Faith Brings Miracles!

Dear family,

I hope to be able to write all that I want today because I have a LOT to write about. So here goes.

This week was a week of faith and a week of great miracles here in Salama. At the concilio last Tuesday I felt that the focus of the whole conference was faith. A few elders and President Watts talked a lot about faith and how we need to have a lot of it so that the Lord can work miracles through us here in the mission. I always had thought that I had a decent amount of faith, but I had never really thought about faith in that way. That I really needed to believe in the Lord, that he could literally work miracles according to our faith here in Salama. Anyways, I came back to Salama thinking a lot about faith. Faith to repent, faith to work as hard as you can, and faith to wait for the blessings of the Lord to come. My companion, Elder Lemus, and I set goals for who we wanted to bring to church and who we were going to work with to have a baptismal date. We filled up a whole whiteboard making goals and plans for who we were going to work with and what to do to help them. After doing that we prayed and asked the Lord to give us faith in Christ so that through His help we could achieve the goals that we had set. After that, we set out to work. We went to the local municipal building in Salama to get the facts straight about marrying Danilo and Reina. They told us that we just need his license, birth certificate, and a certificate saying that he's not already married, and that from there we would have to publish their marriage in a Central American newspaper, (a cost of Q200) bring that newspaper to the office here in Salama and pay Q20 to get them married. We have faith that they will finally be able to get baptized the 28th of this month. They are really excited and so are we!! Please pray for them a lot. Especially pray for Danilo so that he won't smoke at all in these next couple of weeks so that he can get baptized the 28th with his wife. Anyways, we visited Familia Polanco every day this week since we got back from Guate and we visited them with 3 different members to make them feel welcome and loved in the branch. Saturday we went to their house and washed dishes for them and helped them to clean and do their chores so that there wouldn't be anything keeping them from going Sunday. We started a fast Saturday after lunch for our investigators so that the Lord would bless them to be able to come to church.

Sunday morning came and we got up, got ready, called Familia Polanco to make sure they didn't sleep in, and then went to go wake up Danilo and Reina and take them with us to church. Danilo didn't end up going because he said he had to work. (We think he's worried about the money to publish his marriage in the newspaper since they have pretty much no money at all. We  told them to give us their best and we'd take care of the rest. Little do they know that I we would happily pay the fee if they didn't have enough money.) We got to church and it was a normal, same as always sacrament meeting. The only difference was that there was a change in the branch presidency. Other than that it was just another regular Sunday. We got there right around 8:45 and it  was already pretty full in our small chapel. By 9 when we started there weren't even any seats left. Then Familia Polanco came at about 9:10 and they brought around 4 friends with them. We had to pull out a bunch of seats and put them just outside of the chapel in the little hallway. Elder Lemus and I didn't hardly hear any of the talks that were given because so many people came that we had to keep pulling out new chairs, looking for room to put another row of chairs and help people get to their seats. 180 people came to church yesterday. 16 of them were investigators just from our side of the area. We had one brother come from a place called "La Cumbre" which is above Salama looking down into the valley, about 30 minutes by bus. I taught him once during my first change here with Elder Contreras. We didn't really think he seemed interested and he lived pretty far away so we only came back once and only found his wife to teach. He came yesterday saying that he had tried to come once before but had gotten lost. He stayed with us for all 3 hours and said that next week he is going to bring his wife and kids. We had another lady that came from another village even further than "La Cumbre" and it's about 45 minutes away by bus. I saw her at the beginning and talked to her but didn't think that she was an investigator, but at the end, she came up to me and said "Excuse me, I've been investigating the church for a year now and I've decided today that I want to get baptized. Could you come visit me this week?" I told her YES. We had old investigators that came to church as well that hadn't come for a while. Elder Lemus and I felt kind of like Peter when the Lord told him to cast his net over the right side of the boat. We could hardly handle all of the investigators that came. It was a miracle. 

So, the 28th of January we are on track to  baptize 9 people, and possibly 10 with the lady who told us she wants to get baptized. Please keep all of them in your prayers. Danilo and Reina, Roselia and her kids: Gloria, Wendy, Evelyn, Gabriel; Erik and his wife Rosy; Bonifacio and his wife; and Marta. Next week we have the faith that the Lord will bless us with even more people there if we work hard and do our part. I know that God is a God of miracles. He loves His children and wants to bless them. I've been studying a lot from the Book of Mormon this week for a talk that I'm giving Wednesday for a zone conference we are going to have here. I've been studying about walking by the light of faith and about rending the "dark veil of unbelief" that is talked about in few places in the Book of Mormon. I feel like the brother of Jared who began to see the hand of the Lord giving His light to him. I am beginning to literally see the hand of the Lord in His work here in Salama. Like the brother of Jared, my faith is beginning to be unshakable and is being converted into knowledge, nothing doubting. I love the Lord and His work and I know that He is the source of all miracles in our lives. If we have the faith enough to rend our personal veils of unbelief, we will see the great light of our Redeemer and we will see His hands working for our good here on the earth. I love you all and thank you all for your prayers in my behalf and on behalf of my investigators. Please keep praying for us and I know that the Lord will bless us so that people will flock behind us into the waters of baptism.

Well, my times up for this week, but I love you all tons! I'll reply to some of the personal stuff this week next week! Love you!

Love, 

Elder Norton

PS- mom, I found spinach here and wanted to know what you usually do to make spinach smoothies? love you!

New Comp!

Hey guys!

Ok well first of all I just want to say What the heck?? You didn't tell me Camille was going to be coming this week. I guess it doesn't really matter all that much though since it's not like I could have been there anyways haha but still it was surprising. Well the point is that I'm jealous that you guys are all playing with the Xbox dance game without me. But things are going GREAT here for me too. (Other than the fact that I'm kind of sick with a cold. It's not too bad though. I'm also sunburned because we ended up playing bball outside and I forgot sunscreen...) 

This week was pretty good. First good thing of the week: I found in a paca (think DI or Goodwill but on the level of Guatemala...and in someone's house..) a brand spanking new, classic, wooden box set Monopoly for Q50. That's approximately $6.25. So I bought it with a little bit of the money Grandma sent. (Thanks Grandma!) While we were waiting for the changes on Wednesday we played a few times with  other elders in my zone that were also waiting for new comps. Let's just say I pretty much dominated the board after the first game. So that's pretty cool and will be fun for disctrict activities and stuff. And it's a nice box so it won't get ruined. 

Then came changes and I figured out that my new comp would be Elder LEMUS! It's really funny because they did the same thing that they did to me with him. When I left Tactic he took my place and trained twice there. He was just senior companion and trainer but they made him my comp. He's a really cool guy. He's from El Salvador.  He's a convert since 2005 and his whole family got baptized I think. He has  older brothers and a younger one too. It's great because he's in the same group as me: in other words, we both go home at the same time. He's really great and I'm excited for the work we're going to do together. At the same time it's kind of weird having a different companion after having been with Elder Contreras for almost 5 months straight 24/7. But we are already seeing a lot of blessings and miralces from the Lord. This week we had 10 investigators at church! It was so amazing. We have been teaching a family, familia Polanco for EVER and they never came to church all of the 5 months that I've been here. We always invited them and the mom would say "we'll see if God wants us to go." Then we decided Saturday to teach them about agency and about how they can take control of their own lives and that the Lord expects them to make these kinds of decisions on their own. Sunday the whole family came with her nephew and his wife as well. So we're hoping this week to work really hard with them so they will come again next week. We also had a good lesson with Familia de la Cruz. They are the most humble people on the face of the whole PLANET! I just love that family so much and I'm already decided that I will NOT leave Salama without baptizing them. They are both reading the Book of Mormon and they really like it. Saturday night we had an appointment with them. Their daughter got sick and they had to take her to the doctor but they made sure that someone would be home to be there for our appointment. It was really touching. This week we are going to teach them in the church on Saturday and we are really hoping that they will come to church this week. PLEASE remember all of them in your prayers: Familia Polanco, and Familia de la Cruz. Hopefully this next week we will have even more investigators in church.

This Church is true. I know it with all of my heart. There's no other like it in the whole world. There can't be. God himself has formed this Church with His own hands. Who could ever compare any other church established by men with the workmanship of God's hands? I know that the work that I'm doing here is God's work and that no power on earth will or could ever stop it. I'm so blessed to be a part of this great work, but you all should know that God's work is not limited to missionaries. Keep your eye out for people that need this gospel and then boldly open your mouths to just talk to them. Someone will listen and their lives will be changed. Love you guys tons!!

Ok here's some quick personal comments-

Mom- Elmer Catalan is a member here in Salama! He's a really fun guy. So yes you should be his friend. And don't worry he only looked for you because one night he looked to see if he could find my facebook and he couldn't but then I told him to look for yours and he found it. No worries. He's from Tactic originally and I got to know his family really well. His brother, Edílsar and his wife Milvia, were investigators of mine there as well. Glad that you guys had fun with Camille and Carson! Don't have much time left! Love you mom!

Dad- thanks for the advice. I think my feelings are pretty much summed up in the words of George Albert Smith when he told Lucy Woodruff "If you're looking for someone with money, that someone is not me. I've already decided that I will not dedicate my life to making money, but rather to serving the Lord." So yeah I know I need to have sufficient money to support my family which I plan on doing. But I'm not looking to get rich. Thanks for the advice about Samson too. Love you!

OK, sorry guys times up and I have to go catch a bus to Coban and then to the capital for concilio tomorrow. Write you all again next week!

Love,

Elder Norton 

6 Months in Salama

Hey guys!

Sorry I'm writing so early, but because my comp's going home he wants to go and say goodbye to everyone and has to do a bunch of stuff to get ready. But it's ok because I'm still feeling great from when I called a week ago.

Alright, well we got transfers last night and I will be STAYING in Salama at least another change and will be getting a new comp. I'm actually pretty excited because I'm fairly certain we are going to baptize a lot next change. We have like 3 families that are investigating the Church a lot that are all really interested. We just have to be diligent, work hard, and pray really hard and I know we're going to have success this next change. It will be nice to hopefully have a "younger comp" (or in other words a comp who isn't going home soon.) In fact it would be really nice to have someone that has less time than me in the mission since that's never happened before. We'll have to wait and see, but I already feel like this next change things are going to go really well here.

My New Year's resolution is to work my guts out for the last 7 months of my mission. I was reading a lot about the people of Ammon and how they buried all of the sins and their past for good, and then just went and did what was right. I've just decided that I'm going to do the same. I'm burying all of my past life and just going to bury the natural man that's in me, and then for these next 7 months dedicate myself completely to the Lord's work. I am just so grateful that God allows us to change and become better through His Son, Jesus Christ. It's a miracle and I just feel so blessed that I can change. So that's what I'm doing for this New Years. But in reality it's not a New Year's resolution, it's more of a "new life's resolution." Sometimes I don't really understand completely how it is that because of Jesus Christ I can change and become a better person, but I know and feel that it's true. And I know that this is His church, the only church on face of the earth, that has His authority to perform sacred ordinances that allow us to access that miraculous changing power and teach us how to keep that change and "retain the remission of our sins" forever. I love the gospel! And I love all of you guys. Thanks for being such a great family. 

Alright sorry guys to cut this email a bit short but I'm pretty much out of time. Here's some personal comments-

Mom- haha sounds like a fun New Years. Don't worry I didn't do anything either. I just went to sleep at 10:30 as usual and got half woken up at 12:00 by the tremendous noise of the entire town lighting what could be used as semi-lethal BOMBS for 10 minutes. Other than that I didn't do anything. But it was a great New Years and I felt the Spirit a lot :) Next year we will have to have a HUGE party. And we'll have to watch some movie trilogy new years day haha. :) Ok, as for "Taylor", if you could refer to him by his REAL name, Twoody, I would appreciate it. And the answer is ABSOLUTELY yes. I couldn't think of any better roommate than Twoody. I was so happy when I read that haha because a lot of times on the mission you meet a lot of other good friends and they make plans to room together and stuff. But I'm glad Twoody is a true friend. So yeah I'm not sure how that's going to work but I would like to room with Twoody and Matt and Mark if Mark wants to. Mark might already have plans but I'm not sure. You should email his mom and ask. It would be a ton of fun to room with Twoody and Matt and Mark. But let me know! Love you mom! :) 

Dad- yeah how did the Kings game go with the Lakers?? I'm assuming they probably lost because you didn't say anything exciting like that, but how did Jimmer do? He's a stud for sure. Which bowl game did BYU play in? I finished the Book of Mormon a little while ago too and I'm going to start it over again. I love the Book of Mormon! It's so awesome. Let me know on any insights you get from reading it. How's seminary going with the Old Testament? Any cool things you have learned? Haha yeah I'm sure that gearing your resolutions toward July will make things go faster haha =P Love you dad thanks for being such a great example to me and for your prayers for me. Take care and good luck at work! 

Alright, well times up guys. Hope you all had a great New Year's and that we can all strive more to be more like Jesus Christ in this new year of our lives. I love you all and I'm working hard for you guys.

Love,

Elder Norton

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had a wonderful phone call with Jace on Christmas Day!  It is always fun to hear his voice.  He made us all laugh!  He sent the following pictures and letters the day after Christmas.

Members preparing their Christmas dinner.  Ewwww.

Somewhere over the rainbow in Salama!

Elder Norton and Elder Contreras.

Hey Mom!

It was great talking to you too! But it felt like we didn't even get to talk about all that much in the end haha. But that's ok we'll have lots of time to talk when you come in August to pick me up! Any news on plans for that? You probably should start planning that now because it is going to sneak up on you! Like I told you the change conference will be the 1st of August. 

Sounds like you had a tiring Christmas! I was pretty tired too. Not because I stayed up late but because I got woken up at midnight. The tradition in pretty much all of Central and South America is to light firecrackers for any kind of holiday. So of course Christmas is a time where EVERYONE lights firecrackers. So at midnight I nearly fell out of bed as the firecrackers in ALL OF SALAMA exploded for like 15 minutes. We had to turn the fans on in the house so that we didn't choke to death. We ate some a lot of food for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day- mostly good, some REALLY gross. Last night this lady gave us this giant wad of meat loaf that was pretty disgusting to be honest. But she's less active so I ate the whole darn thing and a huge chunk of "layered rice". But let's be honest, NOTHING compares with the delicious prime rib, yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes and gravy dinner you make. Or the breakfast =/ But I'm excited to eat it next year :) I was telling my comp about the Christmas and New Years traditions we have and it made me baggy haha. Are you guys going to do anything fun for New Years? 

Sounds like the xbox is pretty cool! I had heard some stuff about it and it sounds pretty awesome. We'll have to box it up when I get back :) And don't worry mom, I know that I'm your favorite, but really it's only because I know how to make you laugh. So when you are at a point where you are about to get mad at me I just do some silly accent and it softens your wrath =P   Tell the other kids they just need to learn from me and learn how to appease you =P   And even though dad apparently doesn't favor me like you do, I know deep down he really does. He's just a lawyer so he's all about politics- he just has to make the public think that he doesn't favor me =P haha, just kidding. Love you mom! Talk to you next week!

Elder Norton

Hey Dad!

Thanks for writing a bit. It was really great talking to you guys too. It's weird because it's just normal to talk to you guys on the phone even though I've only talked to you guys on the phone a few times in the mission. But yeah I felt the same way too. I wish we could have skyped! But unfortunately we couldn't. It's weird that it's not very long at all until I'll be home! This Christmas has really made me realize that my time here is growing short. It kind of scares me actually! I'm not ready to come back yet! Maybe I'll extend my mission =P That way I'd come back after the semester starts and I'd just chill at home and work all winter =P just kidding. I need to get back out to BYU ASAP. 

I'm excited for BYU sports this fall. BBball is what interests me most. I don't think I'll even go to very many football games. But who knows. I'm going to start watching more soccer now that soccer is something that actually interests me. Speaking of BYU I know it's kind of early still but I need to start thinking about when sign ups for classes is and everything like that. I was thinking yesterday for a little bit while my companion was taking all of the dats. I think I might study linguistics. I just thought "I really enjoy learning languages and it fascinates me to see the differences in languages. maybe I should just do that?" But I'm not sure. I thought though about the 3 things that I enjoy the most: music, languages, and the brain. I'm not really concerned about making money as much as I am about doing something that I enjoy and doing something where I can keep learning throughout my life. So we'll see. But some languages that I'm already thinking about taking as classes- Hebrew, Arabic, Portugese, Mandarin. I think my first year I'll take Spanish just to get the credit and brush up on grammar, Portugese because it's REALLY easy to learn if you already know Spanish, and Hebrew because it comes from the same root as Mayan languages. But I don't really know for sure I'm just doing some thinking. 

Anyways, let me know if you could when I need to sign up for classes and everything. Thanks for everything you do dad. Love you and I'll talk to you next week! 

Elder Norton

6 DAYS!

HELLO!

Alright well this week I'm not going to write much because 1) I'm short on time and B) I'm going to save it all for when I call you in 6 DAYS! 

I just want to let you guys know that I DID get my package and it was AWESOME! Haha, you guys are the best. At first I was so confused when I saw a little tiny shirt and tie with little placks. I thought "Are they sending me stuff that used to be mine when I was little or are they sending me something that my kid can wear someday?? And then I pulled it out and realized it was a stocking. haha it's so cool! Tonight I'm going to look for a place to hang it up. Also thanks for the belts, ties, the flashlight, the little gospel art book, the cards, and of course the candies :) You guys are awesome! I love my family! :) And thanks to all the seminary students for sending me nice little cards. Even though they are all the same haha.  I'll hang them up on a line in my house like Mr. Bean. 

Ok, as for the calls this week: I already told you guys this in the other emails that I sent you but we'll plan on you guys calling me at 1:00 PM. YOUR TIME because I'm not exactly sure what the time difference is. But it doesn't really matter because I only have church from 9- 10 my time and then I'll be at the house. But anyways, the NUMBER is -----------: once again that's -------------.   BUT if you call RIGHT NOW...haha just kidding. So that should be good with the plans for the call. 

Other than that this week has been good, I'm feeling happy and in the Spirit of Christmas and I'm ready to talk to everyone this week! Love you all tons!

Love,

Elder Norton

Stocking that my mom made for me.

Christmas Conference and a Trip to an Orphanage

At the orphanage. 

Hey guys!

This week has been tiring but overall good. Tuesday we had concilio which was really helpful to me personally and I learned a lot from it. We ended up leaving later than usual from the office which meant that we didn't catch the bus on time to go back to Salama on Tuesday. We had to get up a little earlier and leave Wednesday morning which added a little bit to the tiredness but meant that I got to hang out a little longer with my good buddy Elder Fadel in the office house which was fun. We worked and everything passed by pretty quickly looking back now. But it felt pretty slow in the moment. We taught some good lessons and walked a lot. It was a pretty OK week at the end of it all for having missed a couple of days and being really tired. We didn't end up getting back to the gym until Friday which was kind of lame. But now we're back on track. My back has felt a lot better since I've started working out so I'm feeling really good and in the best shape of my life since my 5th grade victorious season of regional basketball. 

Anyways, Saturday night was the cultural event which was pretty cool but honestly it was like the same thing in every act (each stake did a dance).  There were a couple really good ones and then the rest were all pretty much the same. But it was still cool to see and hear. It was also disappointing because pretty much only the cultures of Quetzaltenango were represented which meant that Q'eqchi' didn't get mentioned or shown hardly at all. The dedication was really awesome. President Uchtdorf presided and Elder Anderson, who was with him, directed. We stayed for the first two sessions in the morning and heard some great talks about the temple and some powerful words from both Elder Anderson (who speaks Spanish surprisingly)  and President Uchtdorf. It was cool and my first time seeing a temple dedication (since for the Nauvoo dedication I was at home taking care of an appendix ruptured Matt and cleaning up all of his vomit) Anyways it was cool. Yesterday, Elder Gallo, one of the AP's that came here to Salama with President Watts, met up with us to go on divisions and stay at our house. We had a good lesson with Danilo and Reina who are going through some pretty serious relationship problems lately. Please keep praying for them.

Today was our multizone activity and conference wihch was a lot of fun. First we went to a local orphanage that is in the area of San Jeronimo which is really close to Salama. It was a really fun and touching experience. We were there with 93 orphans playing with them, singing them Christmas hymns, singing Christmas songs in English, and at the end we gave them all little gift bags with socks, toothbrushes, candy, toys, and a picture of Jesus Christ. It was such a neat experience. As you guys all know I love little kids and I just love playing with kids so I had a really great time. It was the most touching of all when near the end, a little 4 year old boy named Roberto (the little kid sitting on my lap in the picture) gave me a hug and told me "you're my friend." But anyways that was awsome. After that we went to a pretty schnazzy restaurant and hotel where we ate a fancy breaded chicken lunch, watch the movie "Entangled" (yes- watched a movie. President and Sister Watts watched it with us and it was HILARIOUS haha. I wasn't sure if it was really that funny or if it's just that I haven't seen any movies for more than a year. Either way we all had a good laugh) and then we had a small spiritual message from president and Sister Watts. Tomorrow we have interviews and district meetings with President Watts so I'm looking forward to that.

OK, time is pretty much gone but here's a couple quick things:

Dad- thank you so much for all of the funny "Elf" quotes in my email. I laughed so hard hahaha. Thanks for being funny dad. Hope things settle down a little bit for work for Christmas. Love you.

Mom- hey mom sorry about the conference mix up. The assistants had told us that those were the dates that were possible for the conference so that's what I thought. I'm not sure when I'll get my package but don't worry I'm not too worried about it :) I'll let you know when I get it. Thanks for all of the pictures too. Love the house and Matt looks like he's a dancing fool with his girl.

Matt- loved the pics. Watch out for Christmas...she's gonna want something. Love you! 

Alright, well my time's up unfortunately so I've got to go. I love you guys all so much and don't know what I'd do without you guys. Thanks for all the letters. Talk to you all SOON!

Love,

Elder Norton

With my buddy, Elder Underwood.

Concilio and Another Trip to the Dentist

Hello!

Hope all is cold and Christmasy back in the states and that everyone is enjoying the Spirit of Christ that is so strong this time of year. 

The Christmas Devotional last night was really awesome and I loved it. We ended up bringing 7 investigators to the devotional, two of them being Maynor and Karina who we have been trying REALLY hard to get to come to church. So that was awesome. Of course they left after President Uchtdorf's talk, but they enjoyed it a lot and we had a lot of support from the members who greeted them and sat with them and were really nice. In the end they said that they really liked how everyone was so friendly and how everyone just seemed to know each other. We still haven't taught them in like 3 weeks, but hey, they're making progress. Ana, who is another investigator that we have right ow who is reading right now in ETHER (yeah, she's pretty pilas) she said "oh yeah, I'm just reading right now about the Tower of Babel and the Jaredites and it's pretty interesting.) She's kind of a history/art/theatre lover so now she just has to understand the importance and the significance of The Book of Mormon. But she and her friend came to the devotional and said they liked it. We also had Danilo and Reina as usual and they enjoyed it as well.

Haha you guys just know me too well because as soon as Brother Okabe came up on the screen I turned to Reina who was sitting next to me and said "I know him! He used to be in my ward!" Also as we waited for the broadcast to start they were playing clips of the MoTab choir, and Julie came on the screen a couple times. I kept saying to everyone "That's my aunt!" And they were all surprised and thought it was cool haha. I really loved President Eyring's talk at the end about the patterns related with Christ's brith- the light that came into the world and how God declared a lot of things by angels-and how God has done the exact same thing with the restoration of His true church. I always love relating Christmas and the restoration because the restoration of the gospel is one of the greatest blessings we could ever have living in these days. I also loved President Monson's talk because I knew exactly the stories he would talk about haha. I love that man. It was not quite as good hearing the devotional in Spanish because it's not the same as hearing their actual voices, but it was still good. 

This week we started going to a gym about 5 minutes away running distance. It costs Q100 monthly which is roughly 12 bucks. It's not too big but they have good machines and a guy who basically is like a personal trainer for us. We went Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday and we are feeling healthy and fit. (and Elder Contreras also wants to go, so it's not just me.) I bought protein that I'm going to start drinking in the mornings as well. So hopefully by the time I leave Salama I can at least get into the habit of doing a good workout every morning. It does relieve a lot of stress so that's nice. 

Getting down to the Cap this morning was brutal. We woke up at 3 in the morning left around 3:45 and got to the bus stop just in time for the bus to drive by PACKED with people. (Here, if there aren't any more seats, people just crowd themselves into the aisles and stand..) So we waited for the next bus at 4:30. It came and about 30 people just crowded into the aisles, so we had to make the whole trip standing up. And not just standing up - standing up with your feet in the exact same spot because there were so many people we couldn't even move at all. We left at 4:30 and I finally got a seat at 8. (or course, like 2 minutes before we came to the stop.) So that was pretty lame and I will most likely be very tired this week. But after we got here we went to the assistants house and got ready a little bit and went to go play soccer. We played with about 10 other elders on a court that's inside a church building here. That was pretty fun, but probably wont help tonight with me being so tired haha. 

Alright, on to some personal comments:

Dad- hey dad thanks for the email. That story is great. I first read it when it came out in the Liahona in October for the special Book of Mormon edition. It's a really cool story and we've used it already once with a less active sister in our branch who told us she didn't know how to read. We promised her that the Lord would bless and help her if she kept trying to read The Book of Mormon. Yeah, the people here are a lot of times more receptive because of the season, but at the same time the people here are also a lot more drunk because of the season. Here, the parties start since december 1st haha. December is pretty much a whole month of partying here. But we've had success talking about the prophecies of Christ's birth in Helaman and 3rd Nephi with some people. I love the story in 3rd Nephi chapter one. Oh and  by the way, the cultural event isn't until this Saturday because the dedication of the temple is this Sunday. So maybe you'll be able to find it on the computer or BYUtv. I'm sure there's a way to see it. That's cool Grandma will be there for Christmas which means I'll actually get to talk to her! I hope Michelle comes too so I can talk to her more too! I still need to write her a letter. Anyways, thanks for all you do for me. Love you dad!

Mom- hey mom! Thanks for the email. Sounds like you are just as busy as ever with all the stuff you're doing to have a nice, spiritual Christmas. I am glad you guys are still going to do the 12 Days of Christmas. It's one of my favorite things to do for Christmas and one of the traditions that I hope to pass on with my family someday. It's really true though, that the most important thing about Christmas is the Spirit of Christ that makes us feel happier and makes us feel like being better people. (although the chocolate calanders are always a good part of Christmas too haha) Thanks for sending my christmas package. It will most likely get to me by Christmas. Next Monday, President and the assistants are coming to Salama to do our Christmas conference and district meetings so I might even get it then. And don't worry about the wrapping and the cute cards. I kept all of the notes from last year so I will always have a memory of them :) Thanks for being so caring and concerned for all of the other missionaries here mom, it's really great of you. You're the best! Can't wait to talk to you in a few weeks!

Jack- hey bud! I was thinking about you the other day because we started teaching a new family that has a 12 year old son and I said "hey that's cool that's just like my little brother!" Then all of the sudden I realized that you are OLD! You are about to turn 13 next month! It was a really weird thought that literally made me say out loud (in English) "Jack is going to be 13!" Everyone just looked at me weird haha. But how are you lately? What do you want for Christmas? Any good stories to tell from school? Tell me about any cool new games that come out so we can plan on playing them together with Matt when I get back. Hope school is going well and that you are excited for the holidays. I love you lots bro and I miss you. Write soon!

Kinzie- HI! How are you sissy? I hope you are behaving youself! =P How's school going? Any more ridiculous changes with the choir? So what's the deal with you changing to BVHS? Are you going to end up doing it soon or waiting until next year? You're getting old too! You are already 15 and soon you'll be 16! It's just weird to think about. I hear you're quite the pianist now! That's not surprising though because you have always been really talented with music. I still can't hardly play anything at all, but I'm learning how to play hymns a little bit when I have free time in the church. I know how to play "Jesus the Very Thought of Thee" and I still remember how to play "Gracie's Theme". Other than that, you'll just have to teach me when I get back. Love you and miss you tons! Talk to you soon!

Alrighty guys, my times up. Thanks for your emails and for all of your prayers in my behalf. I love you all tons and I'm grateful for you all. Talk to you in a few weeks!

Love,

Elder Norton