"Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah."

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 2:8

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

We Have to Show Our Gratitude to the Lord for the Gospel by Sharing It

Hello wonderful family of mine! 


How is everyone doing?? Thanks for all of your emails this week, I'm always glad when I get a lot haha. And also thank you SO much for the packages that you sent me! I got all three of them yesterday and I almost fainted when I saw all of the good stuff that you sent me! Haha thank you so much. I will be eating REALLY well for the next couple of months. But not this week. Because changes are next week and also because there probably won't be a car up to Yalijux since we are leaving tomorrow. But next week I will start feasting on the abundance of food you sent me. (I am especially excited for the blueberry syrup that you sent me.)

Ok. So this last week was kind of lame actually. I was sick for a couple of days and so we didn't go out to work. Nothing too serious, just a weird cold/ eye infections that made me so that I couldn't breathe or concentrate.  So we only had 1 full day of work during the week which was kind of lame.  We didn't really have any great lessons or any cool experiences or anything during the week. We did find a couple new families to teach but we'll see if any of them will progress. So it was kind of a boring week. Then we came down to Senahu Monday, but we slept in San Francisco Sunday night. We had pday as usual yesterday, but the internet was down in all of Senahu apparently, so we had to wait until today (cheekuy inmaak= may you (plural) endure/bear my sin) to write emails. Yesterday we played frisbee which was fun and refreshing and then we played Uno a little bit and did our usual divisions with the other elders here in Senahu. Then today we had training all day from 9 until 4 and it was a good zone conference. We watched a lot from the new Preach My Gospel Dvds which are pretty good, and we talked about using the Book of Mormon more and about asking questions and a bunch of other things. I felt very enlightened after the meeting and it was a good conference. We talked about our new mission president President Watts, but all of us already knew thanks to your email mom :) So it was a pretty good conference.

I have been having back pain at night and it wakes me up and then in the morning. Nothing too bad, just kind of annoying I guess. So I went today and talked to Hermana Torres about all of my back problems and everything that happened over the summer and about what the doctors said and everything. So she told me just to have you guys send me exercises for strengthening my lower back and for stretching and stuff like that and told me to ask you to send me maybe a generic back brace to pull my shoulders back. So don't feel like you have to go out and buy it and send it right away cause it's really not a pressing matter or anything. Just when you send me my next package, maybe for my  birthday or something. :) But she said that she had scoliosis  when she was in high school, so she knew what it was like and she said that it wasn't too big or a deal, that I just need to keep working at it on my own. So. That was good. All of the elders where giving me a hard time and saying that I was going to get sent to the cap and a couple people were saying things like "you better be careful elder, you might get transferred to the states". But nothing like that is going to happen.

With changes coming up this next week, all of the elders are talking about everything that's going to happen and all that jazz. It's pretty sure that I will be staying in Yalijux and most people think that Elder Xocop will be leaving Yalijux since he's been there for 4 changes now. So we'll see what happens. I'm not too worried or concerned really, but I just want a companion who I can work really hard with and do our best in Yalijux. So I'm sure all of you moms are all talking about the changes as much, if not more than us, so we'll see what happens haha.

That's too bad about Brandon Davies.  But I'm proud of good old BYU for keeping their standards. It's sad for him, but if there wasn't such a strict honor code he maybe wouldn't be brought to repentance like he is going to have to go through right now. I'm praying for the Lord to bless BYU for sticking to the code and not punishing the team for Davies trangressions.

Alright now for some shoutouts!

Jack- Hey Bud!! Thanks for writing me! I was really excited to get an email from you this week. If you're just now figuring out that Kinzie is a freak, where have you been the past 12 years? (jk kinz ;)) That's cool about your classes. That'd be cool to do the 200 M dash. Weird that you are already signing up for next years classes! That makes me feel weird! That's dumb about the teenagers that did that, but there will always be weird people who just want to be cool. Just ingore them like you did. You're awesome bud. You already sound like you are like...older and smarter man. it's weird. Stop growing up! Make sure you keep those grades up and figure out about that C. Thanks for being an awesome brother. Love you and miss you too!

Dad- haha I know exactly how you feel dad. I inheirited your emotional attachment to sports too I think. But things like that are good to keep us rooted in the things that matter most. Even though BYU basketball will pass away and die, the word of the Lord will never pass away. =P Cool poem dad! I didn't know you could write! That's cool haha. I wish I had talked to you more about your mission and found out more about your experiences. But when I get back we can compare experiences and talk lots more. Thanks for being such an awesome Dad. You've taught me so much and I just really admire you a lot. Mom sent me that picture of my eagle scout haha and all of the missionaries were like "your dad must be a funny guy" and I said, yes he is haha. Thanks for your input on Norma and Ricardo. I'm going to try to use that soon. Thanks for being the best! Love you! (ps haha dang I wish I had been there to see the rancid mess segment)

Mom- well, well, well, you got yourself an iPhone eh? After all that you said about how you wouldn't want to have a phone and the ipod in the same thing. Haha you're funny. I don't know, I think I might want one when I come back...haha but being here has taught me a lot about that kind of stuff. We just have to be so careful that we don't get attached or too dependant on technology and nice things. But you guys are all great and I'm sure you won't ever have any problems :) It made me really happy to hear about your missionary efforts and I know that the Lord will bless you! I encourage you all to try a little harder to be a missionary. We have to show our gratitude to the Lord for the Gospel in our lives by sharing it with other people. If we aren't sharing it, we aren't truly grateful for it. I love how it says in Preach My Gospel that our desires to share the Gospel are based on our understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ. So if you ever don't feel like sharing or being a missionary, study the atonement a little more. 



As for daily living, it's good. A little dirty sometimes and sometimes kind of rugged, but I like it and I'm happy every day. I think that everyone needs a mom like you and Sister Torres talked to me about how great you are and about how supportive you are. So thanks for being the best mom ever! I love you :)

Well, I love you all and I'm thankful for all you do. Keep doing your best to do the Lord's will and share the gospel. Always try to help the missionaries by giving them referrals. I challenge you as a family to just go with the missionaries to present them to a family in the neighborhood this week. Elder Clark talked about how as missionaries we just want the members to introduce us and present us to people and that after that they can keep trying to teach them. 



Thanks for being such a great family and I love you all tons. Next week we're doing a zone activity Monday so I'm not sure if I'll write Monday or Tuesday. Love you all tons!

Love,
Elder Norton

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