"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

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

"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

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

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

Well Done, good and faithful servant ...

Sunday November 17, 2013

(Hilary's last email below)

"Saturday seven of our investigators were baptized and Sunday confirmed!! Here are pictures. 

Also, C's son just turned eight and he was baptized too. 

Love you!!!! See you soon!

Hermana Norton"

--------------------------------------------------

Tuesday November 19, 2013

At the airport …. Ready and Waiting ….!

…. and she's BACK!

"…last thing she said was 'I'm so excited for my baptism!' " (Sam)

Hello! Good to hear from you. Thanks for always trying to send me the emails before I get on. I know its weird with my P-day on saturday but fyi I´ve received them in time every week so we´re good.

I cut my hear like right after I sent the last SD card.. hah so all the pictures you saw were before my hair cut. Its nice and short now.

After I emailed last week I remembered other things that I hadn´t told you about.. so this week you´re gonna a two week mix. :D

This week has been good. The normal people that we visit have been gone or busy this week so the few lessons that we usually teach are even fewer this week. Its alright. We have found (and preach my gospel says) that daily contact, even a phone call, text, or a little note will help maintain trust and a good relationship with investigators and members. We have very little time to proselyte but if (and when) we use it right, we see the fruits. For example, S and A  that were baptized. ALSO, an incredible woman from Iran that the Elders here in Fuengirola found. She´s from Iran, speaks persian and a little bit of english, has been studying Christianity for 12 years, moved to spain like 2 months ago, found the elders and immediately started coming to church and IS BEING BAPTIZED TOMORROW. Incredible. 

She is soo couragous and so so ready. I KNOW she has been prepared and desired to follow God´s plan before she came to earth. She just believes! Her name is G and president Deere is baptizing her. We started working with her a few  weeks ago because she doesn´t speak spanish and has been attending our branch for the last while. Plus she just knows people in our english branch and the members have really brought her in. She´s unreal. 

We´re excited and yesterday we met with her and the last thing she said was

 "I´m so excited for my baptism!" WOW

We got a new car this week. Like.. new new. Like, I-drove-it-off-the-lot new. Like it had 13 kilometers and basically zero gas cuz IT HAD NEVER BEEN USED..... I guess ever like 5 or 8 years each car is switched out and we were just lucky that we had the car when they switched it! Its an automatic too. Suuper weird change from driving stick for the last 9 months of my life.. I swung in, sat down, put my right foot on the brake, and my left foot on the............ nothing. :) hah also weird when it starts moving forward without you having to do anything! Woah! Technology...!

Last week basically all of these months of brainbusting overwhelming office work came to fruition when I found a huge mistake in the financial archives of the mission´s payment system... (if you don´t know anything about accounting like I didn´t before I came to the office this probably won´t make much sense to you... sorry). My job here is basically declare or ´´journal´´ (the term used to declare or report) all of the expenses (and ALL means ALL)(down to every penny that every missionary uses) of our mission. To shorten the story a little bit, we have a program in the office, made by the church, that allows me to make all 90 (or so) monthly rent payments for all the apartments in the mission just by clicks basically.. instead of going to the bank in person with written bank transfers or writing checks to each landlord. It makes my job a lot easier and a lot more effective time-wise. Turns out, these monthly payments have a programmed account code ("chart of accounts" accounting stuffs) attached to each payment that will in turn automatically "journal" or declare the money payed to its corresponding account. (those of you that just reread that last sentence to try to understand it better, don´t worry, just continue reading and pretend to understand.... :D) Well a huge chunk of these automatic payments had an incorrectly assigned account code... and month after month after month the payments were made to the landlord, but the money was declared in a wrong account. SSSOOoooo I went back month by month through every monthly payment from this year (cuz last year has already been closed out and you can´t really get back into it) and fixed (correction journals) anywhere between 6 and 18 payments, for each month, to their correct accounts.  It ended up being this huuge project that took the entire afternoon and evening and when I finished I turned around to my companion and was like.. Look! Look what i just did! And tried to explain the whole thing to him... and he gave me the same kind of confused face you guys had when you read about all the accounting stuff. Haha It was like he wanted to be proud of me but didn´t reeeeally get the whole picture... so I just said NVM and texted elder castillo who knows a lot about accounting. :) Elder Castillo is awesome. He has called himself to be the organizer and planner of celebrations. :P so he invited us over a couple nights later for dinner and made me an apple pie to celebrate my good work. :) Don´t worry mom! They´re taking good care of me!

One last thing before I gotta go. Today we went with the Castillos, the three fuengirola hermanas, and the other single office sister that got to our mission at the beginning of october to a city down the coast from malaga called Nerja. Elder Núñez is there right now with an Elder named Elder Allen who´s birthday is on monday. We went to some cool caverns at about 10 and then went to a brazilian meat place for lunch with the Nerja Elders for Elder Allens birthday. I´ll attach pictures of these caverns. Incredible!! You can look up "cueva de nerja".

Anyways, I think thats all I we gotta go. Transfers are in a week and a half and my replacement will get transfered here! We´re excited for him to come! I´m still really torn about leaving. I feel like I´m finally really in a groove and now their booting me! :S hah Ehh! Thats the mish!

Love you all! Give Hilary a huge hug for me!

Élder Norton

"I hear roaring laughter and run back in to see that she has sat on the cake!" (Hilary)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HILARY!

Hi everyone! Hope you have all had a great week! Thanks for writing!

We have had a really great  week and I am feeling much better than I was last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I mentioned to Sister Berrett (the new mission nurse) that I had been struggling a little emotionally for all that had been going on with my health. There have only been little problems, but I have felt sad and frustrated at times. But I have seen a few little miracles this week and I feel that the Savior is aware of my small problem and helping in my situation. I have really felt that He is lifting the load and that He is also making me stronger to be able to bare. I recognize that my problems are so small. I know there are others that are working through SO much more. I am just grateful that Heavenly Father knows me and is willing to provide me with the challenges and the solutions that I need to grow.

I have always felt very strongly that Heavenly Father puts certain people in our paths so that we can grow and learn. I love the quote by President Kimball that  says, "God does notice us and He watches over us. But it is usually through another person that He meets our needs." I have felt that Sister Irepan has been an answer to a silent prayer. I am so grateful to have this time with her and I know I will be able to finish strong and happy. She is an excellent missionary. She knows what she is doing and she is thoughtful and obedient. I am grateful to have her as my companion. Each one of my current companions has been a huge blessing for me at this time. The other day an elder mentioned that if I were still in the other mission I would be getting home this week. Later Sister Irepan mentioned that and was like, "These two extra weeks of your mission are like a gift to me! I know there is so much I need to learn from you." It was really cute.

We had a stake activity this week for our investigators and it turned out really well. A lot of people showed up (many more than we were expecting) and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We are working hard as a zone to be able to have a "Noche Blanca" this month and have been seeing the fruits of our labors.

Friday Sister Bastidas and I did divisions with Sister Ortiz and Sister Palau. It went really well. We had very little time because of their mini-conference, but we were able to accomplish so many things and it was a real testimony to me that when we do things the Lord's way He helps to accomplish much more than we could ever do on our own.

This week we have a family of investigators that are progressing which is a blessing to be able to see. The Pillajo family has a baptismal date for the 16th of this month. We have been fasting and praying sincerely for this family and I know we will see miracles.

Okay, my birthday was so great!! I received three cakes, so I think Ecuador likes me. I will send pictures. So much fun. One of my companions had a birthday last month and we did a lot for her so I think there is now this mentality that we have to do bigger and better every time. My sweet companions did so much for me this week. On my birthday at midnight they woke up and got out of bed and  brought in a cake and balloons and a little gift and were singing happy birthday. It was so hilarious because I was so tired and confused at first then just felt really grateful. We were all laughing when I set the cake down on my bed to grab my camera in the other room. As I am searching for my camera I hear roaring laughter and run back to see that Sister Irepan had sat on the cake as she was trying to set up her camera. Hahahaha it was soo funny. She was just so tired. Anyway, that day we had our District Meeting/Mini Zone Conference and after the meeting the zone leaders came in with a giant cake and a card that everyone from the zone (of like 30 missionaries) had signed. The tradition here is to "bite" the cake and people always shove your face into it as you are biting it. We enjoyed that as well. I know if I have skin problems this week it is because of all the icing and sugar that had been smothered all over my face again and again. Then we had lunch with a super great family (last name Ocarez) that is from Chile. Sister Ocarez cooks really really well and had invited a few people over that shared the same birthday. So we had an awesome lunch and it was so fun. That day was the stake activity for our investigators from the whole stake and it turned out really well. A lot of people showed up and we had a lot of fun. I will attach pictures with explanations.

Sounds like you are having a lot of fun with "Yasu." I laughed out loud when I read the story about what he and his friend said to Adam. Haha Adam is a good sport. I am glad he has a brother/friend for a week. Tell Adam I can't wait to see him in a couple weeks! I hope he and I can hang out a lot. He is the greatest.

Sister Maza got the packages and she loves everything. She is so grateful. 

Okay, I have a good amount of time left. Respond if you can! Love you all!

Sister Norton

"Love my mission president" (Sam)

Group Hug?

Hi there, I think I´m emailing a little early this week.. though I think you are in New York right now so we might not overlap at all today. No problem. We´ve had another good week. Things are pretty cooled down from the transfer and we´re basically caught up here. Its going to be interesting to watch what happens here in the office now that the big ´´wave of missionaries´´ has hit and is integrated into the field and not lingering over our heads so to speak.. :) I for one have definitely felt the impact of soo many more missionaries. One of my main jobs has to do with accounting/´´journaling´´ its called all missionary purchases that are not food basically... haha so missionaries will save all of the receipts they get from things like travel, butane (that some apartments require to heat the water), paper copies they make, or furnishings for the apartments, and they send them all to me and I do ´´a journal´´ or basically account for/declare all the purchases and then I refund them all that money. You can imagine... we´ve hit I think 220 missionaries.. and last week alone I did this process for 108 of them... I counted. :) hah My drawer that I normally keep all of the receipts and the documents in is filling like super fast. Haha

My companion is feeling it too cuz one of his main jobs is keeping each missionary up to date on their residency in Spain. Basically in each city you live in you have to tell the city hall or ´´ayuntamiento´´ where you are living.. Who you are living with.. you have to show them your european residency card that we get for the missionaries, and you have to show them the apartment contract. I´d say about a third of the mission (or more maybe) gets moved each transfer.. so right now, thats about 75 people... and Elder Crapo has to keep up on each of them and help them through that registration process.. and then we get all caught up and the next transfer hits... :D

Anyways, the good (bitter sweet) part is that the growth of the mission is kind of leveling off. The size of the groups going home are more or less the same size of the groups coming in. That eases a lot of stress off of the situation actually. Its going to be really interesting to see the changes made in the near future.

Every monday morning at 12 we have our weekly ´´Staff Meeting´´ with President Deere, Hermana Deere, the APs, Elder Crapo and I, the Castillos, and the other senior sister thats working here in the office named Hernana Chantrill from wyoming. This past monday, we had our normal meeting, we finished with a prayer, etc.. everyone gets up and walks out, and president turns to elder crapo and me and is like, hey can I have a work with you too?.. so we sit down, he´s in his mission president seat, hermana deere stays in the room but kinda moves over to the side and sits in a chair......... and we totally had like a heart to heart with president! :P Hah it was basically just president wanting us to hear some of his thoughts about the future of the office and him wanting some of our input..

It was actually a really great little conversation we had. One thing I love about President Deere is that he really looks into the future and always has high hopes for the future. Not necessarily specific goals.. and not really like ´´you´re doing this and I want you to be doing this´´... but more like.. He recognizes the past.. learns from it.. and then talks about his hopes or vision of the future. And just by giving us that idea.. that vision, we can work together better because we have the same end goal.

He was really appreciative of my work. It really felt good. Don´t mean to be mushy but I felt his appreciation for what I´ve been doing. I´ve known it all along.. but its easy to doubt your success or effectiveness if no outside opinions give you words of thanks or encouragement. He said something that really stuck with me.. he was talking about what Elder Butler and I have done over the last 6 months.. and he turned to me and goes.. ´´I recognize that we as a mission have basically sacrificed you here in the office.´´ Just that. Then he kept talking and went on.. but that really stuck with me. He recognizes that I´ve kind of been here without being able to go to misisonary conferences.. never being about to dedicate all my time, energy, or mind to missionary work on the street.. having to sacrifice study time, language time, meal time sometimes.. sleep time especially. He recognizes it. Anyways, it was like a weight off my shoulders. My mind was saying ´´okay so all this time i´ve felt disobedient for not studying as much as I should or not getting exactly 8 hours of sleep, or not having 20 lessons a week... all that he understands and isn´t disappointed´´. Good feeling. Love my mission president.

P-day we went to the Deere´s house and played volleyball and dodgeball in their backyard, and then went inside and had baked potatoes for lunch and play NERTZ after. :D Reminded me soo much of sitting around our dark stained wooden table playing cards and settlers and ´´the bean game´´. :D I hope you all still play!! or are at least ready to play when Hil and I are home!!

I just saw your email mom. I´m gonna go read it and reply if there´s anything I missed. Love you all! I love seeing pictures and/or videos if you have em. you all have big fancy nice smart phones now so it shouldn´t be too hard to send them ;P don´t worry, i´m gonna want one too when I´m home. Ha!

Love you all!

-Élder Norton

Catching up with Hermana Norton ( 2 emails & photos )

Oct 21, 2013

Hi everyone! It has been a long great week! I am a happy person and an especially happy missionary. Thanks for writing. I won't have time to write much today because of an activity we had that went much longer than it was supposed to.

Hm, what to write? Things are good here. Still with my four companions. We are able to divide and conquer which is super nice, especially in this sector which is somewhat difficult. We have been doing divisions and it is going well. I love this assignment. We have had a good week. We have been working really hard and are in the process of finding new people, because many investigators aren't progressing. We have been contacting and teaching new people and have found a couple families this week. The blessing is realizing that the Lord has guided us to these certain people for specific reasons and it is so apparent and we see His hand in our day. 

I have also been meditating a lot about the greatest moments of my mission and I have concluded that they are not necessarily baptisms but they are the moments that I see a real conversion in the people. When they make the connection, whether it be before the baptism, after, or years later, these moments are really the most beautiful. It is a sign that their actions and their experiences and their obedience has caused a change in their hearts and they have chosen to really accept Christ in their lives. It is such a blessing to be here in the mission.

The story you mentioned that Jacqueline had shared with you was a different sister. She is a super great sister who served her mission here in Quito years ago and one of her converts just recently got called to be a Seventy!!! WOW, right??? Anyway, she is so awesome and going through a really hard time and a few weeks ago I just really felt like we needed to visit her and it was definitely an impression from the Spirit. What a blessing it is to have his guidance. We can't do this work without him. 

Okay, by the way an elder told me that TODAY is registration for winter semester. But I don't know how to get all of that taken care of. Listen, can you please please please get it taken care of? Is there anyway you can get me into a couple classes real quick? Like D&C, a couple classes for the "English Language" major and a couple for the journalism major. Maybe a Spanish class as well? Maybe there is someone you can talk to about all this? Like a counselor on campus or something. Can you just do a little investigating? If you can't get it all worked out I am sure I can next week, but I would like to jump on that.

Okay, I have to go now.  I love you all! Sorry about the short email!

Oct 28, 2013

Hi all! Hope you are doing well! Thanks for writing! I love to hear from everything (and I never get tired of saying it, do I?). I especially enjoy receiving pictures of the world's cutest nephews and neice and long letters from my dad and mom. I love you so much Dad and I am glad you are doing so well. Thanks for writing. It means so much to me! I love seeing the photos of the trip!!! I hope you had so much fun!

The week went well. We are working hard and we did splits a few times. The sisters are doing well and I love sharing time with them and learning from them. It was my last time with Sister Galdame; I really have grown to love her. I am going to miss her. I am really grateful for all the friendships I have made here in Ecuador. Speaking of friendships, Jenny Farinango and her family came to visit me the other week. It is so great because they know where to find me and when I am least expecting it they pop and surprise me. I love them.

Well today there were emergency transfers and I was "robbed" of my "daughter". She was sent to Otavalo and I am finishing the training of another Sister, Sister Irepan. She is from Guadalajara, Mexico. I am going to send a picture of the five of us before Hermana Tarax had to go!

Okay, a funny story. A while ago we were doing our weekly planning for this week and one of my companions mentioned my birthday and started singing happy birthday in English (it is one of those things that everyone knows in English... I don't know...) So I started singing along, saying, "Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me!!" It was funny and we were all laughing. Well, my poor companions have learned that I sleep talk. Everyday. Usually I am talking in Spanish, teaching a lesson, testifying, etc. But sometimes I speak in English and they can't tell me what I was talking about because they don't understand. Well, the other night I said something they did understand. I was singing "Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me!!!" Sleep singing!!! QUÉ GRACIOSO. I died laughing when they told me the following morning. I guess underneath all this selfless, serving sister missionary is a little girl who is just excited to celebrate her own birthday. How funny.

I will love to go to the temple with Carolina and her family!! I am so excited! The family get together sounds great. I would like to keep things low key but I really want to see all the family. Thanks so much!

Enjoy the time with the Japanese exchange student! I wish I could have been there to meet him! That sounds like a fun experience!

I am going to start preparing my talk. I am excited. And don't worry, whichever date works.

Okay, love you all! Thanks for the pictures!! Can you forward Sam's email?

Hermana Norton

"No Greater Joy in Life" (Hilary)

Dear Everyone,

I love you all so much. It is such a blessing to hear from you all so often. What a blessing that P-day is weekly, right? I think the leaders of the church must understand how important it is that we have this time to communicate with our loved ones. I think I was trying to be strong at the beginning but I am getting to that point where I am willing to recognize how weak I am. I need the support and love from all of you. I would not be able to do this if I didn't know that there was a giant group of people back at home praying for me and sending me words of encouragement. You are all the greatest!!!

Okay, so it is funny because we have a pretty decent sized companionship, right? Four people. About two or three days of the week Sister Bastidas and I are doing divisions, and the other days we are in meetings and picking up sisters here and dropping them off there and training them, so it isn't like we're getting so much done but today President sent us another sister. Had you ever heard of a companionship of five missionaries? Neither had I. She has been having a lot of problems with obedience and I think it is kind of a last chance thing. She is a really sweet girl and I have been working one on one with her a lot this week. I can imagine the sadness and frustration she is feeling. I really care about her and I am hoping she can get things cleaned up so she can serve her full 18 months. 

Saturday C and J were baptized. The two had different schedules so we had to do two baptismal services. They were two of the greatest, most spiritual baptismal services I had attended. C is incredible. Her whole family showed up and afterward she shared the sweetest testimony. Needless to say, half of us were crying the whole time. I admit that a couple times the thought has crossed my mind that my contribution hasn't been as great as it could be if I weren't struggling with health issues. I have wondered if the Lord is pleased with my work performance or if someone else should be here right now in my place. But I know with all my heart that I needed to be here at this time to meet and work with C. I feel like she was one of my best friends in the premortal life (excuse me for being so sappy) and I am so sooooo grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me meet and work with her. J is amazing. He is an 11 year old kid who has been attending church for about a month with his neighbors. He is a rock. He, his sister, and his mom were going to get baptized the fifth, but his mom and sister backed out. He got baptized alone Saturday and has been an amazing example to his family. Obviously his parents are supporting his decision and during the baptism the whole family realized that they also need to make the step. They realized what a courageous example their son was giving them. I hope they will choose to be baptized soon. They have a really special family.

I have been enjoying my mission a lot lately and the other day I had a really neat experience with a less active sister. She has a great family. She has commited a lot of mistakes in her past and has a really sad family life, but just wants to do what is right. She is very, very humble. They hardly ever eat and her 17-year-old daughter had a tumor removed from behind her eye about two months ago and they just have had trial after trial. We have been helping them a lot and I have just grown to love their sweet family. Anyway, N, the mom, has her weaknesses and the other day she was feeling so sad and frustrated for not being a better mom. She was just kind of giving up and she and I were crying and I realized how important it is for me to be able to find these people in the afterlife. I care about them so much and just want them to fight and give their all -- for selfish and unselfish reasons. I care so much about all of them. 

"There is no greater joy in life than being anxiously engaged in the Lord's work" 

 Elder Ballard

Okay, about the shoes, I think I am okay. I mean, my shoes look awful but I am a missionary, that is to be expected, right? I will be ok.

About a month ago a friend (Joe.. remember him Kenz? from the spiral jetty??) sent me the talk by Elder Corbridge about the fourth missionary. It has been so inspiring for me. Elder Corbridge teaches that many "obedient" and "successful" missionaries serve with all their might and strength but withhold their heart and mind. That called my attention. I reflected on how  I might be committing the same mistake. He later explained that if we surrendor ourselves completely to the Lord, He will make out of us so much more than we could ever make out of ourselves. And we will be eternally happier. I am working hard on leaning on the Lord. Giving Him my whole self. It is a challenge, but as Elder Corbridge explains, I know it is the only smart way to serve a mission. He explains that we have to do all this with a sincere heart or we will not change or progress (D&C 58:29, Moroni 7:6). I love that thought. I am so grateful to know that my Heavenly Father is willing to let me make mistakes and try to improve. I am learning more and more each day of my weaknesses and depending on Him more and more.

Mom, I am doing the same challenge with the book of Mormon and it is great. You should mark certain things in certain colors. That little copy of the BOM will become really really important to you. I love mine and I am going to save it forever. Dad, hope the halloween dance goes well! Are you healing? I would love to go to Cali in December! Let me know!

Mom, quick question, can you call BYU and see what kind of info you can get? When I should sign up for classes, my password and everything... THNX

Okay, I love you all.

Hermana Norton writing from rainy Quito