Dear Family and Friends,
Hello from California. I guess I'll start off by answering a few questions from your e-mails. First off Jace, I actually have kept forgetting to mention it to everyone, but I was released from my service as District Leader a few days into the transfer. President Pike re-organized the zone a bit to make things more efficient for meetings, and there ended up being two District Leaders in the same district, so I was released. I was actually a little relieved for it. It was certainly more stressful with the additional work, and I don't know how well I would have done at fulfilling those additional duties this transfer given the state I was in at the beginning of this transfer. Also, Dad, I have no problem with what will happen this coming transfer. Of course I would love to stay here in Pasadena for the rest of my mission, but I would be alright with being sent to one more area. In the end, it's whatever the Lord wants that matters. Well, today we got to go to the temple and it was a wonderful experience. We got to go see the new visitor's center that just opened up recently on the temple grounds and it is really really cool. There is a lot of cool interactive technology that is used there to teach about the church and the gospel. We will have to see if we can go there when you come to pick me up.
Carlos is still doing well. We had a lesson with him last Sunday and it turned out to be a really great experience. His mom was there to sit in and participate in the lesson, and afterwards, she asked us to give her a blessing because she had injured her knee at work. The blessing turned out to be a very spiritual experience for her and her family, and she is still very happy to be having us over to teach her family. We also started teaching a less-active member named Brother Ambrose and his non-member wife last Sunday. I think I might have mentioned him in one of my previous e-mails. Anyways, we had a great lesson with them and we have another lesson planned with them for this week, so I am looking forward to that. Well I have to get going now, but I will write again on Monday to let you all know how transfers ended up. Thank you for your love and support.
Love,
Elder Norton
P.S.- Mom and Dad, I remember that I need to register for classes in October. I found out that I can do all of that at the mission office, but I have no idea what I am supposed to do to register and all of that stuff I'm supposed to do once I sit down in front of the computer. Could you let me know what I need to do since you already went through this with Jace? Thanks!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
A Happy Birthday!
Dear Family and Friends,
Well, I guess I'll start by admitting my mistake and letting you all know that this was not the week that we go to the temple after all, so today is our normal p-day. Next week, on the 22nd is the day that we go to the temple, so that Wednesday will be our p-day. Sorry if the mix-up was inconvienient for anyone. Thank you so much for the birthday package. I loved it. It is always nice to get a suprise gift of Ramune and Hi-Chews, and I loved all of the cards that you all sent me. The members here treated me well for my birthday. Our Ward Mission Leader had us come over yesterday for a little cake and ice cream to celebrate. He is so cool, and I love how focused he is on missionary work. Rather than talking about what I was going to do when I am done with my mission, he wanted to talk about what I can do while I am still here in the Pasadena Ward to leave my "legacy" as he called it in the ward. I really enjoyed it. Then, after that we went to visit the Ambrose Family. Sister Ambrose's son is less-active, but he is very nice and I have had many good, long conversations with him (long as in hour to an hour and a half of flowing conversation, not my usual long of 30 minutes of broken conversation). He has three sons, and he is married to someone from Guatemala, all of whom are not members. Well, last night he told us before he left that he and his entire family had decided to take the missionary lessons and we set up a time to start teaching them next Sunday. It was sooo cool. Apparently Sister Ambrose had asked them all to take the lessons after we had taken her through a special tour of the church building that we are doing with investigators right now and they agreed, so I am really excited for them. Her son is really, really cool, and as you probably guessed, I enjoy talking with him. Yesterday he had a Lord of the Rings marathon like you do mom and dad. Before we left, he showed us the replica that he had of Anduril, Aragorn's sword. It was HUGE and so cool. If it had been sharpened, I think it could have been used as a real sword. I got some pictures of myself with it. I'll have to send them to you next week. Other than that, not much else happened this week. We were not able to teach Carlos this week because of schedules, but he and Jennifer all came to church with their older sister yesterday, and we are working to set up a lesson with them for this week. I am really excited for this week. Thank you all once again for your love and support.
Love,
Elder Norton
Well, I guess I'll start by admitting my mistake and letting you all know that this was not the week that we go to the temple after all, so today is our normal p-day. Next week, on the 22nd is the day that we go to the temple, so that Wednesday will be our p-day. Sorry if the mix-up was inconvienient for anyone. Thank you so much for the birthday package. I loved it. It is always nice to get a suprise gift of Ramune and Hi-Chews, and I loved all of the cards that you all sent me. The members here treated me well for my birthday. Our Ward Mission Leader had us come over yesterday for a little cake and ice cream to celebrate. He is so cool, and I love how focused he is on missionary work. Rather than talking about what I was going to do when I am done with my mission, he wanted to talk about what I can do while I am still here in the Pasadena Ward to leave my "legacy" as he called it in the ward. I really enjoyed it. Then, after that we went to visit the Ambrose Family. Sister Ambrose's son is less-active, but he is very nice and I have had many good, long conversations with him (long as in hour to an hour and a half of flowing conversation, not my usual long of 30 minutes of broken conversation). He has three sons, and he is married to someone from Guatemala, all of whom are not members. Well, last night he told us before he left that he and his entire family had decided to take the missionary lessons and we set up a time to start teaching them next Sunday. It was sooo cool. Apparently Sister Ambrose had asked them all to take the lessons after we had taken her through a special tour of the church building that we are doing with investigators right now and they agreed, so I am really excited for them. Her son is really, really cool, and as you probably guessed, I enjoy talking with him. Yesterday he had a Lord of the Rings marathon like you do mom and dad. Before we left, he showed us the replica that he had of Anduril, Aragorn's sword. It was HUGE and so cool. If it had been sharpened, I think it could have been used as a real sword. I got some pictures of myself with it. I'll have to send them to you next week. Other than that, not much else happened this week. We were not able to teach Carlos this week because of schedules, but he and Jennifer all came to church with their older sister yesterday, and we are working to set up a lesson with them for this week. I am really excited for this week. Thank you all once again for your love and support.
Love,
Elder Norton
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Happy Labor Day!
Dear Family and Friends,
Happy Labor Day to everyone!!! President Pike moved our p-day to today so that we could use the holiday time to find people to teach. Well, to be honest, things have been a little tough for us this week. We only have one investigator right now that we are teaching. His name is Carlos. I can't remember if I mentioned him before, but he is part of a less active family, and we are working on activating his family and teaching him the gospel. We have been having some pretty good success with the family. One of his sisters, Jennifer, is coming back to church now, and his mother and remaining siblings are starting to warm up to the missionaries. Last Saturday, we went over to see if we could catch his mother at home because Linda, Carlos's active sister, told us that their mom wanted for him to start going to the Pentacostal church that she has been going to. We did catch her at home and we were able to talk with her and sort things out, so we are still going to be taching Carlos and he can still come to church. It was funny too, because the mother invited us to stay to have dinner (she is Hispanic, so we couldn't refuse), and while we were waiting for her to finish making the meal, Jennifer came in and we started talking about how she is going to church again and to tease her, I made a few comments to her regarding her "dusty" scriptures and how I was glad to see that they looked as good as new and that with all of the progression she is making, her scriptures will soon look like they are actually being used (looking back on the comments I made, I think I have inherited some of your humor dad), and when the mother heard that she smiled really big and said "I like you". They are a really cool family. Jennifer is such a good sport about my teasing/persistance, and Carlos is such a good student and is really smart for his age. Eventually I think that they will all become active once again. Well, I have to go now, but I will write again next week. By the way, next week we go to the temple, so our p-day will be on Wednesday next week, so don't expect anything until then. Also, mom, I just remembered that it would be nice to get a new razor for my birthday. The one I have now works, but a piece of it is broken so it does not work as well as it should. Other than that, I can't think of anything that I want that I could use until after November 7th, so I can wait until then to give you a wish list. Thanks.
Love,
Elder Norton
Happy Labor Day to everyone!!! President Pike moved our p-day to today so that we could use the holiday time to find people to teach. Well, to be honest, things have been a little tough for us this week. We only have one investigator right now that we are teaching. His name is Carlos. I can't remember if I mentioned him before, but he is part of a less active family, and we are working on activating his family and teaching him the gospel. We have been having some pretty good success with the family. One of his sisters, Jennifer, is coming back to church now, and his mother and remaining siblings are starting to warm up to the missionaries. Last Saturday, we went over to see if we could catch his mother at home because Linda, Carlos's active sister, told us that their mom wanted for him to start going to the Pentacostal church that she has been going to. We did catch her at home and we were able to talk with her and sort things out, so we are still going to be taching Carlos and he can still come to church. It was funny too, because the mother invited us to stay to have dinner (she is Hispanic, so we couldn't refuse), and while we were waiting for her to finish making the meal, Jennifer came in and we started talking about how she is going to church again and to tease her, I made a few comments to her regarding her "dusty" scriptures and how I was glad to see that they looked as good as new and that with all of the progression she is making, her scriptures will soon look like they are actually being used (looking back on the comments I made, I think I have inherited some of your humor dad), and when the mother heard that she smiled really big and said "I like you". They are a really cool family. Jennifer is such a good sport about my teasing/persistance, and Carlos is such a good student and is really smart for his age. Eventually I think that they will all become active once again. Well, I have to go now, but I will write again next week. By the way, next week we go to the temple, so our p-day will be on Wednesday next week, so don't expect anything until then. Also, mom, I just remembered that it would be nice to get a new razor for my birthday. The one I have now works, but a piece of it is broken so it does not work as well as it should. Other than that, I can't think of anything that I want that I could use until after November 7th, so I can wait until then to give you a wish list. Thanks.
Love,
Elder Norton
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