  So if you send me another package you should put in my journals, you should be proud I haven't missed a day and I've already written over 40 pages!  YAHOO!!!  Life is Great! and we talked about music before I left?  But your welcome to send me church CD's and what not we listen to them in the car.  :)

Out tracting and this street made me think of Sister Attanasio.

She only took one of her three journals when she left and we decided when she was ready for the others I would just send them to her.  I don't really remember talking to her about music.  I might have accidentally copied something from Elder North's e-mail into hers, since we did recently send him music.

Okay Time to tell you how this week has gone!

Things are picking up here in the Gurnee 2nd ward, we tract a lot and we end up dropping a lot of people but this coming week we should have some new investigators because we are going to go teach them so that should be Awesome!!  YAY!!! and on Friday we taught our first legit lesson as in it wasn't on the door step.  It was to this guy named J*** and he already believes in the Book of Mormon so that is pretty awesome!!  :)  But he still doesn't understand that his baptism is void because it wasn't with the proper authority so we will be talking about that on Friday, he is Awesome though!

http://mormon.org/faq/authority-to-baptize

So we have a new Bishop in the ward.  It is now Bishop A*** he is going to be awesome!!  He is 31 so he is pretty young.  The old Bishop has been in for five years and his wife reminds me of Sister Ostler, it is pretty much awesome!  We had lunch at their house yesterday.

Oh my goodness so pretty much this ward spoils us!!  We are being fed everyday this week!  It is Crazy awesome!!!!  :)  And so so nice!!!!

Every missionary mom appreciates a ward who takes care of their children!  Thanks Gurnee 2nd ward!

hmmm...I don't even know what to tell you.  Pretty much we are working hard and trying to find people to teach all the time.  One interesting thing is every time we meet with a really mean person we then talk to a really nice person.  It is cool because sometimes you know you needed to knock on a persons house just to make their day.

So we did service for Sister C***.  We helped her fix her patio, they had a flood and it got all messed up.  It was so nice to help her.  Service is Key!!!  Look for opportunities to do service!!

Oh Mom!  I am going to make a CD of pictures today!  and send them to you!  YAY!!  So that will be coming!!  :)

Here is a cool story.  So the other day we got to meet with a girl named C***.  She is one of the ward members friends and when we were out tracting we tracted into her parents house the day before so that was pretty cool!

Sister Kershaw and I work very well together!!  It is funny because in some cases we are totally opposites but she is Great!!!  She has been out four months.  It is funny because when I introduce us first they always ask her if her last name is South.  HEHHE  :)  Gotta love it!!!

Well I love you all!!!!  Write me!!!  You will make my day!!

Love you bunches!!!
Love,
Sister North  :)

Sister North is about 45 minutes away from the mission home and the area she is serving covers at least part of Grayslake, IL where Jed's cousin lives.  Currently Janet and family have Elder's in their ward though.  

So she obviously loves mail, so drop her a note when you can!

Look its Sister Attanasio!!!

Saying goodbye to Sister Attanasio.  Roommates for life!

Sister North, Elder Johnson and his companion Elder Bouck

Buster Townsend, Sister North and Sister Winward.  Us sisters were just coming back from playing sand volleyball.  I actually waved at Buster in a car but didn't know it was him until he got out.

First day at the MTC.  Sister Winward, Sister Grant and I with our Dork Dots.

MTC District - Best one ever!
Elder Morely, Hurd, Tooley, Stephenson, Little, and Clement.
Sister Grant, Winward, and North

Our District with the MTC Map.
Elders going to Santa Rosa, California and the Sisters going to Chicago, Illinois

Sister Grant and I in Chicago eating real Chicago Pizza!  YUMMM

Me and the Bean!

Elder Northcott and his companion along with Sister Winward at the Bean.

Cloud Gate, a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park within the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The sculpture and AT&T Plaza are located on top of Park Grill, between the Chase Promenade and McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink. Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed "The Bean" because of its bean-like shape. Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It is 33 by 66 by 42 feet (10 by 20 by 13 m), and weighs 110 short tons (100 t; 98 long tons).

Said to have been inspired by liquid mercury,^[1] the sculpture's surface reflects and distorts the city's skyline. Visitors are able to walk around and under Cloud Gate's 12-foot (3.7 m) high arch. On the underside is the "omphalos" (Greek for "navel"), a concave chamber that warps and multiplies reflections. The sculpture builds upon many of Kapoor's artistic themes, and is popular with tourists as a photo-taking opportunity for its unique reflective properties.

The sculpture was selected during a design competition. After Kapoor's design was chosen, numerous technological concerns regarding the design's construction and assembly arose, in addition to concerns regarding the sculpture's upkeep and maintenance. Various experts were consulted, some of whom believed the design could not be implemented. Eventually, a feasible method was found, but the sculpture's construction fell behind schedule. It was unveiled in an incomplete form during the Millennium Park grand opening celebration in 2004, before being concealed again while it was completed. Cloud Gate was formally dedicated on May 15, 2006, and has since gained considerable popularity, both domestically and internationally.

It is Christmas Time!!

Okay!!!  So TONS and TONS has happened!!!

I made it to Chicago fine!!  WOOT  :)  Mom did you get an e-mail from my Mission Pres?  You should have or a letter or something (not sure).

They arrived on the 5th and on the 9th we got an e-mail saying they made it but we didn't get a picture.  

So I am serving in the Gurnee 2nd ward and we are actually splitting the ward with the Elders but all of the investigators are on their side so we have been tracting a lot trying to find people...hopefully we will have investigators really soon!!!

The ward here is AMAZING!!!  They are all so nice!!  We cover the cities pretty much surrounding six flag haha ;) yep I see Six Flags like EVERYDAY!

Wonder if she will get the chance to go to Six Flags on a Pday? I love love Six Flags.

So pretty much it has been an adventure being here.  When we first got here our apartment wasn't ready and so we were going to live with members for a few days but things didn't work out so we stayed with Sister Hone and Sister Nelson in Libertyville (fifteen minutes away).  I slept on the couch and Sister Kershaw slept on the floor on a bed made with pillows.  Then our apartment was ready Thursday!  YAHOO!!  So we moved our stuff in and then borrowed blow up mattress from a ward member, The VanNoys (Yes related to Devin VanNoy back home.)  Small world right?   Our beds and EVERYTHING like kitchen stuff was suppose to come on Friday.  Well, that didn't happen so we went and bought paper supplies and food we could make with the little things we had.

Then TODAY!!!!  Today has been like Christmas!!!  We have BEDS, tables, kitchen stuff, we can COOK!!!  YAHOO!!  chairs, lamps, things we have needed!!!  So that is super duper awesome!!  Two of the brethren in the ward helped us move our stuff in and after they took us to lunch at Chipotle.  It was SUPER yummy!!  Brother Akinson bought lunch!!  So nice and then we are eating dinner at the Larson's and he helped us move too, so pretty much we are being spoiled!!  :)  But it doesn't stop there!!!  The Bowker's took us shopping!!  Oh my goodness!!!  What a BLESSING that was!!  Because with opening a new area we have used more money than usual and they bought us a lot of food and things we needed!!!  We are planning on making cookies for all of them as a thank you!!!  So yep this is why today is like Christmas!!!! Sorry I am everywhere I just want to make sure to tell you everything.

I am so thankful for wonderful people who are there to look out for my daughter when I cannot be.  What blessing they are not only to my child but to a mothers heart.  Thank you thank you thank you!  

Okay back to the last little while at the MTC!  Man that place is AMAZING!!!!  :)  I had the best District ever!!! I better hear from those Elders because they are great!  The last night the Sisters asked for a blessing from them and it was such a spiritual experience!!!  It was so amazing!!  They are going to be such awesome missionaries!!  Pretty much everything about the MTC was great and I loved every minute of it!!

Okay so I left for Chicago last Monday, August 5th!  SUPER awesome!!  The first plane ride I sat by two Elders and we talked a little bit but we all just sorta chilled and my second plane ride I was in the middle of two guys and I talked to one of them the entire time and we talked about life and church and I gave him a mormon.org card, he was nice and it went well.  After the ride some random guy who sat in front of me came up and told me that I was going to be a good teacher and that I'm going to do good with whatever I do, it was Super nice!!!  :)

So when we first got off the plane we went down the stairs and met our awesome Mission President.  President Woodberry and his wife!  Then off we went, we went on the El Train and they gave us all (27 of us) a Book of Mormon and guess what?!?  I gave my Book of Mormon to a guy named Joe!!  He was reading it so I am praying that he will call and want to know more, he was an awesome guy and when he got off the train he said thank you so sincerely.

We had Yummy Pizza and we went around town and we saw the huge bean!  It was really cool!!!  It is a really cool city!!  :)  Where I am at, it is more like Utah and it hasn't been too humid so that has been really really nice!!

Sister Kershaw is my companion and she is from Payson, Utah.  She knows my awesome roomate Jessica Christensen.  Mom you should write on her wall and tell her to write me!  ;)  and Congrats this week on getting married!  AHH!!  YAY!!!  I better get pictures Missy!!!  But funny story is Sister Kershaw was at Snow my first year so we had seen each other but didn't really know each other so we know a hand full of the same people so that is pretty cool!!!  She is awesome and I love her!!!  :)  We get along really well.

Okay so the coolest thing happened the other day!!  So Sister Kershaw and I went and visited a less active but she wasn't home so we six packed it, as in we went to the houses around it, and we were going to leave and then Sis. Kershaw had a feeling to go straight and so we did.  We knocked on this house and R*** answered, (we wanted to visit her next but we only had the street but didn't know that we were on that street yet) and when she answered she just started crying and she said that Elders came like two years ago when she was having a hard time and now we came and she was having a hard time too.  So we told her how God loves her and talked to her and she thought it was really cool that we have Prophets today no just in olden times and we gave her a hug and left her to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon.  We are hoping to visit her this week.  Keep her in your prayers, she is so awesome!!  We talked to her today a little bit but she doesn't know when we can come stop by.  She is hoping to move to California to be closer to family and we said if that works out we can get people to help her move here and then when she gets to California.  She couldn't believe that.  So hopefully with all this she will come to know the truth because man this is the True Gospel and I know it and I love it!  It has helped me so much in my life, and if I didn't know it was true I wouldn't be here, because this is hard work.

Thank you everyone for all the support!!!!  Thank you for the letters, hopefully I'll be able to write some today but with moving everything and stuff I haven't had time...

Letters:
-Grandma Maxine
-Nutty
-Rachel Fisihetau
-Mom (MTC dearelder, Package, and card here int he field)  Oh and a note from Kegan M.  from your letter Mom, To Kegan:  Thanks for yoru message, things here are busy but good.)
-Leah (first letter I got living in my apartment!!! YAHOO!!! Got it Saturday!!  :D made my day)
-Janelle Sanchez (from the MTC I wrote you back so you should already have gotten my letter, I expect a letter from you soon)
-Ceaira
-Taylynne
-Jered
-Chad and Jill's announcement!!  Congrats you two!!  So excited for you!!  Wish I could be there but I am in spirit!!

Thank you so much for writing me!!  I love mail so much and after a hard day of working, letter are such a treat to read!!  So send me more mail!!!  They make me jump for joy!!!!  :)  Mom it is the Wakegan address don't have that memorized...hahah

hmm...I don't really know what else to say.  I know this is long hope you enjoyed it!  I know I am super scatter brained when it comes to writing e-mails so hopefully some of it makes sense.  I love you all so much!!!  Thank you for keeping me in your prayers!  We are praying that we will have people to teach because I am ready to teach and share the joys that this gospel brings!!!  I wouldn't be anywhere else even though days can be long.

Keep working hard everyone and write me!!!

Love Always,
Sister North

I am here in Chicago!!!!

Okay!!!  Well I ahve been here a WEEK!!!  AHHH!!!!  I have so much to say!!! and well looks like we are going to go because we are moving our stuff into our apartment...YES you heard right we are finally getting stuff for our apartment like BEDS and kitchen stuff!!!  YAHOO!!!!  We are pretty happy about that one!!! heheh :D

Well I will be back we are moving things in...I'll explain later.

Love you!!!  :D

Ok, I can't decide if that little tiny minuscule letter was better than no letter until later when she really writes. Ok, she better write later today.  I want to know so much!  I can't wait to hear where she is serving, who she is serving with, how it is going.  Where they have been staying this past week if they don't have an apartment yet.  So many questions and hurry up and wait.  AHHH