happiness is for EVERYONE

Hi hiii hiiii

 

 

 TO all the people who will ever read this. I want to start with a fun little analogy that I have thought of this week. I will have you know that I have been so grateful to be on a mission at this young of an age. It blows my mind so much that Heavenly Father trusts me with some of his children. I am working hard at coming closer to my Savior but most importantly bringing others to him as well and it can be quite challenging at times. That is how I feel on my bike on those days where it is just raining and I am soaked. Washington is very hilly... and there are a lot of them around in my area. I am sure gaining a lot of muscle but that is beside the point. The point is, the mission or really anything in life is like most of these hills that I CONQUER each and every day. Going up (in a skirt with the wind blowing) the hill can be quite the challenge BUT as soon as you finish and you get to the top you are able to see what you have just done and you have a beautiful view and you get to coast for a little bit. That's that fun part. I am not sure if this is making any sense just bear with me. what I am trying to say is that a lot like this hills as they GO UP and as they go DOWN there are many UPs and DOWNS to life. One day we may have a super AWESOME GREAT WONDERFUL day and everything seems to be going our way.. then we may come to a point where we really don't want to go up this HILL because it seems like such a climb but in the long run it is so worth it! we are faced with trials and tribulations and that is Heavenly Fathers way of testing us and showing us that we can be molded into something so much greater!

 

as for that little crazy story I am doing good.. this week was a little rough at first and I felt like I was going up this HUGE hill and it was never ending... but thankfully as I put my trust in the Lord and relied more on him I was able to gain a better understanding that I am just a instrument in his work and I am the mouth piece for him. sometimes I say things and I think to myself... OH gosh. where the heck did that come from? the mission is giving everything you possibly can.. and then when you feel as if you can't do it anymore that is when you give a tiny bit more and you see miracles!

Its all about being obedient to the mission rules and showing the Lord that its not what I really want but more importantly what he wants. As latter day saints we are to obey ALL the commandments and in doing so the Lord will bless us. I love that we are given agency and we are to act and to never be acted upon... Satan is very good at tricking us and making us think we may not be worth it but in the end we totally are. WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD! sorry I just went off...

 

I finished the Book of Mormon this week and I loved the feelings and impressions that I got as I came to the end.. to be able to just know that it is true is so amazing. I know that the book of Mormon was specifically written for us and we really need to be reading from it each and every day. that is my challenge to all of you. Be in the BOOK OF MORMON for just 10 minutes a day.. or maybe even 5.

 

Lets get to the rewarding parts of my week... after all was said and done we were able to find 3 new investigators! Pray that they will be willing receive the gospel:) We had a WONDERFUL "earth day" hahah. and S. Millett totally understood a lot of my inside quotes with myself... specially about the "Canadian boarder patrol" weeeeeee that was great and we just laughed and laughed. and funny fact... I swear everyone in Washington loves P.T cruisers... and as we know I do not like them and so I made it a point to count them every day... yep. its a little fun game that I thought I would just share with you all. I get to about 12 each day.

 

I love you all and I know this church is true. I will leave you with this scripture and Nephi.. its one of my favorites.

2 nephi 4: 20-23.

 

be good! thank you for all the countless prayers each and everyday and thanks for all that you do. love ya all lots!

 

love your dearest

 

Sister Norton
 

someone's ENGAGED!!!

HOLY SMOKES.

 

Where oh where do I begin. hello! This week has been super great. I am sorry for emailing super late.. pday has been a little crazy

 

 LET ME FIRST BEGIN.

 

 Dearest deary ERIKA. CONGRATS!! I couldn't be more sad... but yet I couldn't be more happy for you! if that makes sense. I am so excited for you and so glad that Erik is the one that you will be able to spend the rest of your life with. You both get to go to the temple to be sealed for TIME and all ETERNITY. How wonderful is that. SUPER wonderful. I know that is something so important.. and that is part of Gods plan for all of us because of how much he loves us. anyways...  I am happy for Erik and Erika.. the cutest newlyweds know to MAN KIND!! happy day for both of you. and although I will not be able to attend I will most defiantly be there in spirit and I hope you know that.

 

EASTER!! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Sister Millett absolutely loves Easter and she was so excited. It was probably one of the best times of my mission yet. Saturday we went on exchanges and we weren't with each other ALL day and so finally in the evening when we saw each other we were so excited to be back together. I LOVE her! she's great. That night I finally got her to go crazy with me and it was the funniest thing ever. she made cookies and we just laughed and laughed. (sorry I know you all probably don't really care but hey that's okay) The NEXT morning it was Easter and we just had the best day! we delivered all the cookies to the less actives in the ward on FOOT. yep. The sister that I went on Exchanges with broke sister Millet's bike so we no longer have bikes. Hopefully we will get them back soon!

 

Easter Sunday was great. One of our new investigators came and it was awesome to be with her. Her name is Debra and she called us this week and I picked up the phone and all she said was hi this is Debra and I want to come to your church. I talked to missionaries 3 months ago and I wasn't interested but now I'm willing to listen. WHAT!!! MIRACLE!

we then met with her this week and she came to CHURCH! the lord has truly blessed me so so so much! another miracle for the past week... we were tracting and found another AWESOME investigator... her name is FALICIA. she is just such a sweet lady and we are teaching her this evening.  

 

I LOVE the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love that we were able to celebrate his resurrection and to share that he lives with others is something I will ever be so grateful for.

I love being a missionary. I love being in Washington. and I love you all!

 

I know that I have been all over the place. SORRY my brain is just going a little bit in circles today. SO MUCH to take is. I want to just end with my testimony.

I know that this church is true. I know that, that sentence is yet so simple but so powerful and with that sentence comes a lot of other things that I know. I know that heavenly father sent his son Jesus Christ to atone for my sins and to die for me and that is something that I will ever be so grateful for! I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and because I know that I know that the BOOK of Mormon is true. I know that we are all loved by our heavenly father no matter what we have done. we are all important. I love you all. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

TALK TO YOU SOON!
love sister Norton:)

HAPPY EASTER!!! well almost

Holy smokes... This week was just GREAT! the sun was out for a couple days and there was NO RAIN! I was out and about on my bike just loving life and to my surprise I actually got a little sun on my face.. probably because I haven't seen the sun FOREVER! but we did so much finding this week and we had SO MUCH SUCCESS. Sister Millett is so great! super humble and so loving and quiet and I think to myself.. DANG. why am I so crazy loud. That's okay though we make a perfect companionship! Its great. Spring is here and everything in Washington is so so beautiful. I always feel like I am in a forest with all of these crazy HUGE evergreen trees. I LOVE IT! and so would all of you! (dad there are dandelions EVERYWHERE they grow here like CRAZY,, and I think that you would go crazy if you saw all of them. at times I am tempted to go get some weed killer and help all of these people out)

 

Here we goooooooooo. I LOVE MY LIFE. no but really. The mission is HARD! but everyday I am so grateful that I am out here serving and I am so glad that I have this opportunity. SUCH a blessing. I love this church. Its great. I love my savior Jesus Christ and I know that he lives. 

 

This week we had a media referral given to us that we went to go check out and they let us in and so we just had a lovely conversation and what not and then we started to teach them but all of a sudden they looked at us and said.. well we are Jehovah witness's. WHAT!? panic. I can defiantly say this though.. what mom would say. " a character building experience" I learn something every single day..

 

 So I said this at the beginning but we did a lot of finding this week and we received an awesome referral from the ward and it was a tender mercy from the lord that we were even able to find this house because there was no address and we had to look at this drawing that they member drew for us. It was great though because I wanted to give up but sister Millet thought we should try one last place and when we did we totally saw them outside and I just asked if they were Jeff and Wendy and they were. I am so grateful for a companion that pushes me to go the extra mile! I can honestly say that the lord places certain people in your path for a reason. we talked with them and they told us a little bit about themselves and that they were sorry because they couldn't meet right then but they wanted us to come back! hip hip hooray!:) I love when people talk us. We then found a lot of others who are soon to be investigators. It's going great here in good ol'  Washington!

 

I am praying that the weather will stay nice so then more people will be out and that means more people to talk to and usually when the sun is out EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE is smiling. I LOVE it. Also... it is staying lighter and lighter a lot later at night.. mom. no need to worry we are so safe that its ridiculous.

 

I just want all of you to know that our Heavenly Father is counting on us to SPREAD the gospel to everyone that we come in contact with. YOU CAN DO IT. be brave and be bold and as you pray for opportunities the lord will bless you with so many. I love you all and I hope that you have a wonderful Easter:)

loveee Sisster Norton:) 

CONFERENCE!!! :)

 

 

 Hi Family!

 

 I LOVE YOU ALL SO much and you all came to my mind a lot this past week with it being conference. My first conference away from home and let me tell you it was so different but I LOVED IT! I love that we have conference every 6 months. SUCH A BLESSING. don't cha think?!

 

Things are kind of crazy right now. I am no longer a STL. and that is okay with me. Here is what happened. A Hermana had to go home because of health reasons and so last minute my comp had to go Spanish speaking and I had to get a new companion last Monday. We got the call about this last Monday telling us about the change. I was first a little scared to get a new companion but also so excited! He said to me.. "now sister Norton I want you to know that you didn't do anything wrong as a stl but you were only one for a week so I would hope that you wouldn't have done anything wrong" ha. he is such a goofy guy. HE'S GREAT! we went back to our apartment and packed and cleaned all day long and then late that night went to the mission office where I met my new companion and said my goodbyes to sister Simental. Sad.. but its okay!:) because my new companion is super awesome. her name is sister Millett she is from Kingston UTAH and is so different than I am that we just work super well together. SHE is so cute and quite and we all know that I am not. I think my loudness may scare her from time to time and she just giggles at me. We both have the same way of doing missionary work and we both just like to go out and get the job done which makes life so much better! She is wonderful and things in our area have started to just move along. I LOVE LYNNWOOD. This week we were doing a lot of finding and we were able to see so many miracles! I can truly say that the Lord has blessed me so so much. I think it is so crazy that he trusts me with so many of his children. I know that when I am exactly obedient to the mission rules he blesses me even MORE! and trust me the more blessings the better. I have been working on improving on my street contacting and this week I tried really hard to do that and with the Lords help I did and by doing so we were able to find 2 new investigators!

I love being able to just go up to people and tell them who I am. so great!

 

Also I LOVED CONFERENCE! there is so much I would love to go over but I will just talk about a few things that I loved. I loved what Jefferey Holland talked about. I COULD relate, there are those times when people yell at me and I just want to go back and say something to them.. BUT I don't! I love how he said being a messenger isn't easy but if we are strong it is all worth it. I know that to be true. I KNOW its all worth it. I also love how he said that Christ like love is the greatest love. It truly is. I feel like a lot of conference was talking about becoming true disciples of Christ. I know that we can each change some things that we do in our lives to become better disciples of Christ. I am going to be changing some things this week and I challenge all of you to do the same:) I love how President Monson talked about LOVING EVERYONE! true. we need to! Henry B Eyring talked about how when we choose to make a covenant with God we choose to be changed. I also loved a lot of what Bednar said about our "loads"... as we live the gospel I know that we will be blessed in many ways weather they be big or small. I loved conference and I love you all so much.

 

this church is true.

Love Sister Norton:)