#BecauseofHim, #BIGTRANSFER

University of Chicago but it reminds me of Hogwarts

Date:  April 21st, 2014
Area:  Valpo, Indiana

Companion:  Sister Wells

Valpo Week 7

 

Hey Family and Friends!!!

Man so I am so excited about this Transfer and it is crazy that we are already on week two!!  A lot of awesome things are going to happen and I have high hopes that we will have a baptism too! that would be cool!! :D

The highlights of this Transfer

#Easter/BecauseofHim
#haftwaypoint CRAZY!!! 9 Months already?

#Mothersday

#Birthdays (both mine and Sister Wells)

#Baptism

Yep It is going to be an awesome one!!! :D

First off I want to start off talking about Easter!! How wonderful!!

I invite ALL of you to check out this amazing video!! #BecauseofHim

easter.mormon.org

Sister North and Sister Wells

I had the wonderful opportunity to speak in Sacrament yesterday on the Atonement! I was honored to speak and I must say I think I am getting a little bit better on speaking.  It was so much better then the last time I spoke...at my farewell(weird) on the same topic. 

I love the Atonement!! Because of the Atonement we are able to do anything and everything!! Everything is possible because Christ died for us! My favorite scripture that talks about the Atonement is...

Alma 7
 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and ^btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
 12 And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ^csuccor his people according to their infirmities.
 13 Now the Spirit ^aknoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the ^bflesh that he might ^ctake upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

I just love it so much!!  It tells us that he can feel EVERYTHING we are feeling!!! I know he lives! He is so wonderful! and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to serve him here in Portage, Indiana! I love it here!!

We had an awesome experience this morning!! Two of them in fact!!

Zone Valpo

The first one is we talked to Brother Nickels and asked him if it is okay to start teaching his kids the lessons and he said Yes! Super exciting! We have been over there a few times and they are great! Hyper and they can be crazy lessons but they are good.  We have been teaching them very basic things but we didn't want to teach them the entirety of the Gospel if Brother Nickels(the Dad) wasn't okay with that.


Then when we were checking out of Meijers our cashier asked why we were dressed up. PERFECT!! Well we told her who we are and a little bit of what we do.  She asked if we get paid for being a missionary we said nope we actually pay, then she found out that we are from Utah and then that we are here for 18 Months!  Because I was talking to her she almost forgot to scan the waters and then give Sister Wells her stamps but it was my fault so it was totally okay! But there was someone behind us so I asked her if we could tell her more or something and she gave us her number!! and we gave her ours and our Facebook information!! It was awesome!! The Lord really is blessing us SO SO Much!! I am so excited!! She is about our age.

District Awesome!

One of the cool things that happened this week was yesterday after seeing a less active we prayed about what area we should go and we both felt like the "green area" and then we looked at the list and a few of the stick out and them I said a name out loud and Sister Wells was like huh? Me too, so we went and saw the Nickels! We shared the #BecauseofHim video and tried to talk a little bit about why we have Easter. It was a little harder because there was a niece that has hardened her heart against the church but it was good. We are hoping to start teaching the kids soon, there are five of them and the
youngest is I believe six. While we go shopping we are going to ask permission form the Dad since he works at Meijer's. He likes us coming over and sharing messages and seems very supportive but we don't want to push any buttons, so hopefully we can start teaching them the lessons.

Elder Murillo!  Sister Kershaw and I served with him in my first area, first Transfer

Elder Power was taking pictures of himself so we joined in

Goodbye Elder Harrison

Oh! A miracle moment is we went to the library but it was a different one then we usually go to but I felt like we should go to that one before we go stop by some one else and Kim was there! She is working two jobs and going to school right now so she is hard to meet with. It was great! I told her we'd send her an cool Easter Video and guess what! When we got on the next day she shared it on her Facebook! It was super awesome. :)

The awesome Martinez family

Sister Comstock Sister Skeen and Sister North

Sister North and Comstock with the Vickers

We met with Debbie this week! Saw her Monday and then later in the week.  We had planned to see Sharon but she got sick so as a backup we went and saw Debbie with Sister Daubeck.  I love how the Lord works because during personal study I read a talk from the Engsin

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/04/the-blessings-of-perseverance?lang=eng
and as I read it I thought of Debbie and it was perfect because that is what we talked about.  We talked about Enduring to the End and it was a great lesson!!

Letters this week!
-Janelle Sanchez, Grandma Mary, Amiee Smith :D Thank You :D

Sister Wells and I on the first day together

University of Chicago - This super cool building thing that is a Library

We went and ate Mexican and well took silly pictures

I love you all so much!! Thank you so much for all your prayers and love and support!! I hope you have have a great week!! Go look up the #BecauseofHim video it is just a few minutes long and it is amazing!!!

I love you all!
Love,
Sister North :D
Well she still hasn't gotten her Easter package.  Goodness this package has taken longer to get to her than Jered's did to him in Guatemala.  O well, I am sure it will get there eventually.  Her birthday is on May 18th!  AHHH can't believe my baby girl is going to be 21.  Lets get those birthday cards out to her, she would love it!!!

Sister Amber North
Illinois Chicago Mission
800 Waukegan Rd #201
Glenview, Illinois 60025

Valpo Week 6!

Our District

Date:  April 14, 2014
Area:  Valpo, Indiana

Companion:  Sister Comstock

Valpo Week 6



Hey Mom! And others I love!

 So we got transfer calls and Sister Comstock is leaving me and Sister  Wells is coming here! She is awesome and I look forward to serving with her. We are spending the night in the cityish with some other Sisters and going to go visit a ward member who is in the hospital at the moment. So that should be fun....get to drive in the crazy traffic! We saw Debbie this morning so Sister Comstock could say goodbye. Things are good!

I hope all of you are doing great! I love you bunches!

Letters:
-Aunt Karoline - loved the pictures! They made me smile, and the
kiddos are getting SO big!
-Hermana Alex Jackson
- Grandma Mary

Monday April 7, 2014
We had such an amazing lesson with Kim! Wow! We taught her the Restoration! The spirit was so strong we read Alma 7:10-13 talking about the Atonement. We even invited her to be baptized, she was like what if I have already been baptized? And do you mean like convert? We briefly reminded her about the right priesthood authority and told her we don't expect you to say yes right now, but when you find out that it is true will you? She told us she would have to think about or something, but she was excited to read Moroni 10 so that is good. And we had the lesson at Fallan Tanner's house she is in her 20's and it was just perfect! :)


We had interviews with President and wow I love that man! :) I could tell him anything and he always makes you feel so cool. I am so grateful for Him! He is the best! :)

Tuesday
We had Zone training today and it of course was SUPER! :) something we are focusing on is making sure we are teaching the Big picture. We are not here just to baptize people but to help them be with there families for eternity!

We stopped by Sharon and talked about how God loves us and we just need to turn to him and we just got to know her and we are meeting with her next week! Yay! :)

We had such an amazing experience at the Tucker's tonight! We had the opportunity to sing hymns and we all chose one of our favorites and the spirit was there and it was so strong! It was so wonderful! :) it was neat and something I will always remember! :)

Wednesday
      Today was the day of visiting the Elderly. :) we visited Sister Clark, but she is a redhead where Sister Clark in Gurnee isn't :) hehe.       I met the Vickers for the first time and she gave us chocolate and then told us to keep eating it haha. :) we shared the Prayer poem with her (it is one of our favorites to share! I'm starting to have it memorized) and we shared a scripture and she teared up and it was sweet.

       After dinner we visited with the Ackleys and when I become old I want to be as in love with my husband as they are. They are so cute together! And you can just tell they love each other so much. They told us how they met and it was great, I always love hearing these stories. I gotta get my "romance" somewhere haha. :) we also talked about prayer and Sister Ackley shared the sweetest experience and the spirit was there and peaceful. When we left Bro. Ackley said stay sitting and went and put cookies in a bag for us.

We had a great lesson with Debbie! And she wants to be baptized! But we didn't invite her to a date yet. We talked about how we want her to be baptized for her and because she believes not because of us or anything or anyone else. She even did her reading and more too. Turns out she has a gospel doctrine book and when we got there she was asking us, so you really don't drink tea or coffee? We said correct. We focused on the BOM and talked about how we can get answers from it and how it brings us power and guidance. It was a good lesson. Her heart is changing and being softened.

Our zone

Thursday
Oh my goodness we had the most powerful lesson with the Martinez family! They are amazing! We were able to answer one of there questions through the Book of Mormon, why bad things happen to good people. Something that was really cool is Sister Comstock mentioned on sharing 'Good things to Come' by Elder Holland for someone else we would be seeing that day and I just went a long with it but it didn't feel right but I couldn't figure out what that person needed. Turns out this video was for them! I had a huge 'light bulb' moment while reading and explaining a scripture and new that the Spirit was telling me to show them this Mormon message! It was so powerful! All of us had
tears in our eyes! I can't wait to meet with them next week! :) we invited them to pray as a family.

We met with the Nickles family and it is a pretty crazy teaching environment. It is Bro. Nickles who is less active and his five children who aren't members. We just taught them how we are children
of a God. It went well but a little crazy! They are a great family, the kids don't know anything about the gospel. We are going to ask if we can teach the lessons to his children(he is there as well), we just
want to make sure it is okay. He is fine with us coming over. I have high hopes for this family, and I know that the Gospel will help bring them together and they are already changing super slowly with just the few times we have seen them.

Friday
We did some good old finding today! We tried to find people at the park but needless to say it wasn't really successful. But we did talk to one person!...but she rejected even taking a card. She had the
cutest little baby! :)

We then went tracting and we met Rita who is a super funny German lady! And she makes me laugh. She didn't want to hear our message but we started talking about other things and then she finally came outside and talked to us instead of from inside the screen door. She told us we could come back so that was cool. :)

We went over to Bishop Sarver's and they have eight kids, a few fun facts that I can't help but think of my own family is they sit on the second row at church, and they have a green van, but slightly smaller then ours. It was a little hectic teaching environment but so fun! I love being around kids, I just wish I could really play with them...can't wait to do that again. :)

Saturday
The Day of Services. We helped Sister Hagman with her yard sell and we even got a potential
investigator! Haha he is our age and we gave him our Facebook information and he added us on Facebook. So that is cool. We then helped the Sams dust some of there house it was grand. :)

Sunday
The Day of stop bys....Sister Comstock is going to Woodstock! I taught Sunday school about the organizations of the Priesthood, it went okay. Then Sister Comstock and I taught Young Women's and that was super awesome! It went so well! :) we taught the Restoration! And it is so cool how every lesson is so different because you teach to there needs. I love it! :)


Sister North absolutely LOVES mail, so drop her a post card, a letter, a package.  ANYTHING.  Her Birthday is coming up on May 18th so lets send her lots of birthday cards.  She would love that!  In the next few weeks she is coming up on her halfway point of he mission too.  AHHH time is flying for the most part. 

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

Sometimes canned Juice will Help you die faster

Me and the Easter Deer

Date:  April 7, 2014
Area:  Valpo, Indiana

Companion:  Sister Comstock

Week Five in Valpo!

Bahaha!!! So I guess I should explain the "sometimes canned Juice will help you die faster" 

Story Time!  So we got these canned juices from a member.  We had grape juice when we were at her house and it was good, I just tried a little bit seeing how I think it takes like medicine. ha and she mentioned how she has some other kids such as blueberry, and peaches so she gave us them to take home.  Well needless to say....

This is from Sister Comstocks letter and it is just perfect so I asked if I could put it in mine :D

"Mmmm... Canned blueberries....

Nifty idea, right? Sounds good, right? WRONG! It tasted like paint varnish!! So if any of you have the desire to can
them.....please....reconsider. I made my companion try it, and then asked,"if you were dying, and this was the only thing to drink... Would you drink it?" She looked up and said, "Well sure! I think it would speed up the process!" So there you have it. Don't. Can. Blueberries."

Sister Comstock and the Easter Deer

We both died laughing and I hope this makes you laugh because as I read it I still am laughing and thinking this experience it is rather funny!! :D haha I promise you didn't miss out taste testing them.... ;) anyway, thanks again for the mail :) It is always a great way to put a Smile on my Face. :) *hint hint* Keep them Coming :D

Easter Deer

Letters:
-Grandma Mary (2) loved the funnies, they made us laugh! :)
- Nutty
- Sister Burr

Anyway!  It has been a great week! Being a Missionary is one of a Kind! I recommend it for EVERYONE :D

We were driving to an appointment and the train stopped.

Tuesday
It was a chalax kind of day. We visited Dolores who is a less active and a lot of it was just getting to know her and learning what her needs are. She is really nice. We came in a little early and went to bed early. It was nice doing missionary work. :)

Wednesday
Back to working hard and being a missionary full time! Yay! It is never fun being sick. We had a great district meeting as always and learned some different ways to work with members and helping them see the full vision of why we are here, and that is to help others have eternal families. :) so we set up an appointment with what we thought was a Less Active but turns out he is a former investigator. We talk to Him for oh ten fifteen minutes and the spirit told us to leave. It
was crazy! Talking after both of us had that feeling and it was cool to see the spirit warn and talk to both of us. I still don't know what would have happened if we stayed but glad we left. It is so important to listen to the prompting a of the Spirit. We met this cool guy named Keenen at the library today and he seems pretty interested, we have to email him later and set up another time to meet with him. We had dinner with Sister Sam and her house is the cutest little old house
ever! I look around and I'm like wow that is cool! It was good and we talked about the Book of Mormon and what are favorite stories are. :)

Thursday
Today has been a good day, we have been busy. This morning we helped Sister Hagman finish pricing things for her yard sell next week. She is moving to Utah she isn't sure where yet it just depends on where she gets a job. We got to meet with a Less Active older couple, they are really nice, it was a little weird at first and we did t know what to talk about but they said we could come back and we left our number with them and Sister....thought the Mormon.org card was cool and didn't know the church had a website. We invited her to check it out and she seemed pretty excited about it. So hopefully something will catch her attention.

We had dinner with the Archer family and I just love them! It is always so great going over there. :) funny: I was cutting

Getting my teeth fixed at the dentist

tomatoes and I almost cut my self...yikes but no worries. We talked about having a strong foundation. We then went and had a lesson with Tammy who we met at the Library my first week here(I still love meeting people there)  hehe it was an okay lesson. She has a ton of questions and but the lesson wasn't really focused and it was just everywhere so next time we are going to bring a member and keep it on one or two topics and that should help.

Friday
I finished the Book of Mormon!! Ahh yay! :) President Woodbury gave us a challenge during Christmas to read the Book of Mormon by April's conference and to mark everything that talks about Christ and His Atonement. Wow! My love for my Savior has grown. I love looking at my Book of Mormon and seeing ALL the blue highlight! This book is truly
another testament of Jesus Christ! He is written on every page! If you read it you WILL come closer to Our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ I promise you that if You read the Book of Mormon is can help you with anything!  As I prayed again about the Book of Mormon taking Moroni's Promise:

Moroni 10:3-5

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if
it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember
how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the
creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these
things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye
would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these
things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with
real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it
unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

I instantly felt a warmth and peace come over me confirming that what I have just read is true! It wasn't anything huge but it is all I needed to re-confirm my answer. I already knew that the Book of Mormon was true but I wanted to ask again. And He answered me again. :) I know God hears our prayers! He does hear your prayer! I know if you are having a gloomy day you can pick up the scriptures and God will give you peace and even guidance. This is His church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I know it to be true! :)

Video:
A Book of Mormon Story:

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages/topics/book-of-mormon?v=1256696369001  

I watched this video earlier this week and it hit me. I love the scriptures he shares. One of the things he said "I just want to share this book with everyone" this is how I feel. The Book of Mormon is so powerful and it brings that joy we are all are aching for! It is up to all of us to read the words, ponder them, and ask God if they are true.

Sister Comstocks birthday decorations

We had the most amazing Lesson with Debbie with Bishop Sarver!!! We taught the Restoration and helped her understand the Priesthood.  We ended the Lesson with singing 'Joseph's First Prayer'  It was a Powerful lesson!! :D  I was so grateful for Bishop Sarver and his willingness to come with us!! He answered and taught things we could never of explained or taught.  Members being involved in Missionary work is KEY!!!

Saturday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER COMSTOCK!!! The Big 21!! :D  the night before she wasn't feeling the greatest so she went to bed early which was perfect because I had fun writing Happy B-Day on the wall with sticky notes and coloring on our bathroom mirror so she woke up to a fun surprise!

We watched Conference at the church and WOW it was so amazing!!! Sister Skeen picked us up and then we picked Debbie up.  For lunch we went to this place called Schoops and it was good but more money then I would pay.  BUT I loved the music...Might not be the best thing as a missionary but it was all 80's and this is how this place was just a cute little 80's place.  They played a few songs that I sang in Arise and it brought me back to thinking of how much I loved that Choir!! Wow so many great memories!! I wish I could be in it again :D

Out to eat for lunch on Saturday between conference sessions

We then went back to the church and watched Conference again! :D  We had MCM and dinner.  It was a day of meetings but really good. :)

Sunday!!

OH How I love Conference!! For lunch we stayed at the church and Sister Thomas brought yummy food and we all ate together with the Elders.  They have three kids Ashley 17 and Courtney 14.  They are great....I might of taught Courtney how to squirt grape juice at each other....it was fun!...but yeah...Ha! I can thank one of my buddies from back home for teaching me that one! Ha! Both the girls play soccer and even had soccer games Saturdaynight and it made me think if you guys did.  How is Soccer going?

So last night we went and visited the Yuen family and Sister Yuen was in the best mood! We enjoyed talking outside in her back yard chilling on her porch swing and can I SAY how Excited and THRILLED I am that it was 8pm and we talked outside for an hour and we did die from the Cold!! It was a nice night! a little chilly but so wonderful!! AHH SPRING IS IN THE AIR!! and I sure hope it stays!! It is really nice!!! :D

Alright So CONFERENCE!!

I learned a Lot, One of the things that I thought was interesting is I was reflecting back to the Book of Mormon and the Bible and how when Prophets came they called the people to Repentance and I was thinking to myself hmm...they don't really do that.  And then the first Session of Conference happened and I was like...Oh Yes they do!! and Boy was it awesome!!! 

 We are loved so much! and I am so glad we are able to receive direction from God in this crazy world!! :D

I think the biggest Message that I got for me is, You are loved, You can do anything with my (God's) help, you just need to trust in Me(Christ) and have Faith, and as I do my best He will Help and Bless me. 

I know the Lord loves us all!! He loves you!! and He wants all of Us to be happy and have the highest Joy!!!

I also loved the talk about how we just have four minutes, this life really is so short, so what are YOU going to do with it?

Thank you for all You do!!  I invite you to read from the Scriputres, re-read or watch the talks from conference, these things will guide you to happiness!!

Love,
Sister North :D