and a Happy New Year!

My Dearest Family.

 

   Oh how I love you all so very very much. Words cant even describe how much you all mean to me and how much I just miss you all! Is it weird to think that I am out on my own... the baby Norton is out doing her own thing. Yeah its very very strange to me. SO I got to see you all on Christmas. Yes. That was good! Very overwhelming but very good. I loved being able to see you all.. but it sucked me right in and it was sort of hard to get out of that funk that I was in for a short amount of time. Life is good and I just keep reminding myself that. I feel so loved by so many people and the ward here really takes care of us which is incredible. So this week in a quick review... Christmas.... yeah it doesn't feel like it was Christmas at all... done and done. FINALLY. Then after Christmas we had Bensons Baptism which was super awesome he is in the ward and he's just the cutest little boy and he was so thrilled to be getting baptized.! loved it. Then We had a lesson with a couple named Sam and Andy and lets just say... it didn't go quite as planned and I was pretty shocked about what happened after the lesson. It turned into a nice bible bashing and you could tell the spirit was defiantly not there at all and I just wanted to get out of there. But they want to have us meet with them again which is weird.. not really sure what will happen there. Then the next day I think it was Friday.... no no it was Saturday... we had been walking around for about 4 hours and had finally hit our limit. Me and Sister Fishburn literally didn't know if we could make it through the rest of the day. No one was wanting to talk to us and yeah it was just a rough day... then we finally said... alright lets just sit down for a quick sec and take a break so we did. Then we sat there and finally decided to get up. I felt as if I had no more will power what so ever. We had been on this street 100 times before and walked past this same house that is super hidden and sort of creepy and has a big medal fence around it. I have wanted to go in before but Sister Fishy and I just never have. Then this time was different. There was a man out and he looked right at us and he said hi so we
said HI back and then we proceeded to keep walking. I stopped right in by tracks... look at his house and pointed to his garage and said HEY IS THAT A  SURF BOARD!? ya know just to get the conversation going... he then looked at us and said well yes... such a smooth ice breaker... we then began to talk with him and he said.. wait are you guys Mormons?! we told him yes and he was confused because he didn't know girls could go.. I love when that happens! we told him all about the age change and what not... he is in his 70s and he then told us.. well yeah I was baptized Mormon! abahahah you should have seen our faces.. they were priceless.. SUCH A MIRACLE MOMENT! then he looked at us and said... well are you guys just out and about feeling inspired as to who you should talk to? I told him YES. and we were brought to you. He then said... well that's funny... because I have actually been praying! then the whole world seemed to have stopped for that moment and life just made sense again. FINALLY I thought. he said well tell me what it is that I should do? COME TO CHURCH WE SAID! Ha and he said I could maybe do that... he told us how he believes in everything and how much he loves the book of Mormon but he couldn't find his.. SO I just gave him MINE! YAYA! that was an awesome miracle..

 

SO my hair is brown... yep that's that. I don't know who I am anymore.. so that's fun.

then we did some service for this crazy lady who yelled at me a bunch. oh how I love Washington so much. SO GREEN. ummmm met this old man who has been working on a bug sail boat for over 30 years... that pretty much sums everything up!  I love you all so much and thanks for being such wonderful people. YOU ARE GREAT NORTONS I LOVE YOU!

Love Sister Norton

 

oh and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

all my love

SNOW? Christmas Miracle!

Date: December 23, 2013
Area: Lake Stevens, Washington
Companion: Sister Fishburn

Hello Hello wonderful people that I love so much!

    I don't have that much time to write today but I have SO SO SO MUCH TO SAY! First things first. MOM thank you so much for sending me the BOOK! I was so happy and I thought you would just email me the book or something so that was a pleasant surprise. Thanks!! I loved it and it was wonderful to read it to families this past week. It really brought the spirit!

 

THEN IT SNOWED!! my first Washington snow. and it was GREAT!! for the first couple of minutes and then it turned to complete slush. gross.. its alright though.. we have received way to many carmels and just goodies... its a good thing we are on bikes... if ya know what I mean. I cant wait to see you all on Christmas! thanks for sending me so much love through the emails! I love you all and cant wait to see you so so so soon!
WEDNESDAY at 12:30 my time. GET READY!!

 

We had a great lesson with Elisabeth Ill share with you on Christmas! WAHOOOO!!

 

 

love Sister Norton

 

Tis the Season!

Date: December 16, 2013
Area: Lake Stevens, Washington
Companion: Sister Fishburn

Hello beautiful Norton family! first things first.. I AM SO SO GRATEFUL FOR THE PACKAGE!! THANKS FOR ALL THE LOVE!!

   If I could I would write novels to you all..... but sadly I just can't but just know if I could I would... there is so much too say but I am going to try to hurry and write this so I can write everyone back!

Oh what a week it has been. Missionary work is crazy and I am really starting to wonder when it will all start to hit me that I am actually on a mission.. it was funny just the other day fishy and I were riding our bikes down this big hill and what not and she just turned to me and said..."hahahaha WE ARE ON MISSIONS!!!" it was so funny and we were just laughing and laughing. The area I am in is ummm wonderful and hard but I love it! I am in the Cavalero ward and the area like I have said has so many hills. On to the next thing... We had a wonderful relief society thing on Tuesday night and I felt like I was back home in good ol Utah... the women in the ward are great and there was about 8 babies there... CRAZY!! all I want to do is just hold one... but I cant.. hahahah oh well! Then we sang wonderful Christmas music and I just love this time of season.. it is so weird without snow.... SO WEIRD! it doesn't feel like Christmas at all... which makes me and fishy not as homesick so that's good! SO lets see... Brother Krick.. aka GRANDPA he actually told me to call him that and I about started to cry because I truly feel like he is my grandpa... he fed us Omelets on Wednesday night and It was so much fun and we just chatted and chatted and he kept feeding us and feeding us and but the end I swear I couldn't eat anymore... and finally he gave us the BIGGEST piece of PUMPKIN pie and I just looked at it and about threw up.. but thankfully I almost ate all of it... and then his wife looked at me and said.... "sister Norton, are you okay" "YOU DONT HAVE TO EAT ALL OF IT" ahahahahah it was so funny! then I just stopped... oh good times on the mission... then we shared with them about our Christmas traditions and talked about what Christ has done for us in our lives... SO AWESOME!! Then I went on exchanges with our STLs and lets just say it was alright... I mean I was in car for that and it was so weird! and it made me realize how grateful I am for the worlds best trainer and I'm so glad we get along... blessed.. so so blessed.

   ARLIGNTON NATIVITY!! the worlds coolest thing. Oh my gosh... So Elisabeth is our wonderful investigator... and we had met with her on Tuesday and we always have super awesome lessons with her and she is so open with us and I love it... and more than anything I always learn something from her... and so we wanted to ask her to be baptized in that lesson and we were talking with her and committed her to read the book of Mormon and to pray and know that it is true and she said she would then we asked her to come to church and she was iffy and said a couple things and wasn't so sure... then her phone rang and she got up real fast and we had the chance to talk really fast and we both looked at each other and we just knew that it wasn't right for us to ask her to be baptized... THE SPIRIT tells you great things.... then we invited her to A nativity festival.. well the Ewing's did.. the Ewing's are a SUPER awesome family in our ward... and I wouldn't be surprised if Brother Ewing is actually reading this on my little blog thing... HEY well anyways they invited her and got her to come! and we went with her, and at the nativity festival  they have a room that is just full of pictures of Christ and it is so powerful! and she just absolutely loved it and we loved it and it was so awesome.. they had so many nativities set up and it was so cool I love the church!! so that was great and then that night we had lamb... oh yummm and then we talked about the lamb of God with the family... hahah kind of awkward but super cool

this is one of my favorite quotes that I just found this week...

"The savior knew life from every side and every angle, both above and below. He who was the greatest made himself the least the Heavenly Shepherd became the Lamb."

I love that!! It is in the Ensign called... "come let us adore him"

anyways.. next thing is next...Saturday we had a ton of meetings which is so fun!!

 

then SUNDAY!!! yayayayaayy the best day of the mission so far.. me and Sister Fishburn were standing there welcoming people and then all of the sudden Fishy turned to me and said.... UM... is that Elisabeth!? holy smokes! SHE came to church!! she came to church! we both just started to cry and I loved the feeling that overcame me. She walked in with her 8 year old daughter and the ward just welcomed her in and it went so well.. umm slash that.. it went perfect! we didn't have to do anything because the ward was awesome with her! then ummmmm we went with her to gospel doctrine and ummmm what was the topic.. BAPTISM! how perfect was that. the lord truly does know perfectly the way things need to go and it was so important for us to listen to the spirit while we were teaching her. i know the church is true! its wonderful! She stayed for all 3 hours and then that night she came to our Stake Christmas concert which was super awesome.. i love all the wonderful Christmas music!

family. you are all too great!

romans 13:12

hastening the lords game plan... pretty neat talk;)

i love you all so much!!

love your dearest sister Norton!

 

I'm on a Mission?

Date: December 09, 2013
Area: Lake Stevens, Washington
Companion: Sister Fishburn

Mi Familia!!

 

  There is the Spanish for the day... How is everyone doing? I love you all and think about you and just think about how awesome you are and how grateful I am for all of you. YOU guys are rock stars and I just love ya. When are you going to Forgotten Carols? oh how I will miss that... but the good news is that one of the sisters I live with loves the Forgotten Carols so we always sing it together.. its awesome... but she's never seen it before.. sad! I love it so much and hope you all have a blast without me!

 Where oh where do I even begin... so this week lets just say was super hard and challenging and just pretty rough but the good news is that it ended awesome and there were many great miracles that happened! I can truly see gods hand in my life. SO we are just sorta having a hard time finding people to teach and what not so that has been a struggle... and our investigators haven't really been keeping commitments and they have been canceling on us which is always a bummer. Then on Tuesday this week Sister Fishburn and I were really excited because we had a lesson with Jen Carols and he's awesome and I know or at least I think I have talked a little bit about him and his sister Jessica.. so anyways long story short is that about a hour before we were going over to teach a lesson to him we got a long text from Jessica and she told us a lot of things but she said that she didn't want us teaching her and her brother anymore and that we were not to go over there... sad... me and Fishburn were completely devastated because they were doing so great and then out of no where they just don't want it anymore.. but I KNOW that this isn't the end for them they may just need a little bit of time. Then we had a very long next day and we just went form house to house trying to find people and what not and no one really likes us and that is always fun and I understand that it is very cold in Utah and there is a ton of snow.. but just know that I feel your pain.. maybe a little too much.. because it is freezing in Washington.. its just a very different cold and my body is not used to the wet cold.. and umm I'm out in it all day on a bike.. life is wonderful! Our zone leaders actually texted us one day and said yeah today is a little colder than all other days so maybe you should wear some hand warmers... hahaha. oh alight..

 

  It is funny though because a lot of the people here are saying there hands are getting very dry and what not and I just cant help but laugh because I don't use any lotion.. I don't need it!

 Moving on.... so  on Thursday we thought we would go one last time to Elisabeth's house to try to say hi to her and invite her to the Ward Christmas party that we were having on Friday.. she is an investigator and we haven't been able to get a hold of her for a while or meet with her... but this was a miracle!! she opened the door and said... "HI SISTERS!! I'm very busy now, but I would love to talk so please come back in 15 minutes."! YAYAYAAY!! we left and we were both smiling form ear to ear and we were so excited... so we went back and had the best visit and she had so many questions that were just so awesome about prophets and temples and then she finally opened up about certain things and it was just so cool to see and then I invited her to come to the Christmas party and she accepted and it was WONDERFUL!

 Ward Christmas Party... hahahah the ward I am in sorta reminds me a little bit about our ward and they have had 13 babies within the past year... crazy stuff.. anyways the Christmas party was awesome and we got our investigator and her daughter to come.. wahoooo!! and we sat with a less active who we are teaching and he came which was great as well. and he is just like Grandpa Johnson.... seriously.... it's awesome and I just love him so much! I actually met him my first day out in the field and he asked me for my first name and I was a stupid and I told him! so then at the Christmas party he called me by Alexa cause he remembered and it was the weirdest thing in the world to hear my first name! I got mad at him and he just laughed... and him and I just joke around... oh how he is just like a grandpa to me.  He is feeding us this Wednesday and we are teaching him.. yay!!!

  Then on Saturday we had a lesson planned to teach this crazy couple that I had never met and we sat down to plan what we should talk with them about and we were so lost and didn't know what it was that they needed... so we decided to pray again and right after we did we got a text from them and they canceled... crazy how the Lord works... just wait because then we were out and about and went to this house and they let us in and we taught them!! it was awesome and I was so scared but I recited the first vision and I don't even know how I did it but I did and it was great... they are very smart about the bible and they don't see a need for the book of Mormon so we talked to them a little bit about that and it was just super cool... Fishburn had been trying to meet with them for over a month and then we finally did!! BLESSINGS!!!!!

one awkward thing did happen... at the end Andy said well sisters can we pray for you and then you can pray for us?! we said yes and then he said a pray and just ended and I didn't know that I was supposed to say my pray right then and there and so we were just sitting there with our eyes closed and I giggled and said.. OH IS IT MY TURN? haha the I prayed... super awkward but it was funny! then that night we went to Christmas in the park and it was fun and what not then this older couple who loves the missionaries had us over and the wife never stops talking.. no joke... so seriously during dinner I just lost it and I could stop laughing and it was bad I almost spit up my water... ya know like one of the moments where you just can not control it.. so bad!!

 

so sorry this is so crazy.. but in conclusion I want you to know that I know the church is true.. I know that the gospel is all about change.. and that is what makes it so awesome and I can feel my saviors love all the time and I love watching people change and better yet I love seeing the changes that I am making.

the challenge for the week for you all.. read 2 Nephi 25.. CHRIST! and when you are doing your scripture study see how many different names Christ has.. its great!

 

 I love this work!

Love Sister Norton!

The gospel changes lives....mine included

Hi! So I have decided that I LOVE P-day's ....but I HATE them. Maybe it's a missionary thing, but that is how I feel. Don't get me wrong. I love emailing and hearing about everything but it's also stressful. I'm sure I will get used to it. I mean it still is weird to me that I am on a mission. I know I already sent my email, but right now Sister Wright and I are just chillin and writing letters. There are so many things that happen in a day that I wish I could share with you...but there's just too much to say.

I just want to say how grateful I am to be a Norton. How lucky I feel to be able to wake up each morning at 6:30am and put on a name tag that not only has my name on it but more importantly has Christ's name on it.

I know the gospel changes lives! I love that it is all about change. It is one of the hardest things, to change, but it is also the most rewarding. I think one of the hardest things that I have had to realize is that everyone has a choice and is given agency. I just have to keep going and I can NEVER give up.

It's also weird to think that life goes on without me. I hope you all aren't having to much fun!

One night I was talking to my companion and we started saying how lucky we feel and how wonderful it is to really be set apart from the world. I love it! I know that God lives!

Thank you for all the love and support

Love- Sister Norton

Happy December!

Hello Hello!

  Where oh where do I even begin. Well let's just said that I had a total of 3 Thanksgiving dinners and oh yeah know just 7 pieces of pies!! Do you understand... 7. and 5 of them were pumpkin! Members just give us way to much food and feed us too much. You would be so so so surprised at how much I eat when I am at a members house.. I eat everything even when I hate it. The spirit is always with me and then I just take a swig of water and it is all good. I think I am good with Turkey for now. Thanksgiving was weird.. but good! We ate at a members house who only had 1 kid so it was super quite which was weird! Then we just relaxed the rest of the day because it was our pday and we had to be in by 6 so we just partied inside and what not so that was fun.