Transfers!

Hello once again from here in beautiful Taktik! Hope you guys are all doing great and are enjoying school again. Here it has been RAINY. The rainiest it's ever been here which meant we got pretty wet this past week and had a few difficulties with landslides. But nothing really too exciting here.

Well I guess I'll get straight to the most exciting info which is that I have a change and tomorrow will be leaving Taktik. I don't know where I'm going, I just know I'm not going to the capital or to Peten. It COULD mean that I might go back to Polochik (I've been kind of feeling those vibes ever since the zone conference...or maybe just because I really want to go back haha. keep your fingers crossed!) Anyways I just hope that 2 really great missionaries get put here in Taktik because we have about 5 people that are for sure going to get baptized plus a few others that will for sure get baptized the change after this change (Kennia, the little girl who we were going to baptize but it turned out that she was only 7, is going to get baptized in October.) I have to admit that I am pretty sad to leave here. Mostly I kind of feel bad for the families here since I didn't say goodbye to anyone. But Taktik will always be in my prayers so that the investigators we had here can keep progressing. Oh and by the way, we were supposed to have had a baptism with Miguel, but he had some problems with addictions that we needed to take care of first. So his date got moved until Sept. 17th. He is the only one that has always come to church so I'm sure he's going to get baptized. Depending where I go, I might ask for permission to come back to be there for the baptisms of some of the people here..This also means that my Poqomchi days are over (unless I get sent back to Tukuru where there is actually a lot of Poqom).  At the same time if I go back to Polochik I'll be SOO happy. Yesterday, my ZL told me that I had a change and that it was internal. He told me that that probably meant that I'd be going back and I seriously screamed like a little girl. I miss Q'eqchi' so much. So we'll see what happens!!

Other than that this week was pretty good. We had a lot of appointments with our investigators that had baptismal dates that fell. Because of that we didn't have any other investigators in church except for Miguel. We also got fed some pretty good food by some members in Elder Escate's honor. Elder Escate was pretty darn baggy which meant that I had to do a lot of talking. This week has been pretty fungus-filled. I got some weird rash underneath my watch that has been very itchy. Also something has been biting my legs and they have been so itchy that I've scratched my skin off at night when I sleep. So I've found a new use for all of the nifty little creams that you guys sent me with in my first aid kit. I'm just glad no worms have popped up anywhere so far in my mission. But I've still got a year left so I shouldn't speak too soon haha. This week all of a sudden I just went into a phase where I wanted to workout and do exercise a lot. I haven't actually started to do anything yet but I'm going to try to start next week. We'll see how long it takes for this little phase to end haha. Well there's not really too much else to talk about this week so I'll just go on to some personal comments.

Dad- hey don't worry about the short email. You're a hard working man so I understand when you don't have as much time to write. I'm glad seminary is going really well so far. I'll try to think of things to try and share with  the class every week. How many seniors do you have in the class this year? How many freshman? Good luck with your hearing and I'll pray for you to do well! Love you dad, talk to you next week!

Mom- haha I'm glad you enjoyed the missionary mom's "zone conference". Sounds like you made a lot of friends there. Love the pictures with "Laj Kaxlan" and "Laj Tuxmek" (Larsen and Turek). Seeing them going to BYU gets me excited to go to BYU next year! (that's a weird thought...) Speaking of BYU sounds like the girls are getting a little bit immodest there...but for the most part BYU is on a MUCH higher level than any other place. It depends on where you live too...I think that it's more of a problem in places where the people are all trying to get married...So that makes me a little worried, but honestly the truth is I've already gotten used to looking at people only in the face since half of the people here with babies don't cover up when they need to feed the kids. But it's pretty certain that Matt not that type of guy. So there's no need to worry, but hopefully he can find some good people there to be friends with. His roommate sounds awesome (he's a nueroscience major so that's cool.) What's his name? I knew a couple of guys from Men's chorus when I was there that were also in the neuroscience program. Haha I just knew that you would turn that "prophecy" into a statement about someone. I think the real thing will be that she will supposedly live 9 house to the left of mine when I am in BYU. So, who knows. I still haven't gotten the package that you sent in Utah but it should be here by now which means I'll probably get it..relatively soon. Thanks for everything mom and for being a great friend to me too :) Love you!

Alrighty well times up. I will let you know about changes next week. Wherever I go and whoever my companion is I know that I'll be in the place and with the people that I need to be with and that the Lord wants me to be with. I just love this work and even though it's not always easy, I'm trying to follow in the footsteps of my Savior and be obedient in everything, even the things that are hardest. My testimony of this work and of this Church has grown every single day here. I know that this truly is the Church and Kingdom of Christ here on the earth and that there is no other church that is or can ever be the true and living church of God. I love you all and you are all in my prayers. Talk to you all next week!

Love,

Elder Norton

Hello Dear Family and Friends!

I write to you today VERY late and VERY tired. Today we went to a big waterfall called "El Salto" in a place called Chilasco and got some AWESOME pictures. But we had to walk for about an hour going downhill and then another 2 hours coming back up. It was pretty brutal for my comp haha. So I am very burnt and tired, but happy.

So forgive me if this email is a bit shorter than usual but I'm a little shorter on time. This week was a pretty good week. The conference and interviews went really well. Tuesday we had the interviews and I had a great interview with President Watts. We talked about my area and about how I can work with the leaders in my branch better. He counseled me to always counsel the Lord in what areas and which people to focus on and to really just use the Spirit to be effective in everything. I felt the Spirit a lot and learned a lot during the interview. We didn't talk at all about Poqomchi' or anything like that. That night we had a lesson with Edílsar and Milvia who are a great couple that we are working with. The wife, Milvia, told us right off the bat that after the last lesson we had that she wanted to get baptized and that she was going to get married so that she could. Edílsar wasn't quite as ready though. We tried to put the goal of having a date to be baptized but he says he still can't say if he will or not because he has a lot of hate in his heart. Apparently his dad was killed when he was 15 and he knows who did it. I guess that person still tries to hurt him and his family, so he says for that reason that he's not ready to get baptized. Neither of them showed up to church yesterday though =/ Then the next day I got sick early in the morning and couldn't leave the house to be there on time at 8:30. After resting for a while I felt better and we left but didn't end up getting there until around 11:30. And we don't have a phone right now that works which means that we couldn't call to tell anyone that we would be late. So of course we got a lot of unwanted attention. It kind of stunk too that we missed most of the conference and only got to hear a few parts. But it was still good. After that, the week went on pretty normally. This week is the last week of the change which means on Sunday night I should know if I'll have a change or not. I think it's pretty safe to say that I'll be staying. But as always there's a lot of speculation. Some people think I'm leaving. If I leave I just hope it will be back to Polochik!!

A funny experience of the week- We have been teaching an inactive family that have recently started coming back to church. This week we had a lesson with the family and were talking a little bit with them after the lesson. All of a sudden the Sister, María, just started staring at Elder Escate (think crazy prophecy lady from Harry Potter) and says "you are going to get married one month before your 26th birthday." She told him all the details of who his wife would supposedly be and the date supposedly of when he is going to get married. So for fun I asked her about my wedding. According to her, I am going to get married the 18th of July, 2014. My wife will be a gringa (white) but will have brown eyes and will be kind of short. She'll come to about my shoulder apparently. She is supposedly going to be 2 years older than me and will live 9 houses to the left of my house. Haha I thought it was pretty funny. The sister told me that I should write it down because she has predicted the weddings of a lot of different missionaries and a lot of them have written her letters saying that she was right. Apparently she's had this "gift" since she was little. Haha so let it be written in the book of prophecies of my life! Of course she says she can also read palms...

Sounds like you guys had a good week. I am SO jealous after seeing all of the pictures from Texas and really want to go and visit all of my favorite families. I hope all of them are doing really well and that they all know that I am thinking about them. ¡Les amo y extaño mucho! Pero ya casi me voy para visitarles y platicar con todos en español. I'm glad that Karen had a good wedding. Everybody really looks great in all the pictures so that makes me really happy. Thanks for all of the pictures. You guys all look good but different! Weird! But in a good way.

Anways, good luck to Kinzie and Jack as they start school again! Keep up the good work and work really hard so that time will go by faster and we'll see each other sooner! And good luck to Matt too starting another semester at BYU. Hope you do really well in all of your classes.

Now for some shoutouts:

Mom- haha I'm excited for your little missionary mom zone conference. It'll be fun to meet everyone there. The Gutierrez are going to come up there to visit? Lucky! I can't remember if they ever came to visit us in Kansas or if it was just the Díaz. Well be sure to tell them that I'm sending them a letter this week. Haha I'm glad you are enjoying the peace and quiet of having the kids out of the house. :) Even though you won't admit it, I know that the real reason is so that you can go and eat Chipotle without anyone knowing and then have a nice peaceful nap! =P haha just kidding. But speaking of Chipotle, I am going to eat there probably every day when I get back. So in the meantime, eat a lot for me. I'm glad you had a nice visit in Texas, but I'm with you, where we're at is so much better. I'm really glad we moved too, but at the same time I miss all of those great families! We'll have to go visit when I get back. You and dad both look great in the pictures you sent! Thanks for the letter mom, your letters always make me smile too :) Love you!

Dad- hola Papi! como estás? Wow, sounds like a really awesome lesson! I'm sure that the Spirit was really strong there and that it made the kids want to really learn more about the Old Testament. Just from reading it I want to be there for your classes this year! But you'll just have to keep sending me your notes and impressions. That's such a big class too! We'll see if it stays that big all year long or if a lot of people just came for the first "grand opening" haha. The setup looks cool, but it's definitely a miracle that all of those chairs fit down there haha. You look like you have slimmed down a little bit in the pictures you sent. Not like you were fat, but you look really healthy and in shape. Also after seeing the pictures of you, we have pretty much the same face I've decided haha. Kind of weird but it's a good thing haha. Love you dad!

Alright, well time is up and I've got an important appointment to get to. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I know that he lives. This really is His work and every day I am more and more grateful to be a part of it and to have been raised with all of the truths for my whole life, with an amazing family to help teach it to me. Love and miss you all tons.

Noj Peet, (Adios)

Elder Norton

Are Your Hearts Happy?

K'alen taq jaw eh tuut! Suq na ak'ux taq? (hello ladies and gentlemen! Are your hearts happy?)

Hope everyone is doing well back home and that everyone is happy and healthy. Things are going well here in beautiful Taktik, but it's been super rainy here lately. But, today we played basketball in spite of the rain and it was SO refreshing. It makes me sort of wish that I had played more sports way back when. (you guys didn't let me play any sports! *reference to Worlds of Fun*)

I felt a little bit sick at the beginning of this week but after a few days and a couple of cokes I'm feeling much better and today was able to eat 5 pupusas (typical food from El Salvador. it's just like thick tortillas stuffed with really good cheese and pork and it's SUPER good. We had a couple of days that were a little bit disappointing. We have basically 2 areas that are pretty far away that we have to take a bus to get to where we really have one main person that we teach. So when we go to those places and our main people aren't there it kind of ruins the whole day. Well that happened twice this week which was pretty lame. But the good news is that the Lord still blessed us for our efforts and we were able to have 6 investigators in church yesterday.(Woo!) We were also able to put 2 more baptismal dates yesterday with the little brother and sister a few really active and awesome youth in our branch. Their parents aren't members yet, but with these two kids, all but one of their kids will be members. So we are excited for them. The two kids and Miguel make up 3 of the 6 people we had in church. The other three is the family of an ex-communicated member that we are teaching in the area closest to Tukuru. They have a lot of things to work out before they can get baptized though. The ex-communicated member has to get divorced and then get married to his wife that he lives with now, then his wife and daughter can get baptized, and 6 months later he can get rebaptized. So it was cool to have them in church since they haven't come the whole time I've been here.

Other than that things are still going well with some other families. The family where I was teaching the little kids and the mom about the Book of Mormon- we have gone back there a few times and haven't been able to find the mom. One time though we thought we'd try waiting for the mom a little bit so I sat outside with the kids and showed them pictures from the gospel art book and explained the stories to them. Those kids are so dang cute. The littlest boy and a little girl who both don't know Spansih super well just kept repeating the names of the people that I said and kept saying what I said. It was so cute I just wanted to take them all and put them in a box and send them home. (maybe that's why all of the poeple here are scared that the "gringos" will steal their little kids..)

Anyways, interviews are tomorrow and the zone conference is the next day. We'll be going to Coban which will be cool (it was something much cooler when I was in the Polochik). It's weird since we are about 30 minutes away from Coban, but we're not allowed to go there since it's a different zone. Our zone leaders are about an hour and a half away. But I'm excited for another interview with President Watts. He really is a great president. I saw him again in the captial last week and he was just really nice and was "fasting" from English.

On to some personal notes:

Mom- ok good! I'm glad that all of you can come to pick me up! I was really hoping for that because that will be the most fun. Don't worry about accomadations or rides or anything like that, TRUST me. We will only stay in the places where there are actually nice hotels. We can stay in Coban for a night or 2, Senahu for one night, Rio Dulce for a night and in Peten there will be nice hotels. After that we can go to Belize if you guys want! I think that would be a better option instead of going to Lago Atitlan or other parts of Guate since it would be right in the route of our travels and everything. Then we could just fly out of there. I've heard of a few different missionaries who have done that where they have gone to belize and they have really like it a lot. Don't worry it will be fun. But tell me what you think. Love you mom!

Dad- Sorry to hear about your nagging injury. But don't overwork yourself and hurt yourself or anything like that. Like the scripture that says not to run faster than you have strength. Mom says you had a pretty awesome power point for the new seminary class. Don't worry about falling into the same routines. If you follow the Spirit, you will say what you are supposed to and what the kids need to hear. Your teaching is always awesome dad! Don't worry about that. Keep bleeding blue for me as the BYU season kicks off and let me know how the schedule goes. Say "hola" to everyone in TX for me! Let me know how they are all doing and tell the Gutierrez and the Diaz that I am writing them letters. Love you dad!

Alright, well time is up. Thanks for the emails and for all of your support and prayers. Love you all!

Chawil taq awib'
Elder Norton

A Trip to the Cap

Hey guys, sorry this letter is so late, but hey, better late than getting a phone call saying I'm in the hospital right? Haha everything's fine but I had to go to the capital today. I don't think I told you guys this but my tooth just starting kind of decaying and a big chunk of it fell off a couple weeks ago. So today I had to leave at 4:30 in the morning to go to the cap and be there at my appointment by 9. Then I had to wait around for a while at the mission office and had to translate for some Latino elders at the "doctor's" (gynecolegist's) office since he doesn't know ANY Spanish.  But anyways, I didn't have any time in the capital to use internet and I just got back here in Taktik around...7:00. Going in a bus from the cap to Coban is not a very fun ride. There are so many turns you can't even hardly stay in your seat, much less sleep. So I am very tired. But my tooth is fixed so that's good.

Ok, before I say anything else I'm really glad that Grandma is ok! I was really worried when I read all that stuff about her going to the hospital. I hope that you're ok Grandma and I'll be praying for you to get back to normal health. And I also I'm not sure exaclty what day it was but I know that Grandma's birthday was this past week so I also wanted to wish you a happy birthday Grandma! Thanks for being a great Grandma and for always keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. I'll always keep you in my prayers too!

Sounds like you guys had a great trip other than that. I'm jealous! Those pictures of Bryce Canyon are awesome. I've never been there but we'll have to go sometime when I get back. And I'm jealous you guys got to see Michelle too! I miss seeing her! But anyways thanks for the pictures too. You guys all look good and happy. Is the trampoline place in St. George? Sounds/ looks awesome! How come as soon as I leave you guys do all the fun stuff? haha just kidding. But seriously. Also I'm glad you guys like the Larsen family. Haha it makes me laugh that you guys both said that Tayler is really quiet because he's totally not. You guys probably overwhelmed the poor guy a little bit. But no I haven't gotten any emails from him at all and I didn't have his email to send him anything. So send him my real email and tell him to write me. Anyways, speaking of trips I was thinking this past week about whether or not you guys should come to pick me up. Well I'm pretty set on the fact that if not everyone can come than I would rather do something else because I want to see everybody all at the same time.  As for travel and accomadations there wouldn't be any problem really I don't think. We could figure everything out for sure. If you guys did all come to pick me up I would want to just maybe drive through my area in the Capital that I was in, and then go to Coban and visit Taktik and everything, then to Tukuru, Senahu and maybe go one day up to Yalijux and go on a little hike there or something. And then I would want to go to El Estor to visit Lago Isabal and spend just a little bit of time there and then to Rio dulce. After Rio dulce we could go to Peten and visit Flores and then Tikal, or maybe another set of ruins that I hear are better than Tikal. And this past week I was talking to a lady in our branch about Belize and she was telling me how amazing it was and how beautiful it is and how much stuff there is to do there and everything. Most people there speak or at least understand English AND there are people there that speak Q'eqchi' and English! (I am looking for a wife there. =P ) So if we wanted we could go from Peten and cross over to Belize and spend a few days there just chilling out. Because there's really not a TON of stuff to do in the areas that I've been in. We'd probably go to a cool place in Coban called Se'muq Champe and then spend maybe a day to visit Yalijux and Senahu, and then go and spend a day in Rio Dulce, a day in Peten, and the rest in Belize. Maybe like 3 days there or something. I think that would be really fun. Didn't you guys go to Belize on your cruise a while ago? I can't remember. But there's all sorts of awesome stuff to do there. But like I said if the whole family couldn't come then I'd rather just fly home and go on a road trip or something with you guys at home. Really I just want to see all of you guys at once and just have some time to relax and hang out. Cause if not, I'd rather come back the next year or something and do all of that. So think about it. We still have a lot of time to plan.

Anyways, this week was pretty good. We were able to put a baptismal date with Miguel for the 27th of August! We were really happy with that. We found a few new Poqomchi' families that we are starting to teach that seem like they could be some really great possiblities. Yesterday we had a really neat lesson with a really big Poqomchi' family. I only taught a little bit in Poqom since the kids all knew Spanish. They asked me what the Book of Mormon was and so I explained to them like you would to a bunch of kids and they were all just gathered around me listening and it was just so cool! They don't go to any church and the dad gets drunk sometimes, so we are going to really try to help them because I already love them! And they are helping me to learn Poqom. In other news, today I got the "Principles of the Gospel" book in Poqomchi' and it's awesome. I'm excited to read it and use it to help me teach and learn. Learning is going pretty well. I haven't been able to study nearly as much as I would like to this week because we did divisions with my DL.

Anyways, now for some quick shoutouts-

Dad- wow seminary sounds like it will be a big class this year. Hopefully they will all come! I never really understood the Old Testament too much because I think I just read the stories that thought "wow this is SO weird." and I didn't really get all that I should have out of it. So be sure to send me insights/ revelations that you get this year while you are teaching. I think that I will try to write Michelle a letter sometime soon. I really love her and she's super fun to be with.  Thanks for the email dad, Love you!

Mom- I'm glad you loved the Larsen family haha. They seem like really fun people. We'll have to visit them sometime when I get back. I told Tayler before I left that he should come with you guys to pick me up haha. Yeah he was always talking about Poqomchi' and knew a lot of words in poqom. I'll have to send him some books in Poqom or something. OH! and I got your package this last week and loved it. Thank you! I have been using the back brace and it has helped a little bit. Although it makes it a bit hard to breathe haha. But it works as a reminder to keep my posture straight. And thanks for sending me another package. You are the best mom ever! And thanks for asking about that talk. Too bad it's not transcribed. I'll try to maybe get a copy of it from someone in the office...it's so good! Love you mom!

Alright, well time is up. Love you guys and I'm glad you guys got home safely and that everyone is good. Keep doing what's right and always remember that you're all in my prayers!


Love you! Until next week,

Elder Norton

Some beautiful Guatemalan fabric.

Happy Anniversary to My Wonderful Parents

Hello from RAINY Taktik!

I am a bit jealous of all of the sunshine you guys are getting in St. George. Here it has been pretty much rainy every day for the past few days. It gets kind of cold here when it rains actually. And unfortunately the rain jacket that we bought from missionary mall leaves me pretty much just as wet. And recently I lost track of the umbrella I had...or maybe it got stolen haha I'm not sure. But I don't know where it is. But don't worry I'm just going to buy a little cheap umbrella here and it will work just fine.

Well first of all, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY mom and dad! I'm glad you guys got married way back when. I hope you guys have a really fun week and that you will always find more love and happiness together. But please make sure that the younger kids don't hear anything about "tex mex" =P Love you guys, you're the best. (ps how are the companionship prayers going? :) )

Sounds like you guys are having a fun time so far and I'm really glad to hear that you are enjoying some of God's wonderful creations out there. I never went to Bryce Canyon did I? I can't remember if I did. Or Duck Creek Pond. Sounds like you guys planned a lot funner trip in Orderville than past times haha. I love family road trips so I'm kinda bummed I'm not there with you guys right now, but just think, this is the last big trip you guys will have before GUATE! Any more word on what's going to happen next summer? What do you guys think about it? I think in the end I'd be fine either having you guys come to pick me up or me coming home and going back the next summer or something. So whatever. Tell me what you guys are thinking.

This week was a pretty good week. The major families that we have as investigators weren't really home at all this week, so mostly we looked for some new people and went to some new areas to contact people (in Poqomchi'). But we have a family home evening planned for tongiht with Edílsar and Milvia who are a family that are pretty much our biggest possiblity right now for a family. They are really awesome, but they feel like right now that the desire to be baptized hasn't really been born in their hearts. We are going to teach them about the restoration of the gospel today and watch the restoration movie and then share our testimonies with all of his family who are all members. Hopefully the Lord will touch their hearts so that the desire to be baptized can really come out of their hearts. Other than that we have a great investigator named Miguel who has come to church 3 times now and is progressing along really well. He's 19 years old. It is kind of hard for him to understand a lot of things sometimes, so we have to teach him a little slower, but he is pretty much for sure going to get baptized we just have to make sure he has a testimony first. Other than that we contacted a few families that were given to us as references. One family goes to church with the "testigos" (Jehovah's Witnesses) but they are just now starting to move away from their teachings a little and they have neighbors who are one of the most pilas families in the branch, so we are going to work with them and hopefully help them to move towards baptism in the true church (and a church that allows it's members to celebrate birthdays...). Also we got into contact with a couple of families where the dad gets drunk on the weekends and we talked with the mom and the kids about how they don't want their dad/ husband to do that anymore. We are going to start teaching them the word of wisdom and helping them to stop drinking. So we have a lot of possibilities right now in Taktik and a lot of areas where we can go and contact.

As for Poqomchi' things are going pretty well. I'm starting to be able to carry on simple conversations in Poqom so that is helping a lot. I also just barely found a bible in Poqom that will help out a lot. Supposedly the "Principles of the Gospel" book they have in Poqom and they are sending a bunch to our branch soon. On Wednesday I was coming back to my area from district meeting and was sitting next to an old Poqomchi' lady. I felt the spirit prompting me to talk to her. I  honestly was going to just ignore the impression and not say anything, but deciding that I didn't ever want to knowingly ignore an impression, I prayed for courage to just talk to her and started. I had a nice little conversation with her about where she was going, where she lived, what her name was, who I was, what we were doing and that we were missionaries. I told her that we go around talking about Jesus Christ and that one day we wanted to try to come to her house to talk to her. It was a simple little conversation, but the Lord helped me to be able to speak and to understand and I felt happy. After that, we went to a little village where they speak mostly Poqom and I felt the help of the Lord a lot as we contacted and talked with the people there. I know that the Lord blessed me for obeying a prompting from His Spirit. So things are going pretty well with Poqom. Still a long way to go, but making progress!

On to the personal comments.

Mom- good that you had a fun time is SLC. I hope you bought me some chocolate covered cinamon bears! Haha you would cry walking past the MTC =P don't worry though I'm glad you think about me enough to cry over me :)  The shoelaces are for my shoes so just normal size. And if you haven't sent the package do you think you could do me a favor and buy 5 "s" garment bottoms that are the spandex sport ones to give to some of the Latinos here that want some? Thanks mom : ) Love you!

Dad- haha everything you said about how you felt pretty much is exaclty how I feel. I don't think that I am really too different from you. Which is good cause that means I'll turn out to be a great guy. (just hopefully with a little more hair =P) Hope you had a good and nostalgic time in St. George. Tell grandma hi for me and tell her I love her lots. Hope you guys have fun in the rest of your trip. I talked you up a lot to Elder Larsen haha so he'll be excited to meet you probably. Happy anniversary and thanks for all of your support. Love you dad!

Alright, well time is up, but I'll write you all next week! Love you!

Elder Norton

ps drive safe!