"Ha! I need a good humility slap right now ..." (Sam)

HERE COMES THE SUN!

   Hello! We´ve got some cool news this week!

   The transfer ended yesterday and president told us we are getting another elder in our ward. Elder Vergara. He is colombian, has about 6ish months in the mission I think, and he is coming from the ward in Huércal-Overa! My first area! It´ll be super fun to be able to catch up on everything going on there.

Other news.............. Three people in Alcoy that Elder Pascua and I taught FINALLY got baptized! :D Sooooo good to hear! A girl named J from Ecuador ... her mom wouldn´t let her get baptized for a loooong time... but because of her diligence and prayers and a fast that she did, her mom finally said yes. :)  And a father and son from Bolivia. The mom was less active and she got reactivated when her husband and son were baptized. :) YAAY.

   It hit 95º the other day here in the pueblos of Sevilla. Sevilla is by far the hottest part of the mission. I don´t know about the rest of Spain but I wouldn´t be surprised if it was the hottest place in the country. It gets up to 50º celcius. Go look that up for some clean internet fun..... :)

Hmmm, I'm not sure I'm as proud of this photo as he is

Oh haha, that picture of the car? YEAH. Welcome to spain. In three weeks, I learned to drive stick, in a busy european country, and parallel park like that. :) Ha! I need a good humility slap right now....... put that picture on the blog though, I wanna see it again. :) Thanks!

   I´m gonna get the passport pictures, the photocopy of the front and back of the drivers licence and the mission office address today, and send it all to you in a letter. Elder Larios has learned how to drive and has his own permit and stuff so its not urgent urgent. When you get the letter just get it done when you can and then send it to me. Thanks mama!

  Thats funny that Ryan Fonseca got his call to Madrid! he´s gonna have the true spanish zeta!! :)

   Hey i´m running out of time. We had a good week. We have three very solid investigators ... Each has their own situation ... working towards baptism. They will all be baptized... just with time. We´re just trying to balance our work between supporting them and keeping them excited about being baptized one day and finding new stable investigators. Pray for them please! :)

   I love you all! Write me letters! My new address is

c/ Convento #42, 3ªA

41950, Castilleja Cuesta (Sevilla)

ESPAÑA

   we are living in the same building complex.. just a different apartment. We already moved........ hah they gave us like 4 days of notice... ITS A GOOD THING WE´RE MISSIONARIES OF JESUS CHRIST AND WE´VE BEEN DEVELOPING THE CHRISTLIKE ATTRIBUTES OF PATIENCE AND LONG SUFFERING........ :) just kidding... hahah

Love you all! SEE you soon! MOTHER´S DAY IS THE BEST.

-Elder Norton

"I didn´t hear, THANKS TO MY DEEP SLEEPING, but my comp didn´t sleep a wink." (Sam)

Hello family and friends!

   What an awesome week! I hope you all had an enjoyable week and Easter as well.

   What´s new here in Spain and the mission field?? President visited our zone last week and we had an awesome meeting with the zones combined. I asked to translate.. :) which I ended up kind of shooting myself in the foot. I thought I was just going to translate Hermana Deere´s talk into Spanish for the natives here that don´t speak English but what ended up happening was that I translated that part to spanish and the rest of the meeting into english for this senior couple of missionaries. :) Hah it was fun though cuz it made me realize how BAD my english is right now. I was saying english words but putting it in spanish order and with spanish grammer.... ha! I need to practice both languages now!

   We have really great investigators right now that are very stable and have very bright futures... there are obstacles that  need to be overcome so they can be baptized...but, It is almost innevitable that they will all be baptized. How long? We don´t know.. Haha so we are all looking forward to this general conference and the fast sunday after for some direction and divine help.

   DAD. HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN A COUPLE OF DAYS. Sorry to jump the gun.. :) I just won´t be able to email you on your birthday so i´ll send it to you now. Hey fill me in on the golf tourney that you played in when you were in italy!! I wanna hear how it went! Hey, Elder Olsen comes into the field next transfer I think... If not next transfer it will be the next. We´ll see where he goes and who he´ll be with. I´ll keep you updated.

 

Semana Santa in Spain

 The week of easter is CRAZY in spain!! Look up ´´semana santa´´ in google. It isn´t just a one day celebration. It is a week long celebration. Random fairs or circuses. Random bands walking through the streets at random hours of the day or night. I think thursday night every single person in spain was awake the entire night... they had a celebration and played drums and trumpets all night. I didn´t hear THANKS TO MY DEEP SLEEPING, but my comp didn´t sleep a wink. :(((( :D So anyways, its super crazy here. Look on the mission blog. Hermana Deere posted a couple pictures and some explainations of the week. We as a mission decided to really try to plan the week ahead of time.. so people were expecting our visits instead of trying to plan it as we went. That way people would be waiting for us instead of trying to ask them to make time during "Semana Santa". It worked well and we had a successful week. President Deere is extremely smart and very imspired.

   Our ward right now is a very small ward. In fact, it is the same size as a fairly large branch. The average attendance is like 55 people... Our second counselor, american btw, that is living with his family in spain for work, has been traveling europe with the fam this last three weeks. So I´ve been taking over teaching the young mens class. I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT. Yesterday was the last class i´ll teach and it was on the doctrine of Jesus Christ. I use the classes to prep the boys for their missions.. aka I make THEM teach ME... :) and then I tie it back to them to help them apply the lessons to their own lives. I LOVE TEACHING YOUTH.

   Sorry my memory card took a long time. I´m glad you enjoyed the photos.  And, keep going mama! Use this time wisely! You have the right to be ´´on vacation´´ right now. :) you need to recuperate so don´t let people expect you to do things! Relax and read the Book of Mormon or spanish. Everyone wishes they could have a ´´break´´ like you have right now. Relájate y disfruta. :)

   Tell all the one-year-older-than-me guys ´´hi and to go get married´´ -from elder norton. :)

   I love you all! Reread the story of Abinadi and recommit to having greater faith in the 

Lord´s will.

-Elder Norton

Mosiah 17: 20 And now, when Abinadi had said these words, he fell, having suffered death by fire; yea, having been put to death because he would not deny the commandments of God, having sealed the truth of his words by his death.

Don't know the story? CLICK HERE

"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    

"Are you from here ... Spain?" (Sam)

Wooooah!!! Hello!

   The mission is a big whirlwind right now! So many new missionaries and soo many changes.. its awesome! There´s a picture on the blog of all the missionaries that are serving in Málaga right now and they are like all missionaries that weren´t even there when I was there! Its crazy how fast changes happen and how in 4 or 5 months all the missionaries that we in one city can be changed out.

   Elder Jones, my papa in the mission, was serving as Zone Leader in Sevilla when I got there.. I don´t know if I mentioned that earlier.. so that was super fun to see him again, but there there were other mid transfer changes cuz of new missionaries getting the mission so he left..... TO MÁLAGA. :) Kinda fun. He´s in the area of malaga that is right next to my old area. He´s zone leader there right now... and then right after he left, I left too... hah.. I will be honest... it stinks getting changed so much! Haha cuz its hard to really help people make changes in their lives in 3 weeks, or 5 weeks..... but, its not hard to get close to them and to start a good friendship with them.. so my last two areas have been... arrive, get to know all the members, memorize all their names, visit their houses, get to know all the investigators, look and look and look and find new people, start to explain them about the church.. and then get pulled out........ and have to say goodbye to everyone........ :\.. BUT! If we are obedient, and this happens, we know we´ve done all we could. I just hope something I have said or done has at least made a little difference in the lives of the amazing people I´ve met. I could honestly do this my entire life.

   I got a huuuuge compliment yesterday!!! WOW I was flipping out! Yesterday, we went and visited this member that wasn't in church to check up and see if there was something we could do. She is an older woman and her husband is older as well and very sick. Turns out her granddaughter was sick and she couldn´t leave the both of them home sick and come to church, which is understandable... but anyways, when we first walked in, she started to just talk talk talk with my comp, Elder Blanch, (EVERYONE HERE ADORES HIM) and so I was pretty quiet for the first 15ish minutes before we could even have a prayer or share a message.. so anyways, we just there listening and listening. Then we said, ´´alright well can we have a prayer and share a message?´´ And she was like ´´ohh sure! ummmm lets see.... how bout your new companion. Can he give us the prayer?´´ talking to Elder Blanch (like I wasn´t going to be able to understand her or something... :) gotta love it ) so he was like... "sure." So, I say the prayer, say this, that, the other...  and then I end the prayer and the first thing she says when she lifts her head up from the prayer is... ´´¿Tú eres de aquí?´´.... or...... ´´Are you from here (Spain)?´´....... HAHAH! :D and I was like.. ´´No...... I´m from the United States..´´ and she was like ´´Wow, ¿que bien hablas español!´´.... or....´´you speak spanish really well!´´ Super happy and relieved about all my spanish studies and stuff..... D: anyways.. just kind of a fun compliment!

   Our area is huge!! I don´t remember what I wrote you guys last week and what I wrote in my journal but I´ll re-explain it real quick. Our area is called Aljarafe... and the truth is I don´t even know if thats a city or the region or what... but our area consists of like 25 different pueblos... like 25 different towns and cities and suberbs of sevilla. We are right next door to Sevilla.. actually we are in sevilla right now doing emails.. cuz we had to come here to drop something off to a missionary here.. So anyways, we´re close. We live in a little town called Castilleja de la Cuesta.. but we have a car and we visit aaaall over around here. We visit the pueblos.. camas, santiponce, gines, san juan, bollullos, olivares, san lucar, etc.. etc... hah so i keep getting mixed up cuz Elder Blanch just drives me all over the place between pueblo and cities and all over the place. Its crazy. Pray for me! I have to learn them all in the next 2 weeks!!

   Yes, Elder Blanch is leaving in two weeks. He is already over his two year mark but ended up extending his mission a little bit. When he finishes, he will have been on his mission 25 months. He´s from Missouri and is going home to his girlfriend to get married! Amazing story! They almost got married before his mission and then received a super bold priesthood blessing that changed his mind. Since then, he has served a mission and his girlfriend served a mission to Argentina. She has been back several months now and is just waiting for him to get home so they can get married. :) She is Elder Blanch´s first convert. Yup, thats right, he baptized her. :) I´m super pumped for the kid! He´s amazing!

   MY NEW ADDRESS............

       c/ Convento #42, 1ºH

   41950 Castilleja Cuesta, Sevilla

               ESPAÑA

Thanks for the mission call updates and everything! Ahhh! So much is going on back home! Its probably crazy! Tell everyone hi! and congrats from Sam <----WEIRD. MY REAL NAME....... :) Tell them I say... ´´Book of Mormon and Preach my Gospel. Book of Mormon and Preach my Gospel. Book of Mormon and Preach my Gospel.......´´ :)

Anyways, I´m out of time. Thank you for everything in your emails. I have read everything even though I haven´t answered back. Thanks again, I love you all!

-Elder Norton

"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

"we basically got dropped into Sevilla with a map and a pat on the back........" (Sam)

Good Morning!

   We´re in Sevilla! And its amazing! Sevilla is the capital of Andalucía.. and its the biggest city in our mission. We went to Málaga on thursday to get our new trainees and then we basically got dropped into Sevilla with a map and a pat on the back........ :) Naaa actually the Zone Leaders helped us ton but its pretty crazy being dropped into a huge city with a new comp relying on your every step... Ha!

   My HIJO! His name is Elder M and he´s 

awesome! His father is from Mexico and his mom is from spain so he already speaks and understands like everything. He´s awesome! His spanish is a little rusty but his gonna learn really fast.. we´re pumped! We already get along well and we´ve set some good comp goals.

   I got one of the two packages before I left Alcoy and Elder Pascua called me and told me that the other one had arrived. He´s gonna take care of getting it to me.. no worries. :) I LOVE READING THE LETTERS EVERYDAY. They are the best! Thank you mom! Pssssssstt!... Mom... (whispered)... elder M´s birthday is the 16th. :) send him something if you can. A letter or something. It would mean the world to him!

 On Saturday, there was a baptism and we got to meet a bunch of members and stuff and yesterday we went to eat with a family in our ward They invited a bunch of friends and family over and we all ate together and when we finished they brought out an awesome cake with candles and everything! :) It was awesome! Prayers are answered mom! Haha I love that we are one big family here in the church. Everyone worries about everyone. We are 

constantly thinking about others. Its how Christ would want it to be.

 I´ll fill you in more on my comp and stuff another day.. our piso is alright. Its good and it was really clean when we got there. The ZLs are treating us well. :) Anyways, our new address is.......

         Elder Sam Norton

C/ Alcalde Juan Fernández

               #25, 8°C

           Sevilla 41005

                España

   Sorry this email has been a lot of nothing... Sevilla is awesome and next week I´ll be able to update you on a lot of people we´ll be working with.

 I love you all!

-Elder Norton

"The Priesthood is Real ... wow...miracles!" (Sam)

Elder Norton received his package of birthday letters.
A BIG thanks to all you you that helped out!

Hello!

   Sorry its taken forever to write; this week has been crazy! I got the package with the letters and the suckers. :) The best. Ahh and thank you for putting money in my account, you guys are the best!

   SIGH.... ok a quick update on whats happened lately.. President called us saturday morning and informed us that I was going to Sevilla to train and REopen an area that has been absorbed into another area for now. There are two wards in Sevilla and the elders in Sevilla 1 are working in both areas so its more or less ´´closed´´.. and President also told us that Pascua would train and whatnot. 

Saturday, we had an awwesome noche de hogar with this part member family! Ahhh fantastic people. They are from Bolivia and the mom is a member from when she was little. Most of the brothers and sisters(now all grown ups) are less active. Well she, Aa, is married to Cs and the have a son named C as well. He has had word of wisdom problems but he was able to quit when he listened to some Jehovah´s Witnesses. Its interesting how the Lord prepares people... :) So anyways, our awesome líder misional called her one day and invited her to church... and she came and brought her husband and son! So anyways, we had an awesome Family Home Evening on saturday and then Sunday was testimony meeting. I gave my testimony and basically my ´´last words´´.. haha and then Sunday night we had a charla fogonera or a fireside. It was an hour long and we (Pascua y yo) taught for like 50 minutes. We were given all the time and it was awwesome! We spoke on la obra misional, the missionary work, and we involved the members and watched a video from the Preach My Gospel dvd´s that train the missionaries and then we did practices on how to talk with their friends and introduce the Gospel in the conversations. :) We enjoyed seeing members practice and repractice and get down how to speak  fluidly about the gospel. I ended up saying "goodbyes" again though.. hah kinda awkward.

   Monday, instead of P-day, we went to Alicante and listened to the Europe area Seventy Elder Tiexeira ?... And it was amazing! We left that building with soo many new ideas that we´re already putting into practice.

   Yesterday and today have been a lot of goodbyes. I have never liked goodbyes.. I always feel like they're weird.. and awkward like.. ok well, thanks for everything.. it was great to meet you.. thanks for all the food you made us... and well thanks.. and add me on facebook, I´ll accept you in a year.. and.... well ok bye! Hah :) We´ve been taking pictures though. A lot we´ve taken with other cameras cuz my camera is junky. I need a new one. I´ll send you some of the pictures next p-day... IN MY NEXT AREA. 

Wow. I just got here! Hah sorry, the mission is just rough.. always meeting new people.. putting so much energy, thought and worry into them, and then they change you... I guess its a good thing that the Lord has a purpose for everything.

   Anyways, I´m rambling now.. To answer some of your questions.. I have mixed feelings about leaving Alcoy already. We have soooo much going here. We honestly have set up an immense train of "dominoes" here. Someone will be baptized and it will set off the huge train and honestly like 8 people will be baptized! Ha! This always happens to me! :) But it makes me so happy to see people get baptized and receive the blessings of baptism. Anyways, Elder Pascua and I have really been led by the Spirit to start this place off well and leave a good name and work here for other missionaries that will be coming. This will not be a dead area. I´m very proud of our work. Its a hard, hard area but it will be changing. I know very little about Sevilla. It won´t be nearly as cold there!.. thats good! and I THINK.. i think... I´ll be with my pops! Elder Jones! I hope!

   Well, we have to go and give a blessing before our english class... I love you all so much!! The Priesthood Is Real. We have given like 4 or 5 blessings in the last week and a half.. and WOW.. miracles! I´ll fill you all in one day! Love you!

-Elder Norton

ps: sorry this message was so scattered... ha!