"…last thing she said was 'I'm so excited for my baptism!' " (Sam)

Hello! Good to hear from you. Thanks for always trying to send me the emails before I get on. I know its weird with my P-day on saturday but fyi I´ve received them in time every week so we´re good.

I cut my hear like right after I sent the last SD card.. hah so all the pictures you saw were before my hair cut. Its nice and short now.

After I emailed last week I remembered other things that I hadn´t told you about.. so this week you´re gonna a two week mix. :D

This week has been good. The normal people that we visit have been gone or busy this week so the few lessons that we usually teach are even fewer this week. Its alright. We have found (and preach my gospel says) that daily contact, even a phone call, text, or a little note will help maintain trust and a good relationship with investigators and members. We have very little time to proselyte but if (and when) we use it right, we see the fruits. For example, S and A  that were baptized. ALSO, an incredible woman from Iran that the Elders here in Fuengirola found. She´s from Iran, speaks persian and a little bit of english, has been studying Christianity for 12 years, moved to spain like 2 months ago, found the elders and immediately started coming to church and IS BEING BAPTIZED TOMORROW. Incredible. 

She is soo couragous and so so ready. I KNOW she has been prepared and desired to follow God´s plan before she came to earth. She just believes! Her name is G and president Deere is baptizing her. We started working with her a few  weeks ago because she doesn´t speak spanish and has been attending our branch for the last while. Plus she just knows people in our english branch and the members have really brought her in. She´s unreal. 

We´re excited and yesterday we met with her and the last thing she said was

 "I´m so excited for my baptism!" WOW

We got a new car this week. Like.. new new. Like, I-drove-it-off-the-lot new. Like it had 13 kilometers and basically zero gas cuz IT HAD NEVER BEEN USED..... I guess ever like 5 or 8 years each car is switched out and we were just lucky that we had the car when they switched it! Its an automatic too. Suuper weird change from driving stick for the last 9 months of my life.. I swung in, sat down, put my right foot on the brake, and my left foot on the............ nothing. :) hah also weird when it starts moving forward without you having to do anything! Woah! Technology...!

Last week basically all of these months of brainbusting overwhelming office work came to fruition when I found a huge mistake in the financial archives of the mission´s payment system... (if you don´t know anything about accounting like I didn´t before I came to the office this probably won´t make much sense to you... sorry). My job here is basically declare or ´´journal´´ (the term used to declare or report) all of the expenses (and ALL means ALL)(down to every penny that every missionary uses) of our mission. To shorten the story a little bit, we have a program in the office, made by the church, that allows me to make all 90 (or so) monthly rent payments for all the apartments in the mission just by clicks basically.. instead of going to the bank in person with written bank transfers or writing checks to each landlord. It makes my job a lot easier and a lot more effective time-wise. Turns out, these monthly payments have a programmed account code ("chart of accounts" accounting stuffs) attached to each payment that will in turn automatically "journal" or declare the money payed to its corresponding account. (those of you that just reread that last sentence to try to understand it better, don´t worry, just continue reading and pretend to understand.... :D) Well a huge chunk of these automatic payments had an incorrectly assigned account code... and month after month after month the payments were made to the landlord, but the money was declared in a wrong account. SSSOOoooo I went back month by month through every monthly payment from this year (cuz last year has already been closed out and you can´t really get back into it) and fixed (correction journals) anywhere between 6 and 18 payments, for each month, to their correct accounts.  It ended up being this huuge project that took the entire afternoon and evening and when I finished I turned around to my companion and was like.. Look! Look what i just did! And tried to explain the whole thing to him... and he gave me the same kind of confused face you guys had when you read about all the accounting stuff. Haha It was like he wanted to be proud of me but didn´t reeeeally get the whole picture... so I just said NVM and texted elder castillo who knows a lot about accounting. :) Elder Castillo is awesome. He has called himself to be the organizer and planner of celebrations. :P so he invited us over a couple nights later for dinner and made me an apple pie to celebrate my good work. :) Don´t worry mom! They´re taking good care of me!

One last thing before I gotta go. Today we went with the Castillos, the three fuengirola hermanas, and the other single office sister that got to our mission at the beginning of october to a city down the coast from malaga called Nerja. Elder Núñez is there right now with an Elder named Elder Allen who´s birthday is on monday. We went to some cool caverns at about 10 and then went to a brazilian meat place for lunch with the Nerja Elders for Elder Allens birthday. I´ll attach pictures of these caverns. Incredible!! You can look up "cueva de nerja".

Anyways, I think thats all I we gotta go. Transfers are in a week and a half and my replacement will get transfered here! We´re excited for him to come! I´m still really torn about leaving. I feel like I´m finally really in a groove and now their booting me! :S hah Ehh! Thats the mish!

Love you all! Give Hilary a huge hug for me!

Élder Norton

"I can´t speak or type in english.. I know what it says in spanish.. but I don´t know how it is in english or how to put it in english.... HA. FAIL." (Sam)

Elders Norton and Lyman in Malaga - up for the sunrise

Hello!

   Wow! So many changes! So much is going on right now! Like 20 missionaries go home this wednesday and I think 6 come in...... :\ So several areas are being closed.. I don´t know which but i´m sure they have to close several for a while. In Málaga, I´m staying and taking on the investigators and everything of the two companionships with my new comp that comes wednesday.. and his name is........ DRUM ROLL PLLLZZZ.......... Elder Hafen!!!

   I have met the kid a couple times and he´s a máquina! (your spanish homework for today) And everyone that talks about him says he rocks and that we´re gonna baptize a ton. :) Always like to hear those kinds of comments. And Núñez is going to San Fernando.. a city outside of Cádiz.. or how they prounounce it there in Cádiz.. Cáai. Yes, how you prounounced it right there is how they pronounce it. Their accent is absolutely terrible.. haha the way everyone explains their accent is that they ´´eat´´ the ends of the words.. or like the just don´t finish any of their words. So anyways! Maybe

I´ll get lucky enough to go there some day! :)

WOW. I´M OVER 8 MONTHS IN. You guys remember when we all went to eat at like cafe rio or something right before I went in??? And brother and sister jennings were there and Chad took a bunch of pictures of us??? Yeah, that was over 8 months ago. Woooah.

   Well anyways, everything is great! I have been working with both companionships here in Málaga to get to know all of the investigators so that when everyone leaves, I already have a relationship with everyone and its really fun! I love meeting people. We have a baptism this saturday!! M, I don´t know if you remember that name or if I´ve mentioned him, he´s an Argentine that Núñez and Long (the comp of Núñez before I got here) found. He´s a friend of a member that has been super floja... super.. almost inactive for the lack of a better explaination and it has been a huge blessing for both groups. The member and her son are activating and the son passes the sacrament every week (i´ll try to find a picture of the family).. and M is like 26, really chill, really creyente... or believing i guess.. and he is extremely smart. The other day he found the scripture in 3rd nefi chapter 16 that says...

1 And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have ^aother sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister. 2 For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them.

And in spanish the word for ´´land´´ is tierra which also means ´´earth´´... so anyways, he obviously had tons of questions and we had a fantastic talk about God, who he really is, what His purpose is, what he is doing and how he is doing it.. So anyways, He is really progressing and yesterday in church he was super involved in the classes and was answering a ton a questions. He´s awesome. He´ll be more awesome in all white..... WET.

   We´ve had a really hard time getting ahold of I again. She works a lot but we just need to teach her about el día de reposo, the sabboth day, and she will commit. She is amazing. L works Sundays but is trying to change that. She only has fridays off and this last friday we met with her in the capilla and set a pretty good fecha bautismal for the 5th of January. We´ll see how that goes. She needs to keep reading, praying, and find a way to come to church so that the Lord can really give her a firm answer. Pray with us!

   We´ve heard that almost all of the visas right now are held up...... :\ so a lot of missionaries are held up in Provo. The missionaries that are entering the mission field right now are all either natives or people from countries close by.

   I got a note from both R and P a little while back. I think I may have told you..  she is an amazing woman though. Let me know if you still need her address or if you got it with the letter she just sent.

  (I told Sam that Hilary prints off her emails in the morning, reads them, then gets back on the computer later in the day to write so that her computer time isn't used up reading, thats what he is referring to here) We could do that here with the emails and stuff. We could print them off to read, but.. i dunno. Guys don´t think that far ahead... :) haha just kidding. I´m gonna suggest that to hafen when he gets here. We´ll see what he says. I think the guys i´m with right now would just be like..... ehh! too much work! :) QUE BAGOS. P-day is lazy day I guess. Ha!

   Ahh! Squid Merryweather! If you see her again tell her HI! and yes, to write me! :) De hecho, I honestly wish I could make a list of every name that I want you to say hi to but it would take waay to long, so whenever you see someone that you know I know, tell them I say hi. :) Honestly, tell them, Hey! Sam---- Elder Norton say hi! :)

   I´m so happy and proud that you are loving piano. Piano doesn´t come fast for anyone. I still struggle with some hymns.... and ive been playing a LONG time. Haha.. just go poco a poco. Little by little. AND.. something very very important, is Play Songs You Like. Don´t just play to get better. Play And Enjoy. Thats what gave me drive to keep playing. I found a couple of songs that I knew from movies or what not and even though they were too hard at the time, I wanted to learn them soo bad that I pushed myself and spent more time than the ´´30 minutes´´ that was on the ´Jobs for Today´ list you´d make. :) Start paying attention to songs you hear and tell your teacher which ones you want to play and she´ll find copies at your level. THAT is how I got better. Playing songs that I liked.

   KEEP ME UPDATED ON STACIE AND HER CALL! WOW.

   Anyways, we gotta split. One other thing....... and I feel super super selfish and horribly childish for saying this.. I was talking to E. Lyman about the shirts you sent me a while back and how I sent that one back that had no front pocket and he turned to me and was like.... are you serious!? You sent it back??.. He was like... Those are the best for sundays! Plus you have your clip nametag the you can clip onto the collar... and I was like... you know what.. he´s right... so anyways, first off, sorry for sending it back.. Haha and second off, if you haven´t send the Christmas  stuff yet, if you could put that shirt without the pocket in there I would be endlessly grateful. Hah.. sorry. I love you!

   Its always so great to hear from you! I love you all and think about you all daily! I hope all is well and that you are happy! Just like Nefi says as he comes closer and closer to the end of his life that despite their afflictions, they had a happy way of life. (I can´t speak or type in english.. I know what it says in spanish.. but I don´t know how it is in english or how to put it in english.... HA. FAIL.

   I love you all! Don´t just read the scriptures, delight yourselves in the words of christ. Really study with a purpose!

-Elder Norton

"anyone reading this preparing for a mission, 3 things ...." (Sam)

click the link below for reality TV ... missionary style

¡Hola! ¡Buenas Días!
   I hope everything is well back in the states. The mission is the best! Its crazy and I love it!

   Things in Málaga are great. Elder Lyman, my comp, and Elder Phillips, Elder Núñez´s comp, are both dying (going home) the 6th of December.. so things are getting pretty weird around here. They want to spend alllll of pday just buying presents and souvenirs (sp) and whatnot.. and back at piso they are completely torn between talking about investigators and talking about their families and friends. Don´t judge them, its harder than you´d think. 2 YEARS WITHOUT YOUR FAMILY... and now they are soo close they and taste it. Its super interesting and almost hard for Núñez and me cuz at points we honestly feel like we´re going home too.... Hah but things are great. We´ve been working hard when we can, even though we´ve been sick lately. Lyman was sick when he got here to Málaga, he got better, then a couple weeks ago he got sick, and then I got sick with something else, and then we both got better and then he got sick with what I was sick with...... :\ kinda chungo.. but we work when we can!

   The Hondurans are doing well, L works in the house of this old man all week and its all they way on the other side of the city. She has fridays off and so we planned to meet in the capilla this past friday.. so we were waiting and waiting.. and finally we called her and it turns out she had been waiting in the house of the man where she works........ so she appologized and felt really bad for not coming. She realized that we had agreed to meet at the chruch for the lesson and she felt really bad.. so anyways, we´re gonna meet with her this friday. Hopfully she comes to the church this time. :)
 The Spanish woman I, is doing soo great! We called her saturday, early in the afternoon to see if we could pass by and visit one more time before sunday and she answered in a kinda hurried/busy voice for like the first 10 seconds of the phone call... and I was like...... uhhhhh.. so.. you can come to church tomorrow or you can´t?.. and she was like, "no no thats what i´m explaining! I was going to have to work sunday morning but I changed it to tonight so that I could come!!"...... and I just about lost it. :) I was so excited! She had changed her schedule at work and was working the saturday night cleaning shift at her work so that she could come with us to church the next day! :) So anyways, she came with two of her daughters and they all loved it! The two girls, 13 and 9, immediately found some friends, I don´t know if they knew them from school or what.... but they loved their classes and everything.. and I, was super attentive in Sacrament and really fit into the relief society. :) WE´RE EXCITED! We´re gonna set some baptismal dates this week!

   The District is the best! AHH I love it! Anyone reading this that is preparing for a mission, THREE THINGS... Book of Mormon. Preach My Gospel. & The District videos. :)
  
   We don´t know yet.... but we think that when Lyman and Phillips go home, Núñez will be transfered and I´ll get a new comp here. WE DON´T KNOW.... We´ll hear this week though. Núñez has one transfer more than I do here in Málaga so I personally think he´ll be leaving the 6th of december... If you want to send him something, you can send it to the mission home and he will get it no matter where he is.
   Ave Jesus santos reín 2,3 D-E
   29640 Fuengirola (Málaga)
   ESPAÑA
   You can still send my mail and packages to my Málaga address. Its pretty sure that I´ll stay.
   I did get your turkey/nerf package!!! We LOVE IT! Best idea ever!! Hahah and we loved your spanish directions! It get here last monday, right after we did emails. I think a lot of mail and stuff gets places on mondays.. just weekend buildup I guess.. but I always tell you I haven´t gotten stuff and then I get it later that day. :) sorry and yes we got it. Its awesome.

   The sd card i´m using is almost full. I deleted a bunch of pictures which opened up some room but whenever you can get that other one back here, that would be great. Thanks! :)

   Thanks for Hil´s and Eric´s info! I can´t believe he´s going to stinking FIJI!! Hah how awesome! I´m totally gonna write him! What an adventure! One thing i´ve realized lately is how different every mission is! We teach the same stuff everywhere but it is soooo much different in each mission. For example, here in Spain, there are constantly, constantly people on the streets. Almost always, with exception of medio dia, between 2 and 5 when everyone goes and eats and naps.. but other than that, from early early to late late they are people, families, ancianos, kids, buses cars, music, fútbol... always. So a lot of what we do, is our street image and talking and finding on the streets and stuff. We are constantly stopping people and talking to them right in the streets. :) Where as in the states, missionaries could walk for hours and get passed by 1000 cars and 8 people... which makes the entire work change. Its just so interesting the experience we have on the mission and I know that each missionary is given and will experience what the Lord has prepared for them. Anyways, kind of interesting.. THE MISH IS THE BEST.

   I´ll think if I want anything for Ty and them to bring.. I can´t think of anything. Plus, I and I know you and they will understand, but if they come they would need to drop it off at the mission office... cuz we aren´t supposed to receive visits from family or friends. Tell them thank you so much!

   Quick question... Are the sacramento kings now the LA Kings?? I saw a jersey the other day............... just wondering!
   Also, this awesome Ecuadorian family came up to us one Sunday and asked if we could come do FHE every Monday.. cuz they needed ´´help´´. :) Awesome Ecuadorians. So we´ve been going over there for 3 or 4 weeks now and they´re doing so well. I finally figured out what Hilary´s area was called and she was like ´´I lived there!´´ So anyways, she told me to tell you and HERMANA NORTON that she lived in the Imbabura Estaca in the Quinchuqui rama of the Otavalo Barrio. Something like that. She said her mother or sister is named R. I don´t know if Hil´s by there but the lady here is named N and J is her husband.

   Anyways, I gotta go! I love you all. I hope your Thanksgiving was great and I hope you ate as much as I did! :) We had a big zone specialized trainging that day and we ATE GOOD! :)
-Elder Norton
click here to watch "The District"

"WOW. What a miracle filled week!" (Sam)

Hello family and friends!

   WOW. What a miracle filled week! 9 NEW INVESTIGATORS this week. Wowowow. The Lord and his mysterious ways! :) We have been working and really been trying to make new goals and continue moving forward and this week the Lord opened one of the windows of heaven above us. I testify of the Reality and God´s love and blessings in our lives. When we work hard and are obedient, blessings come. Sometimes not right away.. for example last transfer was pretty long and we felt that we had very little success and right at the start of this transfer, the Lord blessed us with a bunch of new investigators. DON´T DOUBT THE LORD´S TIMING. Everything he does is for our BENIFIT. Doubting the Lord´s judgement is a fire that can quickly grow out of our control. Trust his judgement and humbly obey.

   Sadly, the Nigerian family I talked about has more or less dropped us... :\ they are very busy and are never home...Its basically that they are not keeping the commitments. :\ So anyways, we´ve received several awesome references lately from some members that are trying really hard to involve their friends in the church. Some names are R and L, several honduran friends of a member named N. Also, L, a bolivian friend of N. We met this awesome spaniard single mother of 4 that is super creyente and is super excited to listen to us. Her name is I.  We have this other investigator named P that is soo smart.. and he over thinks stuff sometime.. so pray for him. Anyways, thats how things are going right now. Things are awesome! We´re just trying to find the right balance between finding a ton of people to always be teaching and focusing enough on each person so that they arrive at the waters of baptism... really tough balance.

   Sooooooo it rained A TON saturday and sunday. A bunch of streets got super super flooded. Like SUPER flooded. haha like 4 or 5 inches above the gutters, all the way across the streets...... if you can imagine what i´m saying. Anyways it was alright, Elder Lyman was super sick that day so we ended up in piso all day anyways. :) He chose a good day to be sick! Hah

   Saturday and sunday were stake conference and it was awesome! Sunday we all got a bus and went out to Granada.. like an 1 and a half drive. The presidency was reorganized and it was absolutely amazing! The new president is this guy from switzerland that has been living here with his family for a while now and he speaks like 5 languages absolutely perfectly. Its kind of rididulous. I have said it before but I will learn more languages when I get home. For some people, math or science or art or whatever just clicks in their head... for me, I have learned here that languages just click! I have been learning a little portuguese and some  kechua (the dialect spoken in ecuador and several other south american countries like bolivia.. yes n and l taught me :)) and although I have no time to apply what I hear and learn, I would love to come home and immediately start to learn another language. Anyways.. whatever the Lord has in store, but those would be my hopes! :)

   Ok, a couple things...

  Adam, you are a boss! I´m still thinking.......... puedes darme una pista?¿?¿?¿ :)

  I got the letter with the photos of you and me, mom. Thanks for sending those, they´re perfect! Also, I got the letters from sister wilson and sister robley! Ahh so awesome! Tell them thank you!

  Do you know anything about Eric Schofield?? I thought about him the other day and was wondering if you fill me in. :) and Kevin Fonseca?? MISSION CALL BABY.

  Can you get Clay's address for me? That would be awesome. Also, Hil´s mission home address?

  How many postcards can I send to Ellery? I´ve sent one but I´m willing to send more... :)

  Papá, do you still have those Málaga references? If not no worries, I just need to know.

   Mamamadre! I have a couple things that I would love for Christmas.  Ties are always awesome. :) I need a good grey and a good brown... I need some other p-day shirts.. thats something that I could buy here. Oh, also, I would love christmas candy. The usual that we have at christmas.. :) like the mint tootsie suckers... AHHHH. I need a sweater.. a dark long sleeve orrrr.. a sweatervest would be cool too. The ones I have that I just didn´t bring would work perfectly. Also, please send 2 of those ´´mirror cubes´´ the rubiks cubes that are all the some color but change size as you turn them.. I have several on my dresser down in my room. I would like to give one to núñez for Christmas and I want one as well. :D Last thing.. ´´Barron´s ´Spanish Vocabulary´ second edition´´ its smaller.. and yellow and red and white. I already have the verbs one but that one would be awesome too!

   Anyways.. sorry thats super scrambled mom... HONESTLY, you know how hard it is for me to make christmas and birthday lists.. I´m not one to expect a ton so don´t feel like you need to send me a botrillion things. :) I am happy as can be! Thank you for always making me so happy. You are the best mom I could ever dream of.

   DAD. HOLE IN ONE. AHHHHHH. And even more important, 10 stinking meetings in ONE DAY. You are my HERO. One day I will be able to compete with you! :D

   Hey one last thing.. Will you update me on Trevor and his girlfriend and also Tanner and his girlfriend...? :)

   Thanks for everything! I love you all! Make a journal. It´s more important than we think!

-Elder Samuel Parker Norton

ps. ¡la ´THeta´ aqui en eTHpaña eTH lo mejor! ¡Que no THe burlen de la THeta!! :)

"When it comes to doctrine, I am learning principle by principle" (Sam)

Hello english speaking world!

   My english continually declines as I try to learn more spanish. And it doesn´t help that I´m living with english speakers and spanish speakers. Elder núñez basically doesn´t understand when we speak english cuz we talk so fast so we constantly changing between english and spanish. Haha its fun. I love the language though. I LOVE it. I will learn more languages when I get home.

  

 How are the states? We passed by this member's house about a week ago to pick up some food they made for us and they basically pulled is into their piso and sat us down on their couch and turn the news on...... we were like.. ´´Hermana, no podemos mira---......´´  basically all over the world, the USA news is as important as their own country´s. That´s one thing I was very very surprised about in the mission, is that what the USA does, effects EVERYONE. Everyone here in spain talks about obama and Romney and the elections and the wars we´re in and the hurricane that hit  Nueva York etc.... And I don´t even think its cuz we´re americans ... its just what the whole world talks about. The USA effects the entire world. So anyways, I would love an update on everything. We saw five minutes of spanish news (which was frankly hard to understand) and then we´ve heard 1000 stories being passed around about how many people died... and where.. and how etc. So I´d love a report.. Also, a report on what exactly happened in the middle east. We just keep hearing story after story and we don´t know whats true. ALSO... :) an update on the elections. One member told us like a week ago and Obama had already won....... and we were like.....uhhhhhmm, no. The elections don´t end till november..  its kinda funny. :)

   ANYWAYS... Things are great in Málaga! Lots of people. Lots of rain. Lots of wind. In fact, the weather took a huge turn recently. It was suuper hot in my last area but ever since I came here to Málaga the weather has cooled down to perfect temperatures for tracting and working. Recently, there as been a lot of rain and flooding though ( not in our piso... we live on the 13th floor so no worries :)). In other parts of Málaga and in cities nearby.. but yes mom, I have been using my coat quite a bit and its keepin me nice and cozy.

   Papá, to answer some of your questions... The mission is great. Really. Harder than I thought it would be. More rewarding than I thought it would be. And, I am learning more doctine, and overall church information than I ever thought I would. The language is fantastic. Just yesterday, my comp walked down the hall to use the restroom and I grabbed the cell phone to call a couple members... I finished up two or three phone calls, set down the phone, and then IT HIM ME. I looked back at the phone and basically yelped for joy. I had just finished three complete phone call conversations with people that don´t speak a lick of english... and I didn´t even have to think twice. :) Kinda fun moment. This transfer has been dedicated to vocabulary. I have lists on every single page of my agenda of words that I heard that day that I didn´t know. Every night after daily planning, I pull out my flash cards and I write the words I heard that day. You would be proud to see the words. :) Desamparar. Gusano. Lustrar. Colilla. Charco. Guiñar. And thats just the start! I love it! When it comes to doctrine, I am learning principle by principle, line upon line, precept upon precept. As I submit my will and my studies to the lord, he continually teaches me doctrine and gives me understanding. I know that if I keep looking and studying, the mysteries of the lord will be revealed to me. Thank you for your guidance and support. You always provide me with awesome nuggets of info. Here in the downtown city, yes, there is  poverty. Spain has a very high unemployment rate.  If you want to help, What I would prefer you did with the money  is give it as offerings to the church. There are many members, including some in Huércal-Overa, that are in dire need but don´t lose the sight of the importance of the gospel. Their priority was to be baptized. They never asked for any money from us despite the fact that they really needed it.. but now, as  members, they can receive help from the church through las ofrendas, the offerings we give. That´s where I would prefer the money went. :) THANK YOU TO ANYONE READING THIS!

   Okay, mamá... thank you so much for you words! I will continue writing even if the stuff might not be that important to others, just cuz I know its important to the fam. I feel like we are an extremely close family and even my dumb jokes and poor grammer can be enjoyed by you guys. and mom, I loved your little routine. Haha so great!

   I actually haven´t thought one second about Christmas stuff............ BUT I will start thinking. The packages you have sent all come quickly. I got the one with the piano music last monday after we got home from emailing. SO AWESOMMMME! Thank you! I´ll decide and let you know next week. Thanks.

  

   Anyways, YA ESTÁ. 2 quick favors....

1-Dad, remember the people you met when you came to...... Italy I think it was for asea... You said you met some people from Málaga... and you got their info. I heard it and thought.. well I probably won´t be in the Málaga area for a while so it can wait.... but then they transfered me here. haha so i´d love to go by their place and see them. A couple other possible baptisms because of ASEA. :) 

2-Elder Núñez wants to see the dollar coin, the 50c coin and a 2 dollar bill. I don´t know how hard they are to get but if you could get your hands on some you should send em out this way. He´d flip. He wants to move to the states after his mish and marry a blonde girl. :)

Welp, thats all folks. Till next time!

Love you!

-Elder Norton

"I can work hard but without His guidence I am nothing" (Sam) and PHOTOS!

R, Elder Nunez, D, Elder Norton

Goood Morning!

   Happy Monday and start of the new week. The best day of the week cuz we have 7 whole days to be productive and serve before the week ends. Or as one guy that doesn´t like mondays said, "monday is the best day cuz its the furthest day from next monday".... :) Ok!

   Things are great here. The wards here in Málaga are treating us too well. Tooo much food! Since there are 2 companionships now in our ward, they re-asked for people to make food for the missionaries.. so a bunch of people were like "yeah! we´d love to help!" So we have eating appointments everyday and a couple of days we have 2......... ¡me voy a engordar! :( hah just kidding.

   Yes, we, the four of us, are still all sleeping in the same room... its not too bad. We have AC so thats fine.. the problem is showering cuz we only have one bathroom and only a certain amount of hot water... haha so the first 2 and a half showers get hot water... We´re working on it. :)
   Elder Núñez´s comp is named Matt Phillips.. from SLC area.. Went to cottonwood heights. E. Núñez and E. Phillips are teaching M, Do and R. We had to do a lot of splitting of the area and members and less actives and stuff so we don´t get to visit them.. :\ its a bummer. We´ve seen each other on the streets a couple times and everythings fine. Do and R have come SO far. So far. When E. Núñez and his old comp met them they had zero faith. They had lost all of their faith. Now, they have such desires to serve and help. Do told Elder Núñez that he wants to help with the cleaning of the church! Future calling maybe! And AHH listen to this.. the Sunday after their baptism they came to the church for their confirmations.. cuz thats how you do it in the field, and we walked in with them and the first thing R said was... "ok so where are the little slips of paper to pay tithing.. i´m ready to give!" :D Sooo great!  They immediately accepted it as a commandment from God and R was almost in tears when we mentioned ´´voluntary offerings´´ that are used for the poor. So anyways, they're great. M is a lot quieter. She´s very willing to learn but she´s hard to read and get info out of.. so E. Núñez and Phillips haven´t been able to figure out why she didn´t want to get baptized yet..... :\ We´ll see.

   Our numbers have been down lately and they´re dragging my spirits down with them... Haha naa, its fine but we´re hitting a lot of walls right now so we´ve been working a LOT with the less actives. Its great cuz we´ve found several who were happy and willing to have us come by. We´re still in the beginning stages so we´ll see what happens.. but we´re crossing our fingers and praying hard that we can say what Heavenly Father wants us to say.. or find out what is holding them back from coming to church. My testimony is continually growing of how our loving Heavenly Father really knows us. We each have stories, difficulties, struggles, fears, problems... If we are in tune enough with the Spirit, we will get help... in fact, the help may come in the form of helping others with their struggles. God often answers the prayers of another through our genuine selfless service. Give more service. Christ gave HIS LIFE. We can give a little more.

   Mx is good. He´s hard to find to have a lesson with.. but he´s good. They pulled his tooth out like the day after we talked to him so its all good now.. the problem is the family is having some struggles and we can't go to their house.. so we have to teach him in other places.. and he lives in this little city outside of Málaga so we have to travel to get there.. anyways, its a work in progress. ONE DAY though
.
   You didn´t tell me you wrote P! I´m so happy to hear that! She had heard about the flooding in malaga a little while back and she was worried so she called us with the missionaries phone in Huércal-Overa.. haha so we talked on the phone for a minute. She´s great, just happy to hear my voice. I was happy to hear hers too!.. I miss the awesome Huércal-Overa people. BTW, they had to change the building they have church in cuz the one they were in was too small. :) There were  11 people baptized in 2 transfers.... HA! Their total number went from like.. 27ish to almost 40! Wooop!


  Hah! The pictures... ok real quick... 

On the way to a member's wedding

the bat, it was a dead bat we found in the street one day and E. Jones wanted to pick it up...... LOCO. 

The "red ties" wedding? Just some newer member's wedding held at the church......... 



The swim pool was at this awesome house of these brazilian members that live way, way away from the city. We ate there one day and we just about died. Their house is amazing

   
   Crrrrreepy bear (found by the trash).... Haha no comment.
(pictured in a recent post)




The grapes were all growing in this indoor garden area of María´s house in Huércal-Overa.. So cool! I want to grow grape vines when I get home.

   
  


 #4!!!! ?  Haha, no idea..  Elder Núñez loves the number four... its just a ´´tick´´ of his... kind of like adam and dirt.... Not sure why ... he just likes it. :)

   WOW. Parker is home. WOWOWOW. So weird. And I almost have 7 months in the MISSION. Ahhhhhh. Weird. Well... I guess I just gotta keep workin hard. :) I don´t want to waste any time doing nothing.

Pray with me that our Father guides our steps and our words. I can work hard but without His guidance I am nothing. Anyways, I gotta go! I love you all!

 Don´t take anything for granted. We are SOO blessed. Count (some of) your blessings today. You won´t be able to count them all but try. BYE!
Love you again!
-Elder Norton

Happy Monday from ESPAÑA! (Sam)

Happy Monday from ESPAÑA!

   Wow. Things could not be better! So much going on in the mission its crazy! I think I may have mentioned it last week but I can´t remember so I´m gonna say it again. The transfer ended yesterday and this transfer Elder Núñez and I are getting new comps.......!!!!!!! Wow! Its crazy! We´re both staying in our area and we´re both getting new comps! We´re gonna have four elders in our piso. I´M PUMPED. My new comp is named Elder Lyman and he gets here tomorrow so I still don´t know him. We haven´t completely decided what we are going to do but we´re thinking about splitting the area exactly in two and then just going to work... then again, Elder Lyman and I may end up working in a pueblo just outside of Málaga thats called Torre Molinos.. ooorrrrr we may just not split anything and just work together in one big area. We haven´t decided yet and I don´t think we will until we´re with the newbies that are coming. We´ll see!

   We haven´t talked or visited Mx since last week............. and he didn´t come to chruch....... :( but he told us in the middle of the week that he was sick so we´re thinking thats why. No worries. That guy read all of 1st Nephi after the first visit that we had with him and by the third he was done with 2nd Nephi.... . Its only a matter of time ..... :D. He lives a ways away and its kinda hard for us to visit him cuz we don´t have a car.. thats another reason my comp and I might just travel out there every day.. We´ll see. Do., R, and M are awesome!! They had a poor experience in church and then didn´t end up coming this week but they are progressing and learning and growing soo much. They have kids and were worried that their kids were going to be making too much noise in church and then when they got there, they sat in the back and all the other little kids and the whole ward was making more noise than they expected (just cuz its a ward full of mormons.. sorry.. we have a lot of kids..) and they couldn´t hear much of anything... :\ but they were super cool about it. E. Núñez and I knew they hadn´t really enjoyed church so we were going to just let the topic settle and not talk about it but basically right when we got there they opened the conversation up and were like.. hey! we´re gonna be honest.. we didn't really enjoy church.... there was too much noise! Haha... We´ll see. I have seen that people come to a point where the gospel begins to fill wholes and challenges in their lives.. so much so that there is little to nothing that can take them away from it. They see and feel and come to know the necessity of it in their lives and it only becomes a matter of time before they choose baptism. Not to say that Elder Núñez and I are going to let up, just saying that they are doing well, seeing the importance, learning, and keeping their commitments. The baptismal fechas for Mx, Do, R, and M are all for the 13th of Oct and everything's looking good. 

   Mom, to answer your questions... Everyone is safe and well in the mission. It rained for a day and half where we are and...... not anymore. :) Yeah there´s been some flooding in Spain but nothing for us. P-day was great. We (Elders Núñez, triana, geest, bailey, jones, pallas, forrest, neira, and I) went on a hike with a girl in one of the Málaga wards thats thinking about a mission. Kinda cool. I was telling her about Hil.. and how she didn´t know if she was gonna serve and that she´s out there baptizing the world right now.. :) We came back to Málaga and found M in the street and started talking. All is well. The ward(s) are are awesome! We´re serving in the 2nd ward but the 1st ward attends our building as well and so we meet both wards. A lot of the members that pertenecen............. are in our boundries... go to the other ward.... I don´t know why..  but we´re trying to get it all figured out.. We eat at our bishops house every other saturday. He's awesome. He loves music and he asked me to help him put this song that he made up onto sheet music. Service hours! :) We´ll see how that goes! Tell Sister Erekson thanks again. REALLY, she´s awesome. The youth here are awesome! Most/basically all are from barrio 1 buts its ok. I play piano in Priesthood and I am growing to love the piano more and more. I took it for granted at home. I love to just sit down and play now. btw, next package, I would love a copy of ´´waterfall´´ and ´´all of me´´ from the jon schmit book. Thanks. We don´t teach lessons during church hours like we did in HO.. I kinda liked that cuz we could teach to our investigators needs.. but no problem. Anyways.. thats all for now. I have letters for the fam that I haven´t sent yet. THE MISH IS CRAZY. Sorry. Ask people to write me! :D Thats all from me! 

Love you all!  BYE.
-Elder Norton

"Slooooow down now.. ¿tranquilízate vale?" & photos (Sam)

Malaga's cathedral is popularly known as "la manquita", the little one-armed lady, in reference to the fact that its second tower was never completed.

Waz up wazz up??

   I don´t have a lot of time today because I wrote Hermana Norton a good fat email. She has more time on the computer now and we almost haven´t talked at all yet in our missions so I felt that it was necessary.

   WOW. So much going on back at home. So much traveling and fun. I don´t know if I´m just imagining it or what.. but it seems like you guys are traveling a tonnnnnnnnn now that Hil and I are gone.... :) no no.. its ok.. I get it........ :D

   Wow, Mom, I loved your thought about the words ´bind´ and ´bound´. We have read it a thousand times but wow.. it makes more sense the way it was put in your email... ´´we can bind the Lord...by obedience...´´. sometimes we doubt and feel like we don´t deserve blessings but I have seen SO MANY miracles here in the mission with just being obedient. Example... we plan for the day and we plan a ´´miracle lesson´´ during an hour when we don´t have anything.. we work so hard alll day, all all day.. and we end up with that miracle lesson and an awwwesome new investigator that told us..."I would like to join this congregation.........." WOW. We did our part, SO the Lord did His.

   Tell Annika Jaccard congrats on first runner up! Thats so awesome!

   YESSSSSS. R´s other sister and mother were baptized!! And the other couple that were on the blog from Huércal-Overa, Elder Jones and I taught them too. :D AHHHH

   Tell Adam I´m proud of him. Whether he´s proud of himself or not, I´m proud of him. AND I GOT HIS LETTER. I LOVE HIS LETTERS SOO MUCH!

   Asea is going well... go figure. :) So you guys know, when I come home, I´m gonna learn 3 more languages and then help Asea extend further into those countries. :) mark my words!!! Keep me updated on Matthew Peters please. If their family says anything to you I would love to hear it. :)

   Next time you see Brother Walkenhorst, tell him I say hello! Also, please try to get the Parsons address for me. I´d love to write them a letter.

   We set 4 awesome baptismal dates this last saturday. Elder Núñez and I did splits with the two elder serving in melia (they are here visiting Málaga for safety precausions). So Elder Núñez went with Elder Jones (a different elder jones) and they ended up setting this fecha with this argentine guy, Mx... SUPER AWESOME. basically gonna get baptised without a doubt.. :) and Elder Bailey and I went to other citas and we set 3 fechas with this awesome family and this lady that lives there too. Do. is from ecuador and his wife is from paraguay and they have two kids, a little boy (4) and a little girl (2). M, this lady from ecuador, lives with them and came out of her room one of the first days we were there and listened for like 5 minutes and then ended up saying the closing prayer... so awesome! So elder Bailey and I ended up setting fechas with them three for the 13th of october as well. Mx´s fecha is for the same day. We´re super excited!

   This is the last week of the transfer. ALREADY. My third transfer in the field ends this week! WOW. And in 4 days I FINISH THE FIRST FOURTH OF MY MISSION. Wow, its going too fast. Slooooow down now.. ¿tranquilízate vale? But anyways, so this friday we will find out if one of us is leaving or if we´re both staying or what.. this is only Núñez´s second transfer here so we don´t think either of us will go but we´ll see. We´re gonna have a bunch of baptizms this next transfer so pray with us that we stay together! :)

  Anyways, family and friends, I love you all! Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Go reread the introduction to the book of Mormon and the testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. Then ask in faith to your Father in heaven to reassure and re-edify your testimony of Joseph Smith. His role is so so important in the fullness of the Gospel. Then, listen. Listen closely. And Continue listening and watching UNTIL you receive an answer. Because God will NEVER leave a question unanswered. And then don´t forget to write me and tell me what you learned. :) I love emails and letters!

   Gotta go! Love you!

-Elder Norton

"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

"tune in next week to 'the many milagros that the Lord pours down upon His people' " (Sam)

Hello to one and all. Elder Norton callin´ in from DOWNTOWN MÁLAGA.

   Wow! What a great week! We worked soo so hard this week and we know we are eventually going to reap what we have sown. Everytime I have a chance to sit down and talk with one of God´s children here, I am reminded of his unending love for each and every one of His kids. Its soo dificult because there are soo many people and so many distractions in the world but those that give us a minute and are willing to listen to the spirit of God, Really Feel His Love. I testify that We Can Too. Sometimes we forget how much God wants to bless us. He is waiting with open arms. All we have to do is Pray regularly and ask Him for guidence, Read and Study thoroughly in the scriptures, and Go to church Seeking inspiration. He will answer and guide us if we are constantly looking.

   Hey, I loved the update on everything! Sounds like all three of you are suuper busy with everything. I reeaally want an update from Adam about Jr. High. EMAIL ME  <3 YOU. :) Mom´s workin in the temple learnin spanish and piano! Wooop! And papa is as busy as ever with IBM, ASEA, and the new calling. Soo good to hear!

   AHH! P is the best! Definitely write her back (one because its good practice for your spanish :) and two because she will love that). And she loves, loves music. The restoration movie that we use as missionaries is her absolute favorite and she turns on the part where Joseph has the first vision and the music is.... Oh how lovely was the morning... she turns it on full blast and just dies listening to it. So if you want to send her something, send her cds or dvds with spanish choir music or the hymns in spanish. AHH that would be awesome. You rock!

   Btw, Huercal Overa update that I got today from Elder Jones... Two saturdays ago Ru. and Pr got baptized, last saturday Pr's mom got baptized, and in the upcoming week or two, there will be at least two more baptisms of people that elder jones and I taught!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D Soo awesome! That branch is lighting up! WOOP!

   Here in the city I feel a huge huge difference in the work. Its super tough cuz city people live a completely different life than town people. Everyone is in a hurry, constantly doing something or earning money or losing money.. Hah.. not to mention the fact that we walk and walk and walk and then if an appointment fails us we´ve wasted all that time.. :/ in Huercal-Overa we were always by 2 or 3 or 5 investigators and you´d constantly be seeing the same people all across the town cuz its so small. In Málaga we can look diligently for a family of 5 for 2 weeks and not see one of them. Haha but we really are getting super close with a bunch of people. This girl named Me. from Honduras and her boyfriend who is a less active from a long time ago are getting married super soon and right after she wants to get baptized.  This family of 4, parents, a 4 year old boy and a 3 year old girl are progressing soo much. The boy is autistic and the parents worry so so much about coming to church with him but last night we had an awwesome lesson with them. And this Ecuadorian lady that is living with them came out of her room and listened to us too. She´s awwwesome! She listened to the last like 5 minutes and then decided to say the closing prayer. AHH. milagros milagros milagros! We have this dope guy from Ghana named A. He speaks english and spanish and is muslum but he is listening to us and he is so great! He believes strongly in the koran (sp) but is reading a little in the Book of Mormon and is like... "did you guys know that the Book of Mormon and the koran say a lot of the same stuff?? "  :) We watched this awesome movie about Christs life and the miracles He did and we asked A to pray to find out if Christ really is the Son of God or only a prophet (which is what they believe) and he told us over the phone that he has something to tell us next time we talk. We´re pumped!

   Anyways, thats the update right now of the work here in Málaga. Now for a couple random things that happened or I realized...... :)

-My same model of car, VW Golf, is ALL OVER THE PLACE IN SPAIN. Here in Málaga we counted how many times we saw my car in one hour.... 13 times in one hour. Thats an average of one sighting every 4 mins and 30 seconds........... lo echo de menos.. :)

-My camera works. No stress there.

-I got the package that was sent to HuercalOvera. AWESOME. Thank you so much.

-Next time you send a package, whenever, no rush, please send dill pickle flavored spits sunflower seeds, :) and my black skinny tie with little white dots. Thanks!

-Dad, Please send me those names of people you met in italy that you said live in Málaga... or nearby... they are perfect future investigators or references for other missionaries. Thank yuuh!

-Adam, you would be proud. 3 of my first 4 companions have learned how to do the Rubik´s cube. E. Nuñez finish the cube for the first time on his own two days ago. :) Aaaand we were at this member's house the other day that they pulled out a deck of cards and I threw down so DOPE MAGIC TRICKS. No tenían palabras... no sabían que decir. :D (>´´)> Aand we played some soccer the other day and I was kind of a wall in the goalie box.. and I had a sweet goal off a volley. Sorry, had to toot my horn there for a sec. I hope your proud of me, Lil bro! :)

   Anyways... thats all for now folks! Hope you tune in next week to ´´the many milagros that the Lord pours down upon his people´´ :)

I love you! Pray for me and I´ll pray for you! AHHH I´M ALMOST 1/4 DONE. WOW.

-Elder Norton