Giant Spiders, Mini Fridges and a Senile Old Man!!!

This week has been full of crazy awesome things, and crazy crazy!! We'll start with the awesome!!

 

On Tuesday we went tracting down a street of apartments. We weren't getting much of any success until we got to an Alabama fan's door! I thought this is probably going to be interesting considering Georgian's flippin hate Alabama in the Fall! We knocked and a younger man answered the door and asked if we were there for religion. We said yes, we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He asked isn't that another name for Mormon? We obviously said yes, that is was a nickname and instantly he got super excited. He went on to tell us that he had recently moved there from Pennsylvania where he was meeting with some other missionaries. We talked with him for a few minutes and made a return appointment. Right before we were about to leave he said that he couldn't wait to be baptized!!! Holy Crap! Even me, a greeny would know that that does not happen very often. In fact, I think Elder Lusko said it was his first time that that has happened!! Long story short, we have met with him twice going over the Plan of Salvation and the restoration! He is so solid. But there is also a glitch in the system. He is actually on parole until 2020 so we are trying to figure out if he could still be baptized or if he would have to wait for a few years. 

Just a little side note to that. Elder Lusko screwed up our dinner appointments for that night and accidentally scheduled two for the same day. One of them was actually a less active member. I think she was really confused about how she was put on the list of feeding missionaries when she hasn't been to church for a while. It was really funny tho!!

The poverty here is really weird. There is the really high class neighborhoods, then there is the scrap dirt poor ones. We went to go visit a member who lived in a trailer park the other night. I couldn't feel much but sadness for these people. I never knew there was so much poverty in the US. Seeing all of it just made me grateful for the house and the gospel that I grew up in. But at the same time, these people were in such poor conditions that they were actually willing to speak with us! I could feel the love that God has for each one of them. 

On Wednesday we had our first zone conference. It was way cool! The main theme of the day was how to become more consecrated missionaries! Funny thing is, the previous week, that was the only thing I was praying to God about....pretty much! I kept asking him to make me more consecrated, and I think that zone conference helped!

Thursday was a day of Shelob (Spider from Lord of the Rings). Every single house we knocked on had a stupid yellow/red spider chillin on the wall or above the door frame. It was so flippin annoying!!!! We were tracting and finding for the whole day and I can definitely say that I was exhausted at the end. I have never loved my bed so much! But there was also such a fullness of Joy knowing that you devoted the whole day/the next two years to the Lord! It is so cool! Also, the same day we found a mini fridge on the side of the road, so we fixed it up and took it back to the apartment. It actually works really well!! People just leave stuff in front of their yard for anyone to take. It is so awesome!!! 

 

The next few days was full of service, tracting, and sweating on bikes. I have never felt so wet and yucky in my entire life. But it is such a relaxing feeling taking the sticky white shirt and nasty slacks off at the end of the day. It is definitely worth it!! Oh ya, I forgot to talk about the Lopez family last time. We have been teaching their two kids Elijah and Tausai. The mom is a member but the dad is just a non-believer. The family is so awesome! I love them to death! The dad Ron Lopez has a sister named Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopez that was a singer in 'TLC' until she died in a terrible car crash in Honduras. I'm sure some of you know 'TLC' but I had no idea who they were. 

On Saturday we were tracting and we found a dog that would just not leave us alone. It kept following us everywhere! We made a vid of me trying to give the dog a Book of Mormon and it is the funniest thing! I'll put it in another email!

While we were tracting down that road we knocked on a Hispanic families door. A man opened the door and invited us in. We gave him a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment. It is amazing to see how ready and willing the Hispanic families are. I love them so much!!!

I love the people here in Georgia! There are a lot of people that disrespect us and try to throw us under the bus. But there are also a few that have broken the barrier and thanked us for being willing to serve the Lord. It is weird to have that mix. One of the days this week we went to go visit a potential investigators house. Her three grand-daughters were outside and they are the cutest things on the planet. One of them is a black girl that looks exactly like Gretchen. She acts exactly like Gretchen. And she also does gymnastics. It is so funny!! When we pulled up and got out of the car, all of them started screaming "YAAAY the missionaries are here!!! WHoohoo!!" It made me so happy!!

Being a missionary is so hard but so fun! I love it here and I love working hard. I implore all of you that have not served YET to serve a mission. I can already see the blessings in my life and I have only been out a month. I love the Lord, my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. And I am so grateful to be able to share this message about him everyday for the next two years!! 

Love y'all!!

Elder Northrup

BOXING GLOVE HANDS IN JOE_JA

Well, I'm here!! It is VERY different than Utah! I would venture to say it is a foreign mission cuz I can barely understand people, there are tree's literally everywhere so its almost impossible to know your way around (unless you have the southern 6th sense), and there are some really wack people down here!! But they are quite hilarious. 

For the day of departure we woke up at 2:30 got done packing, clean our room, shower, etc. We then reported to the departure station at 3:50. Got on a bus that took us to front runner. From front runner we went to trax. From trax to the Airport.

The airplane ride was awesome! It was the most stable ride I have ever had and it was during the hurricane too. When we got off the airplane, we went straight to the temple and did baptisms which was awesome! It is a really pretty temple! Then we went back to the mission home, ate dinner then went to bed. 

The next day we met our trainers. My comps name is Elder Lusko and he is basically an exact replica of me that lives in southern utah who looks like 

Sid the sloth from ice age. It's so GREAT!!! 

We went straight to work, knocking doors and doing service from the hurricane. I love being a missionary!!! It is so much fun!! 

This is so great! On one such occasion when we were riding bikes/knocking doors we came across a very 'colorful' home. And I'm not being literal. When we approached an old man came out jibber jabbing! I couldn't understand a thing he was saying. We got off our bikes and went over to talk to him. We quickly found out that he was a hardcore racist with a very 'colorful' vocabulary. He just kept yelling something about how African American's shouldn't be allowed in the country. I can't quite remember. I just remember thinking this guys got some serious issues. He was ridiculous. But I can't say that I am surprised that happened. 

The next few days were just full of proselyting and trying to find new investigators. It is so weird to be a missionary. I just think back to when I was a teeny kid looking up at all the missionaries and wishing I was one of them. And now I am. It's weird. But I am used to be called Elder Northrup now. It's pretty sick nasty!!

On Friday we went to an Investigators house to do some service after the hurricane blew a ton of their tree's over. We helped them repair their fences and chainsaw the fallen tree's. Now! This is actually hilarious!! (I'll try to make the most sense of this that I can) When we got done cutting the tree's we chucked them into the forest out of the way. But before we could do that some Elders on the other side of the fence had to chuck the wood over a fence so we could throw them into the forest. One of the logs that was chucked over the fence that I picked up just so happened to have a hornets nest inside....you can guess what happened next. The next few days I had swollen red boxing glove hands, hence the title. T'was pretty painful! But don't worry, they shrunk quite a bit!! I'm still laughing about it!! 1 week in and I already have a pretty dang good story!! Also this guys house was flippin weird man!! He had two giant spider pets that just roamed around his yard. One of them went missing after the hurricane, and one was just chillin on the side of his house like nobody's business. Now, if you know me, you know that I am super duper scared of spiders. They are so freaky. So when he said that one of them went missing in his forest, I really didn't want to do service anymore. I mean, just imagine a giant spider crawlin up your back when you reach down to grab another piece of wood or something. I unfortunately don't have a picture of them, but we are going back soon so maybe I can snap one. The one that was on the side of the house was as big as my hand, and the other one that got lost was apparently twice the size. Both my comp and another Elder said it was the biggest spider they had ever seen!!! AHHHHH! GOSH NASTINESS!!!!!!

It seems like the biggest thing that people have emailed me about is "have you gotten fat yet." I have been controlling myself. I could definitely eat more than what I am given, especially since we get fed my members constantly, but I always remember to cut down a bit! We also do some pretty narly work outs every morning. So I may gain some weight while I'm here, but I think most of it is going to be muscle. 

Sunday was a fun time. We were expecting 13+ investigators to show up but none of them did, so we will be visiting them real soon. 

Being out here on a mission has already been hard, but it is all worth it when I bring others unto Christ! On Thursday we were knocking doors in a place called forrest bend, where we were hoping to find at least 1 more investigator. We found a nice lady named Deloris Arthur. She has been looking for a church to join and we will be teaching her this coming Wednesday. Her mom is actually a Jehova's Witness so will see how it goes!!! 

Anyway, I know that was a lot of stuff randomly jam packed into one email but it has been a crazy week!! Love y'all a good luck!!!!!

Elder Northrup

P.S. (From Mom... I asked him about his stings and this is what he said...) "Ya, I got 3 on one hand, 1 on the other arm that eventually spreaded to my hand, and one on my ear. It was hilarious but it also killed!!"

Elder Skinner (one of the other missionaries living in our apartment)

Letter from President and Sister Foote

Dear Brother and Sister Northrup,

It was a pleasure to greet your son at the Atlanta airport and welcome him to the Georgia Atlanta Mission as a full time missionary. He looks great! He is in for a wonderful adventure as he experiences the miracle of seeing lives transformed by the truths of the gospel. He will love the warm, faith filled people of Georgia. This experience will bless his life on so many different levels. There is nothing better Elder Northrup could be doing with his life right now.

He has been assigned his first companion, Elder Lusko, who will be a wonderful trainer. His first area will be in Carterville.

We promise to watch over him in love and do all in our power to help him be a happy, successful and safe missionary and to find joy in his service here in the Georgia Atlanta Mission.

This is an exciting time for your whole family. You will share in the joys and challenges of mission life through his weekly emails home to you. Please write Elder Northrup an uplifting, encouraging weekly email that will help build his faith. This is so important for a missionary!

You are invited to watch our Facebook page, Georgia Atlanta Mission, President and Sister Foote.  We post pictures of events from time to time and you may see Elder Northrup at some of these events.

Please encourage your missionary be obedient to the rules in the missionary handbook. Help him be obedient. 

They are supposed to avoid all forms of worldly entertainment. Please don't email or send in packages any form of worldly entertainment. The Missionary Handbook is available in the Missionary section of the Gospel Library online through lds.org.  You must sign in to your account for access.

We have attached a photo taken with your son on his first day in the Georgia Atlanta Mission.

With great love and appreciation for sending us your wonderful son,

President and Sister Foote

Georgia Atlanta Mission

I'm HERE!!!

Hey just a quick email to let y'all know that I have arrived here in beautiful Georgia!! I already love it here!! I have my 'p' day on Mondays now so watch out for those! 

love

Elder Northrup

p.s. sorry dad, my phone card ran out of funds so I couldn't call you back but I love both of you soooo much!

"Gone Like a Freight Train"

This week has been a good last week here at the MTC...

Last Tuesday we were able to hear from Elder Dallin H. Oaks!!! I was so happy to hear from an Apostle before leaving! One thing that he said that was really simple but also very powerful was, "Without the Resurrection, we wouldn't have a fullness of Joy." Knowing that in the next life we will all be able to have perfected bodies in Christ is so incredible to me!! 

On Wednesday, me and my district were able to host for the incoming missionaries. It was pretty awesome!! I actually got to host for one of my friends Caleb Warner. We also got a new teacher for the night lesson, his name is Brother Leszynsky. He's from Argentina and he is hilarious. My district keeps talking crap about him cuz he has a qwerky personality, but I respect him so much for that!

Coming up on the last few days here has been rough. My district isn't taking anything seriously when it comes to studying or improving as missionaries so its really hard for anyone else to improve. I constantly tell them that when it's study time, it's time to study, but when its chill time do whatever the flip you want. It aint really workin out! I've been trying to always think about what Mitch and Tal told Grayson before he left. That "YOU need to decide the type of missionary YOU want to be." That has definitely helped me out a ton! I also got to see Elder Thayne right before he left which was quite good!! I love that guy!

Okay. Before I say anything about Thursday, let me just say that my MTC experience has been fantastic and I've loved every moment of it! Except Thursday! At the end of your stay at the MTC you go through what is called "In Field Orientation" which is short for "sit in a room for 9 hours while people talk to you about the importance of baptisms." What bugged me most about it was that they could've covered the most important parts of it (role playing) in an hour instead of 9. What was even worse was we had a lesson for our TRC that we didn't have time to prepare for because it took up the whole day! Hooo! But, its over and done now and thank flippin goodness for that!!! 

On Friday I got a letter from my ol' mommy telling me that there was a hurricane coming for Atlanta. I think it is so weird being on a mission and the only communication with the world is your parents. Anyway, I am actually so excited to be doing service for those people if it does stay on its course. 

Sunday was like a normal Sunday. We taught lessons, went to meetings and listened to devotionals. My favorite one was a video from Elder Holland speaking to the missionaries here at the MTC! It was awesome!!! 

Heading out for Georgia at 3:50AM. tomorrow so WOOOHOOO!!! I'm so excited!!! Love y'all!

Elder Northrup

Goodbye P'day clothes

A Fullness of Joy

 Moses Mural

This week has basically been the best week EVER!!! I'll start off at the beginning!

On Wednesday (After 'P' Day) last week me and Elder Storey were planning a lesson for our investigator Jose Mesa-Leon and we decided to spend the time talking about the Plan of Salvation. The Monday before was the first day that we met him so we pretty much just spent the whole time talking and getting to know him. When we got to the appointment, everything was going really well and according to plan until we got to Christ's Atonement. Jose let us know everything he was going through. He really wanted to know if through Jesus Christ's Atonement he could be healed. So the rest of the lesson was planted into the Atonement. He had that sincere desire to change and he wanted to feel of Christ's Grace more than anything. I was able to share my own experience with the Atonement and I feel like we really connected in that way. We invited him to pray to God for forgiveness, and to also feel of His love for him. The spirit was sooooo powerful in that lesson. As soon as we finished and walked out the door I burst into tears. I realized how important this work was, and I was able to feel of the joy of bringing others unto Christ! 

The next time we were able to meet with him was that Friday. We were all really excited to be there. I've never felt so much joy before. I love teaching now! We went in and taught the rest of the Plan of Happiness, then we moved into The Restoration. Through the restoration we were able to talk about how the Priesthood was restored, and because of that we are able  to talk about how we can all be baptized how Jesus Christ was. And how it is our first Covenant with God. How we take upon his name. And how we can wash away our past sins. It just felt right to commit him to baptism....so we did. He said YES!!! That made me so dang happy!! I was flippin flippin out (While controlling myself of course). We set the date for Sept. 30 and asked him if he would prepare himself to be baptized. Afterwards we asked him to say the closing prayer. It was the most loving and sincere prayer I have ever heard/felt. In his prayer he thanked God for us, for the message we brought; he literally called us 'Angels'. At that point my tears couldn't hold any longer and they burst forth. Pure Happiness. A fullness of Joy for sure. I love that guy!

Me, Jose Mesa-Leon (We committed him to be baptized on the 30th) and Elder Storey

We were able to meet with him one more time. We were trying to figure out what to teach him, and we decided to end on the Book of Mormon. Previously we gave him one to read, and he did. So going into this lesson we were just making sure everything was clear in it. This is actually pretty funny! These lessons are supposed to run for about 25 min. and every time we went over by at least 20. This time we went for almost 2 HOURS. Jose just wanted to learn more and more about it. Afterwards we were able to get a picture and his email to check up on how his baptism went. Woohoo!! I am so dang happy its weird and awesome and I love it!!!!

Now....y'all were probably wondering why I had a big spot in the middle of my forehead in one of the pictures, so here it goes. Me and Elder Storey went to T4 for a study session cuz we had some downtime. For the first hour Elder Storey was dosing off and on while I studied. Then when he woke up I decided that I needed a bit of a rest. So I stacked my investigator pamphlets on top of each other so that it could be squishy. About 20 min later I woke up to a surprised look on my comps face. I guess the ink melted and printed on my face. It took Flippin foreeeever to get off! But it was worth it, do it for the mish! 

Sunday was our first fast Sunday! It was pretty long, just like any other Sunday, here! We taught in Priesthood about the Creation, the Fall, and Agency. The Branch Pres. sat in on the meeting soooo Presssuuure! It went really well! Monday was our last lesson with the awesome Brother Bues and it was sad to see him leave. 

Anyway, we have a devotional today so hopefully its a General Authority!!

Sorry for the long email! Love all y'all!!!

Elder Northrup

Elder Porter

Flight plans and pick up information from President Foote!  It came from the info desk which came from my mission president. So I think what happened was they were telling them my name over the phone and didn't exactly hear correctly...

One of my best Elder Friends left last week...
Elder Christianson!!!