Happppppy THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it!? its that time of year again. Oh how I seriously just love the Holidays! As a missionary it has been quite the different experience but I still can't help but just LOVE it. What i love most is being able to see so many different families interact with each other and see the importance of families. It makes me so GRATEFUL for my family. I am so grateful that I know we will be able to live together forever. What a blessing that truly is. I love to see all of the families different traditions and see how they like to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

 These past couple of days i have really been thinking what am i thankful for besides my family, the gospel, food, clothing, a place to live, the list could really go on and on. What i am truly thankful for this week is the plan of salvation and the scriptures. Man did i used to take this for granted. We taught the Plan of Salvation this week and for some reason it hit me harder than it ever has before and it was probably because of this. We are teaching a man named Victor who is 28 and is dating a member in our ward. He has a basic belief of Jesus Christ and is wanting to really know what the "Mormons" believe. We have taught him a couple times and will be able to see him tonight! While we were teaching the Plan of Salvation he asked so many great questions that really got me to thinking about some things. I don't know everything, but there are a few things that i do know. I do know that there will come a time when we will be able to see our savior again, and oh what a joyous day that will be. I want to stand before him and take me by the hand and tell me that i did a good job and i want to be welcomed into his kingdom. I think Enos states it best when he says: d

 27 And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in theday when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall standbefore him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will sayunto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared foryou in the mansions of my Father. Amen.

I know that this scripture is true and when i read it i get chills. There is a place prepared for us after this life and we have so much reason to rejoice. That is why i am so grateful for the scriptures. I really used to think of reading them as a chore and just that if i read them i was done and good for the day. I look at it so much differently now. I LOVE to be reading them and although i don't always understand everything i read it is Heavenly Fathers way of answering my questions because it can be quite hard to speak over my loud voice. haha There have been so many times where i will be reading in the scriptures and i find EXACTLY what i need. God does hear us. That is something i know. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon. it has changed my life and if you have not read it... READ it.. and if you have then read it again. I promise there is something in there that you can and you will benefit from!:) 

This week! We have been working with Elizabeth who is doing so great! She is progressing so well and is so ready to make these changes in her life. Its amazing to see. She has given up smoking and this past week she gave up her coffee. This women has strength, i want to be more like her. She has no support whatsoever from her family and yet she keeps going. She knows the lord is on her side and so do i! 

Jennifer our recent convert is just so funny. It has been such a joy to work with her and to see her continue to progress and learn after her baptism. 

We got so lucky this past week. We had been out on our bikes all day and ran into this man who had met with missionaries in the past and he began to talk to us and tell us how he really needs to make time for god and then he asked for our number. YES! it was so awesome. 

We are working closely with the ward and to our surprise it has done wonders. The ward here is great and so willing to come out with us! We have been so blesses in so many ways. We have been trying to push every member a missionary and to get them more and more involved. I love it up in Ferndale. I know i have said that a couple times. but its the truth. Its great! 

We have our preparation day on Thanksgiving this week and we will have to be in by 6. We were just given a hour to email today:) We will most likely be going over to a members house for dinner and then who knows!

I love you all!! oh and real quick. The funniest and most ironic thing happened this week when we were knocking on doors. We walked up to a house that was playing the song. "ya gotta have faith" (not sure of the title) but it was funny because the women who answered told us she was a non believer and it was something that i was really not expecting.. okay.. i think you really had to be there for this one. it was funny. i promise. 

I am thankful for all you! i am thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the support that you each give me. I love you all so much and i wish you the HAPPIEST THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!! 

Love Sister Norton:)  

Charity is all you need

hello:) 

Oh how lovely it is to email all of the people that you love so dearly. I have finally gotten the swing of this thing that you call missionary work. It has defiantly been a marathon of learning and every day is a journey, but i wouldn't trade any of the experiences that i have had for anything else. I have learned first and for most how to trust in my father in heaven and to rely on my savior Jesus Christ. He really is my best friend. I come closer to him through reading the Book of Mormon. As i was reading this week i was in 2 Nephi... oh which can be rough.. especially for me because i am trying my hardest to really understand Isaiah and it is HARD. BUT it was really cool because each morning right before i read i would pray and ask Heavenly Father to just show me one thing that i could learn and he totally did. Awesome!  I know that god hears and answers our prayers. 

 This week we were blessed with miracle after miracle after miracle. It was the craziest thing.  was filled with the love for this people more than i had ever before felt. I truly felt like Nephi this week. In 2 Nephi ch. 33:3 we read 

But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem itas of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry.

yep. i have felt that this week. its been really neat but also really hard. I so wish that every single person could just grasp on to the gospel and would listen to us. But it really isn't that easy. We were out the other day and we had the neatest experience. Lets begin. We came to a door and Monica answered. She began to tell us that she went to local church around here and that she had already tried to listen to the Mormons before and that she just wasn't interested. all of a sudden the next thing i knew was that she asked for a phamplet and wanted to learn more. Its moments like those where you just know that it wasn't you talking it was the spirit and those moments are priceless. it makes up for all those hard days. those 5 minutes when someone listens, it turns your whole world around. 

Elizabeth. WOW SHE DID IT. She quit smoking. She is amazing and is on track to be baptized in the first week of December. It is the coolest thing to work with someone who has all these outside forces that are working against them and yet they know that this is the path they need to take in their life.

Silver family. wow. Saturday For the past couple of weeks we have been trying to see this family in the ward who are less active. We decided to see them on Saturday and to our surprise we got in! don't know how that happened but we did and we were able to teach their son who is not a member who is 10 the restoration. It was the neatest thing because as we taught we saw the light turn back on in this mothers eyes. When we got to the picture about Joseph Smith this little boy got quiet. For a moment i thought he had stopped listening. Then he sat there for a moment... looked up at us and said. "wow.... so this really happened to him?"  the spirit filled the room and we were able to testify to him how we had come to know and how he could do the same thing. We then had him say our closing prayer and it was the first time this little boy had prayed. such a sweet prayer and right after the mom invited us back over next Saturday

i have been a little bit all over the place in this email. SORRY! I want you all to know how much i have been able to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ truly blesses families. it is so much fun to be able to go into different homes and see how families work. oh the things you learn on a mission. Its life changing and i have no clue where i would be without this experience. Its been an amazing year! i know that with the Strength of the Lord i can do hard things. 

i love missionary work. Let us all try a little harder this week to reach out to those that are in need. become TRUE disciples of Jesus Christ. 

love you love you! 

Love sister Norton.. 

p.s. we wear this vest at night so we don't get run over and it gives us a way to talk to more people! 

Brrrrrrrrr....WASHINGTON

Oh the joys of being a sister missionary, riding a bike in a skirt, and then being in Washington!:) Its great! We have heard that this week some crazy cold weather will be coming in from Alaska. That will be fun. We are still seeing some BEAUTIFUL DAYS! I love when we see the gorgeous blue sky and the sun hit the evergreen trees in the right way. Its beautiful up here in Ferndale. I LOVE IT! 

 SO many wonderful things are happening here and i don't even know where to start! First. Elizabeth. WOW. That's all i want to say. This women has so much faith its so amazing. We were able to teach her the stop smoking program this past week and she agreed to ALL of it. She told us that even though her family is making fun of her she knows this is something good for her, and even though her family thinks she has to give up her favorite things she told us that she knows she is changing her life for the better. Day 4 without smoking. GOOOO Elizabeth. We were able to make some fun signs(picture attached) for her to hang up all over her house. The best feeling was when she walked into church this past Sunday and we were talking with her and she told us... "yeah i was outside yesterday and there were people smoking and it smelt GROSS and i couldn't believe that i used to do that" Oh i just started to laugh. I know that Heavenly Father is answering our prayers and hers as well and is continuing to give her the strength that she needs to overcome her addiction. It's something else to be able to witness right before my eyes someone completely changing their lives for the better. The atonement is real. That's all for Elizabeth. SHE is doing SUPER! 

The Carlson's. Oh my goodness. This family is a tender mercy from the Lord. They are grasping on to the gospel. The parents are returning to activity, Rosa is trying to teach my companion and I Spanish, which is hilarious. She is now becoming the driving force for the family when just a short 3 weeks ago she wasn't so sure about it all and now she is loving it and wanting to feed us and its to fun!:) We were in a lesson with them the other day and one of the boys ran out, and I looked at the dad and asked if we should wait.. and so we sat there for a second.. then this little boy comes out with loads of gel in his hair and we all just started laughing... oh i guess you just had to be there. BUT one last funny story about them. we were talking about when they should get baptized and then the 2 boys and Rosa started talking in Spanish (not fair because we have no clue what they are saying) BUT my junior high classes paid off and listening to Natasha and Dad becasue then one of the little boys said.. Deciembre FRIO!! i looked at them and said.. "WAIT did you just say its going to be COLD in December."? yesssss. I laughed and told them they wouldnt have to get baptized in the ocean! hahah to funny. They all were able to come to church this week and stayed all three hours. I love to see investigators and returning members take the sacrament for the first time. It's an overwhelming experience for them and for me as the missionary. i cant even begin to describe how cool( i should really find a better word) but really how cool it is to see the gospel change peoples lives. To be apart of the transformation is a blessing.  I have so much love for this people. It's so comforting to know that the savior freely gave himself for each of us. I know that his atonement is real. I know that he lives!

Lastly the other night we were out knocking on doors, and it was pouring rain and i was just a little bit cold, and it was pitch dark. we said a little prayer and knocked on a coupld doors and no luck. Then we went up to the second floor and knocked on a door where this little boy answered. We asked for his mom and she came and we starting talking and told who we were and so on.. then come to know she looked at us and said... Yeah. well. ... im actually a member. WHAT. She told us more and then it ended with us getting all her information and she wants to meet with the bishop. WHAT!? The miracles come when we have worked for them. I would love to say that i see miracle after miracle after miracle, but i see the miracles when i have struggled and tried my hardest... its at those times that heavenly father trusts us and blesses us with people who are ready to receive us. its truly amazing. The work of the lord is hard, but so worth it. I really wouldnt want to be anywhere else but here. LOVE YOU ALLL!! 

Love sister Norton:) 

p.s. sometimes people think i am the girl from the dugger show?? great.

oh the journey...happy 1 YEAR!......

Oh the things you learn as a missionary. They can be life changing and so wonderful. It probably sounds cheesy... but its so true. The gospel is... true, worth it, deep, SIMPLE, hopeful, peaceful, comforting. The list could really go on and on. Something that I came across this week that I wanted to share is this. It's a quote from Elder Bednar... and it says. " One of our principal purposes of our existence is to be spiritually changed and transformed through the ATONEMENT of JESUS CHRIST"  This week I gained a stronger testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and how he lived and died and suffered for me, so that if I follow his example and strive to keep his commandments I can one day inherit the KINGDOM OF GOD and see my Father in Heaven. How awesome is that... If we really just think about it.. ITS AMAZING. There has been a plan created for us to be able to do it! I think the reason I say all of this is because we were able to teach the plan of Salvation a couple times this week and it really has been sticking with me. We offer people the ability to change.. which can be hard. BUT it is possible thorough our Savior Jesus Christ.

  We are working with a women named Elizabeth and it has been so cool to be able to see how she is so ready to find the true church for her and her kids. This week we were able to sit down and plan a day when she would commit to stop smoking. This is one of her setbacks and we are going to be working with her and praying our little guts out to help her overcome this addiction. Please keep her in your prayers as well!:) It was a tender mercy to see her accept the things that we taught.. ALSO.. she came to the ward trunk or treat this past week which was great. We actually had 4 investigators there and it was a great event for them to get comfortable with ward members. Then Sister Garn and I thought it would be funny if we dressed up as Elders... yeah it didn't work out too well..  people thought we were students at Hogwarts... oh well. it happened. 

 I love the ward, the people we are teaching, and the area that I am serving in. I love it here in Ferndale!:) It is so much fun and we have truly seen so many tender mercies of the Lord this past week. One neat thing was that the whole Carlson family was able to make it out to church.. HUGE MIRACLE! we have a lot of great things going on here and I feel so blessed to be apart of this wonderful work..I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week! remember that when we serve others we are serving God :) He will bless us as we do the simple things like reading our scriptures, praying and specially praying in our families and going to church! 

Love Sister Norton