"Just being in Spain makes you better at soccer... gotta be something about the air I think." (Sam)

The mission is the best! My list in preach my gospel of people my companionship has baptized is about a fourth of the length of the list of people that I´ve taught but that were baptized after I left the area...... Either way, S AND F WERE BAPTIZED! Wooooh! I´m just happy that they finally made it there. :) No importa quien. No importa cuando.

   Well things here are great. Yesterday we drove out an hour to visit the estonian family. They´re doing great! :) the mom is a great example and is encouraging her kids to listen and learn without forcing them. The second oldest son asked me a question when we finished the lesson and were about to walk out... he says, "what can I do so that God gives me a sign? Can I ask him for that?" :D 

YES YES YES... is what I wanted to say... but I just smiled and re explained prayer and what we say and how. Its SO fun helping people that WANT to learn through a learning process:

We explain it ... they think about it

We show them through example ... they may worry that they won´t know how

We explain it through the scriptures ... they think, try to imagine a prayer and what they'd say 

We ask them to finish with a prayer ... they're all nervous

We help them along ... and then we get an awesome investigator that just 'gets it' and says 

"So I can ask God for a sign to know this is true??? 

Haha those are honestly the best moments. Tough situation with this family... but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Its a very complicated long story but basically this family is related one way or another to a member the attends here when he can and the branch president is trying to find a way to help this family come to chruch since they are related to a member. Pray with us!! They will be able to come! We know it.

   

We played soccer this morning in Málaga. Gonna be fun to play back home with all my soccer buddies. Just being in Spain makes you better at soccer... gotta be something about the air I think. :) I was wearing a v neck shirt and now i´ve got a big pink V on my chest... forgot that that skin hadn´t seen sunlight for a while.. haha. Tonight President and Hermana Deere are giving a fireside in the Spanish ward, afterwards I´m going to interview one the Fuengirola hermana´s investigators (I may have mentioned him before... R... great guy that elder butler and I met at the church and showed him the baptismal font..) And then we have our correlation meeting with the ward mission leader and the other missionaries.

.........what you read there is normal missionary life stuff that we´ve been doing... now i´m gonna go over the last couple of days of non normal missionary life stuff we´ve been doing............. hah

   La búsqueda de pisos va bien... In the 9 weeks that i´ve been here I have rented 24 apartments. WOW. And in the next 6 weeks I have 14 more to rent. WOOOW. Wow. Right now with the 24 that i´ve rented, i´m at just over 2 and a half apartments rented a week. At the end of these 6 weeks i´ll have rented 38 apartments in 15 weeks. SIIIighh. :D

   Yesterday 13 missionaries came in from all over the mission came to Fuengirola to finish residency papers, place fingerprints, and pick up their D.N.I. card.. basically their residency cards here in Spain. They´ve been in the field 6 weeks and sometimes it honestly feels like herding sheep............ haha that sounds horrible!... but they are the youngest group in the mission and its funny how much two years can change you. :) Not to mention they were in the Provo and Madrid mtc´s together... they´ll obviously be happy to see each other... but when a group of happy young friends don´t know really what they´re doing or where they´re going, you get to the point where you just start herding them out or in doors and around the city. :) Now with that being said, this Tuesday, a group of 20 come from the madrid mtc... down to the mission office... and their trainers, 20 missionaries from all over the mission, will be coming in as well. So the last week now we´ve been planning every minute of this Monday through Thursday... preparing financial wise, travel wise, and schedule wise. My companion is a beast, he´s been buying the travel for the 20 trainers to come in fuengirola and also the whole rest of the mission considering transfers happen this week. The office is SO different. And we feel so helpful, its the best!

   Oh other side note, just wanna brag a little.. hah its interesting how office elders can really affect productivity of the mission in general. I could take this paragraph a lot of different ways but what I was going to mention is the fact that depending on how thoroughly an office elder does (or can do) his work effects the later office elders a LOT. There is a one page paper that can be easily looked over by the financiero or by the apartment owners that allows me to make ALL the payments to a specific owner through a program the church uses instead of through handwritten bank transfers or online payments systems. I´ve been really pushing the owners I rent from and the owners of the apartments elder Berrett rented to fill it out and get it to me. I´m excited cuz its already paying off! If you are just bold and tell them that the system is changing and they have to fill this paper out so that we can continue pay them they say... ´´oh well.. ok sure. Send it to me.´´ :) I´m excited to get a better hold on the apartment payment situation.

   Anyways, that was a lot of thoughts in my head right now.. I hope you enjoyed this weeks episode of The Office. Tune in next week for more details on how Transfer Week went down. Love you all! I´m proud to be a Norton and I´m proud to wear the Lord´s name on my chest. Don´t forget that we´ve all taken that same name upon us. Be proud of it even if you don´t wear it.

Élder Norton

"Amazing man ... Great little lesson!" (Sam)

Hello!!

   Wow the weeks are flying by! Its going too fast! I have to slow this down somehow. Its great to hear from each of you - I love the updates and I´m happy to hear you´re all well. I´m doing great here, a little sunburnt from soccer this morning but doing very well!

   This past week has been great. Sunday, we had an attendance at our english branch of 30 people! Which is 150% of what we usually have. Being stationed here along the most sunny/vacationy spots in this part of the world, we get quite a few families and people that end up coming to our ward on Sundays because they´re away from their home ward. There is a large, (100 people weekly) Spanish ward here but all of the vacationers come to our branch because English is a more commonly spoken language than Spanish throughout the rest of Europe. This last Sunday we had a visiting family of 4 from Finland and a visiting family of 5 from Sweden. We have several members here from the Philipines and a member here from Egypt as well.. kind of a fun group. :) After church we all went over the missionary couple´s apartment for the ´´munch and mingle´´ that we have once a month.. name chosen by our members from england obviously. :)

   On wednesday we went out to visit a family in the Spanish ward that are basically the housekeepers of this reeeally nice house owned by a very wealthy man from eastern europe. They invited us out to the big house to ´help with some cleaning´ (and we honestly thought we were going to clean with them) but then they ended up just purposefully finishing early and just giving us a tour of the house and lunch..... haha SCORE. :) They told us that this guy has houses in about 8 countries in europe so when he´s not in spain they spend a good amount of time in the house......... Haha :D DOUBLE SCORE!

   After that we visited a recent convert of the APs (they had planned to visit and ran out of  time) . This guy lives (or lived I guess) in the coolest little town. Look it up on google images.. its called Benahavis. I would live there if I came back to live in Spain... so anyways, he used to live there but he has very very little money and he had to leave his house, so he found this torn down old shack of a restaurant... and he´s living in it now.. :)  And the man is SO happy and content! I love it! We had decided before hand that we would teach about tithing and when we pulled into the town he flags us down from his car and has us follow him aaaaall the way up the mountain to his little broken down shack... and we just looked at each other and said...... ´´diezmo ¿no?...´´ :) ´´tithing, right?´´.... so we go in and begin teaching--- go in, not really in.... we walked through the front gate where had several old chairs set up.. and we sat there and caught up a bit.  We had the first prayer and mentioned our topic and began teaching a little and he cut us off and said, can I go grab something..? and he runs inside and comes back out with this metal can with a slit cut in the top side big enough to fit a coin in... and he says.. ´´whenever I can, I run down to this parking lot down in the city and I traffic the people and cars that are parking and sometimes they give me a little tip. When I come home, I thank the Lord for what he has given me and I always put a tenth of what I earn in this can, feel it.´´.. and he passes it over to me.. It was surprisingly heavy and I passed it over to Elder Butler.. so anyways, I learned a coool lesson that day. Or better said, I was reminded of a cool lesson that day... Having a lot or having a little doesn´t necesarily make you happy or sad, what makes you happy or sad is your outlook on what you have or don´t have. Amazing man. Great little lesson.

   Everything else this week has been boring office stuff... :) Paying rent for all the pisos in the mission, ordering new cell phones for the new misisonaries that are coming, paying bills, renting tons of new pisos, car breaking down twice, missionaries cell phones and credit cards getting lost, stolen, or broken... you know, the works. :) 

I do get to speak tomorrow in the English branch! I gave my testimony at the start of the month and had only brought my Spanish scriptures, I got up there thinking about a scripture I wanted to share, and thinking I´d just be able to translate it quick or think of the English version of it.. and I looked down at the scripture and said....... basically nothing.... cuz I couldn´t translate it into MY OWN LANGUAGE....... haha so i´m sittin there struggling and a big arm reaches over my shoulder and sets a big english ´´quad´´ down in front of me with the scripture open... :) Thanks branch presidency!... haha so anyways, we´ll see how this talk goes tomorrow. The topic the branch president gave me was ´´The Atonement and Missionary Work´´................................ The most open, broad topic EVER. hahah We´ll see!

   Hey I gotta go, Love You! Thanks for everything! Keep the people/marriage/mission updates coming!! I thought the world back home was gonna stop when I left but I was wrong!! :) Keep me informed! BYE!

-Élder Norton

ps: how much time do Sam Johnson and Will Montgomery have in the mission? They´ll totally be serving at the same time right?? I WANT TO ROOM WITH THOSE TO GUYS AFTER THE MISH! THEY ARE THE BEST!

Watch as the Savior teaches about the Widow's Mite

Mark 12:41–44

"we can't ever lose faith" (Hilary)

mustard seed ...

mustard tree!

Dear Mom, and Dad, and Mitch, and Jennica, and Sam, and Adam, (and of course Branson, Caden, and Sienna, who cannot read)

How are you all? I hope you are doing so well. I hope every day you are becoming better people and I hope that you all recognize how blessed we are. I hope you can always see and feel God's hand in your life. And I hope you never lose faith, because without faith we're nothing. We can't ever lose faith.

I am excited to write you. It is always the best part of my p-day for some reason. Today has been SO fun. This morning we played basketball and soccer with the other companionship of sister missionaries that are pretty close and with a few sisters from one of our wards. It was so so great. So much needed. We played for about two hours and I don't know if we got more exercise by playing or by laughing. Hermana Marca is super athletic. At first we were all laughing because the rest of us are so so. But by the end, I was stealing the ball from her. Haha it was really great, and I think the mission is super great for girls because it causes us to drop our barriers and just love and be friends with everyone (something that does not come naturally for girls). Anyway, before the mission (I can't believe I am using that phrase) I didn't ever have the desire to play sports. But since the Lima MTC I have really fallen in love with playing. When we get home I want to be able to play with Sam and Adam (and Mitch, when we are in the same lugar). I will start practicing more to prepare myself.

So speaking of getting sick, I too caught a bug this week. Actually, I think I ate something that my stomach didn't agree with. Tuesday I woke up super sick and spent the day throwing up, including on the bus. The bus worker was super upset. Ha. SORRY. Didn't want to do it. Anyway, we were traveling to Gualsaqui, where L lives, and I started throwing up so we got off the bus and this sweet little indigenous lady came running over to us talking in Kichwa. Hermana Marca understands a little Kichwa because it is a little similar to the native languages in Bolivia. Well, the little lady gave us some advice on what to do when you are pregnant and sick...  super hilarious. All of the community (sp?) knows though and they are all very concerned, so that was sweet. Ha. And speaking of health, the cures and solutions here are super hilarious. A few examples: whenever anyone has a cold, everyone says they need to wrap a scarf around their waist/lower back. Tuesday a few members gave me water with oregano and told me to bathe myself with cold water mixed with weeds... And Hermana Marca told me that I probably got sick because I slipped in mud Monday... Okay. Yesterday Hermana Marca told a member that jammed their finger playing basketball that they need to put some part of a cow testicle on it overnight. A recent convert, L, also has cancer. When it gets bad, they give her a vitamin mix to drink... An elder was telling me about an experience he had recently with a doctor... I just don't know how much I trust the medics down here! So.. in response to your comment on M.. we are praying it some mistake that they diagnosed her with breast cancer. 

So, yesterday was a really great Sunday. To be completely honest, Sundays are tough here in the mission. But yesterday was golden and an answer to a million prayers. God sends us trials to test our faith. We have been working really hard here in our sector and this past week a few things fell through and I was left sincerely pondering on what more I need to do to earn God's help. Saturday my hope was hanging on a string. But Sunday was exactly what I needed. Sometimes Sundays here are hard because 1. in our wards, I don't understand the meetings in Kichwa, and 2. attending church seems to be the hardest commitment for some investigators to follow through with. But yesterday was a really important Sunday for me because one of our bishops gave a talk that was exactly what I needed to hear. It was really amazing. One of those moments where you just want to say, "Thank you for following that prompting you received to talk on that, because it was the way God answered my prayer and addressed my need." Also, Saturday I had been wondering where all of the people Heavenly Father had prepared for us were. When we had that training meeting the other week, I found a lot of comfort in the message that there are certain people here that are prepared and they are who we are looking for. I was really praying to know why we weren't finding them. Sunday he sent two our way. I am constantly reminding myself to have more patience and confidence in God's timescale.

This morning I found a lot of comfort reading in Mosiah 4. I especially loved verses 9-12. My goal this week is to stand steadfast in my faith in Christ, no matter what happens.

Mom, I know you just sent me a whole bunch of packages, but I have been wanting to ask you for something more. I really would like two or three pair of skin colored, patterned tights. All the skin color tights here are 1. not my skin color and 2. plain. And, they just aren't cute. But I really need tights because my legs are covered in bug bites still. Anyway, I used to have some that were like fishnet, do you remember? Don't send fishnet, but like stripes or zig zags or some design like that. Thank you! I love you!

Adam, I love you. Don't worry that you can't write much. I hope you are enjoying all that you're reading.

I am so glad you all had such a great time in Cali for Thanksgiving! We didn't do anything here in the mission, (for Thanksgiving) but I did remind everyone we taught Thursday to be grateful. And Wednesday a few really nice people helped us out in little tiny ways and it made me think that perhaps that was my Thanksgiving gift. It was just what I needed.

Tell Stacie I say congrats. She is so great. She will be a really powerful missionary!

I love that you are playing Charlie Brown Christmas music on the piano Mom! I love that movie. And the Christmas music is my favorite. Christmas will be interesting here in the mission; it is a week after transfers. I hope it is great.

Dad, I love hearing about your BYU ward. And tell them all I say congratulations!

Oh, by the way, I sent some stuff your way! Please tell me when you get it! There is a package coming, but it is pretty light. The gifts are for Christmas. The letters for as soon as you get the package. 

ÑUKA KANKUNATA JUYANY
Hermana Norton

Sam's 2nd email Madrid, Spain MTC

 Who played hard core soccer with real Spaniards??? This Guy!

Hola a todos!!

Hilary and Adam, I am going to try to answer your emails so this email won't have much to you..

Its great to hear that everyone is doing great! I wish I could better convey how I am doing. Its is awesome here and although it really is a lot of work and very challenging, I am loving every minute of it, and I wouldn't be any other place. I remember so many times thinking about missionaries and wishing I could call them up and see how thier doing. Now I'm the missionary and I wish I could call home and update with everyone there. Just know that I'm doing well!! :)

Ok so randomly throughout the week, things pop into my head and I write them down so I can tell you. Let me start my list of random things..... :)

-I saw a mini cooper one time and it reminded me of mom.. :)

-Hilary! Every Sunday at the Provo mtc, they have a devotional at night and then everyone gets to go to reruns of devotionals or a church movie after the live devotional. GO TO ´´The Character of Christ´´ by David A. Bednar... Soo good. And if you can find it before you go in, watch it with Adam! Please!

-Basically here, we have fish every day.. at least one meal a day, if not two will have some sort of fish dish or shrimp or muscle in it.... Mmmmmm! :)

-I am actually really liking the lisp accent. It sounds suuuper wierd when you first hear it but I have grown to like it and I like using it. Just be prepped to hear it when I come home.. :)

-Madrid has soccer fields called soccer courts all over the place! Its so sweet! When we have work out time, we run like 4 or 5 minutes down the street to this sweeeet cement soccer court stadium. I´ll take a picture or two of it and send it home but picture a cement court with full seating around the whole thing... and.. how should I explain this.. its like the top seat in the bleachers is street level so you walk up to it and it drops way down to the court and its almost always open! :) I think everyones gonna go play after we email actually. :) (btw, I blocked a PK when we were playing on it yesterday... I was kinda proud..)

-OH! I'm really really glad we got another suit. Thank you mother! We don't use them a ton cuz its decently warm weather but we go to the temple weekly and we have two devotionals a week and we use them enough that im really glad I have it. Thanks again.

-On that note.. the weather has been super nice. Not as bad as I had expected and/or heard it would be. Like today, its been kinda rainy and overcast. Not complaining though! :)

-Ok so mom, you mentioned that we all went to the park... ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE PARK  huuuuge... has this lake in the middle of it where people can go boating and it has these little street shops all through it... and has massive fountains that are super old school and old, old building ruins that are crumbling and cool stuff like that. so anyways, we get to go and talk to people every Saturday and you do little comp exchanges and I actually got paired up with Elder Archulettas old comp.. Hah kinda cool. His name is Elder Escobar. He leaves for Barcelona tonight. He was on the three week plan thing. So the park was really awesome. At the end of our hour and a halfish time there we all met back together at one of the main spots in the middle of the park and we sang three hymns. Elder Escobar and I were asked to be the ones that contacted people that stopped to listen. We didn´t have a ton of success but we learned a lot and had a couple of reeeally interesting conversations.. :) Some people start talking and then they don´t stop.... haha and quite a few actually have horrible mumbling and slurring problems.. Like I'm not just saying that cuz I couldn't understand their Spanish, i´m saying it cuz they honestly could not form words.... haha so anyways, we´re doin our best but its tough. Quite a few people from other countries too.. that surprised me.. lots of travelers that didn´t speak english or spanish. Frustrating.

  ...... I KNOW the Spirit is prompting me and I KNOW that the Spirit is helping me learn.

We had to go get some passport picture for our residency forms (like 16 or 18 missionaries... we kinda filled the shop) went to this shop to get pictures and no one could understand the lady and so I went up and figured it out :) and then a missionary wanted to buy a watch too so I helped him and then she explained where to go to get the links out and I had this little convo with her.... Haha it felt really good. But anyways, we´re learning... Spanish, the Gospel, and how to get through life WITH THE SPIRIT. We are all learning so much about that and its awesome. Elder Vosters, my comp, testified last night in a little district testimony meeting we had of the things he is learning and feeling and it was a happy moment for me. :) Anyways, I´m over and I gotta go kick some trash on the soccer court. Love you all!!!!

                  -Elder Norton