"I have definitely found myself grateful for 'the furnaces of affliction.' " (Hilary)

Samuel Norton - Mr Viking 2011

Happy Monday everyone!

How is everyone doing? How was your St. Patrick's Day? Sometimes I feel like that might be the most worthless holiday, and then I remember that two years ago my little brother was crowned Mr. Viking on St. Patrick's Day and I remember it was good for something. Speaking of Sam, I got a letter from him this week! Super cool to hear from him. He is such a fun person. I am glad his mission experience is going so well for him. Mine is also going well. I really know I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Well, this week, I am getting over my problems. I have been prescribed a whole bunch of things, so I should be healthy and happy soon enough. I don't know if I mentioned in my last letter, but Hermana Ellis is sick as well. She has been having a really hard time lately and the nurses today figured out the cause of her problems. The medications they gave her have been making her really off. We weren't really able to work a whole lot this week. As for those we are teaching, we have quite a few investigators who are doing well, though not one attended the stake conference this Sunday. That was a bummer because I was counting on the idea that Heavenly Father would provide the help we needed this week considering that we weren't able to get out and do as much as we would have liked. But, He has something else in mind. I am determined that this week we will be 100% worthy for Heavenly Father's help in getting our investigators to church. In all honesty, Sundays are different on the mission.

I have been studying a lot extra lately and I everyday feel more and more grateful for the 

scriptures and the teachings of our church leaders. Yesterday I began a fast 

(a 40 day fast - see page 324 of the 'Norton Wisdom Book') 

and I am working on purifying myself and putting Heavenly Father 

and His work in first place. 

This morning in my personal study I was impressed by Enos's example. In verse 26 he explains how devoted he has been to the work and the gospel. He says he has declared it all his days, and "rejoiced in it above that of the world." I love that statement, and have seen the changes and conversion that the gospel and missionary work are bringing to my life. I hope to come out of all this more like the person God needs me to be. I have definitely found myself grateful for "the furnaces of affliction."

Well, Hermana Ellis and I are good. We have been going to see a doctor in Quito a couple times lately and the other day we were caught in a huge rain storm. It was hilarious. About twenty minutes of trying to get a taxi in the pouring rain. I will send pictures. Another funny story. There is an hermana here who has a washing machine so every once in a while we drop off our clothes and she throws them in the washer and then she hangs them up to dry and we go by the next day to pick them up. This week, when we went to pick  them up, there was a small problem. She and her husband were cooking beans, got distracted, burned the beans, and now their whole house smells like smoke. Well, so does our clothing. We have washed it a couple times since and cannot get the smell out. Our apartment smells like we are smokers. It is hilarious.

We won't know in which mission we will end up until the beginning of July. They will give us our transfers and depending on where we go, that will be our mission. I imagine we will be training a lot. The line is drawn right after my first sector, Santa Ana. Technically we are in Quito North right now.

Beauty and the Beast - Hilary's favorite childhood movie

Well as we have been sick, we have found some ways to entertain ourselves. We have read like hundreds of pages of the Book of Mormon, as well as made each other word searches, played Battleship in our notebooks, and resorted to the movie quote game. It is important that I mention that she guessed my first quote immediately ("If she doesn't eat with me, she doesn't eat at all!"). Hermana Ellis is the greatest. I am really grateful to have her as my companion!

Will someone please send me the Tyler Norton family's address? As well, Rachel Miller's and Lisa and Justin Allen's? Thank you :)

Mom, I hope your ankle surgery goes well. I will continue to pray for you. Please be good to your body. Don't push yourself too hard. It is against the Word of Wisdom.

Dad, the scripture you shared has always been one of my favorites. (D&C 78:18)

Kenz has been writing me a bit lately. Apparently they had a bridal shower for Caitlin the other day! I am so happy she is getting married. I want the best for all those girls. I love each one of them. Also, Jesslyn wrote me! I loved hearing from her. She is the best! It is so nice to know that others are willing to take a couple minutes to see how I am doing.

Well, that is all for now. I love you all! Choose the right and keep pressing forward.

Hermana Norton

* Hilary mentioned the "Norton Book of Wisdom".... It's a 500 + page book that her dad compiled full of the very best quotes, stories, poems, and life counsel.  He spent countless hours gathering, studying, and editing as well as adding stories from our own ancestors.  It is a real treasure ... a priceless gift from a dad to his children.  The "40 day fast" story is about a challenge from a mission president to his missionaries. It is not a typical fast (no food or drink for 24 hours) but rather a call for change. The following is a short excerpt: 

"I invite you to fast this Sunday, to ask the Lord what things you should stop doing and what things you should start doing. I invite you to write a list and take that list with you to your morning and evening prayers. I invite you to envision the temptations in the morning while on your knees and to commit and ask for help before you actually go out and face them. In the evenings I invite you to report in, give thanks and ask forgiveness. I invite you to engage in the process of changing your own desires." 

I'm sorry I don't know the name of the mission president so that I could credit him for coming up with that amazing challenge.  I'm looking forward to hearing back from Hermana Norton about her

"40 day fast" experience!                                                                          

joanna norton

"see the fruits of working with the members?" (Sam)

Alma 27

17   Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth. 

18   Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.

¡Hola familia!

   Hello! from the other side of the world!

   Things are great here in the mission. Teaching a TON... constantly on the run... but thats what makes it fun..... RHYME......... no more rhyming and I mean it! Anybody wanna peanut?

   Bueno.. :) Yeah things are great. We get to our apartment everynight suuper exhausted almost not wanting to do planning, just ready to jump in bed. We wake up with energy pumped for the people we are going to visit and the lessons we´re gonna teach. Its great. Its how the work should be! We are teaching on average, 3-4ish lessons a day. And its interesting.. in the last two weeks, we have taught 48 lessons... in 45 of those 48 lessons, members have been involved.  I´ll explain it to you....... many think, as well I as I have always thought, that "missionary work" is going to those who don´t know about the church to help them to know more about the church (aka knocking doors, talking in the streets, etc.). What I have realized in the mission especially recently, is that the mission is a lot more productive and you have LONGER LASTING SUCCESS when you work with those that already know about the church to take initiative and act on what they know. The majority of those that already have knowledge about the church have learned it through friends or family that are members. We use those same members in our lessons to teach their friends, but also to help build the member´s testimonies and teaching abilities. 45 of our 48 lessons this last two weeks have had to do with members because we visit less actives, recent converts, part member families, and we bring members to the houses of the non members. We actually rarely visit houses of all active going members. We obviously can if we want, but there are more productive ways to work. Its fun to compare and combine experience in the companionship because we always come out knowing a little bit more than we knew before we met. I'm learning a lot from Elder Blanch... How to work with the members effectively being one of those things.

   Mom, the week has been great. I am happy, healthy, and busy. :) I´m... getting more and more familiar with the area.. Its really big. Go to google map..... search Sevilla...... now look to the left of Sevilla on the coast and you´ll see Huelva. Our District Leader is in Huelva with his comp so our area is basically starting at Sevilla and going halfway to Huelva.... all of those pueblos ......... so its significantly different than other  "areas" in the mission :) Cuz we´re not trying to memorize names of streets or the fastest path to take to the church... rather..... "am I driving noorrrrth....? or south......? OPE... just missed my exit.... Ooooooooo just took it from 5th gear to 4th gear instead of 5th to 6th.... ope! just missed the next exit I was gonna take..." Those are the things we worry about now... :D haha But really, things are actually going super well. I´m learning my way around. :) What I don´t know is if my international drivers license is going to expire soon or not. I´ll check and update you. 

   WE HAD A BAPTISM YESTERDAY! :P an awesome guy named J! It was a guy they were teaching here in this area when I got here. He´s an awesome country guy that lives waaaay waay out in these little ranches with his mom, his wife and her mom. His wife was less active and that's how they found him and she has since been reactivated and he was baptized yesterday afternoon! (see the fruits of working with the members??? ... baptizing the husband, re-activating his wife... and now J´s mom wants to be baptized...  :)

   Mom! ¡No te des por vencida! Don´t give up! :) If I could only tell you how many times I have drawn completely blank trying to answer people or even understand them! That´s what harder for me.. understanding everything.. but anyways, just keep going. Little by little. Just try to constantly be thinking Spanish. Say what you can say in spanish. for example, a recent convert here in this ward knows ONE WORD of english...... and she LOVES saying it! "YES. YES! YES!" She knows the word "yes" and she loves saying it! its hilarious. She is a great example to me of being grateful for what I have and know instead of being sad about what I don´t know. She is amazing!

   Anyways, I have writen a lot of blaa nada but its alright. I hope I´ve gotten my message through. I love you all and I will see you all soon enough! Go be missionaries!

Love you!   -Elder Norton

"I think it is important that they recognize that we are a happy people. We have the full truth; they should be able to tell." (Hilary)

Hi fam

Hope you are all doing so well! We have had an eventful week.

I am still pretty sick. Monday, the mission nurse told me I had parasites. She gave me a few medications but nothing helped. It was really debilitating our ability to get out and work. So Thursday I went to a doctor in Quito and he did a few tests. I have a stomach infection and ... anemia! They said the normal iron level is between 25 - 200 and mine is .7 ... So the nurses complimented me on my work performance while living almost completely without iron in my blood. (I told Hermana Ellis I don't really know what it even means to be low on iron anyway and she told me it means that if Ironman were to come to Ecuador he would have no power over me.) Haha. Anyway, iron pills are expensive here. Is there any way you could get some sent out here to me? That would be deeply appreciated.

So how is everyone? Did you enjoy Italy, Dad? Please keep me updated on how Adam's baseball tournament goes! I would like to hear from him... Looking good without the braces, big guy! Tell Trevor and Heather I say congrats! I wish I could have been there. I hope she is just as great as Trev.  Dad, were you able to play in that golf tournament in Italy? Where do you go next? Or do you have a little break?

Dad, thank you so much for the thoughtful email. I really appreciated all you said. It is so true and although I don't look back on it fondly, I know it was good for me to have that experience to learn from. I might not have been the most tolerant, patient daughter of God before my mission, and I am aware of that and I am trying to improve. It is true what you said about us being our own agents. Alma 41:7-8 I really like because they teach us that we are our own judges. It is all up to us. WE decide if we choose eternal life or eternal misery. It is simple. I hope I am living worthy of eternal life.

Mom, I love hearing about your Spanish. And don't worry, it will come, you will get a hang of it. And please tell Jake Lee (if you see him again) to write me. He is such a good kid.

I received an email from K today. A and C had both written me about how she got sick and came home :(

I hope she is doing okay. I just mailed her a letter. But I am going to include something really sweet that she wrote to me in her email.

"Hilary, Thank you for your confidence in the Lord. Thank you for showing me what it is like to have true faith in Him. I'm really having to learn where my faith stands, and as I look back, I could tell where you stood."

The sweetest comment ever. I know I made mistakes in my past and I wish I could erase them. As I read what she said, I felt grateful and unworthy all at once. "And remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved" (2 Nephi 10:24) We got the good end of the deal, didn't we?

 Well, I hope you are all doing well. Hermana Ellis and I are really enjoying the work right now. I love working with her. We are always laughing and having fun and I think it is important because people need to recognize that we are a happy people. We have the full truth; they should be able to tell.  Today we went to a really nice mall, and I found a million things I loved but I didn't buy one thing. I am looking forward to doing a little shopping when I get home instead of here. If any of you ever feels tempted to spend money on me right now, write me a thoughtful letter, put the money in a jar, and we will spend it together when I get home. Thank you :)

We have a few people who are progressing toward baptism. P, R and a few others. They are so great and working through some trials but doing what they should to come out on top. We are also teaching a lot of other people who are interested. We will see if they are willing to act. Our mission has set some goals and is making a few sacrifices and exercising much faith to be able to see miracles in this month. Our district leader and his companion are doing so so well. I am so happy for them. I pray for their investigators every night. They have about 12 at church yesterday (which just doesn't happen regularly in this mission).

General Conference is coming up! Who's pumped?!

Well, thanks for writing. I love you all. Keep me updated in your lives. 

Hermana Norton

CLICK HERE if you're curious about GENERAL CONFERENCE

"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

"I love this gospel ... It is the most beautiful thing." (Hilary)

"There are feet to steady, 

hands to grasp,

minds to encourage,

hearts to inspire,

and souls to save."

"Willing and Worthy to Serve" – President Thomas S. Monson

Have you seen this? Click the link below to watch

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages?lang=eng&start=61&end=72&order=alpha#2012-01-008-rescued-by-christ

QUÈ TAL. ESPERO QUE TODO BIEN. LES AMO DEMASIADO.

Okay, everything is so good here in the mission! I am happy as ever. Hermana Ellis is the greatest companion. I have never felt the spirit so strongly in the mission. I think because we are working so hard and feeling so humbled (by the fact that we are two gringas), the spirit is really with us in every moment. I haven't cried many times on my mission (go figure), but we have had a couple really cool lessons this past week when I was not able to hold back tears. 

I feel so strongly about what we share. I love this gospel. I love what it has done for my family and my friends and me. It is the most beautiful thing. Heavenly Father has really blessed me in so many ways, but one thing I am so grateful for is that He helps us feel His love for His children that we meet.

Well, I am a little sick right now. Since Saturday I have just been feeling really awful. I spoke with the nurse today and she took me to get some medications .... So I hope I get better! Mostly just because being sick is so frustrating during the mission. At home, you can rest. But on the mission, the last thing you want to do is rest! We have a lot of investigators that are progressing and I just feel so anxious to get out and help them! Also, the mission nurse just told me that Hermana D. is in the hospital to get her appendix out!!! Please pray for her!

So Calderòn is great. We share the ward with a pair of elders because it is really big geographically and there are a lot of people. The elders are great. We are having a lot of success here as a zone and I just feel so excited to be a part of this work.

Well, I can't think of much else to say, and I am going to write a couple more emails. We have a conference at 4:30 and we don't have any idea of why. I will let you all know next week! Thanks for writing! I love you! Keep praying! (Don't forget me and my investigators please!)

Hermana Norton

"I´m thinking about making my own verse to that hymn" (Sam)

Hello! It is great to hear from you!

   Things are going really well here in Sevilla. I think I may have mentioned the capilla here in Sevilla... its really big in comparision to all the capillas her in spain.. Like really big.. its basically the size of our stake center in.... but with two floors... O.o kinda cool. :).. and the best part is that its right on the corner of one of the buisier (busier?) (more busy......?) corners in the city.. so eeeveryone knows it. Its actually a lot more helpful than you´d think because there is a lot of good creyente people here but they just need a bump in the right direction to find the truth.. so when we mention that thats our church they say ´´ooh really?? I´ve always wondered what its like there. I always see it when I go over there..´´ so its kinda fun. :)

 

.................................... WOAH... acaba de llamarnos Presidente Deere............. O.o that means... President Deere just called us... I´m getting moved....... Hahah! Wow...

 

   Explanation... long story , edited ...What has been decided is that Elder Martínez is going to ´´Puerto de Santa María´´ to be with two other elders and I´m going to a place called ´´Aljarafe´´........ hah and I know like nothing about it! I´m pumped! I´ll be with a missionary thats about to end him mission at the end of march.. his name´s elder Blanch. His comp went home yesterday because he broke his foot and had to be operated on.. :/ he´ll come back in a couple months when he gets better. The area i´m going to has a lot of pueblos and therefore........ WE HAVE A CAR. :D :D :D I'm actually super pumped!

   President told me that in the next two days, we have to transfer all the investigators that we have back over to the Zone Leaders here in Sevilla because they are staying here and we are both leaving....... :\ its a bummer that we have to do so much changing but I know that there are so many things for me to learn in the next couple months! I´m am surprisingly excited!

   President also mentioned something about all the new missionaries and all the changes constantly happening and he said, ´´If you could see all the changes going on here you would be proud of how little i´ve made missionaries move and change areas. BUT there are one or two exceptions... one of them is Elder Norton´´. :) He knows and recognizes that I´m moving a lot.... haha I was basically emergency transfered from Málaga to Alcoy.. I was in alcoy for one transfer and then I left, and I´ve been here three weeks and now I´m leaving.......... Ha! Its crazy and he recognizes it. He told me sorry but I don´t worry about it. It doesn´t bug me.

   Anyways, I´ve gone over on my time today.... :( haha so I gotta go. Just know that I am doing great and I am loving my mission.

 I know that my Mission President is the Lord's servant and that I am just an instrument in the hands of the Lord.

 "I´ll go where you want me to go"..... 

even if you want me to leave right after 

I get there....... :)

 I´m thinking about making my own verse

 to that hymn. :D

   I love you all! I actually had ZERO idea that there were 58 newly announced missions........... así que, FILL ME IN. WHERE? WHEN? HOWWW? :) Love you!

-Elder Norton

 ps: I´M SO PUMPED TO TALK WITH ALL OF YOU ABOUT MY MISSION! We´re gonna have a million stories to tell you guys when we get home! Missions are the best!

-Elder Norton

"We had explained everything we could and then just left it in the Lord's hands, and He worked things out. He always does, right?" (Hilary)

Um ... no thanks

Well, GOOD NEWS!

This last transfer was shorter than usual, because of some timing with the MTCs and all the new missionaries and I don't know. So, yesterday were transfers and ... although Hermana D had already had three transfers in Ibarra (and she had literally already packed everything but her sheets and her clothes for the following day and she had said goodbye to everyone and everything), I WAS TRANSFERED TO QUITO TO BE COMPANIONS WITH HERMANA ELLIS. Yes, you read right!  I had had such a hard time for a couple weeks. I have been working so hard to be a good, humble, loving companion. I have been working on being the person that lets things go and keeps moving forward with a good attitude. I felt like I had done my part and fallen to pieces a few times just praying for the strength to move on. Of course, Heavenly Father always blessed me with what I needed. I had to keep reminding myself that He wouldn't give me these tests if I couldn't make it through them. It was a great learning experience and I feel like I am becoming a different person.

2 of the 3 amigas ... together again!

Well, now I am in C. Quito. Hermana Ellis says that the members are so great. As we started arriving to the area in the bus, I just became overwhelmed with a feeling that there are people here who need this. Looking at all the houses I just thought "we are going to have a good change". So. I am going to keep striving to do everything I need to do to be the missionary this area needs and the companion that Hermana Ellis deserves! She is the greatest and I feel like I am dreaming a little bit. I am having a hard time comprehending that we get to just be companions and have so much fun doing this awesome work! It was funny - when my zone leaders told me who I would be companions with, they were like, "The assistants told us to tell you 'No pajama parties.'" I just laughed. Tras muchas aflicciones vienen muchas bendiciones.

Well, thank you all so much for everything you wrote. Tell Sister Jaccard thank you so much for the email. I really appreciated what she shared. And it is true. The mission wouldn't be the mission without the hard times! I love you all and I pray for you daily as well. And I want you all to know, I have felt your prayers this week more than ever.

I didn't hear about the new missions, but they did tell us that our mission is being split. How weird! I might finish in a different mission than some of my companions or President and Sister Ghent. They're so great! We will have to see what happens!

Well, not yesterday, but the other Sunday was elections day in Ecuador, so we weren't allowed to leave. We could only attend church and then we had to stay in the house. I spent a lot of time reading my notes from talks and my study journal from the MTC. It was really cool and gave me a new desire to work. I was so excited. I love this work.

The other Thursday we had a training from President Ghent, Sister Ghent, and the assistants. It was really good. Super powerful. It wasn't a super èxitoso week in the mission numbers-wise, but I felt like numbers can't show all the we were able to learn and do. It was really cool.

I have been really worried about F. lately. When I left he wasn't attending church because he was working to pay off his mom's debts. A few times I have seen the sisters there in Imbabura in trainings and interviews and things and they can't find him. The newer sisters there don't know him, so I think they don't feel the drive to search for him as much as I would. I dream a lot about the people I have gotten to know here in the mission and just wake up worried about them! I want the best for them. Please pray for the people here in Ecuador.

The other day we went to the market to do our grocery shopping and there was a kid standing on the corner with a group of goats, selling goat milk. Hermana D was so excited. She ran over and he pulled out a plastic cup and just milked the goat right there in the middle of the street and she just drank it straight up. It was bizarre.

I wanted to include a little miracle that we were able to see the other week. Like I said a couple weeks ago, A2 had a really tough experience and was convinced she would not return to the church for a while. Right after her baptism. It was so sad. I just felt like a huge failure. I knew there were things I probably could have done better and I just felt horrible. Well, we spent the week just praying and praying for her and that Heavenly Father would change her heart. And He did. She was so convinced that she wouldn't return for a while, but a few days later she told us that she realized she needed to return. It was really cool. We had explained to her everything we could and then just left it in the Lord's hands, and He worked things out. He always does, right? And something I love that Elder Eyring taught in his October conference talk was that, even when the Lord's timing isn't the same as ours, it should be enough for us, because we know that He has our best interest in mind.

Well, that is all for now. I love you all!

Hermana Norton