´´minor side affects may include, drowsiness, minor headaches, loss of sleep, minor back pains from sitting at a desk all day, reduced morning study time, accelerated hearing degeneration from constant phone calls, little to no lessons taught weekly due to ´TO DO LISTS´ the size of spain, etc.....´´ (Sam)

Hi Blog followers! Because of family vacations, etc I got behind a week with Sam's emails as well.  Below I'm posting one from last week and then this week's.

Jon bought this t-shirt for Sam...
Elder Samuel Parker Norton

July  6, 2013

What a week!!

   I hope you´re all doing as well as I am! Its been a craazy week but things are great. The older AP thats here right now goes home at the end of this transfer aka in 2 and a half weeks and I had forgotten how different it is living with missionaries that are so close to going home.... haha he´s a great elder and his not slowing down or anything, (he actually teaches TONS of lessons especially for being AP) but today we ended up going to a mall and to a bunch of clothes stores cuz he´s buying all of his clothes for home here...... super weird! 

   You guys remember how a couple of weeks ago I had the ´´busiest week of my mission´´?? That was transfers week...... Aaaaaaand, we´re already closer to THE NEXT TRANSFERS WEEK than we are to the last one. ITS COMING BACK TO HAUNT US! :) The truth is though, that´s what we´re here for... I´ve been having a little inner lucha against myself about what is required of us here in the office/how we´re supposed to work here in the office. The truth is that we may never know exactly, and I don´t think we´ll never completely agree as an office staff either, but my take on it is that we have been called to... how would you say it?... save or protect... the rest of the mission´s time. WE (the office missionaries) have to do the not-so-fun, too-hard-to-do-so-i´ll-forget-about-it-for-now kind of things that missionaries don´t want to think about... for example..... residency, looking up/buying travel stuff, apartment finding, paying rent and bills, phone bills and problems, money refunds for cost of living, scheduling and daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly planning for the mission......... are all things that any normal person in the world would have to think about. THE REASON office missionaries exist, is so that street missionaries DON´T have to worry about that stuff, and so that they can ONLY focus on the people.... Cool right? Yes. ´´minor side affects may include, drowsiness, minor headaches, loss of sleep, minor back pains from sitting at a desk all day, reduced morning study time, accelerated hearing degeneration from constant phone calls, little to no lessons taught weekly due to ´TO DO LISTS´ the size of spain, etc.....´´ :D haha but THAT is why I´m here right now.

   I´m out of time but thank you so much for your emails and support. I´ll be fasting with you! Those of you out there that have written me letters, I WILL WRITE BACK! Mama, I got my international drivers permit and the spanish songs cd. That was the one I was looking for! Thank you! I´ll let you know next week if anything else comes. Thanks! Love you!

Élder Norton

Financiero

La Misión España Málaga

La Iglesia de Jesucristo S.U.D.

(^ what I put on each of my emails that I send out from the office..... :D)

July 13, 2013

Heey! Great to hear from you! We had an awesome week here. Its starting to get pretty hot here too!

Well the week was actually quite eventful, so i´m gonna go in chronological order...

Our car broke down exactly two weeks ago and last week I think I mentioned that we took a taxi out to the dealership to pick it up and it was closed so we had to walk all the way back.. hah so this monday morning we went and picked it up. Monday mornings are probably the busiest day for us cuz we have a meeting with president in the morning that we have to get everything ready for, its the rest of the mission's pday and we have to get the mission bulletin and message and stuff ready and just for being the first ´work day´ after the weekend everything just starts back up on monday.. So anyways, we got a ton of work done on monday and I got a bunch of huge pieces of apartment rents done too. It felt really good.

Tuesday morning was normal office work and tuesday night and wednesday morning was district leader training. I´m district leader her so elder butler and I were able to go attend that meeting. It was really fun to go see a bunch of people again too.. elder núñez was there, a buddy named elder hooper, a bunch of people, so that was fun. We learned in the conference about why and how we should use the Book of Mormon in our teaching. and then that night we were actually able to put it into practice with one of our less actives thats struggling. Really cool to help him feel the spirit again.

Thursday we drove out to a morning cita about 45 minutes from the office and the family wasn´t there. :\ ...... It was family of one of our Filipino members and we were going to meet up at a spot to then go to there house but when we got there they were already gone... :( huge let down. That afternoon the hermanas here in fuengirola had a baptismal interview set up with one of their investigators. They met with him at about 5:45 and the interview was going to start at 6:45. My comp and I got there at about 6:35, and waited outside the room for them to finish. A man walked up to the church about 6:55 for the english classes the hermanas were gonna do at 7 and when he presented himself I recognized his name as another one of the hermanas investigators. It was nice to meet him and we talked for about 15 minutes outside and then we realized he didn´t really know how a baptism would happen so we showed him the baptismal font. We walked in the room and you could just feel his interest.. and that he was intrigued. :) The spirit was really strong there and my companion and I were very pleased to be able to show that to him. The hermanas walked out of their cita and started their class and my comp and I walked outside to our car. The hermanas investigator left the building the same way and we got another really good chance to just stop and talk with their investigator. Great guy with a really hard life. Trying to get things figured out and I think a simple conversation with some simple Q and A´s with us really helped him. Its interesting how the work is changing with so many new sister missionaries. Almost ALL the areas that are open now either have or will have at least one set of elders and at least one set of sisters by october. It is a huuuge blessing. What president is doing (he is so inspired) is encourage teamwork... meaning, the elders come and visit once with the hermanas so that the investigator meets more members/missionaries. Or things like doing a contacting activity all together in one of the areas to help specifically that area and all the contacts from both companionships go to that companionship. Anyways, things that build unity and friendship. Things that help us remember we are all a team. And for the most part, its working! I love meeting the hermanas investigators... and the hermanas know that we aren´t gonna try to take their investigators or anything and so they actually want us to meet their investigators too! So its fun. The work is moving well.

Friday morning we had a short, sweet, and powerful district meeting. I have the best district! (Elder Castillo, Hermana Castillo, Hermana Ramsay, Hermana Theobald, Elder Butler, Elder Norton, Elder Estrada, and Elder Góchez) Friday evening we went out to a town about an hour from fuengirola to visit the family from estonia. Its been soo hard to visit them for 

1) cuz they are so far from the office and 2) just because of the sheer demand of the office work. But we finally got to visit them and Elder Castillo came! He´s soo awesome! He´s actually really funny too! I don´t know if you could get that over the phone but he is hilarious. Ex-drama teacher btw. We talk drama and shows all the time. Anyways, the family is doing great. The mother, oldest son, and second oldest all accepted the baptismal invitation. The youngest two are not 8 yet.. but the only problem is the distance... and money. They have no way to get to church.. cuz its basically 14 euros a person to and from church... and if all 5 go.. 70 euros a sunday..... imposible. So we´re praying... and they´re praying... pray with us please! After that cita, Elder Castillo took us out to dinner....... :D and we went to a cool restaurant that had everything in english, spanish, and german... just cuz there are so many different types of people that come through. I think we had Russians on our left, English in front of us, and Scandanavians to our right.. the waiters were Spanish and we were Americans. 5 nationalities at one restaurant. :) fun night.

Saturday! P-DAY. The AP´s went with my comp and a member this morning to malaga to play soccer with the missionaries there and I went with the Spainhowers (the missionary couple that let us use their skype at christmas time) to go golfing! :D They finish their mission in a week and a half and I mentioned that i wanted to go golfing and they said well lets go before we go home cuz we haven´t golfed yet!.. I invited president too cuz I think he´s been itchin to go but he couldn´t make it so I said, ´´we´ll go another time´´ and he goes ´´good cuz I want to go!´´ :) I mentioned it to justin, presidents son and he said, if you guys go i´ll go! So I´m gonna go golfin with my mission president and his son!! :P I´ll attach you some pictures from today. It was suuuunny! We had fun. The course was really small, basically a chip and putt course.. (I used a 52º and a putter the whole time........ and the one time I used a 7 iron a overshot the green and hit it into the street... hahah :) but I played all right for so long without playing.

Elder Spainhower and Elder Norton

A couple of interesting things going on in the mish! just to finish up...

- Khaki pants are now allowed.... as well as sweater vests, tie pins, and a couple other random things...

-They are starting to ask that we don´t use backpacks... interesting...

-They are suuper downgrading the phones we buy for missionaries to use....

hmmmmmm the work is changing! I think the last one is cuz one day iPads will be used here.. and the only thing the iPad won´t do is call so they just want the cheapest gadgit that can do the job.. (might as well just go back to smoke signals though.. they suuuper downgraded the phones.. look up the nokia 100 if you wanna see what we have to use now.. haha)

Anyways! Thats it for now! That was a really long email! Sorry.. Love you!

Élder Norton

ps. Elder Castillo relayed your message back to me and I couldn´t wipe the smile off my face. :) Love you.

"It felt like an 'Ammon' moment ..." (Hilary)

Bueno, hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well! Please keep me updated! I pray for you all daily.

Okay, we had a great week and I feel really good about it. It is the best feeling. We have been working really hard and we have found a lot of new investigators. It is really rewarding. I feel like we are getting back into the swing of things. We are working well together and I hope to be able to see the fruits of our labors.

Something I have been practicing on my mission is following every prompting I receive. Sometimes you don't know whether a thought comes from the Holy Ghost or is simply your own. But what I have learned is to follow every impression to do good. Sometimes I feel like I need to knock a certain door, and no one answers. But it's okay because I am trying to show my gratitude for the Spirit's guidance. Well, during Conference last week, during the talk by Sister Dalton, I felt strongly prompted to protect the women we meet. Since that talk, we have had a couple opportunities to help women. Monday night we were contacting and knocked the door of a woman who seemed uninterested but said we could return Tuesday morning. We arrived Tuesday morning just after the father of her children had been beating her. We helped her pack her things because she said she had enough and was going to leave. It felt like an Ammon moment, when we were able to gain her trust through service and then share with her afterward. She moved, so we won't be able to work with her. But we have her information to turn into the offices. It is very evident that Heavenly Father sends us where we need to be to be able to help His children that He cares for so much.

Friday we were walking to an appointment when once again I felt prompted to knock a certain door. The woman behind the door, E, is very prepared. She has studied the Bible and is searching for the correct church. She is progressing well. She knows a few members that live nearby who are working hard to be good hermanadores. She wouldn't attend church Sunday but I know that this coming Sunday she will. I am grateful for Heavenly Father's willingness to guide us to those who are prepared.

G is also progressing very well. She had an amazing experience during conference last week and knows the church is true. She also has a lot of friends who are members and they are helping in a few ways.

As for us, we are doing well. Hermana Rodriguez does a good job of making me laugh a lot. We have been working harder than ever and it feels great. I am basically back to normal with my health. Randomly I will get sick because of something I eat, but my diet isn't up to me... I look forward to being able to choose what I eat again. (We are working with the greatest sister who is less active and trying to convert her husband. Every night we visit them they give us a giant glass of hot milk. It is so painful and makes me sick until the following day, but it's all they have and are so excited to offer. I haven't figured out what to do yet.)

Dad, so glad you got the video! I hope that you had a great week! Can someone send me some pictures of Trevor's wedding?
Adam, I love you! Hope you are doing well! Keep me updated with the baseball games!

Okay, ¿algo más? I am sorry my emails are so boring. I run out of things to say. I struggle with knowing what will actually interest others.

Hermana Norton

P.S. I just sent a package today with some things I wanted to give to a couple families. Could you divide those up and send them to them? Thank you so much! Sounds like your birthday party for Dad was a success! Congrats, Mom. You are really great!

"anyone reading this preparing for a mission, 3 things ...." (Sam)

click the link below for reality TV ... missionary style

¡Hola! ¡Buenas Días!
   I hope everything is well back in the states. The mission is the best! Its crazy and I love it!

   Things in Málaga are great. Elder Lyman, my comp, and Elder Phillips, Elder Núñez´s comp, are both dying (going home) the 6th of December.. so things are getting pretty weird around here. They want to spend alllll of pday just buying presents and souvenirs (sp) and whatnot.. and back at piso they are completely torn between talking about investigators and talking about their families and friends. Don´t judge them, its harder than you´d think. 2 YEARS WITHOUT YOUR FAMILY... and now they are soo close they and taste it. Its super interesting and almost hard for Núñez and me cuz at points we honestly feel like we´re going home too.... Hah but things are great. We´ve been working hard when we can, even though we´ve been sick lately. Lyman was sick when he got here to Málaga, he got better, then a couple weeks ago he got sick, and then I got sick with something else, and then we both got better and then he got sick with what I was sick with...... :\ kinda chungo.. but we work when we can!

   The Hondurans are doing well, L works in the house of this old man all week and its all they way on the other side of the city. She has fridays off and so we planned to meet in the capilla this past friday.. so we were waiting and waiting.. and finally we called her and it turns out she had been waiting in the house of the man where she works........ so she appologized and felt really bad for not coming. She realized that we had agreed to meet at the chruch for the lesson and she felt really bad.. so anyways, we´re gonna meet with her this friday. Hopfully she comes to the church this time. :)
 The Spanish woman I, is doing soo great! We called her saturday, early in the afternoon to see if we could pass by and visit one more time before sunday and she answered in a kinda hurried/busy voice for like the first 10 seconds of the phone call... and I was like...... uhhhhh.. so.. you can come to church tomorrow or you can´t?.. and she was like, "no no thats what i´m explaining! I was going to have to work sunday morning but I changed it to tonight so that I could come!!"...... and I just about lost it. :) I was so excited! She had changed her schedule at work and was working the saturday night cleaning shift at her work so that she could come with us to church the next day! :) So anyways, she came with two of her daughters and they all loved it! The two girls, 13 and 9, immediately found some friends, I don´t know if they knew them from school or what.... but they loved their classes and everything.. and I, was super attentive in Sacrament and really fit into the relief society. :) WE´RE EXCITED! We´re gonna set some baptismal dates this week!

   The District is the best! AHH I love it! Anyone reading this that is preparing for a mission, THREE THINGS... Book of Mormon. Preach My Gospel. & The District videos. :)
  
   We don´t know yet.... but we think that when Lyman and Phillips go home, Núñez will be transfered and I´ll get a new comp here. WE DON´T KNOW.... We´ll hear this week though. Núñez has one transfer more than I do here in Málaga so I personally think he´ll be leaving the 6th of december... If you want to send him something, you can send it to the mission home and he will get it no matter where he is.
   Ave Jesus santos reín 2,3 D-E
   29640 Fuengirola (Málaga)
   ESPAÑA
   You can still send my mail and packages to my Málaga address. Its pretty sure that I´ll stay.
   I did get your turkey/nerf package!!! We LOVE IT! Best idea ever!! Hahah and we loved your spanish directions! It get here last monday, right after we did emails. I think a lot of mail and stuff gets places on mondays.. just weekend buildup I guess.. but I always tell you I haven´t gotten stuff and then I get it later that day. :) sorry and yes we got it. Its awesome.

   The sd card i´m using is almost full. I deleted a bunch of pictures which opened up some room but whenever you can get that other one back here, that would be great. Thanks! :)

   Thanks for Hil´s and Eric´s info! I can´t believe he´s going to stinking FIJI!! Hah how awesome! I´m totally gonna write him! What an adventure! One thing i´ve realized lately is how different every mission is! We teach the same stuff everywhere but it is soooo much different in each mission. For example, here in Spain, there are constantly, constantly people on the streets. Almost always, with exception of medio dia, between 2 and 5 when everyone goes and eats and naps.. but other than that, from early early to late late they are people, families, ancianos, kids, buses cars, music, fútbol... always. So a lot of what we do, is our street image and talking and finding on the streets and stuff. We are constantly stopping people and talking to them right in the streets. :) Where as in the states, missionaries could walk for hours and get passed by 1000 cars and 8 people... which makes the entire work change. Its just so interesting the experience we have on the mission and I know that each missionary is given and will experience what the Lord has prepared for them. Anyways, kind of interesting.. THE MISH IS THE BEST.

   I´ll think if I want anything for Ty and them to bring.. I can´t think of anything. Plus, I and I know you and they will understand, but if they come they would need to drop it off at the mission office... cuz we aren´t supposed to receive visits from family or friends. Tell them thank you so much!

   Quick question... Are the sacramento kings now the LA Kings?? I saw a jersey the other day............... just wondering!
   Also, this awesome Ecuadorian family came up to us one Sunday and asked if we could come do FHE every Monday.. cuz they needed ´´help´´. :) Awesome Ecuadorians. So we´ve been going over there for 3 or 4 weeks now and they´re doing so well. I finally figured out what Hilary´s area was called and she was like ´´I lived there!´´ So anyways, she told me to tell you and HERMANA NORTON that she lived in the Imbabura Estaca in the Quinchuqui rama of the Otavalo Barrio. Something like that. She said her mother or sister is named R. I don´t know if Hil´s by there but the lady here is named N and J is her husband.

   Anyways, I gotta go! I love you all. I hope your Thanksgiving was great and I hope you ate as much as I did! :) We had a big zone specialized trainging that day and we ATE GOOD! :)
-Elder Norton
click here to watch "The District"

"A native companion brings a whole new perspective ... it's fun!" (Sam)

Hey hey hey!

   Wow Málaga is awesome! I love it here! Its huuuge. And especially compared to Huércal-Overa but its great. Elder Nuñes and I are working great together and I am learning more spanish every day and he is learning english super fast too. A native companion just brings a whole new perspective on everything. Its fun.

   I just saw the picture on the blog (Sam's mission president's wife keeps a blog for the Malaga mission) of Elder Jones and Elder Baraona in Huercal-Overa. Yeah, a girl named Pr. got baptized (a friend of R.... the shorter girl on the left side in white) and R´s older sister got baptized as well, N., the one on the right. AHH SO EXCITING. :)

   Haha.. yeah, those other pictures were at zone conference and yes.. I was on my feet more than on my seat. :) I dunno.. there was a need for someone to bring food back and forth and stuff.. so I felt better on my feet. But zone conference was "thee best". Ahhh it was awesome! The focus of zone conference was "the rescue" and helping less actives come back to the church... cuz there´s a ton :(... but President Deere showed the little 5 minute segment of toy story three when buzz changes to spanish buzz and is trying to show off to impress the cowgirl.. can´t remember her name... and he does this big trick and lands right in front of everyone and says.... BUZZ... AL RESCATE! Which means buzz to the rescue. :D it was hilarious. And it was soo good to see a movie again. :) I looove movies and we can´t watch them so it was good to see one again.

   You mentioned BYU starting up their season. I want details! Maybe dad will have to send me something on names and positions. Keep me updated! :)

   Also! I want updates on Romney and Obama and everything in the states. WE HEAR NOTHING. In fact, we don´t even hear anything about Spain... and we´re here!

   My camera has stopped charging.......... O.o... So I may need to buy a new one... We´ll see. I´ll let you know next pday if I need to buy a new one.

   I´m kinda bummed cuz this computer wasn´t working at the start  this morning and we already have to go meet up with some other elders and hermanas. The work here is great! We have several good investigators that are coming right along. Missionary work is just the best because everyone has one purpose. It doesn´t matter who you are working with, when you work with them, for how long you work with them, all comps are the same, the doctrine is all the same and TRUE, and the Church is growing suuuper fast. In the month of August our mission had 65 baptisms........ :) that's more than two baptisms a day every day of the month. Anyways, we gotta go! I love you all!

-Elder Norton

for more Spanish Buzz click here

and here

"there is NO WAY to be sad in this work!" and photos (Sam)

Malaga missionaries with Pres. and Sis. Clegg before they left for home

Welcome to Pres. Deere and family

Hello Hello!

     Spain rocks! Nuff said. I hope everything back home is as good as it is here! :)

Spain really is so crazy. To travel here, everyone travels by bus... and I´ve been on busses where there are up to 4 or 5 different languages. Its crazy. Obviously a lot of spaniards, a ton of south americans (ecuadorians, bolivians, peruvians, argentinians, colombians), not to mention tons of people from other countries here in Europe... Bulgarians, Romanians, Lithuanians, Russians... and last but not least, quite a few africans.. from ghana who speak english and Twi, morocans who speak arabic.. and much much more! Its crazy! but its fun.

     Yes, the economy here is really struggling.  Work is hard to come by and when people do get work, its often temporary. Our mission president has asked that every missionary be prepared like you would at home for any kind of emergency. And we also have a little food storage.

 

      Ok, I´ll talk about the work here now... :) EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. Really, I know I say that every time that I write but it is honestly because there is now way to be sad in this work. It is SO hard but it is SO rewarding. Some days, yeah, by the end of the night I am a little sick of spanish......... :) Hahah but I just love the work so much that fight through it and I love it again. Just know that I am happy, learning, growing, and trying to help anyone I can whenever and however I can.

     investigator P is BACK.  Mom, (and all else that may have been praying for our investigators) thank you thank you thank you! She was in the hospital for almost two weeks. She has terrible respiratory problems and cannot get oxygen to her brain so she was really struggling for a while. She has the tube things that go up to her nose now and she is all happy and great again. Now she reads constantly in the Book of Mormon. We give her a chapter and when we come back a couple days later she´s like... I actually read that chapter and then another 30 pages. :) REALLY COOL. 

     investigator R - !. HE IS BACK TOO. Ahhh! This work is soo true! R really really knows that everything is true. He knew it, told us he wanted to be baptized and then someone or something scared him out of it and we thought he was done. He totally dropped us and anytime we would talk to him he would say he was busy and then about two weeks later we when by to see how he was doing and he was soo glad we stopped by! We stopped by a day or so later and he asked to say the opening prayer and in his prayer he asked Heavenly Father to help us come by his house more because he likes what he feels when we´re there. WOOOOOW. :) LOVE THIS KID. We taught a lesson completely directed by the spirit, about the spirit. About when the feelings we get when we know something is true and how the spirit tells us. By the end of the lesson, he was basically telling us he knows its all true and he wants to get baptized. We felt prompted by the spirit to let him pray and decide his own baptismal date and we are going by tonight to see what he says. We are praying that he will decide on the 4th of august because that is the same date as P. :) They have a little bond because they were both investigating and more or less both found out the chruch is true at the same time. We´ll see!

   We have a TON of other investigators its absolutely impossible to talk about all of them........ but the three others with baptismal dates right now are this father from ecuador that is super super criente... (word in spanish that doesn´t really translate over... he is very believing... or believes in God a lot...)  He´s great and he has family that live in california who are members... and they are encouraging him as well. And our other two fechas.. (spanish word for dates) are this spanish mother and her 14 year old son. They are pretty solid catholics but don´t practice very much.. and are just very nice. They have come to church twice and I think they are progressing a lot... We´ll see.

     Elder Jones and I are doing really really well! First transfers ended a week ago and E. Jones is training me so we knew we´d be together this transfer too. Your first two transfers you get trained and rarely ever do you switch comps during training. He´ll probably leave after this transfer though... :( (mid aug). We don´t know though.. we´ll see!

     We don´t have a lot of contact with the Deeres but yes, the family is living here too. They have a 21 year old son that came out for the first week they were here and he just got home from his mission about 7 months ago.. I think.. he served in south america somewhere so he speaks spanish, they have another son serving in the states, a 16 year old daughter who would be a sophomore at Lone Peak right now, and they have a 13 year old son, suuper cool.

     WOW. Mom, Elder Tenny is one of the two other elders in my district. There are only four elders in our district and he is one of them. :) We had splits together one time and we were just telling each other about our lives and he was like... "Oh cool, I had cousins that lived in PG a while back.. but they moved a long time ago.." And I was like "oh... :( well what was their name, maybe i´ll still know them.." and he was like.. "the Fields. Tanner Field." And I just about freaked. :) I was like "No Way!! Tanner Field is your cousin?? We were tight! " So anyways, I definitely know elder tenney! He´s the best!

   I do have an SD card with a bunch of awesome pictures. You´re gonna like em! :) I´ll send it home soon. I have a letter for Hermana Norton :) and one for Elder Thunell. I´ll send the card home with those. If you could resend the letters off to their recipients that would be great. I don´t have their addresses.

    Anyways, I gotta go. I love you all! Again, if you have written me a letter and have not received one back, SEAN PACIENTES, they will come. :)

Love you all again!

-Elder Norton