Wisdom from Grandpa Elder North

Good afternoon Momo!

Im happy to get your email!! :) I don’t have too much time tonight to write, but I’ll try and get the details in. Skyping you guys was really wonderful. I just can’t believe I’ll see you guys in person so soon. Kolton was super cool to meet, and I can’t wait to get to know him better! I’ll do my best to live up to the dedication he’s pegged me with. :) Also, I had no idea we Skyped for like 2 hours Dx there was no clock on my iPad! I had a watch on... but it’s analogue, and analogue is just too much effort. Either way it was so fun to talk to you all. I realized I had forgotten to ask Rachel her question! I feel so bad! 

 

Christmas gifts!

 My week has been quite good. Christmas was exciting, of course. Things are winding down, but very slowly. It just gets busy in the office this time of year, but things are calming down again, finally. 

The snow is so beautiful here, too. It’s not quite a winter wonderland like it is back home, but it is certainly wonderful. It’s too bad I won’t have too much time back home before I go to college. But at least this time I’ll be able to visit for Christmas. ;) I only have one more essay to write, so I’ll get on that this week. 

 

Christmas

 

 

Thanks about the German. I was definitely wrong if I thought I was fluent six months ago. My time with Elder Lucas changed me quite a bit. Only speaking German does that to you, i guess! If you’re willing to put in that effort, it goes a long way. 

Im really grateful for President as well. He’s been really there for me since I got here. He’s a good man and a wonderful mission president. Sister Brown just posted that scripture on Facebook about Moroni, and if all men were like him the devil would have no power over the world. Except she attributed it to him, and I couldn’t agree more. They remind me of you and Dad in a lot of ways. 

 

 

Well i thought I’d go through and give you a run down of the week and include some details I don’t normally. Sometimes the hardest thing is knowing what to write! 

I’ll write a little about the office. I’ve had fun tinkering around with the system and trying to improve the situation for everyone and it’s been a blast! So far I’ve made some contributions: I made new ticket order forms for the missionaries that are less confusing than the old ones, and they can be filled out electronically on their tablets. I did the same for reimbursement forms. I’ve also been redesigning and updating the Mission Reference Manual, which is everything a missionary would need to know about the mission. It’s quite the project. It was just too cluttered before and a lot of information was irrelevant. I only have a couple pages left, but it’s taken me the better part of 2 weeks to revise and update. There’s a few other things, but those are the biggest. 

 

First American pizza I've had in 20 months!

We met with our friend Emmanuel this week and he decided when he and his wife want to be baptized! It’s exciting! February 4th! We’ll have to be on it to work with them and prepare them, but I know they can do it. They’re such a nice family. Fernando is doing good Too. We talked to him this week about how he can resolve conflicts through humility and service to others. He wants to improve his relationship with his family, so we’ve been helping him think of ideas about how he can do nice things for his wife. I’ve thrown in a lot of things that you and Dad do. :) meeting with our friend Amos this week was fun, too! We showed up ready for a lesson but instead he was ready to show us how to make African rice! So we did both! It was actually delicious. The way we ate it was a little weird. You have one big plate of rice, and a pot of sauce. You put your spoon into the pot and then mix it into a bite sized portion of the plate of rice, eat it, and repeat. Everyone shares a plate. I guess they know how to save dishes in Africa. It was super good though! 

We had a slight security interest in the office a few days ago. I intercepted 6 emails from someone in Russia containing passport, home address, email, phone number, and credit card info for two missionaries serving in Russia. The sender was under the impression that they work with the FBI. There were also numbers for drug, weapon, gold, art, and antique dealers in the area they’re serving in. That was odd, and we have no idea how the emails ended up with us. Needless to say, I was on the phone with church security representatives for a while. They assured me it should all be ok, and that it was probably just a delusional member in Russia obsessed with conspiracy theories. (Apparently they deal with a lot of those) exciting though! I like to pretend I just saved the world. 

 

African food with Amos!

 

Well this week for my spiritual thought I’d like to share some notes from a lecture from our beloved office Grandpa Elder North. He is so wise and likes to share life lessons with us that have actually helped me a lot. 

I just love listening to him, because he has so many experiences. He’s one of the most Christlike people I know. 

You cannot lie to your heart of hearts. Everything good anyone says about you to your face will just bounce off, unless you are truly good. Every time you try to hide something bad it sticks. You are the happiest when you are responsible. You look deep down inside and you can see who you really are. See a good man. Just do what needs to be done. Do it gladly. 

- A lecture from Elder North

Well I gotta go, Momo. Sorry it was a little short but I hope it’s enough!! I love you and pray for you. I’m a happy missionary, doing my best. :) I miss you. 

Elder Tanner Larson