Sister Michelle Christine North: Resurrected

So bitter sweet news for the week. We got killed...well not literally, obviously, but our querido Pedro and Natalia decided that they are going to start going to the Evangelical church that they live next door to; for the sake of convenience no mas. Ah! It broke our hearts to hear those words come out of Natalia’s mouth. We really loved them and seeing their progress, their need and desire to follow Christ, made it harder to just let them say goodbye to us. But they have their agency and sometimes we just have to be patient- a lesson that I have learned a million times with a handful of my loves. I did say there was sweet news, though. And this is the kind of sweet that has an extra cherry on top! So in the same day that we had to say goodbye to Natalia and Pedro, we ran into a super cute dog in the street, (the perfect conversation starter by the way) whose owner was watering their front lawn. We started talking with the daughter, Gisella (20 años), and then her mom came out, Valeska, and then the brother, Juan (16 años), and little by little we started talking about the church with them. They told us that they have relatives that are members of the church and that they have been wanting to learn more! They invited us in and we got to meet the rest of the family- the dad, Juan, and the younger brother, Brayan (13 años). My favorite part of that whole night was when Brayan asked us if he had to be baptized to be a missionary too. We told him “Yes” and her told us that he wants to be baptized so that he can serve a mission! This week we were able to teach them more and invite them to gain a testimony of the Restoration. So like I said, it was very sweet. Hermana Reyes and I feel so blessed to be teaching them and seeing their excitement to learn and progress is inspiring. There will be a lot more story telling about them in the weeks to come for sure.

Now for the news that you guys have been waiting for....President Holland’s visit to our mission was such a HUGE blessing in so many ways. First off, he is HILARIOUS! I love how Real of people apostles are...they have to be reverent in General Conference, of course, but it was a treat to be able to see his real personality come out in the mission conference. Both him and his wife got some laughs out of us, all 900 of us missionaries. President Holland shared something that really stuck with me and that was this: We need to master the Book of Mormon.As in Embrace, Adopt and Love the Book with all of the blessing that it brings into our lives. He brought to attention a promise in the Book of Mormon, that many of us have read maybe without even realizing, found in 1 Nephi 1: 11-12. It talks about the vision that Lehi had when he received the Book of Mormon. It says that when he read it that he was “filled with the Spirit.” This is something that we ALL can have in our lives when we read the Book of Mormon. How important it is in our lives, right? When we have the spirit in out lives we can make better decisions, be happier through trials and understand difficult things. It is essential in our conversion too. And if we just read the Book of Mormon, we can have the blessing of the Spirit...but not just have it, have it “poured upon us;” be drenched in the spirit of the Lord. So read the book! And Love it.

I hope that you guys are enjoying the sweet spirit that this time of year brings into our lives! Since they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here, they are already celebrating Christmas with all of the decorations, music and all! I am so excited.

Xoxoxo, Hermana North

picture 1: My Fuentes! Happiest reunion of my life! Missed my mama very much (she goes home TODAY!)