Sister Michelle Christine North: Going South for the Winter‏

Its official people… I am now in my second mission, The Santiago Chile South Mission. Who would have ever thought that Hermana North would fit in in the south? I remember when I was in elementary school, the running joke that everyone would ask me was, “Hey! Michelle North, are you flying south for the winter?” Now that joke is becoming a reality since it is winter here. (Super cold by the way, but at least the mountains look Beautiful). With the crazy amount of new missionaries coming out to serve missions, the church had to make 58 new missions and so they split the Santiago Chile West mission and added a little bit of the Rancagua Chile mission. With all of the splitting and cutting and changing, I ended up in the smallest mission in the world. Our new mission is like a little baby ant compared to the other missions. CRAZY! So with a new mission, also comes a new mission president! I am so excited about this because well, our new mission president is awesome. I have good feelings about him, which is really comforting since we kind of have to have lots of respect and trust in Him. President and Sister Cook are my new loves! We had a conference where we got to meet them and the sprit was felt so strong; it was one of those “get excited about the new changes and Do Work” kinds of meetings. It was a big shock to me when President Cook asked me to help translate Hermana Cook’s talk for her, but it was such a great experience. (I can’t take all of the credit though; The Elders in the front row helped me out a lot. Ha). This week we continued to celebrate and sing Birthday songs because on Tuesday was Hermana Birtcher’s Birthday. She is 20 now! One year older and wiser too.
Our sector has seen so much progress from this week. It is amazing how much it has changed in the past month. We have been working really hard with a lot of Faith (that is the key to this work) and slowly but surely we are starting to see the fruits of our labors. I have had the tendency to get impatient with our efforts, since sometimes I just want results now! But the Lord knew that I have a weakness in that area, so he sent me the most optimistic and best pep-talker companion. I feel so blessed to be with her.
Cecilia is one of the best investigators I know. She is so anxious to learn and she says the sweetest prayers. I love them! I wish that you could hear them. Lately she has been praying to receive a testimony of the Restoration and of Joseph Smith and she hasn’t received a sure answer yet, but she wants one. We talked to her about a greater power for prayer, which is the power of fasting. How when we pray with a specific purpose and then fast (not eating or drinking water for 2 consecutive meals) the Lord will bless us. It is an opportunity for us to give a sacrifice to the Lord so that He can teach us more perfectly, so that we can be more receptive to the inspiration and blessings that he wants to extend to us. We asked Cecilia if she would fast with us so that she could receive a sure testimony and she said YES! It actually wasn’t a big surprise to me because she has a lot of faith in the Lord, but it was just another way that Hermana Birtcher and I could see her desire to progress and learn.
We have had so many crazy experiences this past month, with my Hermanita and with our Zone. I don’t think I have laughed so hard before. It makes me happy to know that even though I am a missionary, I can still be ME too. I was nervous going into it because of all of the stereo type sister missionaries, but in reality, the only thing that should really change is our conversion to the Lord. We can still rock our cute clothes and laugh hard while serving the Lord. That is the key, the Lord calls us to serve in specific areas because he knows that our personality can touch the hearts of certain people. My love for my mission grows more and more everyday! And when times get hard or stressful, we just gotta find ways to laugh. Take care Loves! I am so happy here J
Con Mucho Amor,

Hermana North

Here is my new Address:

Sister Michelle Christine North
Mision Chile Santiago Sur

Casilla 544

San Bernado, Santiago

Chile

picture 1: I sang Happy Birthday to her in my opera voice. She thought it was Funny! Love this missionary :)