"The perfect recipe to receive an answer from God..." (Sam)

Good day!
   Wow..... i´m completely losing my english... YA.... I try to speak english to the other american missionaries in my district and zone and I can´t..... Haha está bien.. That baptism was a little kid in our ward. His whole family are converts and he just barely turned 8.  The family is still growing ..... so, the chicito asked me to baptize him. :) I was more than happy to do it. He´s the best!

   I got letter from Brother Erb the other day.... HE IS AWESOME. When we did that weeklong high adventure and we built that house on the Indian reservation Brother Erb had us all write a letter to ourselves about what we felt during the construction of the house. How it was so hard, but we pushed through... and why we pushed through. And then he told us he would send it to us 6 months into our missions. We all did it and the high adventure ended. Brother Erb and his wife got called on their mission to the czech (sp???) republic.. and we all kinda forgot about it... Well just a couple days ago, I got a letter from him and right there inside it was my letter to myself as well. It's so interesting how far I have come. It feels like NO TIME. It honestly feels like last week that I picked up my first books and packet in the Provo MTC... and I saw sister Howe and Wilson and Driggs and Grey..... and i´m ONE FOURTH DONE. The work is harder than I thought it would be, but it is also soo, so much more fulfilling than I thought it would be. What is more important? Nothing is more important. We are currently living ´´the plan of Salvation´´ that God made For Us in the beginning of time. What could matter more than helping EVERY PERSON you come in contact with fulfill their purpose on this earth, follow Jesus Christ and be baptized? I don´t want to waste one moment. I´m already 1/4 done. WOW. I pray to my Father in Heaven that I will have the desire to help every person come to Christ. I hope that you will have the same priorities.

   Don´t worry about the letter. I´m excited to get it! I´m writing letters to you guys! I don´t know if i´ll finish them today..... maybe next week but they´ll be coming! :) 

    HEY. What the happened with the US embassy and what not ........ everybody´s going loco. The two missionaries that were in Malia... the Spanish city that is in the morrocco side of the medeteranian (sp).... are here in Málaga temporarily because of whats going on... but we don´t really hear anything! Hook me up with the info!
   Wow! Mom, you had an awesome week! Super busy! I wanna hang out with you and do yoga! AHH lucky! :)

   Everything here is super great! The work is great! So many prepared people! And the members give us sooo much food! And its all super super good! Haha we have at least one eating cita every day.. Haha I have to keep working out and walking and playing soccer or i´m gonna engordar! :) I actually have not changed more than 3 pounds up or down since I entered provo mtc... and before that..... for like 4 years... My weight never changes.. cool!

   We have a lot more contact with President here in Málaga. In fact, quick story... I don´t have much time..... but anyways... Last week, there was a meeting in Fuengirola, the city where the mission home is about a half hour away from Málaga. This meeting was for all the district leaders only, so Elder Núñez was going to go but the night before the meeting President called us and talked to us specifically about a couple things he was thinking about.. I love that about President Deere, he doesn´t scold anyone, but he treats every situation with a lot of thought and consideration. That´s a characteristic that I want to gain. Be fully engaged in what I am doing, when I´m doing it, and who i´m doing it with. He´s awesome. So anyways, he called us with a couple things and then at the end of the call he asked me to come to the meeting as well and I am so grateful to President for giving me the chance to come. I really trust President I think he trusts me as well. I still don´t think I deserved to come but it was such an awesome meeting!

   Other story really quick. Last night we had this cita with the Argentine guy living here in Spain and it was in the house of these argentine members... super cool. I talked about Mitch and where he served but they didn´t live by there.. anyways.. right from the start they commented on my spanish.  I was super humbled by their compliments and then E Núñez put the cherry on top. While talking to this family, he compared my Spanish to two missionaries.. the first was a missionary who was AP and who finished last transfer... and the other was to the current AP... who has really good spanish......... O.o.... I had no idea what to say. I was extremely humbled and excited to hear that. I have been working really, really hard on my Spanish and I know that the Lord has blessed me with the ability to communicate so that the work can move forward here in Málaga. Anyways.. kinda fun. :) Keep learning back home! We´ll all speak together when Hilary and I come home!

   Anyways! That's all for now folks! Love you! The perfect recipe to receive an answer from God: Pray every morning and night! Read daily! Go to church every Sunday! And constantly be pondering your answer!

I love you!

-Elder Norton

         Summer of 2010 the Grovecreek 5th ward priests quorum chose to spend a week doing a service / humanitarian project in place of the typical Scout high adventure. Under the direction of their YM president, Bro Erb, and with the help of many others, they went down to southern Utah and built a house for a family of 6, in less than a week. The experience was filled with long hours, hard work, and many miracles AND was life changing for the boys! I am so grateful to Brother Alan Erb and ALL of the leaders who have taught and influenced my children. The pictures below show a glimpse of their adventure. --  Joanna