"today's spiritual thought will be given by ..."

Oh, how I miss these sweet kids!

 Hermana Norton was unable to write this week so 

Caden and Branson are filling in with a great missionary scripture

"Fun crazy successful week! Very fun. Very CRAZY. Very successful. :) " (Sam)

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

Alice: I don't much care where.

The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.

                  ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland



Hello Family and Friends

   Fun crazy successful week! Very fun. Very CRAZY. Very successful. :)

Like I mentioned last week (i think) this week was gonna be really crazy with all the missionaries coming. This was the first week of the transfer so at the start of the week 14 new missionaries came from Madrid to Malaga and were here for several days doing a bunch of different things like meeting their trainers receiving trainings and orientations and doing Spain residency stuff.. and that was headed up by Elder Butler and myself and one other missionary in the office. His name is Elder Castillo and he and his wife are here serving as a missionary couple. SO AWESOME. Mom and Dad, I hope you seriously plan on serving one day. YOU GUYS WOULD BE SO AWESOME HERE. So that was really fun to be able to finally see and live through a transfer week in the office. Elder Butler and Elder Berrett talked a lot about it and each day and how it would go and bla bla but I didn´t really catch everything they would say so it was nice to see how it all works. The down side is that we have HAD to miss all of morning studies the last like... well the whole last week because of one thing or another here in the office. It's kinda hard cuz part of you feels super disobedient and then you realize the importance and the need for what you are doing. Its obviously a different life here in the office but President taught me a really interesting lesson a while back.

   When I was being picked up from my last area (Aljarafe-Sevilla), I came to Malaga right after a conference with President and the APs so we all drove back to Malaga in the same car. The ENTIRE car ride back, President Deere was sitting in the passenger seat reading his english scriptures aloud... Sometimes we were listening to try to hear and focus on the chapter but it was like a 2 and a half hour drive and a lot of the time President would just be reading outloud and none of us would even be listening... haha it was a really interesting lesson. He wasn´t reading cuz ´´he didn´t have time in the morning´´. It may have been a thought in his head but it wasn´t the main reason. He wasn´t reading ´´cuz there were missionaries in the car´´... we were just coming from a 4 hour long conference, he wouldn´t keep preaching to us... The reason he was reading was because he really understands the passage in 2 Nephi 32:3.  FEAST it says in english, in Spanish it uses deleitaos, or delight yourselves upon the words of Christ, because the words of Christ will tell you ALL things what ye should do. Each one of us has different goals or drives in life... President Deere´s is teach and guide the missionaries in the Spain Málaga Mission. He KNOWS that as he feasts (with real intent Moroni 10:4), those words will tell him what to tell us. They will tell him what to teach us. They will tell him what to advise us to do.

   The invitation... I can´t believe those words are coming out on my email home to friends and family... is not just ´´read more´´...

 The invitation is to feast with a purpose. 

The famous line from Alice in Wonderland... (I'm paraphrasing) 

"If you don´t know where you want to go, 

it doesn´t matter which road you take"...

MAS O MENOS. :P

   Anyways, I love you all! Kind of a cool quick lesson... something the Lord wanted to teach me. Maybe you can get something out of it as well.

¡Hasta la próxima! Love you!

Élder Norton

Financiero

Misión España Málaga

La Iglesia de Jesucristo

Was the Grinch in Ecuador?

I think the most likely reason of all, may have been that his heart was 2 sizes too small

Dear Mom, Dad, Mitch, Jennica, Sam, Adam, Caden, Branson, and Sienna,

I love you all and hope that December is off to a great start! I love this month and I am so shocked at how quickly time is flying by! I still feel like a new missionary! But yesterday I completed seven months! And although I miss you all so much, I am realizing more and more every day that I don't want this all to end, and especially not in eleven months.

So, was there a car accident with a BYU student on their way home for Thanksgiving? I saw what Dad wrote to their family. So sweet. Brought me to tears though to see that that happened. How painful. 

I did get the Spanish "Grinch" book. I haven't read it yet, but I do know who I will give it to. I love these people so much, Mom. If I didn't have a family, I would move here. They have all accepted me like family. 

So, I am going to go over the week because a few things have happened.

Thursday mornings at 10:30 are our district /zone meetings. We gather in the new chapel that was just recently dedicated in September. This Thursday we got there at about 10:10 and the two elders with the keys (Elder LeBaron and his companion) had already been there for about forty minutes. When we walked up the stairs they were standing in the doorway and they looked absolutely distraught. They took us on a tour of the chapel and showed us how the whole thing had been robbed and destroyed the night before. This new chapel is giant and really, really nice. The alarm hasn't been functioning and the company who set up the alarm is in Quito and they haven't made the time to come down and fix it. I feel like that means that they will have to pay for the damages. But, even knowing that doesn't settle your stomach after seeing what had happened. All the churches here have gates with giant locks, but the robbers had clipped the gate hook and destroyed a door to enter. They literally took everything of value -- computers, televisions (they hacked down the doors literally), cords, systems for different microphones and the satellite. They were people who know the church, too, because they pulled out the microphone for the Sacrament. They took the piano. They took the gas tanks. They searched the bishops and secretaries offices for the donations and offerings, but thankfully, they weren't there. They took two paintings: one of Joseph Smith and one of Christ in the Americas (?). The rest they left. Strange. Anyway. All the windows and doors are destroyed and it was so painful to see. I have never seen anything like it. Anyway, the poor members here are so distraught and the elders who attend church there were in tears. Elder LeBaron had a feeling that morning that they should go to the church early, so they went and by the time we had arrived had already called our stake president. Anyway, so sad.  I couldn't help but just feel so sad for the people who had done everything and even more sad for the members. 

But yesterday they all still attended church in their building and for me it kind of felt like a "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" moment. They can take away everything we have and they can destroy our building, but we still have the Gospel, and really we don't need anything else. "It comes without ribbons. It comes without tags. It comes without packages, boxes or bags."

Saturday we were doing divisions or splits. We like to do that about once or twice a week because we have so many helpful members and we always feel like the work is moving so much slower than it should be. I was with a couple sisters from our wards and we were getting out of a taxi and I made the same silly mistake I have made many times in my life by closing the door on my fingers. This time it was my thumb. Jaja. Pretty funny. Anyway, it hurt pretty bad and now is so ugly and who knows if I will have a fingernail here pretty soon. But it reminded me of when we got home from Lake Powell and I did the same thing and Jay Gassman was helping me to take care of my finger when Jason and Dalton entered the room with a video camera recording everything. They're funny.

I. P. is one of the people God sent to us last Sunday. Her story is really neat. Her youngest daughter is sick and they haven't been able to figure out what is wrong. Finally a neighbor recommended that she do what she needed to get her life in order with God. That Sunday, I. P. asked the permission of her husband and she and her three young children took a bus out of their little community to find a church (passing the Catholic church that she grew up in but now does not feel comfortable with). She was seated by the window when she saw a few members walking to church with their scriptures in hand. She and her children immediately got off the bus and slipped into the meetings. We met her that Sunday in the meetings and she accepted a baptismal invitation that Tuesday. We are working on helping her recognize all of the answers she has had in her life because the Holy Ghost is testifying to her often of the truthfulness of this church.

Saturday and Sunday I gained a strong testimony of the principle of the fast. I am so grateful for all the means that God gives us to keep this work moving forward. I can honestly testify with all of my heart that God answers prayers. I am as sure of it as I am of anything else.

One thing I am growing to understand here on the mission is the innocence and godliness of children. Whenever we are teaching I. P., all the neighborhood children come gather around us and just listen with their eyes wide. I love it. They are so adorable and I hope to become more humble and childlike every day.

Yesterday we watched the devotional. How hilarious that President Eyring gave his seven year old son a barometer! I was a little confused at first listening. "Am I translating that word correctly? Is that in Spanish what I think it is in English?" Anyway, I loved seeing Temple Square with all the lights on the trees! I hope you enjoy every minute of this December!

I love you all! Find comfort in the scriptures - they fill us with the Spirit, aka THE COMFORTER. Keep reading everyone :)

H. 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