GOLDEN....

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.. this is what President Bonham says and it is something that I am working on. WORK WORK WORK. this week there was a lot of that. We are doing a lot of finding in this area which can be a tiny bit tiring.. but that's okay! The weather has been SO SUNNY and so HOT.. but yesterday it finally rained.. and by rain I mean it was MISTY and it was so nice. It defiantly cooled things down quite a bit. Lets get started... I just have a few stories that I would like share and to talk about so in advance... like always I may just be all over the place:) ding.

The first thing to talk about is... I learned this week that communication with your companion is KEY! and that goes for any relationship or friendship. Especially with Heavenly Father. We need to communicate with him and that way he will be able to answer all of our questions. Sister Loose and I had a good conversation and we were able to figure so many things out and it went super well!

So a lot happened this week and then I feel like nothing happened at all. Sometimes that's how weeks go and its completely normal. Or at least I hope it is. the hard thing about a mission.. hmmm there are a lot of hard things but on e hard thing would be that you are working hard and good things are happening but the problem is that it just may not be showing. One day this week were had been out all day long walking around knocking on doors and trying to talk to people.. the only thing that was keeping me going was the fact that we had a lesson that evening that I was excited for. As we were about to head over to our dinner appointment we had planned to see this lady named Heather... we were told to go see her when her husband wasn't home.. I am pretty sure I've talked about her before... but we were close to her house and the door was open and her husband was home.. WE AWKWARDLY turned around hoping that they wouldn't notice as we started to walk away we heard someone open the door.. AHHHH my heart starting racing and all I was thinking was oh crap... what should we say! when we turned it was heather.. her husband and their son. PHEW! she asked us if we would like a glass of water..YAY! we talked with her and had a good conversation. then we went to dinner with her neighbor and told her all about it...her neighbor was thrilled and then later that night she talked to heather and told her about what it is exactly that we do as missionaries and now she wants to have us share the lessons. WOOT WOOT. that was such a miracle. as we were walking to meet with our investigator after dinner she texted us to cancel. I was so bummed:( I hate when that happens... we continued to walk to go see some other people around the area... when out of no where is younger guy came up to us asking us for money... (don't worry mom.. we are completely SAFE).. we told him we had none and then he kept walking.. I looked up and mumbled out the words.... uhhhhh well.. WHERE are you going? he turned around and started to talk to us about the rough situation he was in and I felt so bad for him... he had no where to go and all he wanted was drink of water. as our conversation went on he finally asked us who we were.. we told him and he said.. "well I would like to serve a mission".. Sister Loose said well you would have to be a member.. surprisingly he said... "actually I AM" my mouth dropped! WHAT! he then told us how he needed to find his light again and how we wanted to go back to church and on and on. WOW! so COOL! we were in the right place and the right time and it was awesome.

The next would be that we were able to go to a pioneer day activity in my first area.. it was so weird to be back there but also very fun. We went with Julie who is a recent convert.. the one I talked about last week. She laughed when sister Loose said.. "oh I hope there's ROOT BEER here and when I said.. OH ME TOO! There were so many fun activities and what not. LOVED IT. Then I was able to see one of the families that I got really close to in Lake Stevens and that was a blast! Then later that night we had planned to see Jean who was being taught in Seattle and then moved in with a member.. we went over and she was happy to see us. We were having a great conversation and it was going so well. Then we brought things up about the church and it was going even better. She was so receptive and eager to learn more.. she said she loves what the Mormon church has done for her son.. I was so excited and so pleased with how things were going... then out of no where she looked at us and said.. well. ya know what.. I think your church is great but I will never convert... it was like a dagger to my heart and as I looked at her I literally had to do everything I could to not just completely break down in tears right in front of her face.. It was hard to hear that but she invited us back over and I asked her if we could just read the Book of Mormon with her and she said maybe in the future.. I am hoping something will happen.

 I was reading this week in Alma 26... I love this chapter.. Ammon is talking about how he will not boast because he is an awesome missionary but its because of the lord that he can do all things and it just has been really sticking with me. I am serving a mission to serve god and to represent Jesus Christ... it is because of them that I can do all things. I love the gospel.

I love this quote... "the more you come to know him the easier your life will become" I believe that. and I know that's true.

Scripture of the week would have to be Alma 15:18

the reason I love this so much is because Alma is a wonderful companion to Amulek and helps him and most importantly strengthens him in the Lord. I know that we must each strengthen one another.

I feel so lucky and so blessed that Heavenly father trusts me with so many of his children. I love the people here and no matter how hard it may get at times. I absolutely love it. I know that we are only given things to make us stronger. Love you all!

Love,

Sister Norton:)

oh and p.s. someone gave us crab this week. YUM! for free