New Assignment

Dear Parents of a Great Missionary,

I am emailing you a copy of the letter I sent to your son as he accepted the assignment to serve as a District Leader.

I’m sure you are thrilled with the work that your son is doing here in the Georgia Atlanta Mission and the great man he is becoming.  His dedicated service and leadership have been an example to all of us. 

Thank you so much for your support.

Warmest Wishes,

David A. Foote

Mission President

Dear Elder Northrup,

It is a pleasure for me to extend an assignment to you as a District Leader in the Fayetteville District of the Fayetteville South Zone. You will commence your role as District Leader on May 23, 2018. Your companion will be Elder Chizedek Larry Guy Rankin and your proselyting area will be Fayetteville 3.

   

You will have the responsibility to teach and train those in your district each week as you lead the District Meeting in such a way that will move the entire mission forward.  This is the place that the greatest teaching and changes take place in the lives of missionaries.

This assignment will be a great blessing in your life as you take the opportunity to love, lift and encourage all of the missionaries, members and investigators that you will be working with.

I invite you to study and pray about the section in the Mission Handbook titled “Missionary Leadership” and to become very familiar with the inspired direction on how you can be a servant leader in your district in a way that will bring all closer to Christ.  Please make all that you do in this assignment a matter of prayer and strive to recognize and follow the spirit in love and compassion.

You will be expected to work diligently in your own proselyting area in addition to your duties as a district leader.  You will go on exchanges, at least every transfer, with all of the male companionships in your district.

It is a pleasure for me to be serving alongside you in this great work of Salvation. May God bless you in your service with peace and happiness in serving Him, as you are serving your fellow disciples.  

With love,

President Foote

Georgia Atlanta Mission

"IN MEMORY"

We had Memorial Day on Monday and Interviews with President Foote on Tuesday so that is why Pday is on Wednesday this week...

Monday last week we got to meet the new AP before everyone else! His name is Elder Jones and he is a pretty good guy! The rest of the day we just did some cleaning, not much fun stuff!!

Tuesday we had the last District meeting with Elder's Elsholz, Frandsen, and Lopez!! It was a really fun time with all of those guys!! 

Just a side note, in district meeting someone said Captain America and I completely forgot who that was. I thought they were talking about Captain Moroni, but it took me a good 30 seconds before I remembered!! Geez, the mission veil is so real!! HAHA

Wednesday we had transfers! Elder Frandsen went to Atlanta, which is actually right where he wanted to be. Elder Elsholz went to Conyers with his Son (greenie) so that was cool!! My new comp is Elder Rankin!! It's been a good time!! That Wednesday was the 23rd, so exactly 9 months earlier I had entered the MTC!! Crazy how fast time flies!!

On Friday we went to go check up with an Investigator and we had a 40 min lesson with him instead. His name is Doug and he is super sincere about changing his life. Prayers for him and Jason would be much appreciated!! Also please keep Mercedes and her family in your prayers!!

On Friday and Saturday we had dinner with the Same family and it was awesome!! They are the kinda redneck Mormons that are super funny and savage to each other!!

It's official!! On Saturday I was 190lbs, I have gained 30lbs since I left home!! HAHA I knew I would get fat!!

Sunday was super awesome!! I couldn't keep my eyes open for most of the meetings but from what I heard it was good!! This is a kinda cool little miracle that happened this week!! I got a call from our ZL's telling me about the DL training that I would be doing the following Tuesday and the topic was "The Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how it applies to us. Do you truly believe it works for you?" I was studying for a full two days trying to figure out how to train on it, and nothing was coming. I felt like I wasn't receiving any answers! Saturday night I was saying my personal prayers, asking God to let me know how to train on the topic where it would be impactful to the missionaries and the thought came to my head to wait until tomorrow in Sacrament meeting. I totally forgot about that prompting until the following morning when Bro. Stanton, the last speaker in the meeting got up and spoke on the exact same topic that I would be training on in a couple days! I talked to him after the meeting and told him about my prayer and all, and he said funny thing was that is was on a topic of his choice!! Just goes to show that there are no coincidences, God is truly in every detail!!

Monday was memorial day so we went tabling at a parade going on in Senoia with a bunch of other Elders and Sisters!! It was a great experience to get out and to show people what we are all about!! There was a guy named Michael Scott that played the bagpipes in the event, so me and Elder Chiu went and talked to him about it!! We talked about bagpipes for a solid hour, the guy is a stud!!

That night we had dinner with Bishop Waldorf and his family!! They are the best family that I have been around on the mission so far!! They are the epitome of ministering!! 

Tuesday (yesterday), we had our last interviews with Pres. and Sister Foote (AKA the Feet), and it was super sad and hard!! I actually began to tear up just knowing that they were going to be leaving real soon!! They have been great mission parents, I have been so fortunate just to know them for a short time!! 

For a little spiritual message!! We have all heard the scripture Ether 12:27 that talks about weak things becoming strengths through humility and faith! But that scripture means more to me now because I know just how weak I really am, and hopefully one day those weaknesses will become strengths!!

And then on top of that since it was just memorial day I need to share Alma 46:12

12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it_In memory of our God, our religion, and our freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children_and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

Love yall!!!

Elder Northrup

Thresh the Nations

My first chicken and waffles

I forgot my journal at the Apt so I can't remember most of what happened this week!! Nonetheless, I will do my best!!

Last Pday we had another Lesson with Jason!! We mostly just answered his questions and tried to Fellowship him a little bit!! His wife actually sat in the lesson and wants to start coming to Church. They ended up not coming to Church this last Sunday because of a Birthday or something so hopefully they will come this next week!!

Tuesday we had a cool and funny experience following up with an old potential!! We got the mans house looking for a guy named Coach Doug!! We instead found his son and a next-door neighbor drinking a couple beers and smoking. The neighbor was drunk as a..........drunk person who drank lots of alcohol!! The guys son was actually super conscience of everything going on so we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said give me a week to read it! So we will be going back tomorrow. As for the mans neighbor, we persuaded him to let us take his smokes so that he could quit so that was a first!!

Thursday we made steaks for dinner! Yep, that's all I need to say about that!!

On Sunday we had Seminary Sunday for the Sacrament Meeting!! The Mayor and some of the Teachers from the kids high schools were present and it was a great experience to help them see that we are not a cult!! So yippe!! 

Spiritual Thought!

D&C 35:13 Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my Spirit;

It comforts me to know that even though I am one of the Lords servants, that doesn't mean I have to be perfect. I must always strive for perfection, just like all of us, but we are called by him! One who is All Powerful and All Knowing, called me...someone that has a lot of work to do!!

Love y'all

Elder Northrup

Old 1983 Star Wars cards that I bought for uno dollar

Us all last night watching the restoration on the projector since we live with the AP's

"Walk in the Light of your Fire"

This week was HOT HOT HOT!!! I felt like I would evaporate into thin air so many times!! But I guess it builds character right??

PDAY was pretty awesome!! We went over to Jason's house early to prepare for the lesson that we were going to have, while we were doing so we saw a family outside playing some ball. We went over and talked to them, gave the fam a Book of Mormon and invited them to church. Hopefully we will be able to meet with them soon!!

Jason's lesson was awesome!! We didn't have Bro. Pugmire over to translate into chinese this time, but the spirit was still there in Abundance!! We asked him to continue reading the Book of Mormon and we read a chapter while we were there. His english has improved significantly and he is reading a lot faster!! So that has been a miracle. Also, later in the week we called him to see how he was doing and he said that he was having a new feeling come over him as he read the Book of Mormon. He wants to read it now more than ever!! So that has been pretty incredible!! Please keep him (Jason) in your prayers!!

Tuesday we were following up with some potentials in the night time and we came across a younger lady named Beth. Neither of us had ever met her before but when we first met her she told us she was a proud Atheist. So you can imagine the next hour and a half were pretty interesting. She was bagging on the church and was sharing all sorts of blasphemy. This was actually a cool experience because at the beginning of my mission I probably would've reacted to what she was saying but I feel like the spirit constrained my words and it was all the much better because of it!!

Wednesday was a pretty awesome day!! There was no enormous miracle that happened, but I think the small things made the biggest difference. That night President and Sister Foote gave me a call to wish a very Happy Birthday!! Did I already mention a million times how much I love those guys?!? They are the best!!

Friday was very interesting. We finally had some service we were able to render at an event called Relay for Life. It was basically a fundraiser for those that are going through cancer or have gone through cancer. It was pretty awesome!! After that we went to the Dentist's office to finish the surgery on Elder Frandsen's Root Canal. That took all day so that was that!!

On Saturday I was drenched with sweat all day long!! I think I have sweat more in Georgiain an hour than any day in Utah combined!! Its been pretty awesome!!

We went tracting for a lot of the day and found a really cool lady named Mercedes! Turns out that she has read the Book of Mormon already and knows it is true. She wants to come to church next are Sunday with her 4 little kids!! There are quite a lot of challenges that she is facing right now so please pray for her and her family!!

Sunday, Mothers Day!! YEEET!! Seeing the fam especially mom on skype was such a fun time!! I am so grateful for families, this church and gospel and technology that makes the distance feel smaller!!

For a little spiritual thought on Mothers I always refer back to the Stripling Warriors!! I don't know the exact scripture reference so I will just try to quote it, "they did not doubt that their mothers knew it." I have seen that in my own life and I am so grateful that my mother raised me in the Gospel and bore testimony to me many times of her beliefs!

Love y'all

Elder Northrup

p.s. I just wanted a title from the scriptures that had to do with heat since it was super duper hot!! Also it sounds pretty cool!

Helmet Hair

The clan (Elders Henderson, Lopez, myself and Frandsen)

It's the Birthday Boy... 19 Years Old!!!

Mama Loves her Birthday Missionary!

Elder Northrup's birthday meal of choice as long as I can remember! Broccoli Chicken (or Chicken Divan)

When Karter was transferred to Fayetteville, Sister Lester took a picture that very day and sent it to me. It was the first texted picture I received since he got to Georgia. Since then, I usually get at least one picture every Sunday. Anyway, I texted her to see if she knew who would be feeding him on his birthday because I wanted to send them a recipe to fix for his birthday. She told me she would be feeding him on the 6th and asked if she could make it and surprise him... I was so excited to be able to send it to her and have her do this for him.

Her text to me after his dinner said, "Before I could even tell him what I made, he saw the casserole dish ad gasped! He was so excited. I wish I could have done a video. He kept saying, "oh my gosh! No Way!" over and over. He had no clue!

How fun to be able to have someone help me surprise him. Technology is sweet!

"ENTER THOU INTO THE JOY OF THY LORD"

Drawn by a Sister in the Mission

Pday we had a lesson at night with Jason again!! We read 1 Nephi 2 in English and Chinese! He definitely enjoyed it! We found out this past week that Bro Pugmire (the one that speaks Chinese) had been inviting Jason to activities and all that jazz, and Jason has been coming!! It is way cool to see our investigators becoming the Wards investigators instead!! After all that is the way it should be!!

On Tuesday we had an appointment with a guy named Daquan that me and Elder Cranney found while street contacting!! We have been trying to schedule an appointment for a very long time, so it was pretty awesome to finally sit down and talk! We got to know him for a bit before and found out that he has a lot of interest in the Gifts of the spirit! We taught him the Restoration and he was super excited to start reading the Book of Mormon!! Please Pray for him!

We went over to Natasha and Gregory's house to check up on them!! They were really excited to see us and they wanted to start having lessons again!! I am grateful that the Lord put them in a little Spiritual Fast!!

Thursday we had interviews with President and Sister Foote! It was probably the best one yet!! They just have so much love for the missionaries, they really are examples when it comes to ministering in the Saviors way!! I am going to miss them so much!!

That night we taught Bible Study on Acts 16-20 and there were actually quite a few people there, one non-member as well!! The spirit filled the room and we had a great time!

Friday, or should I say May the Fourth be with you!! STAR WARS DAY!!! The best part of the day was when one of our investigators gave us a kinda lifesize action figure of a stormtrooper!!! Coincidence??? I think not!! 

On Saturday when we were coming back to the Apartment we saw Daquan walking home!! We decided to walk with him and we soon found out that he lives in our Apartment complex!!!!! We were all so stoked!! Coincidence??? I think not!!!

Sunday was so awesome!! Pres. and Sister Foote came to our ward today!! It was great to see the members just light up as they would share and comment in classes!! While we were in Elders Quorum, every comment after President Foote's initial comment was "I loved what Pres. Foote had to say about ___". It was pretty fun to see!!

After church we saw an event going on at the town square so we decided to do some finding over there!! We got a few phone numbers so that was awesome!! When we were biking back for dinner we saw a guy walking on the sidewalk so we went and talked to him!! His name is Dante and right as we began talking he told us everything that he was going through!! He actually started to tear up as we was telling us about these trials!! He said that he really wanted to start meeting with us, I am so glad we decided to talk with him!! #ATAP (anytime, anyplace)

Overall this has been a tiring and fulfilling week!! There were many times that I just wanted to sit down and rest, but I tried to always remember the scripture... 

MATTHEW 25:21

21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

I know that there will be a time for me and all of us to rest in the presence of our Master, but it is not that time yet! We must 'Work until all know' and when the Lord comes he will have no problem recognizing us! All of our colors will be clear!!

Love y'all!!

Elder Northrup