Opposition Week :) YEET!

It's been a real good real interesting week to say the least. We had a lot of unexpected good/bad things happen! But hey, that's all part of the plan!! :)

Last Monday we were playing Ping Pong with someone that we were teaching when we got a call from Gerald saying that his Grandmother just got rushed to the Hospital and that he wouldn't be able to attend FHE! We ended up heading down there as well with the Senior Couple the Sorenson's. They had some family there that we were able to Fellowship, then we eventually were able to go into the room and give Ida (Gerald's Grandmother) a blessing. She felt it was pretty strange at first, but when we took our hands off of her head she just had the biggest smile!! Gerald was so happy that we came down to support him and the family. 

On Tuesday we we were up in Cedartown for an exchange. It went pretty well but it was also pretty slow. The place is super ghetto, there a ton of Hillbillies and just people that scare me in General. Basically, if you want to be one of the few not nice people in Georgia, move to Cedartown, you'll fit right in. I think that is the nicest way to say it!

For example, Elder Aagard and I went store contacting in a Walmart nearby and everybody was just angry and mean. It was so odd!! When we were walking out we started talking to the greeter who's name is Ridge. He asked about the Book of Mormon that we had. While we were explaining what it was a lady came from behind us and yelled at us saying, "yall are a cult, I know Mormons, I know that isn't a true Bible, I know you worship Joseph Smith, yall don't believe in Jesus, Blah dee blah de blah." Then she stormed off as if we did something to offend her. When we tried to get back in to a conversation with Ridge but he kinda waved us on. We walked out cart back to the front with sad faces thinking that this lady just ruined someone else's opportunity to hear the Gospel. But then he called us back and told us that a true Christian wouldn't treat someone else the same way she did to us. So it actually had the opposite effect and he said he would read the Book of Mormon, so there's some potential there!!

The next day (Wednesday) we had Cedartown come down to Blitz our Area! I was with Elder Kohler this time and we had a good time fending off wannabe Bible Bashers on Campus, that was a pretty fun time!!

Thursday was............different. After Lunch we went up to Campus to make a ton of calls to peeps around the zone when we ran into Jeremy, a guy that we were previously teaching. He said that he just had some chill time so we went and sat down to Read Alma 18. We were about halfway through the chapter when a guy walks up to greet Jeremy and instantly the spirit just left! He shook our hands and said that he wanted to listen in on what we were talking about. Luckily, Jeremy had to get to class so he left before things started to get messy! Right as he left he started to ask bashy questions about what we believed, hinting out that he knew everything we believed already. I won't go into too many details, but this guy just had pure anger and hatred in his face the whole time we were talking to him! I don't think I have ever been more bold with anyone in my life, we told it to him how it was and it was awesome!! Eventually this dudes friend walked up and sat down next to him, but luckily he wasn't wanting to bash with us. At the end of the conversation he was just throwing down on us for believing what we did, so we did the same to him (not on his beliefs) but instead for being a jerk head. We told him that we respect what everyone else believes, and we respect when someone disagrees with us, but we don't respect when someone openly attacks us for sharing what we find to be true. The basher didn't really have a response to that, but his friend just agreed with us and it was the end of that! 

We haven't had a whole lot of opposition this transfer up until this point, so it's no surprise that Satan is trying to push us down and the people that we are working with. We were just waiting for it to happen!

I wont go into too much more for this week because this is already a long email. So basically just know that their has been a lot of opposition this week but its been all good because that is how things are supposed to be. Satan is trying his best to discourage us, but it is having the opposite effect because I know this is supposed to happen to help us grow. It strengthens my testimony knowing that because we stand for the truth and we are doing our best to help in the Lords work, Satan is trying to tear us down as well as the people we care about!!

On the bright side of things, the Sisters had a Baptism this last Saturday for Slynda Johnson. Gerald got pushed back a few weeks because we realized that there is a lot of stuff we still need to help him KNOW. He was fine with pushing the date back, so looks like Oct. 13 will be the new date for him. 

On Friday the Sisters told me that Slynda had a vision of who she wanted to Baptize her, and it was me. I thought it was super weird because I had only talked to her a few times, but she said that she kept seeing me in dreams and stuff so I guess she took that for her answer. I was honored to be able to perform the baptism! It was a special experience for her indeed!!

Sunday was great, the whole 6 hours!! I gave a talk in the YSA Branch about ETTE, it went really well! 

Anywho, that was the week. Moral of the story, Never Let Satan drag you down (that includes bashers). Love yall and have a great week!! :)

Baptism of Slynda Johnson: YEET!

"His Arm is Stretched Forth all the 'TRANSFER' Long"

 The Lord is blessing us tremendously!! It is interesting how the Lord works. As ZL's, we spend so much time focusing on other missionaries needs, that logically we wouldn't be having this much success. We are out of our Area 3 days a week, and most of the time when we are in the area, we are planning and preparing. But I feel as though because we are trying to focus on helping missionaries find success, we are finding success as well! With the short amount of time we get to find, we somehow find many to teach. I know that is a direct blessing from the Lord!! :)

Last Pday was a good time! We went up to Douglasville to have an Elders Pday with the other peeps in the Zone! I didn't get to play many sports myself because I kinda sorta injured my knee playing Ultimate Frisbee on Campus with some UWG Students a few nights before. {TO MOM:} I don't know if my mission nurse had told you this earlier, but I guess better later than never!! :) But it was a good time seeing all the Elders again having a good time!!

After Pday we had a lesson with John Kelley and we actually invited Gerald as our Teamup! It was super cool because whatever concern John would bring up, Gerald would testify that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and through his Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), he would be empowered through his trials. He (Gerald) even said, "I'm not afraid of telling people that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!!" I was all like, "WHAAAT THE GARBAGE!! THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!" He would even teach by the same principles that PMG teaches us to as missionaries!! The dude is so ready for the Church!! He is on Date and ready for Baptism this coming Saturday!!! YEEET!!

Tuesday we had a Zone Conference with E. Costa of the Seventy!! I am very A.D.D. in meetings so it was pretty hard to sit still for that long, but it was incredible nonetheless!! Gerald actually came to the Conference too, he said it was hard to sit through it all but he went up and talked to E. Costa personally after the first half to thank him for what he said!! The dude is incredible!!

E. Costa Zone Conference Lunch

Because we were in Douglasville for the Conference we just asked the Elders for a little exchange before heading down to Fayetteville again for another MLC with E. Costa!! We had a good time with those guys!!

Wednesday, like I said, was MLC day with E. Costa! I actually learned so much about how to become a better leader in that meeting! And not only from E. Costa but also from Pres. and Sis. Clayton!! I am feeling so blessed to be apart of this work and to be serving in the best mission in the World!! ;)

Exchange with Elder Finley, the MAN!!!

Thursday we had an exchange with Villa Rica 1 Elders Finely and Augir!! They came down to our area this time and we did some good work together!! I was able to learn a lot from E. Finley, it was really good to be shoulder to shoulder with him again. He saw my birth into the mission, and now I will see his death in 4 months or so!!

They had to leave early so we had another great lesson with Gerald at his apartment!! We reviewed the first half of the Plan of Salvation and then taught the rest of it! We also watch the Refiners Fire video, and something interesting happened. Geralds roomate, Dylan, was listening in on the video and was very curious about it! He asked Gerald all about the video and what we taught him. YEET!! Hopefully he will allow us to teach him too, that would be way sick!!

On Friday and Saturday we met with this young guy named Jesse Lay! In the first lesson we had he was searching up some stuff on the Book of Mormon, so we just told him that he needed to read and pray or we would stop meeting with him! So these past 2 days were really effective because he actually did what we asked him to do, that's a first! He is a really cool kid, he has a strong testimony of his Savior, but he also said that if he found that the Book of Mormon was true, he would be baptized and become a member. He currently goes to the Church of Christ, so that will be interesting when his parents find out!!

Saturday afternoon we had to travel to Hiram to do a Baptismal Interview! I was able to do that interview for a lady named Gloria!! It was a pleasure, she has a strong testimony of the Church and is very excited for her Baptismal Date!!

We had planned to meet with Gerald after the Interview, and we did, but as we were coming we got a text saying that his mom was going to be there as well! I guess she had seen such a miraculous change in him that she wanted to know how we helped him believe in God. It was pretty cool! We showed them a video called, 'Like a Broken Vessel" and afterwords she had a ton of questions. We told her to come to Geralds Baptism and all her questions could be answered!! Cool stuff!!

We had another good 6 hours of Church yesterday!! It is getting easier week by week! I do enjoy the spirit of being around members so I definitely cannot complain one bit!!

And that brings us to the now! We are going to play some ping pong with Jesse Lay at Campus in a bit so that should be a good time!!

***COMMITMENT***

Something that E. Costa was training us on was doing Member Missionary Work. He was trying to teach us how to get the members involved in doing Missionary Work! So this is the invite...

Invite someone or a family to your own FHE for tonight or another night in the coming weeks. This individual or family can be non-members, members, Less Actives, etc. The whole point is that as member missionaries YOU need to also invite OTHERS to come unto Christ! I have seen many blessings come from doing missionary work, and this is a simple way to help others strengthen their relationship with the Lord and in turn you will strengthen your own relationship with Him being an instrument in His hands!! :) 

As always...

Love yall,

Elder Northrup

Stripling Warrior

Elder Davies exchange, yeet!

Steaks for breakfast!!!! HAHA nah, jk jk!

BWW's for the Win!!!!!

BELIEVERS BLVD: I just had to

Sunday Smiles from Sister Lester

Received this picture in a text from a member of the Villa
Rica Ward... the Seawells. He said that Elder Northrup
was on an exchange Saturday and did some service for them.
"Let us thank you and all those that influenced him to serve
a mission. He shared with us while we were eating lunch
how much his family meant to him. He said he realized
on his mission how important family is more now than
ever before. He is a great young mon

Worldly World

Well the Braves game was pretty awesome!! I forgot for a year just how worldly the world really is!! I kinda felt out of place at the game, but I am glad to be back and at it again!

Dale Murphy Plaque

After Pday we went up to Macland and Hiram for exchanges the next day!! Wow, I feel like a TT, we go on so many exchanges. It's a constant pack and unpack process!! It is a good time though!!

Tuesday we had our exchange with Macland, I went with the Man E. Hyde!! We weren't able to do a whole lot of proselyting because we went to their District Meeting and then did service for a few hours but it was still a good learning experience!!

Wednesday we came back to our area for exchanges with the Douglasville Elders!! I was with the New Zealander E. Wihongi!! We had a great time on Campus!! There were so many people that were stoked on him and his accent!!

Thursday was a big busy day, we barely had to plan in the morning!! We had a ZLC call in the morning with all the District Leaders in the Zone then we got right to work! We had back to back lessons from around 12pm-4pm!! We had 7 appointments and 6 of them actually went through which is a crazy number!! I've never had that happen before!! 

On Friday night we had another lesson with Gerald. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and at the end showed him the Mountains to Climb MM!! He opened up a lot and told us about how he had lost his faith in God before we met him but it is slowly growing everyday now!! The man has come a long way from when we first met him that is for sure!!

Saturday we were in Villa Rica to have another exchange!! I was with E. Augir who just came out about 3 weeks ago!! He is the man!! It was kinda a cool and weird experience being with him because it felt like just yesterday I was on my first exchange with my Zone Leaders! I knew how big of an impact my ZL's had on me so I wanted to do the same for him if I could!! We had a great time doing service and found a lot of success while proselyting!! 

Sunday, yesterday, we had 3 people come to church. Gerald, John and Ian!! Sacrament meeting was actually turned into a Sing-A-Mony where you bear your testimony on a favorite hymn and then we all sing 1 verse. It was my first time ever having that experience, it was wonderful!! Gerald got up and asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner!! He has been to Church 3 weeks and has gone to the pulpit 2 of those 3!! Its been a miracle for sure!!

After Church we had a Linger Longer and the E. Cook Devotional!! I was cool to see an Apostle of the Lord so enthusiastic and excited to share the knowledge of the History of the Church. I think many people (including myself) were worried about what would be brought up, but I know that both E. Cook and the two Historians for Church handled the meeting perfectly because they were relying on the spirit!! I think it is so cool that we don't have to hide the past, but that we should be transparent and even proud of our ancestors!! It was a wonderful night!!

I know I usually go into more detail about the week but the sister missionaries are about to start emailing so I need to hop off.

This week I have gained a deeper and more abiding testimony that this Church is the Church of Jesus Christ restored to the Earth through a modern day prophet!! I am honored to be able to open my mouth for the Lord and declare boldly and with enthusiasm that this work is true, it is divine!! I am grateful to be apart of it, I am also grateful to see all the missionaries from back home spread across the World doing the same thing!! 

"In all of Life (or your mission) have much fun and laughter. Life (your mission) is to be enjoyed, not just endured!" _Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

Love yall :)

Godspeed

Elder Northrup

This is the Smoof (Nate Jones) of Georgia

Campus Life

It has been a GREAT week!! We are being blessed beyond measure!!

Last Pday was more chill than usual, we pretty much just slept! It was SOOOO NICE!! When Pday ended we went over to a lesson with a guy named Jonas who basically only speaks Creole! The member that does speak Creole comes and basically just teaches him all the lessons so he is probs finna be Baptized soon enough!

Gerald came to the YSA FHE and he had a blast meeting some new people from the branch! Both the Carrollton Ward and the UWG YSA Branch are super Missionary Minded, I've been blessed basically my whole mission!!

Tuesday was straight DEATH!!! It was Presidents Interview Day for the Zone so we were there from 8am-6pm doing trainings and listening to the same trainings over and over and over and over!!! For all of you out there that really know me, know that I am super A.D.D. and so that is why is was so hard the whole time!! But, on the bright side we went to a members house for dinner and Gerald came along too!! We read 2 Nephi 31 with him and invited him to be baptized!! His date is Sept. 22, YEEEET!! So exciting!! 

Also, just a side note, the members (the Aylworths) are huge Star Wars and Lord of the Rings Nerds, so you can get a feel for how much fun I was having that night!! Bro. Aylworth has a ton of Swords, but he also had a bunch of Replicas from the LotR Movies like Glamdring, Flame of the West, Orcrist, Sting, and Legolas' fighting blades!! I was straight in HEAVEN, you will be able to see that on my face in the pictures that I will send out!! 

Wednesday we were supposed to have 4 lessons but only 1 went through. The one that we did have was with a guy named Jeremy who in the past would like to just research how to bash and anti us. This time around we basically just told him our purpose as missionaries and asked that he would actually put some effort into read and praying about the Book of Mormon. I am trying to put this a lot nicer than it actually was, we really had to shut him down. But in the end he said that he would go back and actually study and pray about the things that we had taught him, that is what we call HIGH LOVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS!!

We had Institute later on in the night and Gerald came again, he is the man!! Again, he met a lot of friends and had a great time!!

Thursday was just incredible!! We had some of the best lessons ever that day!! Our first lesson was with a ysa name Maya who had met the missionaries last semester on campus!! She said that at the time she was looking for a church to go to but she currently has one now! But she was completely open to what we had to say and we had a fantastic Restoration Lesson! YEEET!!

A bit after her we had another incredible lesson with a ysa named Shay!! I don't think I have ever seen someone more ready and willing to learn than her!! She had real intent and you could see that everything we were saying she was really taking to heart!! She will be coming to Bible Study on Wednesday!! Double YEEET!!

Saturday we had a cool lesson with Zadarian in the morning about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. He was down!!

Later on in the night we had another lesson with Gerald where we talked about Priesthood Authority and the Sacrament!! He agreed with everything that we said, and actually bore testimony of it over a Book of Mormon reading call to Zadarian again! The dude is straight Fire!!

Fast Sunday was great as always!! 6 hours of Church is a little heavy but it is still a good time and I enjoy the spirit that I feel there!! Also being a missionary in a YSA is so fun!! I probs already said this last week but being around people my own age is the weirdest thing ever, its been a year since the last time!! We have fun in the YSA and on Campus!!

All in all, the Lord has blessed us with many miracles and blessings and will continue to bless us as we move forward in his work!! Although at this very time there is a lot of opposition from people, we can see our Tender Mercies and they are real!! 

God Bless! God SPEED!!

Elder Northrup