"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

"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!

"Yes, members can and do help in the missionary work!" (Sam)

Good morning, good evening, or good night! Depending on where you are reading this.

   All is well in Alcoy! The Lord has blessed us a lot recently. This is a difficult work and satan is working as well. We are pushing forward with our faith in the Lord and he constantly gives us miracles.

   We had 6 investigators in church on Sunday!! Woohoo! Blessings from the Lord. We pray fervently that our investigators and those that know even a little bit about the church find the desires to come and attend. Its so fun to see our investigators and other unexpected people show up to the church. Our newly called ward mission leader is a rock! He is amazing. He has been calling any and everyone he can to help and show support for everyone. He and his wife and daughter call our investigators and the less actives that we work with and even other less actives that we are working with or haven´t met yet and they invite them to church. This week, a less active mother that lives in a little city by Alcoy came to church with her creyente (believing) husband and her 10 year old energy ball of a son. Our ward mission leader was the one that contacted her and invited her. They are from bolivia and we have a cita with them tomorrow! We´re really excited to get to know them and help them have to blessings of the Gospel as a family.

   We have two girls with fechas bautismales (baptismal dates) right now. G and W. They are twin sisters of a recent convert girl. The three live with their grandparents who are both less active. They are from Ecuador. :) The abuela is getting reactivated and the twins are learning and preparing for their baptism on the 9th of February!

   B, the ecuatorian lady that started listening to the lessons last week has kind of taken a step backwards. We don´t understand why but she told us that she needs to stop listening because she has too many doubts..... its frustrating cuz she has doubts and we know she has doubts but she doesn´t understand that they will be answered as she listens to us... not by stopping listening to us. We tried to explain but she had made up her mind. Her daughter, was very much ´´on the fence´´ about the whole thing.. and kinda floja(sorry, google search it cuz I can´t explain it in english) about coming to church cuz her mom had dropped us. Well the daughter of our ward mission leader called her on saturday and told her she wanted to see her in church on sunday and she came! Wooo! Yes, members can and do help in the missionary work! Don´t think the missionaries can do it on their own. We can´t do it without YOUR help! So good to see her in Sacrament. The colombian family that we are teaching came to church as well! Woooo! The mom and the daughter that in the start said no no no no no, I never go to churches .... They both came! Anyways, things are looking good. We just have to focus on the people that were in the meeting and we´ll being seeing some more fechas here soon! :)

   Hey! Question, Will montgomery is at BYU right? can you get his address this week so I can write him next week? :) Thanks!

   Fill me in on other mission calls if you hear on any. Thanks!

   Tell adam to check his email. :)

   Jade Warburton got the mission home this last week! He finally got his visa! Like 20 new missionaries came in! :) A bunch got their visas!

   We may be moving pisos soon. If you are gonna send another package or mail to this apartment, send it sooner rather than later so we can get it before we go. We think there´s like a one month process we´ll have to go through to change apartments ...... AND THANKS FOR SENDING PACKAGES! :)

   Alright, we gotta go. I love you! Sorry I can´t comment on your emails. Know that I read them and loved them. You are the best parents and family ever. Love you!

-Elder Norton

"Bajio and Costo Vida ... I MISS YOU!" (Sam)

Is this like a "pinky promise" ?

Good morning!

   Mama, you´re right, the week's over and a new one's starting! Gotta constantly be involved and thinking or else an entire week can pass by without you doing anything! The weeks FLY BY in the mission... its scary! In exactly one week I hit TEN MONTHS. Wooow.

   Things are great! I think I have said that every single week of my mission.... :) but its cuz its true. Couldn´t be in a better place doing a better thing! We. Have. The Truth. Why would one want to be somewhere else? This gospel and this message bring something different to the lives of the people. It fills the holes that they didn´t know they had. I´m happy, and ´´things are great!´´ :D

   WOW. Dad, I can feel the power of your talk through the letters on a computer screen. I can't even imagine what it would´ve been like in the building... hearing it. Thanks for sharing! I absolutely love love love that chapter. I think I have left that exact chapter (2 nefi 31) with investigators to read more than I have with any other chapter. First off cuz its a great chapter, second off cuz it talks about baptism :) and what they have to do to get there.

   Tell Braydon DeChristifano hey! Tell him to write me or something. I´d love to get in contact with him!

   Well things are going well. We´re working with lots of people right now. Thats one thing I've learned here in the mission is that we need to talk with lots of people about this message.. We need to learn to share the message well, but in a short powerful lesson and  then allow the people to use their albedrio........ agency(hah! english...) and make their decision. Its been hard for me in my mission when people reject us or the message.. cuz I just want it so bad for the people.. but I´ve realized that I need to use more of my time searching and teaching rather than getting bugged over the people that reject it. There are sooo many poeple that are waiting.. even here in Alcoy. Tons of people! We need to be able to teach with power and really discern and work with those that will accept and move forward. Its sad that people don´t receive the blessings ... but it makes me that much more happy when others do!

   We´re teaching two awesome families right now. One from Colombia and one from Ecuador. The colombian family has two pit bulls. :) The dad gets home late late from work and doesn´t want to listen. Its sad... PRAY FOR HIM! The others are all listening and learning. They are reading but struggling with prayer and church attendance. We´re working on it but pray and help us! :)

   The Ecuadorian family that we´re teaching is sooo awesome! HERMANA NORTON! QUE SUERTE TIENES! ECUADOR ES UNA MINA DE ORO! ¡¡SIGUE BAUTIZANDO!! We knocked their door one day and the mom was like.. ummm ok come by another day... like lots of people tell us just to make us leave.. haha and then she was like... but first you have to meet my daughter! And she ran and woke her 17 year old daughter up and presented her to us.  :)  So we passed by several days later and to our surprise the mom and the daughter were there waiting there for us so we went in. The dad sees us and goes into the other room, not wanting anything to to with us.... :\... So we asked them to invite him in and they said he wasn't interested :( . But anyways, so we taught the wife and daughter and they had a thousand questions! The mom was like.. "aaand how do they get young people like you to go out and do this every day??" and we were like "actually.. we chose to be here.." and she flipped. We invited them to this activity we were going to have at the church and they came and played the games and everything.. and then yesterday, we were going to go pick them up in the morning and we were running a little late and we turn the corner of their street and they are already walking towards us to go to the church! :O wowow. The mom´s name is B and the daughter is J. There´s another little brother and I don´t know the dad´s name. We´re trying to involve everyone so that they can be baptized all together.. we´ll see!

   There's this lady in our ward that is from Mexico and she is amazing!! She served a mission in mexico and after her mission she met a Spanish member on a church chat or something.. so they were married in the Mexico temple but live here now. The husband is extremely smart... extremely smart. He is a chess teacher and champion like a billion times over (they have trophies all over their apartment). He knows all the doctrine and actually told us he was talking to one of his friends about the church and Book of Mormon but he doesn´t come to church. Yesterday after chruch and a couple meetings we had, we went over to Rosy´s (la mejicana) and she made us mexican food! I like spanish food but it was reeeally nice to eat some good ol mexican food again. :)

-------------Bajios and Costa Vida! I miss you!!!---------------- :)

   I finally got my letters that arrived in Málaga when I left. I got one from you mom, the Christmas card, loved it! I got one from Nate Crosland. :) The kids a crack up! I love him so much. I got a Christmas card from the Jaccards.. Coolest family! and one from the Lewis couple. So supportive!

   Anyways, thats all I got today! 

BTW.... M´S SISTER GOT BAPTIZED.

   I love you all! Don´t stop believing. You can´t see your heart, but you know its there cuz you can feel it. I can´t see my father in heaven... but I know he´s there cuz I can feel him. He loves me and he loves you. Talk to him a little longer and a little more intimately tonight. He´d appreciate that.

¡Hasta la próxima!

-Élder Norton

short and sweet ... (Sam and Hilary)

this week from Elder Norton:

Hello! Good monday morning!

   I hope you´ve had a great week. This one will be even better! Things are great here in Alcoy. Things are really picking up and its fun! We´re working soo hard.. and that feels really good. Its so interesting how the mission is technically so that we help people come to baptism and in reality we are the ones that come out changed and better. Elder P. and I are learning so much and trying to humble ourselves so much. The mission is hard. Its hard to mix two cultures. Its even harder trying to constantly communicate in another language. And ESPEcially when you get stressed or tired and are worried about other people... BUT... THAT is what is changing us. We would not be growing, changing, learning, humbling ourselves, or anything without the great pressure and demand. I love my mission. I love it. Its hard. And I love it.

   FAMILY. I love you and miss you! So much! I think about you daily and I want you to know I love each of you so much. We will be together forever! Don´t lose sight of the Celestial kingdom. Clear what is blocking your view of salvation and forget about it. We have one purpose on this earth. Fulfill it!

   We´re really trying to keep that rule (one hour on the computer) so I don´t have tons of time. NOT CUZ OF YOUR EMAILS. Please don´t feel like you have to cut your emails shorter. They are the only taste of home I get. I love them. Don't cut them shorter. We email President every week and do numbers and stuff too. We try to do it quick. We´re working on it. :)

Dang it! I have like 2 minutes! Haha :)

   I love you all! Thank you for all you do! Keep praying. Say specific names. Read with a purpose. Go to church searching!

   I love you all! Write me! I´ll write you back! :)

-Elder Norton

¡OBEDIENCIA!

*****************************************************

this week from Hermana Norton:

I don't have much time to write today; I apologize. To me, it is the most important thing I do every Monday. All week I am not thinking about myself - when I write my family, the idea is that there are people on the other end who want to know about me. It is refreshing and necessary! Anyway. Here is the latest.

We are working with a few investigators! They have had some amazing experiences! 

Yesterday we found the S. family. They are from F. in the U.S. and they have been members for years, but aren't attending church because obviously it is not in their language and they don't know Spanish!  Anyway, it was a few minutes of USA talk in ENGLISH and afterward when I got back to Ecuador/Mission world, it was so refreshing! I now understand why missionaries are nervous to go home! I miss you guys so much, but know that I am good in Ecuador. I like the mission.

Hermana D. and I are working hard with a few investigators. They seem to be progressing, except for church attendance. That might be the toughest commitment for people to keep, as far as I have seen here in the mission. We were expecting seven investigators to attend church yesterday and only two came. We did a lot, but I am determined to do more this Sunday, because although we have worked so hard, if they don't attend church, we have to take a few steps backward. Hermana D. and I are doing really well though. I feel like we have found a good group of people who are really interested and willing. We just need time to work with them.

Okay, I will write more next week, I promise! I am going to write Sam´s birthday note real quick!

Hermana Norton

"Everyone tells me that I have the Andelucía accent which is like more.... more.. hick ish.." (Sam)

"I don't talk like no hick!"

Good morning family and friends!

   The ESPAÑA MÁLAGA mission is the best!

   Things are great! Alcoy is a very hard area but Elder Pascua and I are tearing it up! :) ¡Estamos a fuegote! (we're on fire!) :) Later in the email I´ll update you on everything.

   First things first... Papa, about picking us up from our missions.. I´m easy. I´ll do what the mayoría wants. My opinion would be wait till after and visit both places like you said. They advise us to not be picked up directly from the mission.. and I think more than anything its because it messes with the visas. And with the visas... how they are... I don´t want to be adding to the problem. I think it would be better that way anyways. Me da equal if we go to Ecuador or España first... I´m good with either way... but I would LOVE to go see ecuador. Ohh! I would love to. Anyways, thats my opinion.. but like I said, I´m easy.

   Ok, anyways! I sent you my address just barely in another email... and we are waiting for a couple things for Elder Pascua here at that address so we will be here a while. We both hope to change pisos after he gets his stuff though so I´ll keep you updated. I´m really glad you got my package! Hah it totally arrived late.. but just cuz I didn´t send it with enough time before christmas. The mail systems get all clogged up, I know, but I had to learn it the hard way. hah I don´t know if you remember during our phone call on christmas, I paused for a second like I was going to ask you something and then I said.. oh nevermind....... haha I was going to ask if you had gotten the package.... haha but you hadn´t said anything about it so I left it alone.... so that it´d be a surprise! :) I´m glad you enjoyed it. Sorry the presents are kinda dumb.. haha I couldn´t send too big of things cuz it costs a ton but I found what I could. :)

   Elder Hafen has called me a couple times with questions or little things and he said that the day I left (I left early in the morning) two letters arrived to our piso.. hah.... one from you guys.. probably the christmas card, and one from the Luis´, the family in our ward I think. I still don´t have them but i´ll get´em soon. No os preocupéis.

   Ok, a little update. Last week was great! Los estandartes de excelencia de la misión or The Mission Standards of Excelence are the goals that we want to achieve every week. We set specific goals for our areas every week as companionships but Los estandartes and mission-wide general goals.. The goal for amount of lessons taught in one week is 20 and obviously depending on the area and the missionaries and everything its different.. but this last week we taught 14 and we are very content with that. We are reopening the area.. the missionaries from before left us with........ nada.. basically.. haha and we have also heard that ´´when alcoy was part of the barcelona mission it was a dead area..´´ PSH! WE LOVE THIS PLACE. :) yes its hard but that doesn't mean its dead! It just means you gotta look harder and smarter in the places you haven´t looked yet! We´re really enjoying this place and we have several awesome families we´re working with right now.

   The ward here is good. We have heard that there may have been some confusion somewhere in the past here that helped the branch receive its own capilla and become a ´´ward´´..  There are few priesthood holders.. many many less actives...... its a very interesting situation.. ... Anyways, there are great people here! Really. .........  We´ll see how everything goes! Jacob 2:11-14&19-22......

   Elder Pascua and I are getting along great. I´ve been really tired lately and every once and a while I´ll get kinda sick of speaking spanish all the time and he´s really good cuz he´s more than happy to switch over the english and work on his english. Thats one thing we need to do more of is practice his english. He knows bastante but we just need to practice more. The language here is cool. This part of spain is super prideful and there is a huge part of spain that considers itself its one country... like not part of spain. Or they are trying to separate themselves from Spain or something dumb.. but they all speak this other language, Catalán.. and then there´s another separation inside of Cataluña (the part that wants to separate)... and thats Valencia.. and they speak valenciano...... which is the exactly the same language as catalán.. its just they are too prideful to agree on a name.. so anyways, here, ´´they speak valenciano´´ cuz they get offended if you call it catalán.. and Elder Pascua grew up in Barcelona learning Catalán so he´s teaching me. Everyone speaks both languages here. Valenciano (catalán) and Spanish (castellano they call it). Its super complicated but everyone speaks the spanish i´ve been learning my whole mission down more south in murcia and malaga and whatnot. Haha its funny though. Everyone tells me that I have the Andelucía accent which is like more.... more.. hick ish.. or more just like a different accent. One of the first member families that we ate with was commenting on my accent and everything and how they liked it and thought it was funny and one of the older women said to me.. ´´I´ll be honest, its better to have the accent that you have.´´ She was like... ´´You don´t have an american accent at all...´´ :) Yaaay!!! That made me super happy! I´ve been working really hard on my accent and that it flows out fluidly and not all choppy and that felt really good to hear that. Dad, what did you think of the lispy ´´graTHias´´ ´´diTHe´´ accent?´´ :) Did you notice it? It´ll be really fun to all speak spanish together!

   Oh, a couple things...

-Pops, I got the jump drive thing. Its awesome! There is actually some music still left on it. Like rock or country or somethin.. haha can I erase what i want? Thanks again, it works great!

-THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL MY CHRISTMAS STUFF. I never really thanked you for everything. WOW. Thank you so much for the candy the presents the notes the cards and letters and clothes, everything! Thank you!

-Oh, hah.. I thought of something the other day.. next time a package comes my way could you stuff so good beef jerky in the box. :) No rush.. just the next one. That would rock.

-Could you please send me my priesthood line? If you could, I would like a smallish page or something with my priesthood line back to Jesus Christ. We obviously teach that point a lot and its one thing to explain the unbroken chain to Christ, and its another thing to show them la cadena ininterrumpida. :) Maybe something the size of like an english Book of Mormon cover. That size of paper. I have a side bag that I carry with me and a paper that size would be awesome. Ask me if you have specific questions of how you should do it. I trust your judgement.

-annnd thats all.

   I love you all very much! Thanks for your support and prayers! We feel it.

   Read daily! It will give you strength.

-Elder Norton

"Read God's Word Daily! We'd be ungrateful not to" (Sam)

Happy New Year!

   It was great to talk on Christmas. I loved it! For some missionaries that messes with them and distracts them.. for me it just excites me and reminds me why I´m here... So that I can help others be in families too! Anyways, it was perfect!

   Christmas sounded like a blast there! New ping pong table huh¿? Thats pretty cool. Send me the old one in a package or something, we´ll set it up in our piso. :)................ ¡BROMA! Admo, keep playing sports and keep involving yourself in stuff. I know you feel really bogged down at times cuz I was in your exact shoes.. my only consejo is just keep playing.. it doesn´t have to be a ton.. just play and play with a smile. You´ll be glad you stayed involved. Oh, and DON´T SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT............................ ;P

   Wow! DJ´s already home and Berry´s heading out!! Tell DJ hi for me and give him a huuuge hug for me. Where's Jacob headed to again? Tell him from Norton... ´´good luck :) and be obedient´´ heheh

   Wow! Tyler Haws is wrecking! Keep me updated por favor. also, hows whats his name doing? the kid last year that was a freshman that everyone freaked cuz he was like a new little jimmer?? I can´t remember his name... but fill me in!

   The new area is amazing!! Elder P. says that he looks super gordo in that video.. haha but yeah, our area is amazing! And although this won´t make much sense to you guys, this area is outside of the region of Andalucía.. and its more up into like valencia and barcelona around there.. so everyone speaks pretty different. They have a lot of Spanish pride! Several members here have told us that they call the spanish that they speak "castellano".. even though its almost the exact same thing.. and then they speak this other language too thats call "catalán".. or valenciano... and its significantly different.. so Elder Pascua is teaching it to me. He´s been living here in spain for like 16 years now so he has heard it a lot.. anyways, its awesome! and tough.. haha!

   Mom, quick question.. did you sent Núñez a package? and if so did you send him one of those mirror rubik´s cubes? I just wanted to check cuz I want him to have one and if you haven´t sent him one I want to give him one of mine. :)

   President Deere did tell me about the dinner they all had together. He spoke very highly of Ty and Allie... Fam, you have to meet President Deere one day. He is an absolutely amazing man. Amazing! We´ve been in contact several times recently with Alcoy being opened and whatnot. We´re actually gonna be moving pisos soon I think. We´re moving into a new nicer one. They want us to be confortable so the only thing we have to think about is the work.

   Anyways, gotta go! Thanks for all writing! ADAM. Think up a new Avatar question. I´ll keep thinking too. :)

   I love you all! Read God´s words daily. We would be ungreatful not too. Set aside a time. Plan. It helps a lot. Maybe a phone reminder or something too. :) Lucky people.. you and your inteligent phones........ haha 

Anyways, bye!

-Elder Norton

In my email this week to Sam and Hilary I shared with them a new year's resolution of mine regarding my personal scripture study. Each of them, in their own way, addressed what I had said with simple but strong advice. 

I am so very grateful for my family ... my dear husband and each of my four children ... as well as the righteous family in which I was raised. I truly believe I was rescued in my pre-mortal life by this little band of valiant warriors. They may have seen me as a free spirit and known I would need extra help? or Maybe I was assigned to them from a higher power ... kind of like a service project? I don't know the details and it really doesn't matter. 

I am just so thankful to be surrounded by people that love me enough to push me to reach my potential. 

There is nothing in the universe I want more than to qualify to live with my family forever!
                            joanna

Catching up on past emails and some exciting changes! plus photos!

Monday 12/24/12 (from Hilary)

Okay, I don't have much time left to write, I have been taking care of other things, and I am so sorry. But tomorrow we will talk for forty minutes. I love you all.

The incident was not with I. And she was baptized Saturday! Hooray! I am sad I couldn't be there, but so happy for her.
Thursday was our Christmas dinner with President. It was super fun to see all these people I love that are here in the mission. President and Sister Ghent really go above and beyond with everything. It was a really cool night.

Here is part of what I wrote to President...
We are working with a family of four from Colombia. The two children were already baptized and the parents want to be baptized but they have a long road ahead of them. F., el hermano, has to work out some things and then marry the hermana, B. We have found ourselves in a tough situation because F. has asked a member for help and the member is turning to us to make the decision regarding worthiness. As much as we feel like every person deserves the second (third, fourth, fifth) chance, we need to know his intentions are pure. We have really been turning to the Lord and our leaders for guidance on making this decision.

Saturday A. was baptized and yesterday she arrived late to Sacrament Meeting and our Branch President wouldn't allow her to be confirmed. There isn't very much support or help from the branch here, and the baptism was almost empty and started late. But, even though it didn't seem like it turned out the greatest, it was still a really special moment for A and her mom. She is the only member in her family and her mom felt the spirit very strongly during the service. She also brought an aunt, who previously was very against the idea of A joining the church. As we were putting things together, they watched the restoration video and the aunt was full of questions. She is very interested and we are going to continue working with her and the rest of the family.

Hermana Davila is great. She is willing to work and wants to be able to help the people in exactly what they need. I am learning from her and I am really grateful to be in this new area with new challenges ahead.

Hermana Davila is from Guatemala. She is 27 and she is super great. I guess she and her previous companion had some challenges , but all of the members have noted that we are getting along and she is a lot happier and they have also been able to tell that we are working so hard. So. That is cool to hear. I guess previously they felt like the missionaries didn't work very hard. We have been doing what we can to patch up the relationships here in our branch.

Merry Christmas to all!

PS. I love you V! I am waiting for your letter with information about you and your boyfriend!

-Hermana Norton

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Monday 12/24/12 (from Sam)

Hello to all and a very Merry Christmas!

    If you´re not part of my family I invite you to read the email but quit wasting time on the computer! Its Christmas time! Go help somebody or be with your family or something!

   Things are great here in Málaga. Elder Hafen is a ROCK. Last transfer was pretty tough cuz we had to split the area and it was just kinda rough but now the area has come back together cuz there´s only one companionship and the work is great again. I am learning soo so much with Elder Hafen. He teaches very directly and very simply. Its so much more powerful.. and clear. Our message is clear. Joseph Smith saw God and his son Jesus Christ. He restored Christ´s chruch. Because of the restoration we know that we can live with God again with our families. To do so, we must obey the commandments. The first commandment is baptism. BOOM ¡A LA PILA BAUTISMAL!

   

M. is great. HE BLESSED THE SACRAMENT THIS WEEK! :) His family is progressing so much! Their fechas are for this saturday! We feel confident that they will be baptised. They are scared but hopeful. We´ll pray and leave it up to the Lord´s will.

   Yes, I. is a Spaniard. They are doing great! 4 of the 5 in their family came to church. They loved it again! They have fechas for the 12th of ENERO. Sorry that spanish words come to my mind faster than english words.. but it will help you learn. :) Keep learning! We haven´t heard anything about the visas..... but we´re hopeful! The Lord would not have opened the doors to thousands or more missionaries without providing a way for them to get to their intended missions. ¡Tened fé!

   Elder Hafen´s package finally arived and he has a bunch of stuff too. :) don´t worry mama. Haha.. today we start his last transfer. OOooooo..... :) His parents are gonna come out and pick him up and tour spain for like a week or two in february. His last day is like the 3rd or 4th and he´s super sad. It doesn´t stop him from working, but he's sad/mad. He doesn´t want it to end. 

   Ok, to answer your Q´s....

1- We´ll be calling from the apartment of a senior couple that are serving here in Málaga. Elder and Hermana Spainhower. They have a computer with skype and a good internet connection.

2- PLAN DE RESPALDO-BACKUP PLAN- The Spainhowers say they have a normal phone line that someone could call from. If skype or whatever it is isn´t working, i´ll just call the home phone from their phone. If you have other questions or concerns, email me and I´ll check my email when we get to their place.

   Mom, loved the spiritual thought! It remindes me of when Christ calls to the fishmen that were to become his diciples and tells them to follow him and it says that they immediately dropped what they were doing and followed him. :) Are we true diciples of Chirst??

   Anyways, Gotta go! I love you all and I´ll see you soon!... plus i´ll talk to you tomorrow! :)

-Elder Norton

Alcoy - "the city of bridges"

Wednesday 12/26/12 (from Sam)

 President Deere called us this morning and told us that I´m being transfered!........ Wow! I guess that someone else had an emergency transfer so I´m going up to the area of Alcoy!! I will be with Elder Pascua, the elder that took Elder Jones´ place in Huércal-Overa. 

    Anyways, President said, "when can you be ready?" and I said. "Well today if you need me." And he said, "The APs are going to be driving up there tomorrow. I´ll give you a day to say goodbye to everyone there in Málaga and tomorrow morning you´ll be on your way to Alcoy!"

   Alcoy has been closed for a while so we are reopening it and I will be senior comp. Elder Pascua has like 6 months in the mish. :D I´m super pumped!

   Anyways.. thats just a quick update. 

    Love you all! Talking with you was fantastic! Send me the video of Hilary through an email if you can, if you can´t, no worries. I love you!

-Elder Norton