"I know it without a doubt" (Hilary)

Hi all! Hope everyone is doing well! So fun to hear from everyone!! Also I love seeing pictures! Thanks for keeping me in mind! Lots of missionaries mention that there is a time during the mission that people forget to write them, but luckily I have been blessed with the greatest family and friends that never forget to write.

The week went well. We did a lot for the assignment, which is cool. It is always neat to know that when something is going wrong, people turn to us for help. Also that President trusts us. I really feel grateful to have this assignment. My companions are doing well. They have been such a huge blessing to me at this time. I really love them with all my heart and I am seriously going to miss them.

I just finished the Book of Mormon and, as I do every time I read it, kneeled in prayer afterward to confirm my testimony of the truthfulness of the book. It was a really special experience for me that I will never forget and I am very grateful for the challenge we were given to read the Book of Mormon in less than 90 days. It helps us to grow closer to Christ, strengthens us to understand our purpose in life and our duties, and motivates personal repentance. It definitely builds my testimony that this is the true church. 

I know it without a doubt. 

I have always loved verses 32 and 33 of Moroni 10 :

32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him,

and deny yourselves of all ungodliness;

and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness,

and love God with all your might, mind and strength,

then is his grace sufficient for you,

hat by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ;

and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ,

ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ,

and deny not his power,

then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God,

through the shedding of the blood of Christ,

which is in the covenant of the Father

unto the remission of your sins,

that ye become holy, without spot.

And I always love the phrase that says that if we serve Him with all of our might, mind and strength, THEN is His grace sufficient for us. I have a firm testimony that even after doing ALL we possibly can, the only thing that could save us is His grace and mercy (2 Nephi 25:23 is one of my all time favorite scriptures).

23 For we labor diligently to write,

to persuade our children, and also our brethren,

to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God;

for we know that it is by grace that we are saved,

after all we can do.

It is a humbling acknowledgment and it makes my gratitude grow everytime I ponder on His saving Atonement. I know I am very weak. But I also know that when I do my part, my Heavenly Father is willing to give me strength and save me.

Got a letter from Sam this week! TE QUIERO. Te voy a escribir muy pronto. Cuando yo ya esté en casita.

Dad, I got your email last week. Thank you so much. It was really encouraging and motivating for me. Thank you so much. I think with the housing, I will just ask for your help when I get back. Is that okay?? I have a feeling there will still be opportunities.

Okay, I think that is all for now. Write me if there is something else! I am on for another half hour.

Love you all! Hermana Norton.

P.s. Mitch mentioned that finishing the mission "should be like Olympic runners... As they approach the finish line they SPEED UP instead of slowing down. Not only that but the LEAN FORWARD dedicating themselves even more to winning. My philosophy is if you don't finish your mission EXHAUSTED you probably did something wrong haha." I love that and I am speeding up right now.

 Love you!

Are you curious about the Book of Mormon? Click HERE for a free copy

" Faith is knowing that the Lord will hear my prayers each time I pray" (Hilary)

Hi everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you had a great week! It flew by so quickly, didn't it? I don't think time has ever moved so quickly.

We had an amazing week. I am loving my mission so much. We have been working really hard, focusing on doing the "best" things and making the "best" decisions. I don't think I have been happier in the mission or more in love with what I am doing. I really feel privileged to be serving.

We had quite a few appointments during the week and have been finding new people. Saturday and Sunday we fasted and saw the blessing Sunday. Many of our investigators attended church Sunday and they are doing really well.

G will be baptized this Saturday and she is looking forward to it. She is very involved in the Catholic church and was a little hesitant at first to accept the baptismal invitation. But after attending conference and reading the Book of Mormon, she has received a witness of the truth. She was inviting everyone at church to her baptism.

The other day knocking doors we found a family of members that recently arrived from Spain. They had gone less active in Spain and moved here and not taken the time to look for the church. We got them excited to come back to church and the daughter will be baptized in May. Her dad is looking forward to reactivating his family. Yesterday he was interviewed by the bishop to work out how he will be worthy to baptize his daughter. The ward did an excellent job of accepting them.

Another investigator that attended church yesterday is named M. He is a very difficult, hard-headed person who has not been good to his wife (who is a less-active member). They came to church yesterday and had a really interesting, positive experience. I know he will be baptized. If I am not here for it I hope to be able to return for the day they get sealed. He really wants to change. I love their family.

Okay, what else.

Yesterday was also great because we gave talks and afterward our stake president and his counselor complimented me on my talk. It was cool because I really respect them a lot and felt good about how it turned out. I talked about the Atonement and its relationship with the obra misional (missionary work) and afterward many members offered to help us. It was really cool. Sundays are usually super stressful during the mission, but yesterday was awesome.

Okay, I love you all. Hope Adam is doing well. What are Mitch and Jen up to? I think about them so much. I hope they are well. I love you Dad. Love you Mom. Love you all! Thanks for all the support.

Hermana Norton

"Don't let His suffering and death go in vain" (Sam)

HELLO FAMILIA,

   Woooah! Whole new look at the mission. Loving having my "child" or trainee and enjoying DL so far. I love working with people and being able to work with people and serve people and although no one has to wait till you have a calling to serve someone, I feel almost like a greater desire or a right or something to be able to serve the district. :) I´m excited.

   My new companion is awesome! His name´s Elder Larios and he´s from California. His mom´s from Mexico and his dad is from El Salvador so they speak spanish in their home. Its great to have a companion that speaks BOTH languages PERFECTLY. :) It takes a little load off your back. We are teaching well together and actually finding a lot of great people to work with. We are helping the Gospel to become part of these people´s lives and that is what I love. We were working with two investigators the other day, E and F, with a member there as well. They (investigators) said.. "We feel weird now when we don´t pray before bed or when we´re not in church on Sunday. I often find myself just reading the Book of Mormon now."  :D Soo great! F has a fecha for the 21 of april. He´s rreeeeeally looking for his answer. Pray for him. and E please.

   I sent the memory card home. Sorry it took so long.

   We are loving the area and the car! We were playing basketball and soccer today in the stake center in Sevilla with a bunch of elders and when we finished up we all walked outside and everyone started walking away and we got in our car......... O.o :D so great! We sat down and my comp was like... "We´re so blessed to have a car"  :) and then we high fived. Hahah  and Aljarafe actually has very little south americans or people from other countries. Its almost aaaaall Spanish and I love it. You just have live their culture. You have to live it and eat it and speak it. :) Its fun.

   Thanks everyone for your emails and whatnot. Love hearing from you all. I will write you all back!

   ADAM. Keep tearin it up on the court or on the field or whereever you are. :).. but don´t tear it up when you read the scriptures..... you´d really regret that later. :)

   I´m good on camera cards mom. The camera I have only takes the little ´´mini´´ cards and I have a converter thing so I'm good. For example, I moved all the photos and videos from the little mini card to the card that I sent home to you guys no problem so we´re good.

   Anyways, its been short and swe...... not even that sweet. :) Love you all!

   Don´t forget, this week especially, that Jesus Christ, 

your older brother, died for you. 

Don´t let His suffering and death go in vain. 

Spend a little more time on your knees tonight to demonstrate your gratitude and to ponder on the things the Atonement can change for you. 
Repentance is Change. Change every day.

-Elder Norton

Watch this beautiful EASTER message    

"The Only Reason that we do not progress or learn something new EVERY DAY, is because WE have chosen not to... or because WE have missed our daily lesson" (Sam)

Hello, the church is true!

   Things here in Sevilla are going well! The zone leaders here had been working in their area and in our area and so when we got here we already had several people to work with. It was really nice. And the Lord has blessed us a ton with interested families and creyente (believing or faithful) people. I really like Sevilla.

    Sevilla is huge! Its the biggest area in our mission.. and the only way you can get around here is my bus.. Sometimes we walk to citas but the capilla for example is on the other side of the city.. hah so we have to take a 40 minute city bus ride and then walk five minutes to get to the capilla.. kinda chungo. This area is a lot like Malaga just cuz its big. Alcoy was kinda like Huercal overa cuz it was small but it was full of spaniards instead of south americans.. I like sevilla a lot.

   Elder Martínez grew up in the states. His father passed away when Elder Martínez was 13.. so thats bascially when he stopped speaking spanish.. Its getting a lot better though! He is amazing. He is a convert as of a year and a half ago..... WOW. so his testimony is so new and so powerful! When he speaks about his life and how the missionaries found him (5 minutes after he had prayed for God to send them), it brings the spirit so strongly... so strongly at times that I don´t want to try to keep teaching cuz its gonna break the mood....... I just feel the spirit so much and I just wanna say...... ´´¡A LA PILA BAUTISMAL, VÁMANOS!´´ (to the baptismal font! lets go!) Haha he's a really good guy. Learning, like everyone, and a really great guy.

   Mission calls! I love hearing about mission calls! The church is so true! :) ¡QUE NO TENGAMOS MIEDO DE NADA! ¡PREDIQUEMOS EL EVANGELIO! Keep the updates coming please.

   Mom! I´m excited for you and your spanish classes! Even though you only have one class a week, be constantly thinking about spanish. ALWAYS have a little pad of paper or somewhere in your iPhone to write down english words you don´t know, spanish words that you hear, or new definitions you hear. And then impliment those words into your life... even if you end up saying a weird irrelevant sentance just to practice a word.. :) I do it all the time!.......... Hoy, quiero comer....... GUSANOS! :) por ejemplo.... keep going! Don´t stop studying! And learn with adam as well!

   I´m happy to hear that all is going well in your new calling. The spirit is an interesting teacher. I have found that when I don´t listen to his promptings he stops giving them to me. And when I do, even if it doesn´t result to anything, he is more willing to trust me with promptings that DO result in something...... :) The spirit rocks! I am also convinced that The Only Reason that we do not progress or learn something new EVERY DAY, is because WE have chosen not to... or because WE have missed our daily lesson. This is a life of learning, change, and repentance (which is change). God gives us daily opportunities to expand our understanding THROUGH EXPERIENCE, to deepen our trust and faith THROUGH TRIALS, etc. The list is endless and IT IS ALL DEPENDANT ON US......... he is waiting, arms open... we just need to listen and learn daily. The question... ´´Have I changed today?´´........ I have learned to LOVE questions on my mission. Questions are a much much better way to teach than by talking. I would endeavor to say that questions are a better way to teach than teaching is to teach....... does that make sense?? When someone makes their own realization about something, THAT is what is going to stick with them.. not what you have said to them.... "Have you changed TODAY?" THAT is how we use the atonement.

 I have pictures.. I´ll send the card next letter.

   Hey, gotta go. Tell EVERYONE I say hi! De verdad! I wish I could say hi to everyone! but I can´t so you´ll have to do it for me. :)

-Elder Norton