"we have dedicated our time to helping new members feel the spirit and also help them fill in the little holes of doctrine they might still be missing." (Sam)

"Hastening the Work" takes teamwork, organization, and lots of smiles!

March 3, 2014

Hi there!

Another good week! Elder Hall and I are getting along really well together and working our tails off. The work is going really well here in Jerez as a ward. And its cool cuz the three companionships here are working really well together. 

The influx of missionaries has caused a lot of new "side effects" I guess that I didn´t even think of. More missionaries means more than one companionship in the units and teamwork and humility between companionships. Of the three areas in our ward, the sister's area has baptized 17 in the last 11 months.... and the other two area are slow and producing fewer results. And its not a lack of work or obedience, rather different people and different financial levels and ways of life. We as a companionship have been working really really closely with the hermanas these last couple of months to support them in their work and help and carry the recent converts that they don´t have as much time to visit. These new members are all excited to do missionary work and many new people have been found through them.... ALL of which are living in the hermanas area....... soo.. the hermanas have even less time to visit the many recent converts that all need visits. That is what Elder Hall and I are focusing on. In my opinion, recent converts need the most support and help.. and we have dedicated a lot of our time to helping those new members continue to feel the spirit and also help them fill the little holes of doctrine that they might still be missing.

I received an email from the office with my travel itinerary.......... O.O..... if you didn´t get it i´ll forward it to you. SUPER WEIRD to get that.

Hey, its been kinda short today but there´s a quick update. Hope you´re all well. Pray for the missionaries and the hearts of the people!

Love you all!

Élder Norton

March 10, 2014

Hey mama, fam, and friends!

Good week this week! We´re really working as a team here and the work is moving. I love the members here. I really have been able to create some great relationships and I love feeling the support of the members. Members are so important in missionary work. Although its important and always will be important to open our mouths and "hablar con todos" speak with everyone, that work can often times be very detached and unproductive.. whereas with members, we fortify and uplift members in need while we help them invite and teach their own friends converting the friends into members and the members into member missionaries. That way when we leave, the members themselves and carry the work along. THAT is missionary work.

Thanks for the updates on things. Happy to hear things are going well. Know that I will be praying for Jennica and waiting updates.

I got your letter last week and just this morning I got the little package. THANK YOU. I sent Adam a letter the other day and want to send one to you two Mom and Dad this week. I´ll do my best. Either way, know that I love you! I would like to be able to buy a couple more things before I go but I don´t think I have any money in my account. If you have a second and are able I´d love to be able get a couple more things. THANK YOU.

Love you all! Be seeing you SOON!

Élder Norton

"I will generously give my whole life." (Sam)

February 24, 2014

Hello again!

Transfers this last week! Wow. My time with Elder Crandall, almost 9 weeks, FLEW by. I love that kid so much. I don't know if I mentioned last week or if we even new where he was going last week. He was transfered this last tuesday to Huércal-Overa, my first area and has been there for about a week now. I´ve been emailing him a little and says he loves the people. I wrote a couple of notes for my converts and a couple of investigators that were never baptized. I hope Pepa and Rafa are doing well. I´ll keep you updated.

Each week I feel like I have less to write.. WEIRD.

I hope you´re all doing well. Sounds like you´re all busy and happy. How it should be. Help someone who needs it today. Helping is good.. but a lot of times I feel like we help people that don´t need it that much. Look harder! Look for someone that needs it. They exist. They´re out there.

Things in Spain are really bad economically right now. I´ve heard from people that Spain has like a 30+% unemployment rate.. and then our bishop told us that in this part of spain, the province of CÁDIZ, theres 40% unemployment. He then looked at me and said, "To be honest, I would not be suprised if Jerez had an even higher unemployment rate than that." It´s so so sad. It really is so hard to see families and people that just struggle and can´t make it. I love the Lord´s help system. Those that are obedient and true to the Gospel can receive help to maintain their families. I have a huge testimony of the Fast Offering we give. Not only fasting but the fast offering that we donate monthly. I will generously give my whole life.

My new companion Elder Hall is great. He´s from Salt Lake City and went to a high school called Highland. He´s a great guy and started his mission almost exactly a year after I did so he´s a year in. He was companions with Elder Larios, my hijo, for a transfer. Fun to catch up on how he´s doing. Elder Hall and I are excited to work together this transfer. We have a lot to learn from each other and he´ll do a great job taking over the area when I leave.

Anyways, thats all for this week. Sorry I don´t have much to say. I´m working hard and representing the Lord how he should be represented!

Love you!

Élder Norton

 click below to watch a short clip

Blessings of Offerings HERE

"he has decided to leave everything behind and be baptized" (Sam)

Hello!

This was a great week. Not fantastic numbers but the work we did was more important than the numbers we could have "achieved".

We organized and had this awesome JAS (jovenes adultos solteros- young single adults) activity on tuesday with ping pong, desserts, and UNO that turned out well and helped fellowship a couple new members and investigators. We are working with a girl named P. who´s parents are less active from something that happened like years ago but she was never baptized. She has a lot of friends in the church, including the bishops daughter and we´ve been getting to know her a lot more. The three companionships here in Jerez have been working really well together. P technically lives in the Hermanas area but we agreed that a companionship of elders would probably be better for her right now. This saturday and sunday were our stake conferences and P attended both saturday night and sunday morning! :P We set up a Noche de Hogar with her and a really solid family in the ward that she´s good friends with. We´re pumped!

We set a baptismal date with an "eternigator" that is finally going to get baptized! His name is J. J. and couldn´t be baptized before for a long list of weird little things and obstacles. Due to a series of events that have gone down the month or two, everything has "cleared up" so to speak and he has decided to leave everything behind and be baptized. We´re working closely with the bishop because he has obviously known J. J. a lot longer than we have.. but Bishop agreed to letting us set and baptismal date with him for the 15th of February!.. the weekend before Elder Crandall will leave! QUÉ BENDICIÓN. I´ll keep you updated!

Hey I love you all! Thanks for your support and prayers. We need them.

!Hasta la otra semana!

ADIOS

Élder Norton

* Wondering what "Noche de Hogar" is? 

Here in the U.S. we call it "Family Home Evening" or "FHE"

It's a night we set aside weekly (typically Mondays) to spend quality time with our family.

What makes family home evening successful?

• Start and end with prayer. This invites the Spirit, increases love, and teaches your family how to pray.
• Learn from the scriptures and the words of latter-day prophets to help your family live the gospel.
• Add music, such as hymns and Primary songs, to create an atmosphere of love, peace, and joy. 
• Make it fun by playing games, acting out scripture stories, and making treats. Keep the atmosphere light and loving.
• Be consistent. Monday nights are set aside by the Church for family home evening. If that doesn’t work, find a night that does.
• Add variety. Help a neighbor in need, hold a lesson at the park, or go for a walk as a family.

"We cannot afford to neglect this heaven-inspired program. 

It can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family, helping him or her to 

withstand the temptations which are everywhere. 

The lessons learned in the home are those that last the longest.” 

resident Thomas S. Monson

"AND WE HAVE A BOOK THAT HAS ALL THE DETAILS" (Sam)

January 27, 2014 

Hello everyone! 

Things keep moving forward here in Jerez. Poco a poco we´re gathering momentum and seeing the fruits. We are loving missionary work right now. ITS HARD but we are loving it. We are seeing the important things in the work and balancing and organizing our time and our work. Between the three companionships in Jerez, it has been established that mine and Elder Crandall´s area has the least members, is furthest from the church, and is the richer, more closed off side of town.. With that being said, we´ve picked up where the area was left off and we´ve established really good relationships with the members in our area and the leaders in the ward. We are feeling their confidence and support a lot more now and its allowing us to create good consistent work. Once you get an area in a grove, things start too flow without you manually making things happen. That´s what we´re seeing. 

The three main people we are working with are Jo, J. J., and H.. Jo. is a former investigator that got married to the woman he´s been with for the last 20 years to be able to be baptized. Up to that point everything was going great but because of the pressure of everything all at the same time, they got married and then kind of disappeared. We were able to find him again and start from scratch and he´s been making incredible progress. He´s dropping bad habits and replacing them with new, edifying ones. His family is sadly closed off to the situation now but with his progress, we´re seeing them open up more and more. He received an interesting blessing last week.. they called him to go to work down in Algeciras that is several hours away from Jerez from monday to saturday and some sundays...... so his family is staying here and he will be gone most weeks. He´s excited for his time alone because he has made good habits and knows that he will be able to continue reading and praying. When he has a free sunday, he says he´s going to come back to Jerez and attend church here. We´re happy that he was able to get more work but it obviously throws a wrench into things. Guess we just need some patience

J. J. is also a former investigator that is basically un miembro seco.. a dry member. He and his girlfriend were both basically active members but couldn´t be baptized cuz they weren´t married. Just recently there was a problem in the relationship which caused them to separate for a time. They are back on good terms but J. J. has made the decision to be baptized instead of returning to live with M.. We´re working closely with the bishop and getting him completely ready for baptism. We´re thinking he´ll be baptized middle or end of February.

H. is a spaniard. He is in a relationship with a woman who moved to spain without getting divorced from her husband. She was in a really bad situation and just left.... which is obviously causing tons of problems now. The last lesson we had with H. he RE-realized what the BoM was.. haha He kind of flipped when he really realized what we had been teaching the whole time. Those are the memorable lessons... when someone really comes to a realization of the fact that Christ visited the ancient inhabitants of America directly following his resurrection and time with his apostles.... AND WE HAVE A BOOK THAT HAS ALL THE DETAILS!! Ahh what the world doesn´t know.

Anyways, that´s a quick update. I did get your package and although I don´t really need anything else in the birthday package, some small american treats would be greatly appreciated. :D Thanks!

Thanks for the update on Jennica! I had very very little idea of the situation! We´ve been praying for her. Keep us in the loop.

I love you all! Talk to you soon!

Élder Norton

"the look on his face was priceless!" (Sam)

January 20, 2014

Hi everyone!

Good to hear from you this week. Happy to hear you are well and busy. Sorry I couldn´t write last week. It was my bad. Today I´ll give a good update.

The mission is so different than when I came in. 80 percent of the areas have more than one companionship. Jerez, where I am right now, has three companionships. We are Jerez A.. I´m the district leader here and Elder Crandall just finished his training. Jerez B are the Hermanas Brown and Anderson and they are the sister trainers (what hilary was in her mish) which are basically the equivalent to a zone leader except they do the splits with the hermanas.. and Jerez C are the zone leaders Elder Vergara who I was companions with in Aljarafe and Elder Berrett, who trained me as Financiero. Really great group.

The ward here is growing soo quickly. With the three baptisms the ward had this weekend, I think there are 21 Recent converts in the last 9 months. Its incredible. Elder Crandall and I really wish there was more happening in our area.. but more than anything, we have been supporting the two other companionships with the last little push needed to get their investigators to the waters of baptism. This last week I did 5 baptismal interviews, 1 follow-up, and we taught two appointments to investigators that were not ours. We spend just as much time IN our area last week as we did OUT of our area. Like I said, we´d obviously like to see more success come from our area but we´re happy with the three baptisms that the hermanas had last week and the two the elders will have this weekend.

Really cool thing happened this last week. Elder Crandall, just starting his third transfer, has been stressing about a goal he set for himself. Its a great goal and I had the same one when I started. It was to baptize in every area. He´s a third into what will be his last transfer here and hasn´t baptized yet. Well to make a long story short, we´ve been working quite a bit the the hermanas investigators this week, Ph. from brasil and Al. from bolivia, and about mid-week, Al. called the hermanas and told them she wanted me to baptize her instead of what was previously planned. I was honored and accepted. On friday, we went back for a quick follow up interview with Ph. and at the end I mentioned how I thought it would be cool if Elder Crandall could be involved in the baptism since it would be his first. He said that he didn´t know what she would say but that he´d ask her. We finished the follow-up and we left. About 2 minutes later, I got a phone call from him saying that Al. loved the idea and wanted Elder Crandall to baptize her! :D I hung up and stopped Elder Crandall on the street and said, "hey, buckle up."... and he just looked at me weird... :P and then I said, "Al. wants you to baptize her." haha the look on his face was priceless! He was so happy and had a great experience saturday night. The baptisms went down perfectly. She was baptized the first try.. etc. :) So that was really fun.

Anyways, I know you wanted me to write more this week. Sorry I´ve run out of time. I´m going to try to send some pictures really quick. Love you all!

Élder Norton

ps.. I´ve started claiming all the advertisements that come in our mailbox cuz Elder crandall gets so many letters I have to boost my self confidence somehow! :D..... haha

Out with the old and in with the new (Sam)

December 30, 2013

Hello family! Hello friends!

Hope you had a merry christmas 

and have a happy new year!

It was great to talk to you on Christmas! This week has been crazy! Its interesting to see people during holiday times because there are some people that are more open and desireous for us to visit and want to spend time with the missionaries, and then there are the people that get sucked into their lives and kind of "put us off" till after the holidays.... haha the fun thing about Europe during this time is that EVERYONE is out on the streets. Almost all of Europe is such a "walking culture".. and lots of people are usually on the streets, but during christmas time, even more people are out on the streets. Its fun to see people out with their families. Wish we could reach more of them.

Sounds like you had a good week. Its incredible to me how much things have changed since I´ve been gone. Mitch and Jen have a new child that I´ve never met. Their boys are big and talking and going to school. Dad´s had his BYU calling long enough that the home ward feels foriegn to him :), mom works in the temple and has a calling on the stake level, Hil left to Ecuador, learned spanish, baptized a bunch AND IS ALREADY HOME, Adam is draining three´s like a boss and is probably taller than me!! All of that has happened SINCE I´M BEEN GONE. I hope we can all look back and see that last 21 months.. and see the changes that have occurred in each of us. Good ones and bad ones. I also hope we can all look 21 months into the future and set real, achievable goals and then work for them. In these next 21 months, lets change back the bad things that have changed in these last 21 months. Lets do new things, meet new people, gain more knowledge and faith.

Times up! Gotta go. Love you all! See you soon!

Élder Norton

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

January 6, 2014

Hello everyone!

Thanks for the weekly emails, they really do mean a lot.

I´ve sent a lot of other emails out this week.. so my message will have to be quick..

Things are great! Another slow week cuz here in Spain. This holiday starts before Christmas and goes till like tomorrow..... yesterday night, everyone went to the city center and watched "The 3 Kings/wise men" come in one camels and throw candy out to everyone.. and then they make their way to the hospital where they give the kids in the hospital presents. No worries, things are going to pick back up. It was like this last year.

I do remember Brady!! Tell him Hi and hi to the family too.

I got my packages! You saw the photos right?? There were quite a few people that got all their Christmas packages late so it was fun.. we all got to open our packages together like it was christmas morning. :P

Elder Crandall and I are doing well. We have had several moments already where we´ve known that we needed to be together. We´re loving our time together.

Transfers were last week! Another huge transfer has come and gone. We´re both staying and we´re glad. Elder Flint and Elder Crapo in the office almost died though.. haha its been super crazy for them. Zone conferences, transfers, new missionaries, mission leadership concert at the mission home.. all of that almost in the same week and a half. They´re awesome.

I´m out of time. Sorry its been scattered.

Love you all!

Élder Norton

"I'm walking up to my train … was like 50 feet away … and it starts pulling away…" (Sam)

December 23, 2013

Hello!

So much to tell! Where to start?

I´m so excited for Christmas! We´ll be calling at 6:30pm our time which is 10:30am your time. You think thats gonna work? This will be the first time that I´m gonna call from the equivelant of an internet cafe thing.The last two times we´ve talked I´ve done it from american members house's.. way easier.. but the internet place will work too.

Well, the transfer and this last week has been crazy. I´ll try to explain it all...

I was hoping that monday morning, the packages were gonna get to the office so I could take them when I left tuesday.. but they didn´t come.. so tuesday morning, I finished getting everything ready, we put everything in the car, drove to the post office to check one more time if the packages were there, they weren´t and it took so long that it back up our schedule, we pulled up to the train station in málaga I ran inside, went through, was walking up to my train, was like 50 feet away, and it starts pulling away......... hahah so I turned around and walked out, met up with elder flint and elder crapo, we went over and changed my tickets to the next one that is luckily free of charge, we grabbed some food and then I caught the next train. I got to my area right before 6pm, elder erickson (6 months in the mission-trainer) and elder crandall (3 months-in training) picked me up, took me to the apartment, we dropped stuff off and went out to hit up some appointments and get to know the city. At like 8pm that night, President Deere called while we were talking with a less active woman on the street outside her house. I answered, told him what we were doing and asked it if was alright if I called back in just a minute. He said that was fine. About 5 minutes later I called and he didn´t answer. (Let the phone tag being!!!) At like 10 as we were walking home he called again but we didn´t feel the vibration. We planned that night for the next day and then called him. I talked to him first just for like a minute, he asked how my first day was, I told him good. Then he asked to speak with Elder Erickson....... So I passed it over. He had talked with Elder Erickson for less than a minute and his face totally dropped. hah all we hear is "WOW......Yes president, that sounds alright.... Yeah I think I can.... Yeah.... Well... yeah."

Turns out, one of the zone leaders in malaga had hurt his leg. and needed to be on full rest. a missionary from cartagena was transferred to fill his spot and President needed elder erickson to go to cartagena. WOAH.

I was with elder erickson for 16 hours.... and then he left. That phone call was tuesday night. He left wednesday at 4pm.

Needless to say, its been crazy. He wasn´t been able to say goodbye to almost anyone. A family of converts of his drove across the city and found us when they found out he was leaving just to say bye and to take pictures. The mom was crying. Its been hard to tell everyone cuz they loved him. He started here and has been here for 4 transfers... 6 months... then just disappears. :\

I was really blessed to be able to learn the area and learn the names of all the people we are working with quickly. I feel that the Lord has blessed me and that that´s an ability that He has taught me on my mission. Elder Crandall (now my step-son in mission terms cuz i´m finishing his training) and I have worked really hard and are meeting a lot of members.  I have learned, through companions and lessons from God, to like a different kind of work. Elder Crandall and I have met a ton of members that they never really even worked with before and we´re going to try to meet the others that we haven´t met yet. I don´t have time to explain this type of work but to put it short and simple, it is work that stablizes and slowly fortifies the ward. ANY MISSIONARY OR PREMISSIONARY READING THIS... WORK WITH MEMBERS.

Saturday was the ward chirstmas party. I wanted to forward you some pictures that were taken but no one sent them to me. At the end of the party they needed a "santa" to pass out the presents to the kids and because I was new, and no one knew me yet, they asked me if I would do it. :PPPP soo fun!

They gave me this suit and hat and beard and 

I came out and was like

"HO HO HO FELIZ NAVIDAD!! 

MERRRRRY CHRISTMASS! "

And all the kids just stopped in their tracks ... frozen. Haha, I went over to the seat they had prepared for me and like as if they were all like programmed to at the same time, they all got up and just like ran for me! haha and like attacked me!! haha they like swarmed and crowded around me and the adults had to like push them away hahah so funny! I´ll tell you more about it on Christmas.

Yesterday in church was awesome cuz we were able/I was able to meet tons of new people. I´m really excited for this ward. Big ward with Lots and Lots of recent converts.

Hey we gotta go but I love you all! See you soon!

Élder Norton

Elder Norton's new address!

Dec. 16, 2013

HEY !

I´m going to Jerez! So pumped! I´ll tell you more about it next soon. I leave the office tomorrow morning around 11. My new address is:

   Elder Sam Norton

Calle Ronda del Pelirón Nº53, edificio Renfurbis I, Bloque 2, 1ºD

            11405 Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz)

Spain

"Whether we recognize it or not, the Spirit helps us in every one of our righteous actions" (Sam)

December 14, 2013

Hello!

Thanks for sending your emails early so I could read them before we left for the concert.

Wow mom, what an incredible story. Really! I love how close our membership in the gospel keeps us to the spirit. You working in the temple friday instead of wednesday, the man speaking to you in the temple, you feeling the need to help…., the conversation you had, and the final outcome (not necessarily the initial outcome) of your desires to help, I´m sure were all promptings or facilitated by the spirit. One thing Elder Castillo, who I talk about a lot, I know, has taught me in my time in the office is that whether we recognized the spirit's help or not, he helps us in every one of our righteous actions. There are no coincidences when you desire goodness.

I still don´t know where I´m going... :\ And to be honest, I don´t even know if its been decided yet. About a week ago, I missionary fell playing soccer and separated his shoulder from his collar bone in a city called Alicante, close to Alcoy. When we heard about that I thought for sure i was going to go there cuz the missionary had to have surgery and all this stuff. Elder Keller, one of President´s APs thought the same thing but the other day told me that after talking a little with President I wouldn´t be going there. I think that missionary will stay in his area and can keep working as he recuperates. Then, I talked with Elder Keller again the next day and he goes.. Hey I know where you´re going! I can´t tell you where but you´re going to love it!................. D: haha ..... Then Sister Deere yesterday was saying that she wasn´t even sure if the decision had been made, and then last night I saw president and said, "You and I will taaaalk.... hmm.. tomorrow. Is that ok??" And I put on my happy-no-problem-whenever-you-get-a-chance face. :P I think we´ll talk today sometime before or after the concert in Granada.

I did have a baptism two weeks ago. Last week I forgot to send the picture. I´ll attach it. Her name is M and Elder Núñez and I taught her over a year ago in Málaga. She was almost baptized the day D and R (the couple she lives with) was baptized but backed out right before. That´s when Elder Núñez and I both got new comps and then soon after she moved back to Ecuador. I think she was there for a while.. like 5 or 6 months, and then she came back. The missionaries tried to teach her for a while but couldn´t connect. Then a companionship thats in málaga right now really got to her and she started coming again. The missionaries called me on like tuesday or wednesday and I baptized her that saturday. It was aaawesome to see her again! She was just glowing and ready! Tender mercies.

The Christmas Concert! We´re super excited. The songs are coming together really well and I think there will be like 40 missionaries in it. It doesn´t start till like 7 tonight but we´re leaving malaga in a bus and a couple other vehicles today at 1 so we can get there well early and rehearse with the whole group together. Jess and her husband Ryan Toolson won´t be going. :\ this concert is a big thing in Granada which is like 2 hours from malaga.. so no one aroung here really knows anything about it.. just members and people in granada. I don´t know if anyone´s going to record it but I´ll find out and try to make it happen if no one´s doing it yet. I want a recording of it too but I can´t promise anything.

I haven´t gotten the packages yet but they´ll get here. I don´t think one has been lost yet. *knock on wood*

 Love you all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS VERY SOON.

Élder Norton

 Photos of the Christmas concert in Grenada

"I´m singing bass even though I should probably be in the tenors.... I just try to burp when we get to that low F part" Catching up with our Elder Sammy! and PHOTOS!

I'm a little behind with my blogging….

but, Elder Norton has had a great couple of weeks so 

take a minute and get caught up on his latest happenings!

Elder Norton with companions and friends from the ward

November 30, 2013

Hello! Hope you all had a very happy thanksgiving!

Both last year and this year I´ve been blessed to be in Málaga or the málaga area for thanksgiving. Last year we were having a conference on like the day before thanksgiving and one of the elders in málaga sorta assigned himself to organize a HUGE thanksgiving feast.. so the conference happened and then there was a feast after. This year, Hermana Deere kind of headed it up and organized a big thing. It turned out really well and there was a lot of food! Haha after, we (about 30 elders and president) went outside to a little tiny park down behind the back of the church and played a game of football. :D You HAVE to meet president someday. He is incredible. Spiritual, inspiring, friendly, etc... but when he doesn´t control it, his Jr. High Football Coach side comes out a little bit... :P so we´d huddle up and he was calling this great plays left and right! "You two line up on the left, and create a hole here. Elder, your find the hole they make and run a buttonhook. Turn around and I´ll hit you there...." :) or "Alright, Listen. Where´s my tall man? Elder bird! We need a first down. Run straight up the middle 6 yards. Eeeelder Crapo aaand elder turley, be there and you´re going to put your hands down at his knee level. He´ll step into your hands and you´ll lift him up as high as you can and I´m gonna throw it to him! BREAK!" :D Hahah best one by far those was a handoff to Annie, his 17 year old daughter. He handed it off to her and then yelled at the top of his lungs "DON´T TOUCH HER!!!" Hahaha she ran straight in for a touchdown. :P The Turkeybowl lives on. EVEN IN SPAIN.

So good to hear about your missionary work with your friend! Please keep me posted. Love the idea of doing a FHE with her. Be sure to play games! As silly as that sounds, the spirit is just as easily felt by being with pure and happy people than it is by learning pure and happy doctrine. Be the normal fun smiley you and she´ll feel the spirit.

As for a quick update of the mission, lots is going on. So, I´m going to try to give a quick update. Big picture, and personal.

Over the last 8ish months, the mission numbers have gone from 100 to right now we are at 231. About 90% of the areas have more than one companionship.. and about 80% percent of the areas have both elders and hermanas. I came into the office about 6 and a half months ago and since then have seen almost every single missionary in the entire mission. Between ZL and Sister trainers trainings, District Leader trainings, missionaries coming in to pick up their new companions, and the influx of 130 MORE missionaries. I personally know Every Single Missionary in the mission. We did some numbers the day before yesterday and with the tentative data we have right now, we are estimating a net drop of about 4 missionaries in the next 5 months... which means that Elder Flint, the new financiero may not rent one apartment during his time here. He´ll actually be CANCELING some. Hahah funny how that works....... During my time here, everyone (EVERYONE) has at least been transferred once. I am currently the missionary with the longest amount of time in my area. :P Some missionaries have been transferred twice and I think one or two have moved three times while i´ve been here. haha the members are starting to get suspicious... hah. The 4 missionaries that were supposed to go home at the start of January have been moved up to the middle of the transfer, the 12th of december, to be able to go home before Christmas. I´ll be leaving the office on that date too. They are all in trios right now, which was smart planning on president´s part, but I can now safely guess that my next companionship with be a threesome as well... cuz there won´t be any holes. When I get to this new area (don´t know where yet), I´ll have 2 and half transfers left and it will almost surely be my last area. WEIRD. I´ll probably see both of my companions leave, and the companion that comes will take over they area when I go home. I did the math and I´ll have been in 7 areas and had 16 companions. That´s a lot of both. Haha

Thats the update for now! I gotta head out.  

Love you all! See you soon enough! I´m puuumped for Christmas SKYPE TIME.

Élder Norton

P.S. I´m excited to come home and SHOW each of you how much I love you. 

Peace and plenty here abide,

Smiling sweet on every side,
Time doth softly, sweetly glide,
When there’s love at home.

Elder Norton with friends

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December 7, 2013

Hi everybody!

This last week has been great. I feel like I say that every week. I love my mission.

   I´ve actually been thinking a lot about my mission lately. I´ll be completely honest with you all. Its been kinda tough recently with my current situation. (every single missionary could say that right at this moment. Lots of tough things in the mission).. I think it has to do with my somewhat extended stay/long amount of time in the office... cuz I feel very stagnant right now. I know its coming to a close and that the office work is super important, but this last week I´ve been thinking about that so that´s what I´m writing about. Its fun cuz I get to see the future secretaries of the mission really settling in and learning but "training" someone to take your spot just puts you in the weird awkward spot. Haha the old AP (they´re in a three some right now) and I call ourselves/president started calling us the "lame ducks" :P thought that was clever. Elder Bird, the AP thats going home leaves midweek this week, which was the original date that I was going to leave the office. Like I mentioned earlier, Elder Castillo talked to president and changed my date just a little so I could come to the concert. :D I´ll be leaving the office I think next saturday or sunday. Don´t know where I´m goin yet! :\

 So, about the christmas concert. A choir of missionaries is being put together for an annual christmas concert that´s held in the granada stake center. I guess missionaries don´t usually perform but they asked for a huge group this year and Elder Castillo and his wife have headed it up. We have a group of like 40 missionaries from

Fuengirola, Málaga, Almería, and Granada that are all practicing 4 or 5 different christmas songs, all in english, to perform them in Granada in a week. There´s that triple quartet that´s gonna perform too. Total of like 12 people, 3 of each singing part. Its gonna be a blast. Hah I´m singing bass even though I should probably be in the tenors. They needed bass.. guess I´m gonna have to stretch a little.. we get down to a low F... :\ or maybe I should say THEY get down to a low F... I just try to burp when we get to that part cuz its the only way I can get down. :)

   The hike was good today. After, we came back to the church grounds and played some soccer and basketball on the court/parking lot.

   Don´t worry about the packages. They´ll get here. And if not before I leave, the Castillos are planning on (THEY ARE THE BEST) doing a "mission tour" as they call it, and just drive everywhere basically just a couple days before Christmas and drop off the packages to everyone that hasn´t gotten theirs yet. Haha so don´t worry. Funny side-note about packages and working in the office. Everyone sends packages to the mission office... which works... its not the greatest way to do it.... cuz technically the person that is receiving the package has to be there to present the package....... :\ but the mail people know us now.. but anyways. Our numbers have gone up to 229 missionaries. There is a family behind each one of those missionaries......... and you can imagine the mail company (called correos) when they start receiving ridiculous amounts of packages all for the same office building. Haha its been hilarious cuz Elder Flint and I had to run to Correos one day to send some stuff and when they saw us they were like.. "Oh yes!! You´re here! DO YOU HAVE A CAR??? Look how many packages we´ve received for you guys!!" and they wheel out a full grocery cart and another smaller cart full of them.... We went back to the office with like 16 packages all addressed to OTHER PEOPLE. Good thing we´re really charitable and didn´t open them and eat all the candy....... O.o So hah needless to say, its been fun cuz every day the mailman comes with another cart of boxes... I think he´s getting pretty ticket actually cuz they´re probably paying him the same as the mail-lady for the next block. :P

   Good to hear that Adam is playing what he loves. I loved and will love hanging out with him again and it makes me happy that he is excelling in basketball. (HEY adam, I was shooting today and am totally off. HELP ME with my three when I get home alright???)

   Last couple of things. Tell the Rice family I love them (I HOPE YOU´RE READING THIS ANYWAYS) and that Jennica will be in my prayers. Also, mom, I read your story. Love it. I love that it started with one who many would see as less capable. Good for him. Lastly, my release date is the 2nd of April. I obviously don´t really know that much yet but usually people fly out thursday mornings. I´ll probably leave here (málaga) thursday (3rd or april) morning at like 4am here. Pretty sure notification papers will be sent withing the next monthish or two maybe.

Love you All!!

Élder Norton

"Don´t have as much time … but its for a great reason! (Sam)

Hey!!

Don´t have as much time as I wish.. :\ but its for a great reason!

A year ago when I was serving in Málaga with Elder Núñez, we taught and baptized D and R (you might remember the names) from Ecuador and Uruguay. In their apartment there was another ecuatorian lady named M that started listening and was almost baptized the same day that D and R were. She ended up backing out and the area was split right then and Elder Núñez and his companion continued teaching her. Well she never got baptized and ended up moving back to Ecuador. A little while back, the Elders in my old area told me she was back (in Spain) and they were teaching her again. Then like 4 or 5 days ago they called and said. She´s getting baptized this saturday and I get to perform the baptism!  :O............ WOOO! So today's the baptism and it starts at 6 in Málaga.

Now, I wouldn´t be in so much of a hurry cuz theoretically we could just drive in quick....... buuuut..... we can´t get into the parking garage where our car is cuz we locked the clicker in the car. The castillos have a clicker but their traveling right now so we have to wait till tonight late late when they get back before we can get it out...... SOOOO... we have to take the subway train thing into malaga and we have to catch it at 5. Innnnnnn and hour and 7 minutes.

Quick update. The castillos are bringing my replacement in tonight! Elder Flint! COULD NOT BE MORE HAPPY WITH ELDER FLINT. I´ll tell you more about him later but I am really really excited and actually relieved to be passing my position over to Elder Flint. Great guy.

Mmmmmmmm can´t think of the other things.. Oh it was soo great to see those pictures of you with Hilary! Tell her that I love her and that she should write me an email. :)

Love you!

Élder Norton

ps. Dad and Adam, I watched the video you sent me of Adam shooting hoops probably a hundred times. Ask my comp. I just put in on repeat. YOU´RE LIKE A LITTLE BALLER. I´m starting to get a little worried about that in´n´out bet we made over skype when we talked for mothers day. Adam, ¿¿¿recuerdas??? Love you guys!

What are YOU thankful for? 
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