Date
December 29, 2014
Area
Missionary Training Center
Companion
Hermana Jennifer Baird
Week 2! WHAAAT.
Alrighty folks, here I am! This week has gone by ridiculously fast! However when we think back to remember what happened on certain days, it feels like it was forever ago! Time...time is just so strange here. Are you all sure you didn't send me to an alternate universe when you dropped me off? Because it kind of feels like it! Well, I'm going to start this email off with yesterday because it was...noteworthy. So, ya know, David Archuleta came to our devotional. No biggie and such. I LOST MY MIND. CAN I EVEN EXPLAIN HOW FABULOUS OF A DEVO IT WAS AND HOW FABULOUS HE IS. He is such a tiny man. I knew he was small but when he walked in, after we all briefly passed out from excitement, we saw how tiny he was! So small. But that reminds me of a scripture, 1 Sam 16:7 that we heard this week, about not looking upon the stature of a man. Buuuut...I still would like to marry a not so small man. However it is a good scripture nevertheless. I am getting off topic. But David sang "Glorious," and quite frankly I had chills throughout the whole song. It was SO AMAZING and the Spirit was so strong the whole devotional! Of course it always is. But it was especially fabulous to have a celebrity there. He also sang Come Come Ye Saints, and told us how his grandma, before going to her first church meeting as an investigator, heard that song sung by angels in her house, and then they sang it as the opening song at church that day! So now every time I sing Come Come Ye Saints, I will feel grossly inadequate, because he sounded so beautiful! He sang some other songs too, but those were the best! Also, Richard Elliot, who accompianies MoTab was there, and played some organ solos and I was blown away. He was AMAZING. And they sang/played together, aaaand...I sang a duet with David Archuleta, accompianied by the man who accompanies MoTab. Along with 2000 other missionaries. But it's whatev. We sang the last verse of Hark All Ye Nations together, and I have a new love for that song! It was amazing to hear everyone singing together and feel the Spirit of our calling and our purpose as missionaries! :) so that was our devotional last night. basically fabulous. and then we watched meet the mormons, because we had just seen the man who sings the song. he also told us when he recorded the glorious we hear in the movie, he was still a missionary and had his badge and recorded it with his companion and a few other missionaries there with him! it was cool to hear his account of all that! they had another movie by david a bednar, called Recognizing the Spirit which i wanted to see real bad, it doesn't play often, but a sister in our district hadn't seen meet the mormons so we saw that instead. lately i have been making it my top priority to recognize feelings of the spirit in my life as i go thru my day! our branch president...member? counselor! talked about on his mission, he went out on a limb and asked an investigator straight up "do you feel that?" he was worried they would say no or something, but he testified to us that once we can feel the spirit in a lesson, the investigator can too, and they're new to that feeling so we need to point it out as soon as we can so they can understand what is happening and we can tell them that is the spirit of God testifying to them that what we are teaching is true! I recognize that as a CRUCIAL part in converting people, so i am focusing 1000x more on my feelings during meetings and noticing when the spirit comes to me and when I can feel it, so i can help my investigators recognize that feeling! okay, so also this last week was Christmas of course! People often say how Christmas at the MTC is the best one they ever had, and I will say I have to agree! It was AMAZING! I missed being with my family of course, but I did get to talk to them and it was awesome hearing their voices even though I cried. but our whole district did, so i'm not feelin too weak. :) but the coolest part of Christmas at the MTC was Elder Russell M Nelson and his wife speaking to us. I swear i never have enough time to write everything I need to, maybe NEXT week will be less exciting? I said that last week but this week was just as great! Flip! I'll never have a boring week! :) but i loved sister nelson's talk, she talked about how every day on our mission can feel like Christmas. She made an amazing point I hadn't thought of before! she talked about how we will be able to feel the presence of angels in our mission, and when things are going hard, and I feel a power from somewhere else that isn't my own, it is angels helping me along, and some of those angels may be people I know that have passed on :) I have already felt the encouragement of Granny, and I feel so much support from your prayers for me :) speaking of Granny real fast, in class we always sing hymns at the beginning, and one time we sang "How great thou Art," which me and Dad sang at her funeral, and I felt her spirit there and it was so incredible! I love how more sensitive I am here and can focus on all these things that are so much more important than Facebook and all the things I had at the top of my priority list back at home. okay back to where i was before. sorry i'm all over the place, always! but sister nelson said how the spirits of those who have passed are waiting for us to help and find their posterity, so they can do the saving ordinances/temple work for them! I hadn't even thought of that before! We have the potential to have more people at our lessons than those we can just see, we can feel the presence of those family members from the other side cheering us on! :) that is so awesome to think about! I hope i am making any sense...i don't have time to proofread! :) so forgive me if i sound like a crazy person, i promise i'm not. well maybe sort of :) but i loved her talk, and i loved Elder Nelson's talk, he discussed 9 facets of the doctrine of Christ-the Godhead, the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement of Christ, dispensations of Christ, prophets and revelation, priesthood and keys, ordinances and covenants, marriage and family, and commandments! He spoke with such amazing power and I felt the Spirit so strongly! I felt so strongly that he was called of God and is a prophet in our day and definitely knows what's up! I love him and all he and the other Brethren do for our church! We would be so lost without them! We are so blessed :) okay, now what else do i have. other than those few things, this week was pretty chill! lots of class, and study time! I love our district but there are times when they get very distracted. but we know, as we see other districts, that our desire to obey with EXACTNESS will bless us! we are very good at talking with each other and setting goals, which include not getting distracted! I don't want to brag, but it's the truth that (perhaps because I'm old?) i find it not as difficult to get distracted during study time. They point that out and it makes me feel good about myself, I just try as hard as I can to be the example they need, and to help them! If i came on my mission at 19, or 20, or 21, i would have been a completely different person. but i think my district needs the 22 year old me. and I'm happy i can share with them the goals and the strategies I have to help me stay on task. i told them about making lists the day before so you can know what you need to do and stay on task with everything. It makes me feel happy to do what i can to help :) i love them all and they're so good at wanting to push themselves to be better! I'm not going to have time to tell you about Characters of Christ, I brought my notes but i guess I'll have to wait for a more chill week, if i get one! :) also, the weirdest thing is happening right now...today and yesterday...i haven't been hungry. like WHAT. I can't finish my food! I'm not sure if something is wrong with me, but also good news is I weighed myself and i lost 2 pounds! More donuts! when i can eat again anyways! I'm sure it's just temporary, so don't you fret about my health! all will be well! :) it's just weird to take my tray to the trash with food still on it...so weird. for me anyways! okay what else, our lessons are going very well, we have 3 this week so far, might get more! one is our teacher pretending to be a real investigator from his mission, but i love how realistic everything still is! oh, our choir sang at the devos during christmas week, and they broadcasted it to other MTCs and it was SO HARD to not look at the screen and see myself! self control is real, folks. the songs we sang that week were so amazing! One was "Where Shepherds Lately Knelt," and the other was "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer." they were great! OHHHH. I forgot to tell my fam this on the phone, so here it is! During his talk, Elder Nelson said to tell our families THANK YOU for all you do and your sacrifices! So there's that :) you get a personal message from Elder Nelson, I would say you're pretty special! :) but i already knew that :) on christmas we had a MTC talent show...and you know how talent shows can go...there were some that were a tad awkward. however, there were some that were AMAZING! the talents of some of these missionaries is mind blowing! i don't feel worthy to sing or play the piano anymore! :) jk, i still will. don't worry. also at a devo we sang "Called to Serve," which has always been a fave of mine, however singing it surrounded by missionaries like me was SO AMAZING. I cried. I'll admit it. it's hard to sing while crying, i don't recommend it. i loved feeling the spirit during that song! We also watched an AMAZING movie this week called "Ephraim's Rescue," I recommend it strongly! I cried like a baby, I'll admit it again. I'm ashamed to say that often i forget of the sacrifices of the pioneers and the early members of this church, but i love having reminders like that movie and stories from our family history that remind me of their sacrifice. it strengthened my testimony so much because i think "why would they go through all that if they didn't know with everything that they have, that the church and everything about it was 100000000% true?!" they wouldnt! so i know from their sacrifice and from my own testimony that it IS! and that we need it and that everyone needs it! it also makes me feel like the things i consider hard, like going to Argentina for 18 months, really aren't that hard compared to what they had to do. it will be hard in different ways, but i have come to feel like i accept and look forward to hard times because i know i will become stronger after they are over! hard times will come no matter what, we just need to have the strength and faith to get through them, and enjoy the strength we receive and the knowledge we gain! :) BAH another thing, on Christmas, SHERI DEW came too! she didn't speak, but she was there and i wanted to say hi so badly because she is like my hero, but they didn't stay, they had to leave! they also had people who perform "A Christmas Carol," in Hale Center in Utah, come and sing some songs for us! they were amazing! this hour is the fastest hour in the whole week, i testify to you of that. haha it goes by SO FAST and i'm a fast typer, or so i thought! maybe i need to get better! i want to say thank you to all of you for letters you send me, i got a card from nanny, a letter from Annee Alder (mom if you could tell her thanks for me) aunt dawn sent a great letter, i got a card from Brother and Sister Lunt with money too! (mom, can you tell them thanks too? :) i also got a letter from my dear sister! I can't send individual emails, not enough time, but i wanted to let you know how much i appreciate them, and love reading about your lives and your testimonies! the elder that gives us our mail said the other day "wow you're popular sister norton," :) i just feel so loved and you all are the best! i think i won't have time to write much more, i'm going to try my pictures again, i bought a card adapter they say should work, so we'll try it! oh! also thank you for the christmas card Andrew and Liz! it was adorable! :)oh another thing, we got a new teacher, we have 2 now, and one showed us pictures from her mission and told us about dogs chasing her and one bit her...and ever since then i've had dreams about being chased by dogs, so that's lovely...-_- liz, you can relate :) i love you! i hope the dogs make me faster, that's a good blessing from that trial! :) oh! flip! i'm running out of time! i have more to say but i need to do these pictures! next week I'll have to try and get faster at typing so i can fit more info in! but I love you all so much and hope you have a fanstastic week! enjoy another week of no school! :)
Love,
Hermana Norton