"I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go"

just for funzies

Well, I'm finna be transferred this coming Wednesday!! It was sad to say goodbye to some people already, but I know that the next Area is where I need to be!!

WGYSA BRANCH (Finna miss em)

Lane and Seth (Silly billys)

Last Sunday pick with the Apostle and his wife (sorry if that's apostate but its probs finna happen) 

Bro Knox

Monday, we didn't know what to do for Pday so we just decided to go Proselyting! We will probably do the same thing today as well. It was cool though, we met with a couple solid'ish people last pday and talked about the Book of Mormon. LeeAnthony was reading quite often from the Book of Mormon, but was mostly just reading out of curiosity instead of trying find out if it was true. And Ashley still wasn't reading at all. So, as all the RM's can relate, I was pretty bold with the both of them...not overbearing, just bold. I can't really remember what I said, but I do remember the spirit very powerfully. They were pretty shocked after that experience, but we assured them that we only said it because of the love that we have for them and the Gospel. And it worked out well, they decided that they would read the Book in their little trio to know if its true. 

Tuesday we had a pretty legit miracle!! It was super cold around 5pm when we were tracting in the ghetto part of Carrollton. There are a lot of fake people in the Ghetto that just say that they want us back and then we can never contact them again, so I was a little bit skeptical of going there but we went nonetheless. Towards the end of the knocking sesh, we were walking towards the car when a guy started walking and yelling at us from his driveway saying, "are the mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter~Day Saints) way the heck out here?!? That aint the them, it can't be." His name was AJ and we talked to him for a solid 30 minutes about the Restoration and our purpose as missionaries. He was pretty stoked on it all so we gave him a Book, set up an appointment for Thursday, and went on our way!!

Wednesday was pretty sweet! We had a bunch of appointments that fell through but of course the one that didn't was with Ashton. She has become one of the most solid people that I have ever taught. For these last 3 weeks, everytime she has seen us in the library or anywhere she has sat down and asked questions from her reading or from what we taught her previously. One of the coolest moments was when she said that she has felt more peace in these last 3 weeks than every before. Every Doctrine and Principle is resonating with her, as soon as she knows the Book of Mormon is true, she will commit and make the step to Baptism. And guess what?? This all happened because a young bro from the YSA Branch was open and willing to share his testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ AND invited her to learn more. He was looking for opportunities to share the Gospel. I would just invite the solid one or two people that are still reading my emails to do the same, to follow his and the Saviors example. 

Anyway (Missionary Rants). Thursday morning we met with AJ again. We read the Introduction and first chapter of the Book of Mormon, explained a bit more in depth, and invited him to read and pray about it!! He is super solid, but he is leaving out of town for the next 3 weeks, so that kinda stinks. But he did say that he would like to visit the Church when he gets back (because he likes the idea of an unpayed clergy). 

On Friday we met with Caroline for the first time (even though I have been unconsciously seeing her all over campus for the last 6 months...*facepalm* to myself). But she had a lot of great questions and hopefully received some answers too. Yesterday we got a text from her saying that she was in Ch. 20 of 1st Nephi. WHAAAAT?!!??!? We had a Major freakout in the middle of tracting!!

On the same day we met with a guy named AJ. He is a big hoss football player bro. We didn't find out until we actually sat down with him that he was going to try to play for BYU, so he already knew a ton about the Church and the beliefs. 

So that I don't go into too much detail, I guess you could say that we found and taught a ton of solid people this last week and now I am leaving them! I am grateful for the peace that the spirit brings because otherwise I would probably be really angry right now! But it's all good in the hood! 

Lastly, we went to the Temple with Mason and Catrina, the Whipples, the Schillemats, and Elder Isaksen. It was really cool for them to feel the spirit as they were in the Lord's House. They are even more pumped to actually go through the Temple when the time is right!! 

OG's at dee Temple

Always delicious Chick Fil A, Thank you Whipples

Its been a fun week and it will be fun to see where I'll be shipped off to next!!

Love yall

Elder Northrup

GO FIGHT WIN!!!

"No Coincidences" Part 2

This week has been quite interesting, a lot has happened and it went by pretty darn fast!!

On Monday we decided to just proselyte during the day so we could spend some time on Campus finding and teaching, because when Pday ends and the night comes, it becomes pretty ineffective sometimes to knock on doors. We met with some peeps that have been taught for about the same amount of time that I've been here, and then spent the rest of the night making calls and doing some studying!!

Tuesday was a pretty fun and funny day!! We were on campus for the majority of the day, especially around the afternoon time. We had set apart some time to talk to people on Campus so we walked around with Mason and Catrina for a bit talking to people briefly here and there. We weren't seeing a whole lot of success so we started heading towards the Courtyard of the Campus, because there are usually big groups of people everywhere. Shortly after we got there a kid squirreled up a tree nearby us, so we decided, "What the heck, why not talk to the kid." Recently we've been using a sort of scavenger hunt on our phones for finding on Campus, and it has worked out pretty well. So we gave him my phone and asked him the questions, found out that his name was Bobby and that he was locally know as "Tree Boy." He said that he had some questions about the afterlife so we told him who we were and what our purpose is, asked him if he would like to meet up the same day and walked away. We half expected him to not even show up to the meeting, but HE DID!! And he was actually super solid too!! He said that when we explained the Plan of Salvation we could answer more of his questions than any Pastor that he's ever known. We meet with him pretty frequently now, but the moral of the story is that you can find and teach people in EVERY situation!!

"Tree Boy" Bobby

Ashton (referral from Jose Guerra in the WGYSA) has been meeting with us pretty frequently on Campus. We probably set two appointments a week but we end up seeing her everyday so she comes and sits down by us and asks questions about what she's learned so far. And most of the time when we are talking with her, Mason just happens to be walking by at that very moment and comes and gives his input as well. It is pretty cool to see her dedication to learning more about Christ and His Gospel!! Please keep her and "Tree Boy" Bobby in your prayers!!

Now here comes the "No Coincidences" part of the email, I will try to make it as brief as I can while still making some sense...

About a month or so ago, Elder Statham, Mason and I were tracting a kinda wealthier area of Carrollton. The first door that we actually knocked on was this College aged girl named Carolina. A few seconds into the conversation she stopped and stared at Mason and basically said that she knew who he was. Turned out that they went to the same Jr High or something and were in the same friend group. 

Now fast forward to about a week ago. We were tracting on Carter St (I think you know why we chose it, LOL) and the first and only guy we talked to was a guy named Matthew Allen. He said that he has had JW's come over in the past, but wasn't really interested in joining. But he said that he was open to all Religions and denominations so we got his phone number, told him a little about it and that was that.

 On Saturday he asked us to come to his Shop where he was working on his truck. When we got there his son William said that his girlfriend (Carolina) had a few guys from the Church knock on her door recently, and they were with Mason Duffie. We asked him if he knew Mason, he said that he wrestled with him in High School but hasn't heard from him in a long while. But basically the girlfriend, the son and the dad were all chit chatting about us and the Church for a while right before we came. That was pretty crazy (especially considering how big our area in Carrollton is, no coincidences)!! The whole time we were meeting with them they just kept on saying that they knew that God had sent us there to meet Matthew for a very specific reason. So we told him about the Book of Mormon, what it was, where it came from, why it's important to read along with the Bible, all that good stuff. It was a fantastic lesson, one that we weren't expecting to be super great!! We said a prayer with them, Matthew tearing up at the end, and then we were on our way!! We told Mason when we got back to the Apt, and he was even pretty ecstatic!!

Really the only other thing that is mention-able is that President pretty much told me that I would be transferred on the 30th, so that was a pretty hard thing to here. I will miss Carrollton so much, it has been the Promised Land!! 

***Side note, we are going to the Temple to do Baptisms for the Dead with Mason and Catrina and the Whipple Family!!! YEEEEET!!!

Well, its been a growing week (just like pretty much every week on the mission) and I have enjoyed it a lot. It is truly a blessing to be a missionary for this Church, I wouldn't want it any other way. I have been blessed to see lots of people change (including myself) and receive the Restored Gospel! I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for the Love that he has shown to me over these many months. I know that I couldn't do what I do without His help. It doesn't matter how long that you've been out as a missionary, you still have to rely completely on the Lord every single day for His Grace. I cannot thank Him and His son enough. I feel as Ammon did in Alma 26:12, 27, 35 + and pretty much the entire chapter. 

"Yea, I know that I am nothing, as to my strength I am weak , therefore I will not boast of myself but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. Now when our hearts were depressed and we were about to turn back, behold the Lord comforted us...we have entered into their houses...streets...hills....temples and synagogues and taught them. Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God..."

Love yall, 

Elder Northrup

GO FIGHT WIN!!!

idk, fun times I guess 

My Zone Lords (Elder Richter and Gilbert)

Catrina's Baptism!!!! YEEET!!

The OG's

As you can see, we are very very very happy about UWG Campus being open again for school!! We have seen a lot of miracles come from being back!! We even got a solid referral from one of the members in the Branch. The referral's name is Ashton, she has had a lot of Gospel Questions and we've been able to answer a lot of them already!

I won't go to in depth with details but while we were on exchanges we found a lot of people on Campus that basically just said that they were looking for Ministers, or some source of comfort through their trials! It is pretty incredible to see young students trying to find solace and comfort from God. I know that this Gospel has already changed many of them!!

Saturday we finally saw the Baptism of Catrina Duffie from her husband Mason!! It was a super special experience for everyone that attended!! Even Mason's family came, this time they didn't run out of church super fast, and they even smiled throughout the meeting!! I think they will come along eventually, they are good people!! 

I am just grateful for the sacred experiences I have had while on my mission. It is definitely a reward to see the people that you've loved make promises with their Loving Heavenly Father!! I have been blessed to see many people that I have worked with enter into these Covenants, and for that I am grateful beyond measuere!! I have a love for the Savior and His living and loving Gospel!! 

Don't keep the Gospel. Share it too!!!!!

Go FIGHT WIN!!!

Elder Northrup

Lot's of Changes "in the Twinkling of an Eye"

Well, Elder Statham went home because of his concussion and Elder Isaksen got ET'd to Covington because President didn't want two trio's in the mission. So Elder Ford and I are companions now and that is pretty weird and chill at the same time!!

What a week this was...man! Kaaawaaazy!!!

ER at 12:30am part 2

All these changes happened super quick too. We went to the ER again and spent New Years there!!! WHOOHOO!! Then on Wednesday we got a call early in the morning from President Clayton saying that Elder Statham would be flying home on Thursday. 

Last photo's with Elder Statham before shipping home

He didn't give us further information about anyone else leaving so we just carried on with our daily shifts/exchanges with eachother until about 5pm when we got another call from President saying that Elder Isaksen would be ET'd to Covington. So you can imagine after a days notice, going from a four man to a two man is pretty weird. The apt stays pretty quiet these days...so that's that!!

Goodbye to Elder Isaksen at Zone Conference

On the bright side of things, UWG campus is opening up again today so we are going to finally we working with our old YSA peeps again!! A lot of them texted us last night saying that they were back in their rooms and ready to meet up again so hip hip hooray!! 

A miracle that happened this week was on Wednesday while Elder Statham was packing his stuff. Elder Ford and I were trying to think of a place to tract and we picked one more towards the boonies. When we were driving up the street there were a ton of 'No Trespassing, Do Not Enter' type of signs but we just kept going. When we got to where we thought we should stop, we got out and realized we were without a doubt in unwanted territory but we went nonetheless. The very first house we approached had a lady sitting on the front porch that we didn't even see until about 15 feet away. Her name was Sarah and she was actually super welcoming to us and talked for quite a while. While we were explaining the Book of Mormon to her, the landlord for her house just happened to be driving by at that exact time (Satan's Workings) and asked us to leave. After the Landlord left, Sarah didn't bother and told us to continue explaining to her the Book. We gave her one and invited her to read it, she took it with great enthusiasm. We knew walking back to the car that we had come there just for her. 

Tracting with Elder Ford

I just had to, lol

Whether she uses her agency to learn more about this Gospel or not, I know we were instruments in the Lords hands specifically for her. It is such a privilege to be doing the Lord's work!! I'm going to Power and Authority of this calling when it is time to return home!! (luckily that isn't anytime soon, still got plenty of time)

Go FIGHT WIN!!!

Love yall

Elder Northrup