Lots of knocking but still seeing Miracles! :)

New study journal and the theme of my life right now.

Date:  June 16, 2014

Area:  Valparaiso, Indiana

Companion:  Sister Wells

Week 15 in Valpo

Hey Ya Peeps! :D

I'd have to say my favorite scripture right now is: Moroni 10:32

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

Think about what this scriptures says for you. How does this help you want to do better?

I love this scripture because it tells me how it is okay that you messed up, but He is here to help you become perfect to strive to do better and become like Him. I love how it is telling us to deny everything that is bad. I know God wants us to be happy! I know He is here to help us Be Happy and become perfect like Him. Everyday is a new day and we can all try again! Isn't that wonderful?

Letters:
I got two packages from three of my favorite people!! Thanks so much Mamma C, Nutty and Keagan! Made my Day! :)
-Grandma Mary (2) Grandma every time I get a letter from you I say, oh it is from my Grandma, She's my biggest fan! :) thank you for always writing me! You are the best and I love all your cards and fun notes!
Keep working hard! :)
-Hermana Jackson and Elder Jackson! I got there letters the same day!
It was fun! They must have sibling unity to make there letters come
the same day ;) haha
-Mom! Oh my goodness, so I opened your letter at zone conference and
ALL of us got a kick out of your jokes! You are the best! :)
-My Brother! Jered! Thanks bear! So great to hear from you! :)
-Marissa Laurence
-Elder Jimy Erekson

Sometimes on my mission I feel spoiled.  We went to our Zone meeting and first Sister Taggart hands me a stack of letters and Nut told me I should have a package.  Then I discovered I had TWO!!  Thank you Nutty and Mama C and Keagan!  You guys are the best and made me smile!!  :D  Enjoying the snacks.

Monday
Dinner with the Isacson! They sure are sweet! We taught the Plan of Salvation, we are teaching the lessons because there little boy is getting ready to be baptized in the fall. They are such sweet kids! Love them! :)

We ended the night with finding, nothing too exciting.

Tuesday
Zone conference! Amazing! And Sister Wells and I got the cleanest car award Ever! Yahoo!! :) we are proud of this fact! Elder Taggart was like "I think I have seen the cleanest car I've seen on my mission!" ...no big deal! :) just makes us happy and we got some trail mix for it! :) and Sister Taggart said "I was scared to get in the car because
I didn't want to get it dirty." It was pretty great! :)

It was such an amazing meeting we focused on the Spirit and how we can use it better! and I was going to share some of my thoughts about it but my journal is back at the apartment.  

But here is my advice.  If you have a feeling to do something do it!  If it leads you to do something good DO IT!! Just Do It! (Like Nike) And as you act upon those good thoughts you'll have more and you will be blessed!!

I love being a Missionary, it is like giving everyone a $100, this Message is truly so amazing and if people don't accept it, there is nothing I can do, it is between them and God.  But I am here to share His word and "give $100 to

all His Children" but I know this Gospel is much more than a 100 bucks! I love it! It makes me happy :D 

Wednesday
Can't believe tomorrow is already weekly planning day! We had a very fulling day...if we keep driving this much we will be in trouble with miles. But we had lessons all day! It was awesome!

We had a super awesome lesson with Debbie with Sister Lester and the spirit was so strong! She read ten more pages in the Book of Mormon and she is getting so much more out of the scriptures! It is so awesome! Debbie wants to be baptized! We told her as we have prayed we have felt like a date in July would be good or even August. We wanted to involve her in the date choosing and pray with her. As we read the dates she immediately said August 16 because the 17th is the passing of her son and she would receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost that day. We are very excited for her and know she will be ready for that date!  Let's just hope I stay here next a Transfer! :) it is crazy we are
already haft way through the transfer! Man time sure is going fast!  She even described feeling the Holy Ghost as a tingling feeling! So  great! She is recognizing the spirit in her life!

AHHH DEBBIE IS GETTING BAPTIZED in AUGUST!!! :D So excited for her!!! :D

Sometimes your breakfast looks really  cute so you have
to take a picture of it!

Our lesson with the Yaros went well and Gloria got a lot out of Alma 32 it was awesome! We taught the first haft of the Plan of Salvation and Brother Lester came with us and that went very well. Lindsey even joined us today and we re-invited her to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and to read at least one paragraph and write a few
words about it. She said she would. She is such a sweet girl! :) the lesson went well and there weren't to many distractions even being inside and that was nice! Sadly Brother Lester didn't get to meet Joe :( which is one of the reasons we wanted him to come. Joe isn't sure what to think about this all but he is super nice and I feel like he
is interested but he doesn't want to admit it.

We went over to the Sarvers and MaryJo was in the back so we went back there and talked for a little bit and then went inside. We had a super awesome lesson with them about Faith and we read parts Alma 32 and MaryJo went and got Gary's old Book of Mormon and she told us how she has never read it all the way through, so I asked her if she wants to.  She said YES!! How awesome! We told her we could help her with that!  It was a great lesson and guess what! Next time Gary is going to say the closing prayer and MaryJo said she'll say the closing prayer the next time! It was funny because Gary was like "Oh I have to see this!"  Haha we left them to read Alma 32, MaryJo is still more committed then  Gary but they both are coming along! I a, so excited for them! I love them so much! They are so awesome! :)

We had dinner at the Tucker's and the twins birthday was the day before but we had there birthday dinner with them. It was yummy! Man I sure do love this family! They are great! We talked about having courage and shared a little from a talk and then shared a short Mormon message on Ester and how she had so much courage!  :)

Then we went and had a lesson with Dorothy and she wanted to talk about D&C 76 so we did but we ended it with the Come Unto Christ video and Moroni 10:32 which was great because we found out some concerns, so hopefully we will be able to help her with those. :)

Thursday
Oh my goodness! Story Time! So we received a phone call but they hung up right away and I didn't get to answer it, so I waited five or ten minutes and I call this number back and I'm like hello, My name is Sister North and I'm a Missionary for the a Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day saints someone called me from this number. It is a black lady on the other line and was like oh I called the wrong number I was just trying to call my neighbor to see if he could come help me move my TV. I then responded we would love to come help you move your TV!  She said OH Really?! I need help moving it. I said yes! We love doing services! She asked us where are church is we said Valparaiso. And she
responded oh cool! She told us where she lives and I was like oh we have a church building in Grifith! (Near her) She's like I know where that is! We got her name and address and confirmed her number and called the Sisters and turns out she lives in the Elders area so they passed her along to them. But so cool! I hope she sees that this wasn't an accident. I look forward to following up with the Elders on Wednesday. But man so crazy! I am so grateful I call numbers back even though haft the time it is a lame number! I can say I will always be calling numbers back! Who knows I can get other missionaries involved!  It was supper cool! :)

We planned most the day and then had dinner with the Newmans and after we tried to find a referral but turns out I wrote the number wrong so we will go back tomorrow. (we have it now) and we met these two girls going for a run and they said we could come teach them more. They've never heard of us before and they both are fourteen. They seem sweet!
It is crazy to think that they are only a year older than my Sister...man my sisters need to just stop growing! ;) love ya Cearia, Taryn, Taylynne. :) I'm praying we will be able to teach them and that there family will want to hear this amazing message as well!  :)

Friday
And not just any Friday! Friday the 13th = My favorite day! Also know as my lucky day! :)  It started off a little slow but ended with a Bang! :) this morning we were going to help Sister Yuen clean out her garage but she cancelled so we tried to find Gail the referral but she wasn't home but we passed a old lady so we went and talked to her and she liked to contradict herself, she was nice but the conversation wasn't going anywhere. On the was back to the car I saw someone in the garage of Gail's house so I went and asked him if she was home. He said yes but she was getting ready for work and was in the shower. Hopefully we will finally meet her tomorrow! The Elders gave us her information
Tuesday night and since Wednesday we've been trying to get in contact with her. But I know we will soon. :) but it is nice to know she does live there. :)

Twenty minutes before our dinner appointment with the SAMs I thought I was going to a this one street to go see this one person and then I saw highway six so I just parked the car and said let's go find someone to teach. We said a prayer walked down the street a little and saw a tractor mail box(yes Brittany I did take a picture just for you...Brittany I am reminded of you everywhere! ;) hehe) and we go knock on the door and I see a sign on the ground that says welcome to my home in Spanish, and I was proud of myself to remember :) but The Lord has helped me a few times with my Spanish skills (which are none these days) a few times out here.

After Dinner we went and had a quick lesson with Ryan on the Sacrament with Sister Skeen, it went pretty well, I love having Sister Skeen there she is a great fellow shipper for Ryan!

Then we hurried to our next appointment with Ashley and Sister Wells really had to use the Bathroom...but we already where running late.  Well needles to say the appointment fell through so we went and found Sister Wells a Bathroom.

Sometimes you have to use the bathroom really bad
and so you can't leave without getting a treat!
This is Ashley she is super awesome and I love
her tons!!  :D

It was super funny though, Sister Wells was like I am going to pee in my skirt! ha! We frist stopped by I think Walgreens but they didn't have a bathroom that we could see so we ended up gong to Subway.  It was funny, Ashley was like I'm not choosing this time I was wrong haha but we made it! And we got a cookie! :D 

Then we went and stopped by Victor but he wasn't home, and the Martinez came in mind to go so.  Well that was a propting by the Spirit because we had the most amazing lesson with Julian! Man I love this kid!! We had a great Lesson on the Plan of Salvation! It was such a powerful lesson and Julian just has a big heart! He really wants to come to church but with his family it is hard.  But we are thinking he would really enjoy institute and even though he is a year younger we think we are going to invite him to it.  And see if He can come to young mens.

Saturday
Today was a rough day, we had an awesome day planned but sadly it was a day full of tracting :( but it was alright but we didn't find anyone. And that was a bummer.

But we ended the night having dinner at the Lester's and then having MCM. It was great! :) before we started I started making water mark spots with my cup and what does Elder Foster do? He starts doing it with me haha it was rather funny, we had fun.

There is some awesome things happening in the Valpo ward! The elders are on fire and

Sunday
I honestly can never get enough of meetings!! Sacrament was so amazing!!  To bad we didn't have any investigators there, it would have been a GREAT one for them to be at!! The thing I liked the most is it is up to us to be a Stranger

or to not be a Stranger.  So don't be a Stranger, go love the world and don't be afraid. 

After church we practice singing, I'm singing a duet next week with one of the young women in the ward.  We are practicing in a little bit which will be good! So hopefully it will go well.

We pretty much just tracted the rest of the day and we met Glenn he is 29 and he is hopefully coming to Institute on Tuesday! he is a nice guy, not really "into religion" but is willing to come and learn.  I have high hopes for him! I know this Gospel can help him! I hope he feels Gods love as he learns more and that he has a desire to learn more!!

It was funny as we tracted this street guess who drives up to us...Ryan! he was on his way home from his moms who I guess lives a few streets down from where we were.  So that was random.

Haha something else that is random is today at the store we saw someone that we  met yesterday while tracting that turned us away.  I hope he knows that it was God being like Hey you should really talk to these girls! haha 

Love,

Sister Amber North :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview IL 60025

June starts out strong!!! :)

I know the Book of Mormon is True!! it  makes me SO SO HAPPY :D

Date:  June 9, 2014

Area:  Valparaiso, Indiana

Companion:  Sister Wells

Week 14 in Valpo

Howdy! My Favorite Peeps!!!

June June June! My mind is still blown that it is June! But oh my goodness it has been such a great week! I can also say I am truly happy! I really do love being a missionary! My attitude about missionary work has changed from the last few weeks and it is for the better! I can feel the difference and I am just ready to baptized all of Portage! :) ...just need to remember that when I'm feeling down and when time gets hard. :) I sure am so grateful for this amazing opportunity
to serve the Lord!  I know this is His gospel, and I KNOW His Gospel brings the ultimate Happiness!!! 

Monday
Man, it just flew by! I didn't even write one letter! Crazy! Sister Isaacson texted us and invited us over for dinner, and what was funny is when Sister Wells said it was her I thought she was texting us a warning about some crazy storm. Because last week when they found out we got stuck in the Mothers Day storm she was like, no worries I'll
warn you next time so you will be safe! But no, it was to come to dinner and that was yummy! We played a little basketball with the kids in the hallway. We decided we should have one for our apartment and do that in the morning for exercise! Ha ;)

After we had a lesson with Precilla! We taught her the Restoration and she is awesome! And I still love her little boy! After the lesson we walked back to the car when this kid was like, "Are you in college?" Then I started talking to them and was like no, we are Missionaries...and told them about the Book of Mormon. It was grand, we left them with our Facebook info, it would be cool if they actually added us!

I had to take a screen-shot of our awesome numbers this week! We worked hard and had six member present lessons! It was incredible!! and two people came to Sacrament Meeting!! The Lord sure is blessing us!! I love working in Portage and helping in the Lords Vineyard! :D

Tuesday
Exchanges-awesome awesome day! Two member present! Woot woot!  What a Busy day!

We started of the morning going and stopping by a PNI because the we were told that is when she was home....I guess we woke her up...but she said we could come back still as she wiped her eyes...so that is good. We knocked on a door and then stopped by Kristen who we taught a lesson with before. And well we woke her up too...yikes! But we talked
with her about the Book of a Mormon and promised her if she read it and prayed she would find peace in her life. She is a cute little fireball! She also has a pig! I hope I'll get to meet it, she(Susie) sleeps with her and lives in the house! Ain't that something.

I know that we have a living Prophet today that lead and guides  us in the crazy world, I know that our Savior died for us and  Loves us all SO SO Much!! I feel his love every time I pray  and read His Scriptures!! He loves us all so much!!

After that we went back to the car and guess who called us!?! Debbie did and she said Yes we can still meet with her at 11! Ahh! Yay! I was so excited! We drove to sister Skeen's and hoped in her car and off we went. It was a great lesson on the Book of Mormon. I don't really remember the details but I know the spirit was there and it was awesome!

We had a great lesson with Sister Jones(less active) we finished reading Alma 7 with her and talked about the importance of Sacrament.  The spirit was there and she is hopefully coming to church! Yay!

Yaros-Ashley Z! Came with us she just moved in the ward and is awesome! The lesson was okay, it was hard to have the spirit testify to Gloria but she isn't entirely letting it in. But it was decent lesson.

Funny moment! On our way back to Sister Bradley's area, she went to put in a new CD and guess what we ended up listening too! Oakcrest! Oh my Goodness! It was so awesome and funny! We just kept laughing! Pretty much Sister Bradley and I have all these memories together...expect we actually weren't together! Ha! Super great. I love her! She is just so darn cute!

Wednesday! Great Day!
We had district meeting which was interesting because we spent a while changing to a new program on our Ipad that took a while but it still went well. We had our meeting in the foyer on the couch haha. I love my district! They are wonderful!

But After district meeting we listen to this super cool message....and it is this random guy saying he met someone who wants a Book of Mormon! So yeah pretty cool! Turns out "Jake from Utah" is working here selling door to door and try's to share the gospel! So he met this 80 year old who wanted a Book of Mormon! How cool! I am so proud of Jake for sharing the Gospel at every opportunity! We met with him and gave Bob a Book of Mormon and Jake tried to get Bob to set up an appointment with us but he kept on insisting that Jake should come teach him more. We left him with our contact information, we'll see what happens.

After lunch we helped Sister Scroggin pack and shared a message with her. They are moving this weekend.

So Ashley came out with us pretty much 5:30pm to the rest of the night, we had an appointment but it got cancelled but we had so many back up plans because we have a hand full of people we have been wanting to see but we need another female to be with us. We went and saw all these people but no one was home. We called Ryan and he said

Our library has these guys all over!

we could come over in fifteen minutes so we did....well needless to say he was on something and could hold still we tried to have a lesson with him but it didn't really go anywhere but we all tried to bring the spirit.

We then met up with Jake and contacted the referral and then Ashley was so sweet and took us out for dinner at Subway, it was tasty! Ashley is so amazing! We love her! We did a few more stop bys but not much success...but I did get a compliment...and it is always weird when a male gives you a compliment as a missionary....I'm like sorry Bro.
Better luck next time haha. It was a good night though. :)

Thursday
This morning we helped Sister Scroggin pack more. And she just has the cutest little baby! I wish I could have held her but I just admired with my eyes. Sister Thomas came and helped for a little bit too. Man I just love her! She is just so cute and makes you feel so loved!  Sister Scroggin told us a funny story about her cat jumping on to the stove and with his paw turned on the stove and caught himself on fire!  I pretty much just laughed! The reason why we found this out is we finished packing the kitchen and we asked her if the nobs on the stove should go on and the reason why they are off is because of the cat.  Pretty funny.

We did some planning and we then had a lesson with Tammy with Sister Helm. The lesson was fast pace but it helped keep the lesson more focused. We went over the restoration briefly (she's been taught parts before and read the pamphlet) and talked about a few questions. The lesson went pretty alright and we had control of it for a good amount.
I am getting so much better at controlling lessons. Tammy is a talker!  Sister Helm was so great and she is so smart! I am so grateful that she came with us! :) I love having members at lessons! It makes them so so much better! We are doing yard work with Tammy next week! Super excited! And it will be awesome because she is a talked and what
better way for her to talk to us then doing yard work? It should be fun. :)

We finished the night stopping by the library, contacting a referral, eating dinner and planning. It was a pretty good day!

Friday:
Oh my goodness! I've never seen so much cotton in my life! It seriously is snowing! Ha! So many things that I will miss when I return home.

We had an awesome lesson with Debbie with sister Isaacson! It went really well! We taught her the third lesson, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we talked about the priesthood again and why Jesus couldn't get baptized by anyone and that is was by John because he had the right authority. It was a really good lesson and sister Isaacson had such great comments. On Tuesday we invited her to start reading from the beginning and she was already on page 19, and she is starting to understand it. She is changing! In a good way too! It just makes my heart happy. :)

I mowed Dorothy's lawn today....it was slightly scary ha, I like mowing Lean Ann's better Bit this lawn mower even though it wasn't my favorite it push it self...so less work out for me. The reason it was scary is her front lawn is on a hill and there is areas of dirt and rocks like to hide or sticks so sometimes themed fly around. But we had an awesome lesson with her reading out of 2 Nephi 4 and we talked about how strong Nephi was, this story she usually didn't like but as we talked about how positive He was she was like wow! And we told her how we can even learn things from the war chapters in the scriptures and she was like huh? So we'll be reading those with her soon. Best part is she said she'll do her best to come to church! We are calling her at 7:30am so hopefully she will come! That would be so amazing! :)
and she was just so happy today! Like the most happy I've seem her!  Yay!  :)

We stopped by a less active the D. family and talked to the wife for about haft hour. She's awesome! Do you know something that I thought was pretty crazy! Is Portage High School's graduation is on a Sunday! And that is how they do it every year! I thought that was interesting.

We helped the Tucker's set up for a yard sell, can I say they have yard sells everywhere here!   I have helped with three now since I got here! It's crazy! They are very popular here!

We ended the night over a fire with Sister Yuen and we talked about a conference talk.

Elder Berhow enjoying a S'more and Elder Foster having fun roping.

Me enjoying my S'more.  HA, I'm weird

Roasting them marshmellows

Sister Wells enjoying her s'more before MCM

Saturday

Can I just say I sure do love having a fire for MCM! Woot! I can't wait to go camping next Summer!....that is a weird thought... I honestly am still mind blown that it is June! Guess what the Elders said today! We get to be in a parade for the Fourth of July! I am beyond excited! :) that will be so much fun and hopefully a great Missionary opportunity! :) last year I just worked so I am looking forward to it! And it is right before transfers so The Lord can't take me away before this! Yay! But I expect to be staying anyway so it is cool. :)

We visited cute Sister a Vickers! Her home is just so peaceful and nice, I could just take a nap. It was funny we were showing things to her on her tablet and then we took some pictures on it and took a few funny ones of course and when we looked at them she just cracked up and it was the cutest little chuckle laugh ever! It was great!  :)

We stopped by MaryJo but she didn't have much time to talk so we just shared a little message with her and gave her a hug. Man I sure do love her! :)

We had a great lesson with Gloria and Sister Quinton came with us and I'd say it was our best lesson with her. We had it outside and it took away so many distractions! But of course the neighbor was mowing and weed whacking the yard the entire time and it still was so much better. We had a great lesson on Faith!  :)

Best Text ever!!  For those who write me, you know that I have fun putting stickers and sometimes drawings on my envelopes.  After 10 months of sending Elder Taggart Sticker envelopes when I send him our miles for the month he sent us a text message!! Totally made my day!!  :D  So if you want a cool envelope with stickers on it you better write me!  ;)  Those that have written, I will write you back soon!

Sunday!
Oh my goodness!! Tammy and Ryan came to church! I seriously couldn't believe it! Sacrament was about to start and Ryan comes in and during sacrament I looked around and I see Tammy! It was great! Tammy said she enjoyed it and liked the family atmosphere and has questions about the meeting and we told her we'd talk about it on Wednesday when we come help her do some yard work! Super excited for that! It was a good day! And I guess this week we are going to go teach a lesson to one of the Elders investigator Linda. I'm excited! I love her so that will be
sweet! She gets confused really easy and she is hoping we will be able to help her understand some things from a 'girls perspective'....so hopefully we can do that...but she is the sweetest! :)

We visited with Sister Rodgers and talked about prayer and experience where the Holy Ghost helped keep us calm. Then we finished the night planning for the week because we didn't have time earlier this week.

Random funny!!!! Guess what! I met Bubba's Missionary Nurse...she doesn't know him because he is healthy but  she had his info. Her name is Stephanie Sims I was going to get a picture with her but forgot..but small world.

Letters:
-Sister Burr

Things here are Awesome!! I couldn't be happier!! I love you all so much and I am so thrilled to have you apart of my life!! I wish you all the Best  this week!! Remember YOU can make a difference in everyone's life! You
can also be a Missionary!!  Keep on Smiling!!

PS. HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY!!!

                 I LOVE YOU :D

Sister Amber North :)

So you can write Sister North she really loves mail!!!

Sister Amber North

Illinois Chicago Mission

800 Waukegan  Rd #203

Glenview, Illinois 60025

Date:  June 2, 2014
Area:  Valpo, Indiana
Companion:  Sister Wells
Valpo Week 13

Hello My lovely people I know and Love!! :)

So great to email you all today! How are you? What is going on in the life of you? I would just LOVE to hear from you! :) Missionaries sure do love mail! (And random packages of laughter)...feel free to interrupt that one...it could be fun. ;)

I am doing just wonderful! The last few days have been awesome and last night ended great!  And I feel like a good missionary again!  Which honestly is an amazing feeling! Alright so let me explain it isn't like I have been doing anything bad but things have been hard and my desire to work my hardest hasn't been consistent. This week I managed to catch a cold and Man that sure took me under the bus! It was awful. Thankfully I have a wonderful companion that was patient
with me even when I didn't want to work. But we did, I pushed through and slept every chance I got. But we did get some good laughs a few days this week as I woke up sounding like a man and well singing for companion study, bahaha it was rather hilarious!...needless to say Sister Wells was like we'll just sing this verse...or two of them...partly because she kept laughing. I sounded pretty good as a bass if I had to say so my self. ;) haha

District meeting Sister Wells and I taught about using the scriptures
and then Hermana Escabar was like turning pages turns hearts

Elder Berhow hiding from me.

Elder Foster chilling with the fire.

Valpo Olympics

Red Team Rocks

Ha! It is Park Place and I just had to take a
picture!!! Good times at Snow!!!

RED TEAM

Singing at the hospital a couple of weeks ago.

On Wednesday I gained a testimony in a way I never thought I would on my mission.  I learned how important it is to follow the Word of Wisdom. A little weird thing to come to while I am on a mission. You see I have been sick the last few days and I have been kind of in a daze and before we went and stopped by someone I had a 'light bulb' moment and was like, oh I know why it is so important to follow the word of wisdom. Because while being sick I found it a lot harder to feel the spirit and to be an instrument in Gods hand. It was a struggle for me to focus and listen and feel the Holy Ghost. I know God has given us commandments to follow for a reason. I know as we follow the things he has asked he WILL give us strength! It is so important to have the faith to do so and Trust God that He Will help us in all that we are doing. But He does ask us to do our part. So this week has been a testimony of keeping the commandments and obeying with exactness! I know as we do so we will be blessed! It tells us in the scriptures all the time!

For example:
"And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?" (Mosiah 2:24)

I know God has blessings He wants to give us! He loves us all so much! Just like this scripture says he wants to bless you IMMEDIATELY! This is all over in the scriptures. I invite you to go find some this week as you are studying. Share it with someone! Put it on Facebook, share it with a family member! Share what you learn. Not only does it build
your own testimony but you have a chance to uplift someone else. How awesome is that?

I also have a challenge and invitation for those of my family and friends who have Facebook. I invite you to share a one line testimony for ten days and then use the hashtags #10ToTestify and #TestimonyChallenge I just started this on Saturday and will continue to do so tomorrow, I invite you all to join me.  #HasteningtheWorkofSalvation we can help Gods children in more ways then one! And one of those great tools we are given is social media! Even if people don't like it or comment on it or share it,(which is awesome...hint hint) I know people WILL see it! You can help us start
a new "trend" on Facebook. Ain't that cool? :) sharing the Gospel is awesome! I know this is Gods work and he wants us to use all of our tools to be Missionaries. :)

I know has you make an extra effort to share the Gospel, you will be blessed! He is cheering us on! He is proud of us when we do what he says! I love you all so much! I am so excited to hear about your missionary experiences! :) :) you can and will have them if you try and pray for them but you must ACT.

This week was rough but like I said it ended good. There is always light at the end of the tunnel! :)

Last night we saw Mary Jo and Gary! Oh my goodness it was just so amazing! :) we planned to share an article from this months ensign but we forgot it. Lately I've been watching the videos in gospel library in the youth sections and boy are they amazing. So I went to look at them and I'm like eh..not for them right now and then both Sister Wells and I new what to share and it was the youth theme song "Come Unto Christ" we shared it with them and after MaryJo was like, He's calling our name! Oh it was awesome! :) and we shared Moroni 10:32 and I love the part where it says we can become perfected with the Saviors help! It is awesome!  :)

For MCM we roosted hot dogs and sat around the fire and the bugs loved the Elders more then us! Yay! :) it was funny and next week we are going to roosting s'mores! Yum!  :)

We had a pretty good lesson with Debbie and Sister Skeen came which was so awesome!  :) yay! :) it was such a blessing to have a member with us! Members makes lesson so great! :) we talked more about scriptures and read from them and the spirit was there and that was nice. Sadly she had to work so she didn't come to church again.

:( sigh

We also met with the Yarros with the Lewis family and tried to teach more about prayer and the Holy Ghost but the lesson was kinda everywhere and it was really hard to have the spirit there and there were SO many distractions. The only thing that kept the lesson going is scriptures. We are meeting with them tomorrow with brother Lester so hopefully we can actually teach this time. Sister Bradley will be with me on exchanges. We exchange tonight to tomorrow so that will be fun to be with Sister Bradley again for the day. :)

We went to go see Maryjo and Gary earlier this week and they weren't home but as we drove past this street in my head I was like we should tract that street so we did. And we met Precella and her adorable 2yr old son who is

just wonderful! He gave me a hug hehe :D and we are meeting with her tonight. It was awesome! and she let us in and said we could come back. We are looking forward to teaching her tonight. 

Well it was a rough but good week.  The Lord always provides!

Letters:
-Ceaira North! Yay! Thanks Sis! You were the only letter I got last
week! And then today we got tons of mail because the mail was being
held from transfers.
-Nutty! :) I was waiting all week! And it came today! Oh how I loved
it! Thanks my dear :) you are the best!  :)
-Elder Deweese
-Karoline
-Elder Chacon
-Grandma Mary

I love you all so much!!
Thanks for everything! :D

Love,
Sister North :D

The Week of Fellowshipping! :)

Valpo Olympics

Date: May 26, 2014

Area:  Valpo, Indiana

Companion:  Sister Wells

Valpo Week 12

The Week of Fellowshipping! :)

Win Gabo! Everyone! Are you wondering what that means? Me too! Ha! I say it all the time and I'm not sure why! So tell me if you have an  answer! :)

Mookie!! Congrats at taking State! I am so excited for you! Sounds like so much fun! Write me a letter Mr! :) I'm still waiting for that birthday letter from you. ;) this goes to all my siblings! You all
should write me a page letter about your life! And then give it to Mom! She'll even send it off for you! :) I love you guys! And I miss hearing from you!

Mom thanks for all the updates! So much is happening! It is crazy! Dad gets to go to meetings at 6am! Wow! That is before I get up haha. That is cool, he'll be even more technology savvy! :) I'm getting pretty good at working an iPad! Ha! I love the Gospel Library app! It is wonderful! And it makes today (holidays) still a P-Day because we can email you from our iPad! I just need to connect

This week we took it easy because Sister Wells has been sick but the last few days have been back to normal. We did have Transfer Calls on Saturday and I kept forgetting that it was that day, Sister Wells and I new we both would be staying! Yahoo! And a few minutes before nine we received a text saying "you will NOT be receiving a transfer call" we both are happy about that! I can see us being together for another Transfer too. I see myself being here for four transfers and then in my last area for four. But we will see what The Lord has in store for me! I know he has aplan! :) what is crazy is my entire district is staying the same!! Yahoo! This is the first time on my mission that no one was transferred, I'm excited about that! I have a great district! We are are working hard trying to do our part in the Lords vineyard. :) and on Wednesday we have district Lunch! Yahoo! I love district
lunch! :)

Our miracles this week goes with the subject line, "The week of Fellowshipping" our numbers might of been low but we had wonderful opportunities for our investigators to meet and get to know members! Yay! So that was awesome!

First one is Ryan came to institute!! Yahoo!! Oh my goodness I was just so thrilled! :) we texted him inviting him to go and he said yes! I didn't expect that answer. But he was able to go! We had a great
lesson in Ether talking about the Jaridites and how they built a barge and we compared it to a coconut! ...pretty much they came over in a huge coconut! Ha! I never thought of it like that before but it is true! Go read or re-read the story! It is a great one! Ryan had some great comments! I think it blew his mind a little how the Brother of Jared brought rocks for God to light up and he did it! It was a neat experience and afterward he went and got ice cream with everyone. We asked him the next day how he liked it and he said it made his day! Hopefully he'll come tomorrow! That would be awesome! :)

Next is Kim! Kim came to the Relief Society Ethnic dinner! Yahoo! It was awesome and very yummy! She seemed to enjoy it and after we took her to the chapel and explained our worship service a little bit. She is still interested in checking it out. We told her how it is really different from everyone else and very quiet. Hopefully next time she doesn't have work she'll be able to come...(she works all the time..has two jobs) we also told her about institute and she was excited to hear that they go get ice cream afterward! :) hopefully we can teach her this week! That would be awesome! :)

Last is on Saturday we had a BBQ with the Yarros and the Lewis's came and then the Bailieys form Michigan City Branch was there and also took Gloria and Jordan to a baptism that day too! Awesome! We didn't get to share a message with them because we had to go but they got to
know some ward members better! BUT Gloria said the prayer on the food! Yay! It was so awesome! And we met with them the day before and she hadn't really read and when we came back on Saturday she was like I was going to the chapter you left me and started reading this other chapter! So that is cool! I'm excited to meet with them! They also enjoyed the cheesecake I made yay! :)

Our awesome district

We got to see Mary Jo and Gray this week yay! The last few times Gary has been taking a nap so that was awesome! We had a great lesson and we read Enos 1-12. It was super awesome. We talked more about prayer and how it affects us. MaryJo said she wasn't ready to pray in front of us yet but she is working on it so that is exciting! :) I love meeting with them! It was a great lesson and Mary Jo has a desire to come to church...just not yet. It is funny cause she looks at Gary and says "who knows maybe will make it to church one day...right?" And Gary just nods his head haha.

We had an awesome lesson planned with Debbie in a members home but sadly she had to work BUT we got to meet with her last minute, but sadly didn't have a member with us. I was bummed. And she had to work yesterday so that was also a day day. But we still had a great lesson with her.

Hmm...oh we got a referral this week! It is a high school aged boy and we talked to him and you could tell he was really nervous and he asked if we could come back later/call. But when we have called no one has answered. So hopefully we will be able to contact him soon and teach
him a lesson. :)

Dinner at a members

We had our awesome Zone Activity! I managed to take 40 pictures before my camera died. I was super bummed it died! But it was a blast! Yay for Valpo Olympics! :) my awesome red team won if we played golf! Which means we lost but still fun! :) we played several games like win it to win it games! :)

It was a good week!

Thanks so much for all the Love! So nice!
Letters:
-Blackhams
-Karoline and kiddos, the card made me smile :)
-Grandma Mary
-Tiffany and Brittany! Oh my goodness! I lo
story, I got your letters the same day and I open both of them and
what do I see cats! On both of them! Am I suppose to learn something
from that! ;) ha I love you guys! I sure have been blessed with great
a Roommates! :)
-Daddy

So Kim says Hi! We are using McDonadls wifi and she is working and says Hi! Yay!  :)

Yesterday at Church Sister Thomas gave Sister Wells and I a small chocolate birthday cake! So sweet of her! She is super awesome! And a hard worker. Love her!  :)

Thanks for all you guys do and for the prayers you say in my behalf.

I love you all! Keep smiling! You are all so awesome! :)

Love,
Sister North  :)

WRITE ME!!!!
Sister Amber North
Illinois Chicago Mission
800 Waukegan Rd. #203
Glenview, Illinois 60025

The Week Always Ends good with a Sunday! :)

Birthday package from home

Date: May 19, 2014

Area:  Valpo, Indiana

Companion:  Sister Wells

Valpo Week 11

Hey ya friends and Family!

Letters:
- Grandma Pam - the card was so cute! Love the Monkey! :)
- Momma, we loved the Birthday package! Thank you! Sister Wells
couldn't believe she got stuff too! :) and I got your card too! Thank
you so much! :) you are the Best! I love you! :)
- Grandma Mary
- Holden Gang!
(On Friday Sister Wells checked the mail and we both were excited to
get mail! She couldn't believe you guys wrote her too. Thank you! We
both needed mail that day, it was kinda a rough week for us. And
Grandma she loved that your card was a get well one)
- Jessica Chr...I mean Tremea ;) oh my goodness! Best birthday present
ever and you didn't even plan it! Hehe so wonderful to get a letter
from my sweet roomie!
- Sister Grant

So How's it going? I sure would just LOVE to hear from you! I'm a little behind on writing back but I promise you, You will hear back from me!

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

Birthday poster from my family.

This week was a hard week for me but like the subject says the Week always ends good with a Sunday! Oh how I love Sundays! Plus for it being my birthday of course it had to be a good one. :) and it was! It went by Super fast too!

Church was awesome! President and Sister Woodbury spoke in Sacrament!  And man I could hear them talk ALL day! They sure are wonderful!  :) I taught Gospel Principles on Repentance and it wasn't to shabby! It made me happy! :) and Relief Society was great! My stomach even cheered it on....ha! It was being rather noisy..  We sat by one of the
Elders investigator and after we talked to her for about ten minutes! She is super awesome! :)

We went back to the apartment and had lunch and personal study and then we went back to the church to a meeting with ward mission leaders from the stake and it was awesome! Man I honestly can't wait to be a member missionary! So fun!...lies I can wait! Because I love being a missionary! But it will be fun to help the missionaries when I come
home. :)

After that we had dinner with the Tucker family! Yay! :) I just love them so so much! :) I was looking forward to this all

Birthday brownies....YUMMMY

week! We had turkey and brownies! Yay! And they made me such sweet cards! So wonderful! And we had such a sweet lesson with them! They are one amazing family! :) I sure do love them! :) it was a good birthday! :) the Sister Training Leaders and our District Leader (Elder Whitehead) and Elder Angeleti sang happy birthday to me! They are awesome! :) made my day! :)

This week was one of those weeks I didn't feel like it was a good one but it was! When we filled out our MCM paper, I was like man, we have done a lot this week. It just shows as we push through the hard times The Lord really does bless us! :)

I almost forgot to make my wish!!!

Some of the highlights this week;

We had THREE member present! Yahoo! We have been having the curse of the no member presents lately! And we finally broke it! Hopefully it will go up hill from here! :)

First one is meeting with Ryan! We had an appointment with someone else but it fell through so we decided to go and see Ryan and guess what He was home! Sister Skeen came with us! I honestly wasn't sure how the lesson would go but it went really well! We had a wonderful lesson on prayer! The spirit does direct! I said a closing prayer and
then he did, it was a wonderful prayer! It really was a miracle to meet with him! :)

2nd was Tom! Sister Wells and Sister Bradley met him on Wednesday during exchanges and on Friday he told us we could meet with him! We spent about a haft hour trying to find a member to go with us last minute and everyone was busy. So we said another prayer asking for direction and one of the guys in the ward came to mind so we called him and he said he could go! But we couldn't meet at Tom's house because we needed another female there so I tested Tom saying we were in the mood for ice cream, so we met at a place called Darie Dip and come to find out there are only outside seating...ha, Sister Wells and I both had winter clothing on! Yep still wearing my winter boots
sometimes(crazy) and our poor member was cold but he was a trooper. It was a good lesson the the Restoration very upbeat lesson. Tom is 20 and has a ton of energy! But the funny part to this story is after we got home we text the member telling him thanks and he responds, "I think Tom might live three house down from me." We asked if he lived
on P.M. Street, he said yes! Oh my goodness! They live on the same street! It was so funny! I honestly couldn't believe it! The Lord really does work in mysterious ways!

Sister Wells with her gifts

3rd we met with the Yarro's with one of the youth on the ward. We felt like he would connect with Lindsey. It was super funny! When we called him and told him that she likes Anime he was like "OH MY GOODNESS!....YES!!!" It was awesome! And made S. Wells and I laugh! I didn't expect that reaction from him, haha The lesson was good, poor
Lindsey was sick though :( so she went to lay down after we watched the Restoration DVD. On Saturday we are having a birthday BBQ. We are hoping this will help break the ice with Joe, he Santa been too involved with the lessons yet. But I have high hopes for this wonderful family! And I am bring yummy cheesecake! :)

Sister Tucker, Sister Hone, Sister Walton, Me, and Brother Tucker

Elders singing - nope mom I don't know most of their names.

We visited the Partlows and Chris had us put on some masks.

So we had exchanges this week and guess what! They already had planned to go sing to Bro. Tucker and I got to go! There were thirteen missionaries! It was so wonderful! The Tucker's were so surprised to see me! It was pretty much awesome! I sure love them! :)  after we sang to Bro. Tucker for a while we also went and sang to some others,
and we had the doors open for everyone to hear! Man, I loved it so much! It makes me miss being in Arise and going and doing stuff like that! I love choir and helping cheer people up through music and testimony! :) so so wonderful!! :)

Speaking of singing, man I just love this song! I know I have shared it before but honestly it is just so so amazing! So listen to it again! And share it on Facebook! Send it to someone in need! We all need Christ in our life! He is so amazing! I love him so much! It is Never to late to Come to Him, I know He is there for you with Open Arms!

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/come-unto-christ-2014-theme-song?lang=eng

I love you all so so much!! And thank you so so much for all of the support! And love and letters! They honestly mean so much! Especially when things are hard or you are feeling down, they can be what picks you up for the day!

Keep going strong! I love you! :) Gotta Run!

Beautiful view

A better picture of the McDonalds in the middle of the freeway.

For kicks and giggles I'm going to end my letter how my sweet Grandma
ended hers to me this week!

ROCK ON!
Love,

Sister North