HAPPY THANKSGIVING/Elder Bednar

Date: November 28, 2013
Area: Lake Stevens, Washington
Companion: Sister Fishburn

Happy Thanksgiving from Sister Norton & Sister Wright

Hello Hello Norton Posey what is up!? HOW are the orange rolls? I was telling my companion how it is such a big deal in our family and what not. Dad!! I LOVED YOUR EMAIL thanks so much for it. Well I LOVEEE everyones email. They are such wonderful blessings and they make me HAPPY FOR DAYS! I only have about 30 more minutes and I want to be able to reply to everyones email and so Im going to try to hurry and make this one straight to the point.

 

I am so grateful for everything in my life. Literally everything. It's insane. I love my life and I mean even though everyone slams the door on me and says they aren't interested I am learning that when I stay positive everything works out. I feel so blessed to have a companion that is just like me but is also just like Erika, Tash, and Kenz all put into one. Its werid and I love it.

 

ELDER BEDNAR

 

Hmmmmmm okay well I am not really sure where I can start so ill just start. He's awesome. also I hate but I love how you guys know everything about my mission. If that makes sense? I was so excited to surprise you and tell YOU about BEDNAR but uhhhhh you already knew. Lame!!!

anyways.

 I'm just going to tell you what we told us and what not. he's awesome and we talked a lot about how its very important to take notes that you are inspired to take. and how you do not convert other people. the spirit does.

well here are just some key points

-open your mouth! it will be filled

-my favorite... TEACHING IS NOT TALKING, IT IS OBSERVING LEARNING AND LISTENING

-conclusion not an explanation= revelation

- after you were baptized you gave up your agency.... uhhh ITS NOT ABOUT YOU! (yikes)

-take them to the next level

-God is the creator

-we learned that It is important to be still and slow down and let the holy ghost teach you

-we've never been in control.. control is an illusion of the natural man.. dad will probably love that

I mean I know that I love that!

babahahahah then he talked about marriage. and it was funny he told us that.....

"a marriage is not something you find or fall into.. YOU CREATE IT!! so Tash and Erika... I hope that's what you are doing.. (insert smearky face)

you create a happy marriage you don't find it.

 

oh there was just so much. we learned about the conduit. and yeah some pretty deep stuff that was super awesome!

 

family. I love you so much and I think about you everyday. Elder Bednar told us that it is okay to think back about home as long as you come back to your mission. and that's exactly what I do and it makes things great!

HAPPPY THANKSGIVING!  I am grateful for the gospel and I can truly see that It really does bless families!

 

love Sister Norton:)

Lake Stevens!

Hello hello!!!

 

SO today is sadly not a real p-day because its
Thanksgiving on Thursday so that is when we will be celebrating P-day! but I have one short hour on the computer today so be sure to send my love to everyone that I don't get the chance to reply back to and tell them that I will get to them on Thursday.. I just don't have much time and I want to try to share a lot with you. I wish you guys could be flies on the wall. anyways let me share as much as I can in 30 minutes

 

OFF THE PLANE!!! we got off the plane and all I could think of was how gorgeous everything was. Really though when people say its GREEN they really mean it its GREEN!!! oh and can I say it's freezing, its so cold and I m not used to this kind of cold so its sort crazy but I love it. We drove about a hour from Seattle to our mission home where we all sat around and they told us we could actually take a nap in the church and that is exactly what I did. I fell right asleep on the floor. right by sister wright, we were there all day waiting for our companions. SO after 5 or 6 hours we finally were assigned our TRAINERS. I saw sister Cromar and we chatted and it made me feel so awesome. I love her. Then they brought all the new missionaries in the chapel had us sit on one side and had all the trainers sit on another, then sister wright and I almost started to cry because we realized that we would no longer be able to see each other every day. Bummer.. so after everyone received their new trainer is was down to me sister Goode, and then sister Cromer and another trainer... I was thinking to myself holy smokes Sister Cromer may be my trainer.. but sadly she was not.. sorry for the let down. anyway I received my trainer and her name is Sister Fishburn and she is so awesome. I love her so much! then She told my right when I met her.."oh yeah we live in a "mansion" and we 4 pack it with two other sisters.... drum roll please.. SISTER WRIGHT and Sister Ma'ake, I live with sister wright. its the best!!!!  I love it oh and guess what family. Me. I am on a bike in the winter.. I ride a bike all day long and its great! I love it. You would be surprised I'm not even kidding. Its crazy

Day 2 and the first day in the field we tracked and I was so nervous but the first door we knocked on the lady told us we were wasting our money and her time.. I wanted to cry and Sister Fishburn looked at me and laughed. It was way funny. She's the best I love her. She teaches me so much and is so patient with me. I feel so lucky. then that night we went to go meet one of our investigators who's name is Elisabeth Kole and she is reading in the book of Mormon and we taught her a little bit about the ATONEMENT. she's really smart and seems eager to learn more, she is very poor and we want her to come to church but she may not be a big fan of that. So after that we went to the ward and visited families in the ward.. this ward is super awesome and is all about helping the missionaries out. I HOPE you guys are doing that. We live in a duplex and I love it. I am so spoiled as a missionary. I am sure Tash and Erika are just shaking their heads.

oh well. Everett is so different. SO GREEN and its crazy how no one as a front lawn dad would go crazy. there are very poor areas in my area and then very rich areas. sort of crazy. Then Thursday I met another one of our investigators he's a young boy whose name is Jencarols Feliciano he's 13 and is very interested he loves Joseph Smith and its awesome! we are actually teaching him tonight and I am way excited. and he came to church yesterday! yay!! then Friday... hmmmmm lets see we had a new missionary training all day and it was uhhhh okay. that's all I'm going to say it took forever to be done with. moving on. we visited a bunch of less actives that night. There are so many people in the ward that LOVE the sisters and we love it. We are fed every night by a member and its crazy awesome. I love visiting with people and sharing short simple messages with them. like hey listen up god loves you and has a plan for you BAM

 

Saturday.... sooooooooo guess what!! DRUMMMM ROLLLLL PLEASEEEEEE.

 

Elder Bednar came to the Everett Washington mission. yep. he spoke to us for oh I don't know 3 hours. 3 hours!! it was like a question answer type of thing but not. if that even makes sense. We talked about how important it is to turn out , and to really ACT in faith. and go DO!! and he said just a bunch of cool stuff, he said its okay if you once in a while think about home but be able to come back to your mission. which I am begging to see happen to me. sadly but surely. I am starting to forget. its weird. but its good and I know that I am making the changes that I need to. I mean don't get me wrong I miss YOU ALL so much but I know what I am doing is the right thing at the right time. um I am trying to not go off on tangents so anyways. Elder Bednar. yeah hes awesome. he told us ITS NOT ABOUT YOU AND IT NEVER WILL BE ABOUT YOU!!!! more to come on Thursday. on thanksgiving!!! I think I will get an hour to write on Thursday. We usually get 2 hours but its different this week. I have so many pictures to send and I will try to eventually. I just still cant believe I am on a mission. Its weird. I just cant believe it. I have 18 months to learn so much! its freaky. The Book Of Mormon is true. its incredible. I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I Taught my very first lesson on Saturday to a 35 year old black man whose name is Ron and I was so scared but we talked about the Restoration and he took it very well. He seems very interested and we will be meeting with him again. This is not in any good order my bad . umm Sunday was fun.. I walked into church and me and Sister Fishburn realized I was on the program to speak. bahahahah we laughed and I spoke in church and had no idea. It went well though, she's an amazing trainer. We are so excited for thanksgiving!! it will be fun. don't have too much fun without me family. know that I love you so much and I love our father in heaven!!!

 

D&C 31: 5-8 I read this and cried so many happy tears!!

 

love Sister Norton!!

I'm Here!!!

Date: November 19, 2013
Area: Lake Stevens, Washington
Companion: ?

  NORTONS!!

MOM, DAD, FAMILY!! Hello, Hello

I'm here in Everett! First things first. It's absolutely FREEZING!!! Brrrrr
But it's so beautiful so green and just so different from Salt Lake. It hasn't hit me that I'm a missionary and that I'm actually here in Everett. It's so so crazy. Keep me in your prayers, you are always in mine. I'm sort of freaking out. I've been up since 3:30AM. It was so good to talk to some of you in the phone. Tash and Kenz I tried calling but you didn't answer DANG!
The good news is Christmas is soon and I'll be able to call then, but who is the sneaky person that gave Brian my number? huh? I hung up the phone and then it rang and I was expecting it to be Tash and Kenz. I never thought he would have called. It was crazy and so good though to hear from him. Our conversation was quick. I could barley understand him but I told him to visit you all... hopefully he stays in touch with us cool Norton.

I'm so excited, but nervous. Sister Wright and I keep saying uhh we're MISSIONARIES!! can we do this? I sure hope so family, don't change to much, and let me know about some of the new inside jokes. I LOVE you all so much, like it's crazy how much I love you all. I'm so grateful for everything you did for me, you're amazing! Also, we've been in the mission home all day long. Meetings and blah blah but we did actually get comforters and pillows, laid down on the floor and we all fell asleep for a couple of hours. The lights were on, we were on a hard wood floor but we all passed out. I'm sad to say goodbye to the sisters in my district, mainly Sister Wright. It's funny because we keep hearing how fast it goes, but I hope it's true!

sort of just hit me 18 whole months that seems like Forever! Here it goes though GOD SPEED. The church is true. God loves everyone.

Can someone do a blog for me?

Love all

P.S tell the 7th ward primary Thanks
P.S.S I would love some pictures! in cute frames, and pics of me and friends, family, Bri guy :)

I LOVE YOU!

can't wait to talk to you on Christmas. It will be the best

umm... put my new address up somewhere!

TELL EVERYONE TO WRITE ME!!

Arrival of Washington Everett Missionaries

Parents and friends of missionaries arriving in the Washington Everett Mission today:

We joyfully received eight Spanish-speaking Sisters, seven English-speaking Sisters, and one valiant English-speaking Elder today.  It has been a busy day!  They have been fed and given a little training and had a short interview with me as Mission president.  They were assigned their first companions here in Washington early this evening and are now in transit to their apartments.  They should all be in their areas this evening and planning their proselyting day for tomorrow.  Tomorrow they will be doing the work of full-time missionaries!

They are an impressive group and we are delighted to have them.  We will see them again on Friday for additional training and once again on Saturday when we will be having a conference with a visiting General Authority. I'm sure they'€™ll have something to say about that when they email you on Monday.

 

President Bonham

Washington Everett Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1st and only Pday at the MTC

Hello Hello Norton Family!!

 

       Today is the wonderful day of P-day and I am loving it. So i have absolutely no idea where I can even begin. It seems to me like all the days are mixing up and I honestly cant keep them straight anymore. Yikes. My mind feels like it is going 100 hundred miles an hour mostly because there are so many mind blowing moments that I have experienced. The SPIRIT is such a wonderful thing and I love love love serving the lord! 

Okay lets do this Y'allllll

      Day one in the MTC. Complete and total blurrrrrr. I was doing way to many things at once and to be quite honest i cant really remember it. I felt like I was literally in a boot camp and EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE had the BIGGEST smile on their face. We learned about how missionaries are set apart from the world which is so true and I love that feeling. I mean guess what fam. I don't really miss my phone all that much or as much as I thought that I would. By the way this is crappy cause i really gotta hurry oh so fast! We talked about how when you are a missionary it may seem like ETERNITY but it really does go by so fast. SAY what. I has already been a WEEK. I leave for EVERETT WASHINGTON on Tuesday at 3:30 am. Yes that's right you heard me. 3:30. WHO ever wants me to call them around 5 in the morning Dear Elder me your phone number and i can see what i can do. Okay?! i am going to be all over the place so yaaaa deal with it. DING!! "the Most important of the lords work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home. Man i just love you guys and i really cant thank you enough for being so awesome and supporting me on my mission. SO THANKS!!! we watched a fireside by Elder Holland and he talked about how you have to let god change you and YOU must be YOUR first  convert before you can convert anyone else. TRUE THAT! MY heart is so full. I have been learning so so much and it hurts but in a good way. I fell like i honestly knew nothing about the gospel . I mean I still don't but its coming. POWER IN THE PAUSE I LOVE IT . I have 2 companions and they are kind of different but i mean i love them so much we are seriously like a little family. The elders in my district are sort of goofy but i love them as well. One elder actually went home today because of his depression and me and my companions balled our eyes out. And it was very hard for my companions because they both suffer from depression. But Keep Elder Layton in your prayers. Missionary work ain't easy but it really is so rewarding and i love Jesus Christ and everything he did for you and for me! Can you feel how much he loves us. He loves us way to much its ridiculous. true learning means to change. I have to change in order to learn. I AM SISTER NORTON. i ain't Alexa. slash sometimes i miss my name. SO on Sunday we had music and the spoken word and it honored Veterans and of course all i could think of was Grandpa and i love him so much and i know that he is doing alright and that he is watching over me. I could honestly feel it. And hear him saying to me... "Alexa BE TOUGH you can do this" i love him. and i know that i will see him again. tears literally filled my eyes and my companions didn't know what to do with me except hug me. I just felt the spirit so strongly in that very moment. 

LIFE IS GOOD though. and day by day it is getting better. I play dynamite at gym and i love it!!! oh and some random elder got his wisdom teeth out and it was the funniest thing ever. P.S the food is killing me. Sister Wright is in my Zone and we wish we were companions. We get along so well and all we do together is just laugh. Its the best thing in the world! THANKS FOR JUST EVERYTHING. the package made me grin from ear to ear. Literally my district was so confused. i am going to try to send some pictures. so hopefully that works. there is so much to say and just so little time. SORRY!! 

CHURCH IS TRUE. LIVE IT AND LOVE IT FAM!! Keep me in your prayers please and thank you!!!
also turn out when you would usually turn in. It helps me and i know it will help our family. I love you guys

SISTER NORTON!!!!!!

The day after the MTC drop off

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHH
 I have no idea what your email even is!!!

holy smokes. I am in the MTC and I literally have 2 minutes to write you an email.

so life is good I guess! MY day is planned out to the T. every single minute is not wasted.

I have 2 companions. Sister Glancy and Sister Wilkins. they're cute. we get along and its good.

I cant believe I am a missionary! still hasn't hit me. gotta goooo!!!