...I even knocked a guy over (I didn't mean to and I apologized) then ran past him dribbling the ball! (Hilary)

I love this photo of Hilary (taken a couple of years ago)

Querido Mundo,

GRACIAS one thousand times over for your letters. I went to the office today and picked up letters from Veronica, a letter from Ian, a letter from Joey Norton!, and Dear Elders from Kenz, Abby, and V. I have the greatest friends and family. I know everyone feels that way, but I honestly feel that I have it the best. And the greatest part is that I get to read the testimonies of my family and friends every Monday. You all don't know how much your letters mean to me! Mom, thank you for writing so consistently. I love your letters more than I can explain. Dad, your letters are so important to me. I am printing and saving all of them because it means so much to me to get bits and pieces of your wisdom. Mitch. Whenever I have a question, you're the first person I think of to ask. Thank you for all of your mission advice. Please keep it coming.

ADAM. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I'M SENDING A LETTER YOUR WAY. SO SORRY IT WILL BE SO LATE. I love you dude. You amaze me. You are one of my biggest examples. En serio.

Okay, another P day. Wow. Things are going by very quickly. And we've already started to see changes here. nooooooooooo. I'm far away from home and from all the people I've known and loved, so once I get accustomed to someone here and then they leave it's so sad! The mission is so bittersweet. It's so hard to see all the trials that so many people are having to face. I am literally amazed. But, it also is so awesome to be able to share with them the one thing that will bring them eternal happiness.

Okay, some business. Can you forward me Sam's emails? I don't receive them. (Grandma Bonnie, Thank you so much for the new scriptures! I love you so much and hope you're doing so well!!) I haven't received any packages from you yet Mom. But my comp says that in the past, for other missionaries, packages have taken like three months. So, I'll keep you posted.  Also, I didn't delete my Pinterest. It must have disappeared after some period of time. Please tell Veronica I'm writing her and I love her. And Abby too. And I mailed a letter to Caitlin today.

Okay, the barrio Vargas (ward) is doing really well. Our bishop is so great and he really has a lot of enthusiasm for the work. We've been working with him a lot this week and it is making a world of a difference. I feel like I am really starting to catch on and find my place here in the work. I have been doing what I can to live in the "now". Sometimes I have a thought about school or family but then I remember that I only get to do all this amazing work for a year and a half (I'm almost a sixth of the way in!!! Almost three months! WHAAAT?) and I am like aaah focus focus focus!

Okay, so many random thoughts. Things have been going well in our companionship. It's cool to see the fruits of when we're both intune and working so hard together. We've shared a lot of thoughts and had moments where someone will ask a question about a specific verse in the bible that we both read separately the day before so we were both able to explain. So so cool. 

J. P. is doing well. He's progressing, but ever so slowly. We have three other investigators with baptismal dates, and they are also doing so well too. Two cute primas (cousins) who are just best friends (remind me of me and Ran) and are learning so much. They're seriously awesome. Also, our other investigator is the women we helped a couple weeks ago with her daughter. Now is her time. She's in such a hard situation and yesterday after we were talking with her she said, "I've been trying to find a place to go. I want to leave so badly. But now I know. I'll go to the Lord."

So, in the CCM I was the unofficial seamstress. Literally I fixed more pants and shirts than I can count. Here in the field, I have been helping a lot of people with their English. I love it. It's fun to be able to use my hobbies. Also, in the CCM, we played soccer every day! At first I just ran and played volley, but then Hna Ellis and I got up the guts to play soccer with the elders. It was awesome and I am pretty sure my brothers and dad would be so proud of me. I got pretty into it and even knocked a guy over (I didn't mean to and I apologized) then ran passed him dribbling the ball! Wooooooooo. I bet you all have a hilarious image in your head now. Oh, and I guess I talk a lot in my sleep, and often in Spanish. My companion says the other night I was teaching a lesson in Spanish in my sleep. So. Don't know what that means. Jajaja. We have a cell phone, but have to leave it in our apartment. So the other day we were in a cabinas shop and there was a TV with the olympics! AH. I wanted to watch so badly! But did a very good job of not looking. But I love the summer Olympics and London. So, we're the only missionaries to have served in this barrio who have ever washed the dishes of the members after they feed us... What's that all about? Come on, missionaries. Step it up.

Things aren't going too well with investigators F, A, Y, or E. But we're not giving up. And sincerely, thank you everyone who prayed. I know that your prayers were heard. I think it is just a matter of timing for some.

Okay, I should go. I love you all. Thanks for everything. CHAO.

Hermana Norton

"Démonos cuenta de que el privilegio de trabajar es un don, que el poder de trabajar es una bendición y que el amor por el trabajo es un triunfo." President David O. McKay

("We must realize that the privilege of working is a gift, that the power of work is a blessing, and love for the work is a triumph.")

"Freely you have received and our Heavenly Father will expect you freely to share with His other sons and daughters these glorious truths." President George Albert Smith

have you sent any snail mail lately? (bill paying doesn't count)

Have you done any good in the world today?

Have you helped anyone in need?

Have you cheered up the sad? And made someone feel glad?

If not, you have failed, indeed! 

... write to-a missionary, with speed!

I'm a real missionary with awkward tanlines and bed bugs (Hilary)

Hey everyone,

   I love you all and I hope you're doing so well. I love receiving your letters (Mom, today I received a card from you.. and the scriptures from Grandma with my name inscripted on them.) and emails. It's really cool for me to be able to see the happiness that our family has from the outside. I mean, I'm still on the inside of the family, but I'm just seeing pictures and hearing about what you're up to and realizing more and more how blessed and happy we are. God is good.

   Okay, I hope Cali is fun. I hope the Rice family is doing so well. I care about you guys so so much! Dad, good luck with the Rolls Royce...
   Okay, a few things I've been wanting to share: First, the food here is better than I've ever had in my life. I mean, nothing beats a home cooked meal by Mom, but people here are like, "What kind of food do you like, Hermana Norton?" and I'm like "THIS food!" Always soup and rice and bananas and corn prepared in all different ways. I need to make a journal of all the amazing things I eat and get the recipes. I have yet to eat anything seriously gross, like guinea pig. Prayers are answered.

Hilary's companion, Hrm Rodriguez, at their apartment

 There is a volcano we can see from our window and I think sometimes there is lava coming out of it. (Wow, I can't believe this sentence made it into my weekly email. How insignificant.)
   I have tan lines on my feet. I don't know why I feel like that is so noteworthy, but to me it means that I'm a real missionary. A real missionary with awkward tanlines and bed bugs (yep. but the members here tell me that I have fewer bites than the Hna who slept in my bed before me... so... there is a silver lining to every cloud, right?)

  Our newest investigator has a baptismal date, but is extremely sick and can't attend church, thus, we have to push off his baptism. It's a big bummer because he is so receptive and really progressing, aside from church attendance (J.P). 
 We've also been working with a girl named G who is so great. The problem we often run into is that the people want to learn and are so anxious to listen, but don't realize that they need to be baptized to receive all the blessings promised. I've been trying to put more emphasis on the Book of Mormon because once they gain a testimony of it, they will realize the need to join the true church, and not just rely on the Catholic baptism as a child. I want so badly for these people to have this. I'm trying to do what I can and need to so that I can be an effective instrument.
   Mom, I want you to know that the families here in this branch have taken such good care of me. I think if you knew how much they do for us missionaries you would be brought to tears in gratitude. I am so thankful for the members here and I just wanted you to know that there are people on this side of the world taking care of me that you should express gratitude for.
   Okay, I want to share two quotes.

"We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future." Jeffrey R. Holland

"Those who diligently seek to learn of Christ eventually will come to know Him. They will personally receive a divine portrait of the Master, although it most often comes in the form of a puzzle -- one piece at a time. Each individual piece may not be easily recognizable by itselfñ it may not be clear how it relates to the whole. Each piece helps us to see the big picture a little more clearly. Eventually, after enough pieces have been put together, we recognize the grand beauty of it all. Then, looking back on our experience, we see that the Savior had indeed come to be with us -- not all at once but quietly, gently, almost unnoticed." E. Uchtdorf

This is how my testimony has come. Especially in these past few months of my life, February to now. I am so grateful for this Gospel and I can testify that Heavenly Father knows each of us personally and our circumstances. He is real. This is the true church. The Book of Mormon is true and contains the fulness of the gospel. Christ lives and loves us.

Hna. Norton

"there is NO WAY to be sad in this work!" and photos (Sam)

Malaga missionaries with Pres. and Sis. Clegg before they left for home

Welcome to Pres. Deere and family

Hello Hello!

     Spain rocks! Nuff said. I hope everything back home is as good as it is here! :)

Spain really is so crazy. To travel here, everyone travels by bus... and I´ve been on busses where there are up to 4 or 5 different languages. Its crazy. Obviously a lot of spaniards, a ton of south americans (ecuadorians, bolivians, peruvians, argentinians, colombians), not to mention tons of people from other countries here in Europe... Bulgarians, Romanians, Lithuanians, Russians... and last but not least, quite a few africans.. from ghana who speak english and Twi, morocans who speak arabic.. and much much more! Its crazy! but its fun.

     Yes, the economy here is really struggling.  Work is hard to come by and when people do get work, its often temporary. Our mission president has asked that every missionary be prepared like you would at home for any kind of emergency. And we also have a little food storage.

 

      Ok, I´ll talk about the work here now... :) EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. Really, I know I say that every time that I write but it is honestly because there is now way to be sad in this work. It is SO hard but it is SO rewarding. Some days, yeah, by the end of the night I am a little sick of spanish......... :) Hahah but I just love the work so much that fight through it and I love it again. Just know that I am happy, learning, growing, and trying to help anyone I can whenever and however I can.

     investigator P is BACK.  Mom, (and all else that may have been praying for our investigators) thank you thank you thank you! She was in the hospital for almost two weeks. She has terrible respiratory problems and cannot get oxygen to her brain so she was really struggling for a while. She has the tube things that go up to her nose now and she is all happy and great again. Now she reads constantly in the Book of Mormon. We give her a chapter and when we come back a couple days later she´s like... I actually read that chapter and then another 30 pages. :) REALLY COOL. 

     investigator R - !. HE IS BACK TOO. Ahhh! This work is soo true! R really really knows that everything is true. He knew it, told us he wanted to be baptized and then someone or something scared him out of it and we thought he was done. He totally dropped us and anytime we would talk to him he would say he was busy and then about two weeks later we when by to see how he was doing and he was soo glad we stopped by! We stopped by a day or so later and he asked to say the opening prayer and in his prayer he asked Heavenly Father to help us come by his house more because he likes what he feels when we´re there. WOOOOOW. :) LOVE THIS KID. We taught a lesson completely directed by the spirit, about the spirit. About when the feelings we get when we know something is true and how the spirit tells us. By the end of the lesson, he was basically telling us he knows its all true and he wants to get baptized. We felt prompted by the spirit to let him pray and decide his own baptismal date and we are going by tonight to see what he says. We are praying that he will decide on the 4th of august because that is the same date as P. :) They have a little bond because they were both investigating and more or less both found out the chruch is true at the same time. We´ll see!

   We have a TON of other investigators its absolutely impossible to talk about all of them........ but the three others with baptismal dates right now are this father from ecuador that is super super criente... (word in spanish that doesn´t really translate over... he is very believing... or believes in God a lot...)  He´s great and he has family that live in california who are members... and they are encouraging him as well. And our other two fechas.. (spanish word for dates) are this spanish mother and her 14 year old son. They are pretty solid catholics but don´t practice very much.. and are just very nice. They have come to church twice and I think they are progressing a lot... We´ll see.

     Elder Jones and I are doing really really well! First transfers ended a week ago and E. Jones is training me so we knew we´d be together this transfer too. Your first two transfers you get trained and rarely ever do you switch comps during training. He´ll probably leave after this transfer though... :( (mid aug). We don´t know though.. we´ll see!

     We don´t have a lot of contact with the Deeres but yes, the family is living here too. They have a 21 year old son that came out for the first week they were here and he just got home from his mission about 7 months ago.. I think.. he served in south america somewhere so he speaks spanish, they have another son serving in the states, a 16 year old daughter who would be a sophomore at Lone Peak right now, and they have a 13 year old son, suuper cool.

     WOW. Mom, Elder Tenny is one of the two other elders in my district. There are only four elders in our district and he is one of them. :) We had splits together one time and we were just telling each other about our lives and he was like... "Oh cool, I had cousins that lived in PG a while back.. but they moved a long time ago.." And I was like "oh... :( well what was their name, maybe i´ll still know them.." and he was like.. "the Fields. Tanner Field." And I just about freaked. :) I was like "No Way!! Tanner Field is your cousin?? We were tight! " So anyways, I definitely know elder tenney! He´s the best!

   I do have an SD card with a bunch of awesome pictures. You´re gonna like em! :) I´ll send it home soon. I have a letter for Hermana Norton :) and one for Elder Thunell. I´ll send the card home with those. If you could resend the letters off to their recipients that would be great. I don´t have their addresses.

    Anyways, I gotta go. I love you all! Again, if you have written me a letter and have not received one back, SEAN PACIENTES, they will come. :)

Love you all again!

-Elder Norton

Try this refreshing snack ...

I'm pretty sure it's gonna catch on .... Probably at those BBQ or Seafood restaurants where the patrons are already wearing a bib

joanna

roaches, guitars and working out with street signs

This cucaraucha crawled up my leg.... 

... so I grabbed it through my pants, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it!

Elder Jones & me,  just doin our thing.. We´re kinda cool.

Elder Jones, playing guitar with an investigator on p day... while wearing a girl's hair band  :)

(I've always wondered what they did on P-day ... guess now I know - joanna)

"Estoy ocupada en una gran obra!" (I'm busy in a great work) Hlary's email

photo courtesy of travelsblog.net

   First, I love you all. I just stopped by the mission office and picked up my mail. A Dear Elder from Kenz and a Dear Elder from Caitlin! SO good to hear from my best friends. I love those girls. I'm so excited for Kenz. (Hilary's friend McKenzie Giles leaves Wednesday on a mission to Croatia) She's going to be awesome. And I about cried reading the letter from Caitlin. Those girls mean so much to me.

   I think I'm good on money. You probably know better than I do.  I don't think they use US stamps here. I only used those in the MTC with the reverse pouch. But I'll be sending some letters today and I'll just buy Ecuadorian/international stamps. Thanks for the info on the other things and thanks for delivering the gift to Kenz.

     Okay, things are good here. The week has been a roller coaster. There were moments when I missed my family so much but then reminded myself of President Hinckley's story about writing his dad about coming home. I kept saying to myself, "Forget yourself, and just go to work." Then there were other moments when I was so high on life. This work is so rewarding. People we meet with say the nicest things about how we're "sacrificing so much" but I don't feel like I am. I feel like I'm gaining so much more than I could possibly give. But I'm working on giving and giving in every moment. I'm trying to be exactly obedient because I'm realizing how important that is. I'm trying to forget about home and put my whole heart, might, mind and strength in the work. Hence the subject, "Estoy ocupada en una gran obra y no puedo ir." (Nehemiah 6:3) (I'm busy in a great work)

My companion is great. She is a great missionary. We're working hard and, on our own time, we laugh a lot.

     Okay, Friday was the baptism of G. It went very well. She's so strong. Her story is so amazing. I'll write it in a letter. We've been working with a less active family who is just awesome. Their hang-up is that they have soccer games on Sundays. Well, the other night we had a really awesome lesson with them and found out the mom (also, G.) was baptized when she was 13 but never confirmed! So, we're working with her to get her ready. She just can't really progress too far without.. attending church. Which she says she is sure she will not.... There has to be something else there, huh? We're working on uncovering her iceberg. So, this weekend I was fasting for her and we didn't make much progress with her, but another investigator attended church! So when we use the phones in the cabinas shops (because for a while we didn't have a phone) my comp would make the calls and I would talk to the man at the counter. He's so awesome. Anyway, Saturday night we were walking by his shop and I stopped in and invited him to church. Sunday morning, about ten minutes before the meetings ends, he walked in. I wanted to shout for joy, but that's not necessarily acceptable during sacrament meeting in the LDS church. But my heart was very full. He's doing really well. Turns out he actually lives in another branch :( thus we have to pass him along to some elders. un gran regalo, (a great gift) if you ask me. He's already read the book of mormon and is really receptive and doing really well. (His name is E.). Okay, so recently we've had a lot of appointments fall through and contacting is a little difficult because the people here are strict Catholics. But last night we were walking down the street to the home of a woman we'd visited once and a woman walking past us was crying. She looked at us and we reached out to her and she just hugged my companion and cried and cried on her shoulder. We walked with her back to her house and there worked with her and her daughter for a loooong time. They have both been working through some major trials and it has caused a lot of tension between them. Anyway, I feel like we were able to help and she just kept saying, "I was ready to just die and then I saw you guys and I know God sent you to me." Anyway, they've been very receptive and I feel like they're so ready for the gospel! In every way! (Salazar family)

     Mom. You rock. I'm so excited for our whole family to be speaking Spanish! keep going! Dad, I love you and I love receiving your emails! I hope things turn out in your calling. Tell me all about it, I can't wait to hear. Also, ASEA. And Romney.

     Mitch, thank you so much for your thoughts. I'm absolutely going to apply them. We need more references. That's a really hard part of the work. I'm going to use your suggestions tonight. I love you. Tell your wife happy belated birthday for me. When is your baby girl due?!?!?!?!?!

     Okay, I have to go. Thanks for everything.

Hermana Norton

This week in Spain ....

Running with the bulls!  ?

Spanish tradition says the true origin of this event began in North-eastern Spain during the early 14th century. While transporting cattle in order to sell at the market, men would attempt to speed the process by hurrying their cattle using tactics of fear and excitement.

Well, it's the 21st century now and we've come up with some better ways ... 

How about this?

Or this? 

Or even this? Remember Babe? Even he could herd animals without injury.

I'm not a member of the A.S.P.C.A. or P.E.T.A.  .... just a concerned citizen looking out for any stray missionaries that may have wandered into the wrong part of town. (Sam, please look both ways before crossing the street! love, mom)

Sunday worship in Huercal-Overa Spain

Sam sent us these photos of the little place where his branch gathers to worship. One of the great things about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the familiarity of our places of worship. It matters not whether there are 25 members, or 250, an L.D.S. chapel feels like home.

Mormon 9:9 9 For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in Him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?

Hilary in the mission field ... and photos!

Okay, hello everyone.

Thanks for all the emails. I love you all so much. I printed some this morning and was walking down the sidewalk reading them and just smiling and laughing. People were staring; then again, they always stare.

I love my zone. I love this work. It feels so good to be out in the field. We´re in an area called Santa Ana. It's so pretty. Green and hilly. Our apartment is up pretty high and we have a giant window with a gorgious view. You should google earth it. From our window we can see a giant statue of some virgin and also a huge basilica (which we visited today which was amazing!).

My companion is Hna. Rodriguez and she is great. She's funny and knows her way around and does a good job teaching. She is from Mexico.

Okay, I know I shouldn't be worrying about things at home, but I really need to know 1. What's the status with my car. 2. with my computer. and 3. Can you check my grades? go to byu.edu

Okay, so before I left the Lima CCM (mtc) I had to give a talk. It's nerve wracking because every week they give everyone a topic and then in sacrament meeting they announce who will speak. And I was called. It went well though. I've been complimented multiples times on my pronunciation and grammar... So, that's reassuring. I think it is obvious to some that I'm trying so hard to be grammatically correct and for that reason I talk somewhat slowly. But I know that when I work hard, Heavenly Father blesses me with the gift of tongues, as well as the gift of interpreting tongues (jaja because the people here speak so quickly and I am actually able to understand them.) That same Sunday, I had my farewell interview and the branch president told me that he wished I was staying in Peru and he hopes more Hermana Nortons come to the CCM. Haha I thought that was really sweet.

Okay, did you get my request for a package with scriptures? What's the update there? You could just order them online and have the shipping address be my address. If you have bought them already, and have yet to ship them, let me know because I have a couple other things I need. Thanks!

Okay, things in the field are going very well. Almost every day we eat lunch with a member family and they take such good care of us. We're so so blessed. We have a baptism set up for this Friday for a very special woman named G. This week, we're going to invite four people to be baptized. They're all very ready and I have really high hopes for them. Please pray for Y., A, F, and E.

I need to go, but I want to let you know that every day I'm out here I realize more and more of why I'm serving a mission. It's not just for the people of Quito or for me, but it's also especially for my children. Please look up the quote by President Hinckley about sister missionaries. Okay, I love you!

Hermana Norton

The quote below is the one Hilary was referring to. It is powerful! joanna

“Today many sisters are being called to serve. Many more are preparing to serve. Not because they aren't married or don't have anything else to do, but they have the desire to serve. One reason that the Lord wants more sisters to serve is because within the next generation He will send His priesthood army to the earth. He wants to send choice spirit children to mothers who have been prepared, properly trained, and taught in the gospel. What better schooling can a mother have than the experience and growth she gains through serving a mission.” --President Gordon B. Hinckley

"Yes mother, I can actually read minds! ... problem is their thoughts are in Spanish" (Sam)

BUENOS DÍAS! HASTA LUEGO.......

Hello to one and to all! I thought i´d start my email off like that cuz its something we hear quite a bit here. That, and also, ´´el numero que ha marcado, no se encuentra disponible en este momento´´.. or they purposefully gave us the wrong number. These Spaniards are tough! :) I´m just gonna say right up at the front that when you learn a new language, the old language that you had gets all jumbled up in your head so if I spell anything wrong or if something doesn´t make sense, blame it on the Spanish.

Yes mother, I can actually read minds! I thought it would prove helpful out here in the mission field.. the only problem is that I still can´t understand all of the Spanish that goes on here so even the thoughts that I do read, they don´t make sense. :) No but really, I knew I needed to write something more than I did. :) I´m happy that my quick message put you at ease. Both E. Jones and I had to come back anyways so it worked out.

Wowow! Love the updates on everything. Especially the missionary calls. If you hear about any others, please please let me know. I FINALLY got this letter from Jade Warburton. He had sent it to the Provo mtc and they had to ship it out here and I just barely got it this last zone conference. He told me he got his call and he´s serving in the Málaga mission! I¨m pumped! You probably remember but he graduated my year, was friends with Carson Wilde and Hunter Cannon and his cousin I think is Jake Warburton, Hil´s friend. I¨m super pumped.

P. is doing better but is still out of town, in a bigger town call Almeria. We haven´t heard much. We think the family thinks we were the start of the health problem........?? No sabemos porque... ya veremos! R. has been hard to contact as well. He has been legitimately busy this last little while but when he´s free he doesn´t make it happen. He´ll be baptized in the future. I know it. And he knows it too, he´s told us!! :/..... We´ll keep workin. I don´t have a ton of time.. I wish we had more, but we are really really hoping to baptise this girl named Y. this Saturday. She has known the church/Book of Mormon /everything is true for a long time but her parents are very against it... and controlling and everything. Understandable, she´s 16 so the parents have a right to be protective but they are being very overprotective and she is actually already living like a member. Nothing in her life will change till she is baptized. This is what we´re going to share with the parents tonight or tomorrow and we´ll go from there. Wish us luck! We also have these two awesome Colombian families who are actually friends that have fechas for the 21st. I really wish I could tell you guys the stories of everyone of these people but we just don´t have time. I still have to write President so i´m gonna have to finish up.

A couple things real quick, these are some notes I wrote down to remember to tell you... Jones told me I was sleep talking in Spanish one night. :) cool. I´m speaking this Sunday annnnnnd we´ve already spoken once.. small branch, you getta speak a lot! Woot! AHH our project! I wish I could write for 10 mins about our project. Just know we´re involving our members a ton with the investigators. :) We were talking to this Spaniard and she told us that my accent is better than my comps... oops. :/ hah Ah! We finally met President Deere and his family! They are phenomenal! I hope I get to write about them again later..

And I think thats all. I really gotta go. I love you all! Everything is better than great here! Know that I´m thinking about you every second of the day!

-Elder Norton

Feed my Llamas (Hilary's in the mission field)

HOLA everyone!

Our flight went well and Quito is BEAUTIFUL. So much more green than Lima. It is amazing and I love it. Our mission president and his wife are so sweet. Today we're at the mission home and tomorrow we have training and then get our assignments and leave around noon! I'm so happy to finally be able to really begin teaching REAL people. I don't know when I'll be able to have a p-day, but I have to tell you all about the last Saturday in Rimac proselyting.

Okay I should go! I love you all!

les amo mucho!

Hermana Hilary Norton

Happy 4th of July!

Hello mother!! and friends and family! Ha.. I guess i´m just a mammas boy..

The work is great in Huércal-Overa! This part of the Lords vineyard! We had a couple of pretty major bumps last week.. but todavia... the work is great!

As of early last week, P. started getting sick... she has had respiratory problems for most of her life due to her smoking but as of recently, she got very sick to the point where she wasn´t eating very much. It got really hard to stay in contact with her as well and we finally had to get in contact with her daughter who doesn´t live with her. She too had been worrying. Turns out, early thursday she went with her daughter to a hospital in almeria and has been there ever since. :/// So please pray for her.. We´ll see.

R. gave us a little surprise early last week. We were just going forward with our lessons.. and this day, we were talking about having the gift of the holy ghost and how we receive it at baptism. We started talking about his baptismal fecha, which was set for the 14th of this month and he stopped us and told us that he didn´t want to wait for the 14th. He wanted to do it this saturday.... So obviously we got really really excited and started moving forward with planning the baptism and the final interview and whatnot... BUT... between the next 2 days... an immense amount of doubt set in. We even warned him that satan would attack him with doubts and fears and to seguir adelante... or... keep going forward i guess is the translation.. but something happened. Something changed him. We think it may have been his mom.. or something he may have read... We don´t know. He told us he wanted to experience the world. We obviously had several more lessons with him where we just sat down and talked.. and i´m just gonna be honest.. we answered evvvery little question he had or doubt he brought up... or.... whatever.. but he was firm. That's why we think someone or something changed him. Not just his own mind. Anyways... rough... and we´re still trying to work with him... but the work moves on!! We have a bunch of new investigators and people coming to our english classes and the work is flourishing..........!

To answer your questions, most of the people we work with are our investigators, not ones that other missionaries worked with. And we are the only two missionaries in our area. I learned that at least in our mission, the missionaries are dispersed through the mission by amount of members in the cities, not by the amount of people in the cities. Usually the bigger cities have more members anyways but they missionaries are dispersed by amount of members and we only have like 24ish members.. hah nuestra ramita = our little branch.

Ahhh! I love the updates on everything! We´re already out of time here AGAIN... but its fine. I don´t have much else to say... other than.... its getting WICKED HOT here. It has hit 46 degrees here... I´ll let you all look that up in farenheit(sp) as some homework. Either way... Its hot. Also, a couple other things.. I bought myself a translater. Its awesome. Really look into getting one for Hil. Dictionaries are a mega pain to carry... so much to the point that we don´t carry them.. but we NEED a way to find and learn words... look into that one I sent you the name of. I bought a ´´Franklin Advanced Global Translater´´ and its good. Also, I got a letter from elder Thunell. I may have already told you. I´m going to write him back and send it home to you guys. then just give it their family or just mail it to wherever he is. Anyways... I think that's all. I love you! I hope the Fourth of July goes great there. Everything really is going awesome here. The church makes it soo easy for the missionaries. Honestly all we have to think about is eating, sleeping, preaching, and ironing our shirts. :) It really puts the pressure on us to do all we can. They make it so easy for us to work, if we don´t do it............. you can finish that sentence how you want to. I guess my.. invitation to all who read this is pray a little more, work a little longer, try a little harder to do your part in the missionary work where you are. ´´Lift where YOU stand´´ as Pres Uchdorf says. :) I love each of you! God be with you...

-Elder Norton