Sam's 2nd email Madrid, Spain MTC

 Who played hard core soccer with real Spaniards??? This Guy!

Hola a todos!!

Hilary and Adam, I am going to try to answer your emails so this email won't have much to you..

Its great to hear that everyone is doing great! I wish I could better convey how I am doing. Its is awesome here and although it really is a lot of work and very challenging, I am loving every minute of it, and I wouldn't be any other place. I remember so many times thinking about missionaries and wishing I could call them up and see how thier doing. Now I'm the missionary and I wish I could call home and update with everyone there. Just know that I'm doing well!! :)

Ok so randomly throughout the week, things pop into my head and I write them down so I can tell you. Let me start my list of random things..... :)

-I saw a mini cooper one time and it reminded me of mom.. :)

-Hilary! Every Sunday at the Provo mtc, they have a devotional at night and then everyone gets to go to reruns of devotionals or a church movie after the live devotional. GO TO ´´The Character of Christ´´ by David A. Bednar... Soo good. And if you can find it before you go in, watch it with Adam! Please!

-Basically here, we have fish every day.. at least one meal a day, if not two will have some sort of fish dish or shrimp or muscle in it.... Mmmmmm! :)

-I am actually really liking the lisp accent. It sounds suuuper wierd when you first hear it but I have grown to like it and I like using it. Just be prepped to hear it when I come home.. :)

-Madrid has soccer fields called soccer courts all over the place! Its so sweet! When we have work out time, we run like 4 or 5 minutes down the street to this sweeeet cement soccer court stadium. I´ll take a picture or two of it and send it home but picture a cement court with full seating around the whole thing... and.. how should I explain this.. its like the top seat in the bleachers is street level so you walk up to it and it drops way down to the court and its almost always open! :) I think everyones gonna go play after we email actually. :) (btw, I blocked a PK when we were playing on it yesterday... I was kinda proud..)

-OH! I'm really really glad we got another suit. Thank you mother! We don't use them a ton cuz its decently warm weather but we go to the temple weekly and we have two devotionals a week and we use them enough that im really glad I have it. Thanks again.

-On that note.. the weather has been super nice. Not as bad as I had expected and/or heard it would be. Like today, its been kinda rainy and overcast. Not complaining though! :)

-Ok so mom, you mentioned that we all went to the park... ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE PARK  huuuuge... has this lake in the middle of it where people can go boating and it has these little street shops all through it... and has massive fountains that are super old school and old, old building ruins that are crumbling and cool stuff like that. so anyways, we get to go and talk to people every Saturday and you do little comp exchanges and I actually got paired up with Elder Archulettas old comp.. Hah kinda cool. His name is Elder Escobar. He leaves for Barcelona tonight. He was on the three week plan thing. So the park was really awesome. At the end of our hour and a halfish time there we all met back together at one of the main spots in the middle of the park and we sang three hymns. Elder Escobar and I were asked to be the ones that contacted people that stopped to listen. We didn´t have a ton of success but we learned a lot and had a couple of reeeally interesting conversations.. :) Some people start talking and then they don´t stop.... haha and quite a few actually have horrible mumbling and slurring problems.. Like I'm not just saying that cuz I couldn't understand their Spanish, i´m saying it cuz they honestly could not form words.... haha so anyways, we´re doin our best but its tough. Quite a few people from other countries too.. that surprised me.. lots of travelers that didn´t speak english or spanish. Frustrating.

  ...... I KNOW the Spirit is prompting me and I KNOW that the Spirit is helping me learn.

We had to go get some passport picture for our residency forms (like 16 or 18 missionaries... we kinda filled the shop) went to this shop to get pictures and no one could understand the lady and so I went up and figured it out :) and then a missionary wanted to buy a watch too so I helped him and then she explained where to go to get the links out and I had this little convo with her.... Haha it felt really good. But anyways, we´re learning... Spanish, the Gospel, and how to get through life WITH THE SPIRIT. We are all learning so much about that and its awesome. Elder Vosters, my comp, testified last night in a little district testimony meeting we had of the things he is learning and feeling and it was a happy moment for me. :) Anyways, I´m over and I gotta go kick some trash on the soccer court. Love you all!!!!

                  -Elder Norton

Hilary's Farewell

The countdown has started ... it's officially less than a week until Hilary enters the Provo Missionary Training Center.  This Sunday she will be speaking in Sacrament meeting along with Elder Zach Alder who has just returned from the Baltic mission.  A "Homecoming & Farewell" all in one .... arrive early if you want a soft seat. Family and friends are welcome to join us between 11:30 and 12:30 or after 6:00 for refreshments and well-wishes. If you need other specifics please contact me. Hope to see you soon!                                                                                                                  Joanna

Backstage Pass to the Provo MTC

 Just wanted to share a few of the photos Sam sent home chronicling his time at the Provo Missionary Training Center

Will someone explain how he did this?

Elder Sam Norton & Elder Chad Peters

I Spy ... 10 elders, 4 bunkbeds, 2 bottles of Febreze

the District

A big THANK YOU to all the dedicated people that serve at the Mission Training Center!

Sam's First Email From Madrid, Spain MTC

 A sailboat works ONLY with the presence of wind.

Similarly, life ONLY works with the presence of trials.
Our life is the ocean. We Must Have Wind to go anywhere!
KNOW that the Lord will never give you more wind 

than you can withstand. 

1 Cor 10:13
When we do have wind, we can be confident we are learning
and growing. When we think we can no longer withstand how
much wind we have blowing at us, remember that the Lord

can and will stop the winds when we come unto him.

Matt 8:24-27.

Hello!! We are in Madrid! FYI, the keyboards for the computers here are weird.. haha they're in Spanish so i´ll probably be typing stuff wrong a lot cuz the spacing is all different. Aannnyways!

We ran out of time on the phone when I was at the SLC airport but I got what you were saying and I went and bought an SD card. We flew to Atlanta and we had to book it hardcore to catch our connecting flight.. so we got there with like 2 mins before we had to board.. so I tried to call home again and dad picked up but he couldn´t hear me talking but I could hear him...:/ so I jumped over to a different phone and called again and it ate my dollar and then cut my call off............ D: so <i had no more coins and no more time.. Haha lo siento, encerio. But anyways! Todo bien!

Our flight to Madrid was.. long. But good. They served us snacks, dinner, and breakfast... and I didn´t sleep at all. My mind focuses on like anything that is going on so it has always been hard for me to fall asleep when everyone i´m with is not sleeping. So its 3:00 pm here and I haven´t slept since... like 6 am Tuesday morning. Sorry if I sound like I´m dead or something... i´m just super tired. And they're having us not sleep so we can get on the right sleep schedule, which makes sense but its just rough cuz we all want to nap.  ADAM. I wish I could've talked to you today when they picked you up from school but like I said, the pay phones were eating my coins ... I officially dislike payphones. :)

Everything here is good. We´re trying to get all situated. I´m in a room with three other elders. We all got new comps and my new comp is Elder Vosters. He and his twin brother are both here. One is going to Barcelona and my comp is going to Málaga. They're from Alta area I guess. I really like the other districts we´re gonna be working with.. or at least that we traveled with. E. Peters and I are in different districts now but esta bien. We´ll still see each other often, this mtc is relatively small.

Oh so BTW, the temple is honestly 30 yards from the mtc here. Like, you ``look out the window and what do you see?´´ The super bright and shining white templo!! Its really great. Anyways, don´t have much to say.. the food is good, the weather hasn´t been bad, President and Sister Sitterud recognized me right away....  and I told him y'all said hi. They say hi back! President also asked about everyone coming to Italy. When is everyone coming out?

Anywhoo, all is well in Zion/... Madrid/... when you´re serving the Lord. I just need more sleep. :)

I love you Mom! I love you Dad! I love you Mitch Jennica Caden Branson and soon-to-be-number-three! I love you Hilary! I love you Adam! I know that sounds really generic(¿sp?) but I promise I truly mean it for each of you! I think of each of you daily!

-Elder Norton

On a plane...to Spain...in the rain

Madrid Spain Missionary Training Center

Elder Samuel Norton and about 10 or 12 other missionaries left the Provo MTC this morning headed for Spain. The itinerary included an early flight to Atlanta, Georgia, a two hour layover there, and then a long fight to Spain arriving early tomorrow morning.

Sam called us from the Salt Lake Airport to say goodbye (normal church procedure) and told us their flight to Atlanta was delayed. We only spoke for a couple of minutes because he wanted to call later in the day when Adam was home. The time came and went and we never heard from him. Jon did a little research and found out that the morning SLC flight to ATL was very late .... maybe late enough to make them miss the connection to Spain ... ? We don't know so .... stay tuned
                                                                                                                                       Joanna

Provo MTC Week 3 - Sam's Email

Como como como como como como como! = I eat like i eat how i eat as i eat.

You think manderine chinese is hard???????? PSHHHH! :) just kidding.

Hello!

I love you! I have been receiving more "dear elders" and letters and stuff! Its awesome! Have not heard from clay or kevin though...........O.o

Anywhoo, no prob. :) as long as clay writes me when he gets his call WHICH I THINK WAS YESTERDAY and as along a kevin writes me at least once about climbing V11s and stuff before he leaves for brazil!

Anyways, everything's going well here! My companion and i have received our Visas for Spain and our travel plans as well. We leave the Provo MTC this Tuesday morning at like 6 am to go the SLC airport. We will fly to Atlanta Georgia, have a twoish hour lay over and then fly straight to MADRID ESPAÑIA! We´re pumped out of our minds!

As for some questions that have been asked...

The investigator that we were working with, Jorge, was not an actual investigator. I guess i wasn´t really clear about that in my last email cuz everyone is like oooooooo tell us about your investigator!! :) haha he is one of our Spanish teachers actually.. Hermano McCord. The first week, a different teacher was teacher our classes and we would only meet with ''Jorge" for lessons. We had four total lessons with him and then he became one of our two teachers. This week, we have two investigators, Jose Luis and Luis Guerra. Jose Luis is Hermano Mccord and Luis Guerra is our other teacher Hermano Frost. its not as exciting as everyone probably thought it was... :) cuz they are just returned missionaries helping the newbies learn... pero, its still hard, because they choose investigators from their past mission experiences and portray that person. Jorge, our first missionary, was studying philosophy(?) when we were teaching him so he had tons of questions and we had a really hard time helping him feel things. Not to mention trying to understand and answer his questions... he had a thousand. Our two new investigators both have divorced families... which makes talking about families very touchy. one bounces from church to church really trying to find the truth but is also very knowledgeable and has lots of questions which are hard to understand and explain the answers cuz everything is in Spanish. The other, doesn't really talk... never really asks questions and is extremely hard to read. so we try to help him and understand what he desires to hear and needs to hear but hes really hard to read. We need the spirit hard core cuz investigators are not easy to work with and understand. Anyways, thats our investigators.. we only have like 2 or 3 more lessons with each since we're leaving soon so we'll see.

Thank you thank you thank you for the packages and the letters and the notes!! They are awesome. THE COOKIES.... AHHHHHH sooo good! we picked that package up and took it back to our room. right when i started opening it I was like..... I smell..... something. I smell my moms cookies. O.O :) We were really happy. They are great.

I cant remember what I've told you already but I got my shoes. i got the ties you sent and the package that Mitch sent with the ties and stuff. :) Awesome. annnnd and I think I have receive everything you've sent. I ask for something in the e-mail, it comes a couple days later. :) you rock. But really. You rock.

Couple things...

Hermano Toone, Mitch's mission buddy, teaches here. i don't know if he has said anything to Mitch and if Mitch has said anything but I see him like daily. He's awesome! Also, please post my Madrid MTC address on my FB and ask people to post their addresses of where they will be living next semester so I can write them when they don't write me. :) And then maybe print them off and send them to me in a letter or something. I've been trying to think of anything else I might need. I feel super good. When I get to the Spain MTC I may ask for a thing or two but I won't need anything between now and then.Thanks for everything again. If you want or need to send anything else to me here, I'd do it today... tomorrow early at the latest. Any later and I don't think it will be here before I leave. LOVE YOU AGAIN!

-Elder Norton

ps. my madrid mtc address is
Elder Samuel Norton

     4A Planta

     Calle Del Templo No. 2

     Madrid 28030

     Spain

Happy Easter!

Easter 1995

I love looking at old photos of my kids. Some of the memories are so clear I can almost hear their voices. It's like watching one of your favorite movies, hitting pause, but knowing exactly how the scene plays out. Mitch was 9, Hilary was 4 and Sam had just turned 2 a couple of months before this indoor egg hunt. Apparently not everyone wanted to stop to have their picture taken.

This is Elder Sam Norton's second Sunday at the Provo MTC. Last week was General Conference and this week is a special Easter Program with several General Authorities in attendance. Elder Norton and his companion, Elder Chad Peters, have joined the MTC choir and will be singing in the program.

This year, with the recent passing of our dear father / grandfather, Easter holds even more significance. Follow the link to view "He is Risen"                          Joanna

Sam's Provo MTC Address

Sam's Provo MTC address:

Elder Samuel Norton
MTC Mailbox 233
SPA-MAL 0417
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Also, if you want to Dear Elder Sam, use his mailbox number 233.

Provo MTC Week 2 - Sam's Email

Easter Sunday program choir practice?

Sam has never been one to take pictures. Over the years, as he has gone on various adventures (Scout camp, Lake Powell, EFY, Choir tour, etc.) I have urged him to take a camera along and get photos of all the places he goes and people he meets. It's never happened. I have sent my camera along and it has come back unused. I have sent disposable cameras with him that have come home unopened. But I have not given up. I sent with him a new little Nikon with instructions to "please document your mission in photos." Nothing yet, but it's only been a week. So, to keep the blog interesting I am posting past photos that ..... if you use your imagination ..... will go with his letter.                Joanna

"You can be the senior comp, since you have gray hair"

"Elders, are those drinks caffeinated?"

Hola a todos!

Hello everyone! Good to hear from you. Everything is going great here. My district and I are all learning so much and stretching ourselves a lot. Its great. The MTC is like a great big iron. It just forces all the kinks and wrinkles out of everyone. :) Whether you want it to straighten you out or not, it does. My district and I have really been feeling that lately. We were all so different but we continually have realization after realization about things we are doing that we probably shouldn't do and about things that we are doing that we could be doing better so we are all becoming perfectly pressed shirts, ready for the real mission field. :D
Dad, happy birthday! Did you get my letter?? I think I sent it on the 2nd so I hope you got it. Thanks again for the info.. GO ROMNEY!!! WOOOOO! And Jimmer sounds like a total rollercoster! Haha I bet his coach just loves it. Thanks to both you and mom for pointers on leadership. I love getting others points of view. They can only help right??!! I really wanted to be a leader that didn't attempt to stand above those around him as an attempt to show... dominance or whatever so I've been trying to lead by positive friendship if that makes sense.. I just have to walk the line of being their friend as well as following all the rules. Still working on it but everything is going great.

Mama, my week thus far has been great. We taught our "investigator" 4 times, all of which were in 100% spanish and about 30 min lessons each. Suuper hard but we're learning a lot. PLUS... he has zero religion and he is currently studying philosify(?).... which makes it a billion times harder... haha but its alright. We got him to feel the spirit/peace(he said) and pray and he has been reading sections of the book of mormon. He is very very touchy about commitments and he also has had tons of questions... a lot of which we haven't ever really understood so its been tough but we're pressing on. I'll keep you posted on Jorge. :) An average day is... wake up at 6:20 and wait in 20 mins of shower lines... :) get to our classroom by 7. personal study till 7:30. breakfast till 8:15. back to class till 11ish. then this spanish computer program for an hourish. lunch at 12. back to class for personal study and language study then our teachers come in and speak Spanish to (at) us for like an hour or two. then dinner. then back to the classroom for more Spanish and prepping for lessons for Jorge in Spanish... then... we go to the dorms, plan out the next day and zonk out. Haha 4 or 5 days a week we get 50 mins of gym time and we have devotionals Tuesdays and Sundays but other than that, the days are basically.... wake up, study, breakfast, study/class, lunch, study/class, dinner, study/class, sleep. OTRA VES! My district is doing great! I explained a lot about it before. That's basically the downlow. We're doing well. I'm really excited about singing in the choir. We've practiced a couple times and its great. I'll let you know how the Easter Sunday program goes. Nothing on our visas yet. But we (my comp and I) got papers about a meeting Friday with the consul from Spain. I think it will be about our visas cuz Other missionaries have  had those meetings too and they are good things. I'll let you know. :) Your mish slang is coming along QUITE well! The MTC culture here is super funny. I've been here over a week now and so we got to see a bunch of new missionaries yesterday so we got the say WELCOME TO THE MTC a bajillion times. Kinda fun. :) I did get your picture in my suit case. Love it. Thank you. Its on my desk right now. Adam, SOO SICK. Way to go on hitting two stinking doubles. My comp and I are beyond impressed. :) Keep me updated. BTW, I'm teaching my comp the rubik's cube. :) Thought you'd appreciate that. Oh, and I still remember that game that you were playing catcher and you bare handed that throw from the outfield to try to throw a kid out at third..... I think I kinda died inside. you're sick. Know that your brother knows you have potential. Reach it in all you do. Don't get complacent. Hil........? :) Love you even though I didn't get stuff from you...... Hahaha I know you're hecka busy. Honestly, use dearelder. I would love to get dear elders and I think they're free so I you only have a spare second.. get on dearelder.com and send me a quick message. its fast, free, i'll get it that day, and I WILL write you a letter back! :) That goes for maaa friends too! DEAR ELDERS PLEEEZE

Anyways.  Love you all!  Good to hear from you.  Thanks again!!!  :) 

Love you all!

                     Elder Norton

Sam's First Email!!!

                                                         Sat.  March 31, 2012                                                          

Hola mi familia y me amigos!

Everything is going great! It's weird... thinking about how I am the missionary in this impenetrable(?) MTC bubble. Very little comes in and very little goes out. We were actually honked at by a car today and I thought they were mad but then I realized that they were honking at us cuz WE'RE MISSIONARIES. Coool.

Thank you thank you for the letters, packages, and e-mails I have been getting. They're much appreciated. Let me just say this. We have 30 minutes on the computers for e-mailing only once a week and its sorta hard to read several different e-mails (all from family for those reading) and then answer to all cuz I can't really jump back and forth to read and reread the questions and whatnot. If you would like to write something to me for me to get in the middle of the week, send me a message through dearelder.com cuz those are printed everyday and we get them just after dinner. I won't be able to answer till p-days but it will make it easier for me cuz I'll get it earlier and have it in paper form. When you do e-mails, please consolidate to one. Muchas Gracias.

As for questions.....

MTC is awesome. It really is. We eat a TON. haha a lot of missionaries gain weight cuz it is 100 percent all you can eat for every meal and there are quite a few choices for each meal. My district and I have been talking about how much food/trash/wasted food/.....YEAH this place must go through every day. CRAZY. For conference, everyone at the mtc (i think) packed into one room and if I were to try to compare it to our churches gym I would say it was 15 times as big. YEAH. PACKED. So imagine how much food that is. But anyways, food is good. I'm liking it and eating a lot and eating good foods too. (promised I would!) My comp is Elder Chad Peters. Really awesome guy. We have several things in common... aka volleyball... annnd.. I dunno.. other stuff thats not like specific things but we get along well which is good. Haha he likes his caffine ... he brought a huge pack of drinks called like Ole' ? :) anywhoooo. We're good. My teachers are awesome too. Hermano Goodman, Hermano Frost, y Hermano.... can't remember the other one. I think the last one was kind of training.. so I don't think he'll be in with us as much which is a bummer cuz he explained stuff the best/we could understand him the best cuz OH YEAH... EVERYTHING IS IN ESPANIOL. Anyways.. :) We're all learning super quick cuz its requiring more of us so esta bien. BTW, my teachers do not use the spain accent because only me and my comp are going to spain. the other 8 guys in my district are going stateside. one to new mexico, the rest to north carolina, raleigh(?).

Which leads me to my next topic... my SICK district. Love my elders. Elders sanches, knott, chaffer(?), rich, bush, gonzales, goodwin, y eskelsen. Love them all and I think the companionships are about as perfect as they could be. I know the lords hand played a part in the companionships. Oh, kinda cool sidenote, we met with our branch presidency yesterday...? not sure.. everything is just a blurrr.... but we each told our story kinda and about ourselves and then had interviews and I was asked to be our district leader. Sweet! and they also announced senior comps. exciting.

David archuleta is not in my district but we have stuff scheduled at the same time so we see him a lot. A few elders in  my district were like...... i´m totally gonna blow him off if we are next to each other... I don´t want him to think he´s like special... :) which honestly does have some truth to it cuz he is just another elder but I went and said "Hi" to him once and shook his hand. He was super humble about it too so that's good. kinda weird to see him so often and so.. up close though. :)

REAL QUICK... I'm super out of time...

Hilary, Pres. Hollands talk was by far my fav. Tanner will appreciate that. :) Dad, I love the "news" you sent. Keep it coming. Mom, I disagree wholeheartedly with all those people that told me that language preparation before your mission doesn't really do much for you cuz you learn so fast... You asked me if I feel like it did help and IT DID SO MUCH. Almost all the guys in the district turn to me now with questions. :) its fun.. oh and plus, we already gave a 25ish minute lesson in espaniol... :/ hard but I freaking carried the team!! :) So Hilary, do as much, even if its just a little, studying as you can before you and and ADAM, MAH MAN! Keep going baby! You could have this whole language down by the time I get home. JUST DON'T STOP TRYING. Life lesson as well too........ :)

Adam, thanks for the e-mail with that text from Tanner. In next package, por favor send me any of those ties you don't want. We all wear ugly ties on Fridays so I need some ugly ones. :) SRY EYE JUSS BRAHHT PURTY ONEZ!

BTW, I was not in the mtc choir that sang the second session... we saw Archuleta but we've only been here like... 4 days so i don't know how he's already practiced enough to sing with them... anyways, I'm gonna start practicing with them asap. Also, I got your package. THANK YOU.

SO YOU KNOW... I feel your love. I feel your prayers. I appreciate the much needed assistance. KNOW that I am thinking about each of you as well. I was watching priesthood and one of the later speakers said something about "mom, dad, brothers, sisters" and I thought of each of you individually. I love you. Thank you for the support. Godspeed.

-Elder Norton

One last visit with Mitch's Family

Mitch, Jennica and the boys had planned to come to Utah for Sam's farewell Sacrament meeting but having been in town for Grandpa Yarn's funeral only two weeks earlier, it just wasn't possible. We got a family photo at the funeral luncheon and then one more of "Uncle Sam" with Caden and Branson before they flew back to California.

 Mitch moved out of our home at age 18 to go live on campus at BYU. He left on his mission the next summer, returned home two years later but went back to BYU, soon married and of course then had a home of his own with Jennica.

Sam was 12 when Mitch first moved out .... the same age that Adam is right now.  Sam and Adam have always been good friends, but they've become especially close over the last few months. Sam made a point to spend as much time as possible with Adam. Playing basketball at the Rec center, working in the yard, playing ping pong, visiting grandparents, practicing Spanish, watching Avatar or Phineas & Ferb, playing baseball, watching stupid youtube videos, working on Scout requirements, sharing Ranger's Apprentice books, exchanging favorite scriptures, timing themselves solving the rubiks cube ....... they were almost always together.

As a spectator of this, I've had flashbacks of all the things Mitch had done with Sam ....
same mentoring, patience & friendship .... but with a razor scooter, a soccer ball, the trampoline, Calvin and Hobbs books, bowling, Nintendo 64, the P.G. Pool and so much more.
Different props - same life lessons. The influence and love of an older brother is immeasurable! Thanks, Mitch!
                                                                                                                               Joanna

MTC Day for Sam

Wednesday the 28th we all got up early, had homemade waffles with strawberries and scrambled eggs for breakfast then headed to the basement to help Sam finish getting ready. We had about 15 pages left to read in The Book of Mormon to finish it and Adam was determined that we would do that together before Sam left. I was writing Sam's name or initials on all his stuff then handing it to him, he was packing and organizing his suitcases and backpack, and Adam & Jon took turns reading. When they got to the last chapter Adam asked Sam to finish reading. Then we knelt down for a family prayer. It was the perfect way to spend that last morning together.

We met up with Hilary at  Cafe Rio for lunch, took some photos together, then headed to the MTC for the 12:55 drop-off.

We had all been very composed until that point but when we "handed" Sam over to his escort the tears really started to flow. I suddenly felt like he had been on loan to me for a few short years and now I was turning him back over to his original owner. A good friend of mine describes this MTC day as a "miserable joy". So true ...  What a privilege it is to be a mother!