Hello family!
Yesterday all the libraries were closed for the 4th of July. Pretty dumb if you ask me. So today it'll have to be short because we have some work to do :)
Last week was pretty good. Sunday there were few there, about 43. Spirit was still strong. Elder Eliot and I blessed the sacrament, taught sunday school, and the young men in priesthood so we were short a few ppl. It's a great learning and growing experience. I feel terrible for what all of my sunday school and priesthood teachers went through back home! Josh, Me, Sheridan, Amanda, Shaley, Sonya, Kendra, we were all bums! When I get home I'm going to personally hug and thank every one of my teachers who taught me! Youth are hard to teach when they're in a crowd! Oh, and last sunday when the stake pres was here, I had to teach young men in priesthood as well and so it was double the pressure. Good times!
Anyway we're super excited for today. Rebecca is going to be baptized in the Ohio River. It's going to be my first time ever doing it. Pray for me. Especially since the Ohio is flowing pretty good right now we don't want to get swept away :) We're having a lot of success with the other people we're teaching. Tiffany and Kevin are going to be baptized the 17th. We're still working with Devon and Vince. Devon we're going to need a couple miracles from the Lord. Vince just has a fear of crowds and so we're trying to set up a "private" baptism for him. I know the Lord wants his family in the church though and so once we teach them I think he'll help Vince make the decision.
Yesterday I got to play basketball! It was fun. I hurt my knee though :( My legs I guess aren't as strong as they used to be. I'm gonna have to start getting into shape like Elder Hatch is. Cool that he met Tim! It's great to hear about the success in Duncan. Sounds like you have some great Elders. Tell the Thatcher fam hi for me! I got there letter a couple weeks ago. I promise I'll respond. I love them though and appreciate their letters so much. As well as Sister Rapier. She wrote me a letter too and I swear she was trying hard to make me cry. lol It was a great letter.
It's good to hear Elder Rapier is doing well. I think most of my friends have hit their year marks.....I'm NEXT! Not cool. The time is going faster and faster it seems. My 4th of July was pretty lame. No fireworks or nothin. That's ok though that's not what we're out here for. We had the opportunity to teach a couple people and spend some time strengthening potentially actives and so that was a blessing. I love the work here. I'm growing to love the people too much! I'm trying hard not to think about the day I'll have to leave this area, but it happens almost every day. Just gotta keep moving forward!
Well we are having great success! I'm happy. Elder Eliot and I are getting along great! He's a champ. We'll see if I can keep the 6 month companion thing going. 1 year two comps, wouldn't that be cool! We'll see. Well I hope you all have a great week! Strive to keep the commandments and you will prosper in ALL things! Look forward to hearing from you soon!
Love you!
July 12, 2010
Rebecca
Vincent
Kevin
Never has my heart been filled with so much emotion in such a short period of time. I don't know where to start. Tuesday Rebecca was baptized in the Ohio River. It was wonderful! The water was perfect, everything went perfect, and the spirit was....well perfect! On top of that we sat down and talked to Vincent. We set up a private baptism for him saturday. The youth of our branch had youth conference this weekend and that sealed the deal for all of them! Kevin asked if he could be baptized a week early and do it with Vince. OF COURSE! So saturday we had a short, but spiritual baptism for Vince and Kevin. Yesterday they were all confirmed. It was awesome! Kevin asked me to confirm him last second. I was surprised, but prepared. It really strengthened my testimony.
After church we went over to John Haines (the young man who texted you awhile back mom) He's a member and pretty much has the hang out spot for all the young men. Brandon Liter, is a friend to all these boys and has been coming to mutual and church every now and then. He went to youth conference and loved it! When we taught him after church at Johns he said he wanted to be baptized! His mother is methodist and doesn't "agree with mormonism" but we're going to teach her this week. The Lord will soften her heart. At least to let Brandon be baptized.
Tiffany is excited about her baptism this next weekend. She's afraid to have someone "dunking" her under water and so she's nervous about going under. Tuesday she's going to be practicing at a pool for young womens. It's just been a wonderful week. Thursday we had Zone Conference. Tuesday the day of Rebecca's baptism the Zone Leaders called Elder Eliot and I and asked if we could give the talk again. Last time they gave us 2 weeks to prepare, this time they gave us 2 days! BLAH! It was stressful but was a great opportunity to grow! I love when we're asked to do things.
Never turn down opportunities to serve! They're blessing in disguise from the Lord to strengthen our testimonies! I love serving! Glad the talk is over though! There's going to be a lot of new changes in missionary work world wide! Just a heads up for joseph when he gets ready to come out, cameras with video recording features are not allowed, new church policy, so I'd keep that in mind whenever he's preparing. We're not to use our video feature again while on our missions. Thank goodness I got the foreskull attackin' snappin' turtle on footage before I was accountable to that rule!
So yeah the work here is going great. We're shooting for 3 more baptisms before the transfer is done! Who needs Utah! Elder Brother Norton, you taught me well! I give all credit to the Lord. Elder Eliot and I just go out and try to be as diligent and obedient as we can, and the Lord just places miracles and blessing in our path. The best part about it is that we're having fun! It's crazy to think you're going to that pageant. You're so close to me! A few of the members from our branch went to that a few days ago. That would be sweet if you could meet them. President and Sister Graves were going to go as well the same time you'd be there but she's feeling pretty ill and so they had to cancel it :( I hope you have a great experience!
This morning was a heart breaker. The Elder's quorum president in our branch has a less active son who's in his late 20's early 30's. His name is Joey Boehnlein. Elder Ralston and I had a couple crazy experiences with him but long story short we didn't really get to teach him that much because he was sent to an addiction recovery program. Well he's been on house arrest for the last few weeks. Last night he was having some head pains and went to bed early. He never woke up. President Graves came down this morning and told us he passed away. I only met and taught him a couple times. I haven't seen him in a couple months, but I knew him and spoke to him, and the reality of him being gone hit me pretty hard. The Boehnlein family has been through a lot these last few months and now for this to happen is really going to be hard. I just ask that you keep them in your prayers tonight.
I want to take this opportunity though to bear my testimony of the truthfulness of the restoration of the gospel! Without it, we would be devastated when trials like this are placed before us. With the knowledge that we have that we can see and be with our loved ones again brings so much joy and happiness. Joey was a great man. He had his shortcomings, we all do, but I know that he will live again! Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered the atonement for all of us. ALL of us! After he was crucified he was resurrected and rose again 3 days later. Because of this fact we will all live again. I went into my room and offered a silent prayer. I was sobbing. As I prayed for the Lord to comfort that family, I felt comfort of my own.
Sunshine is the perfect example of the Holy Ghost, He truly is the Comforter. I felt his comfort amidst my own sorrow, and it helped strengthen my testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I know it's real. It's true. The greatest part about what we do is ask people to ask the Lord themselves. That's what's so great about it. When the Spirit testifies to us that something is true, we can't deny it. I know this is the Lords church! I'm so grateful to be able to bring this joy and happiness to others. I could be doing nothing greater! I hope you all have a great week. I love you all so much!
July 19, 2010
Hey family! Another week come and gone. This week we had interviews with the mission pres. Things went well. He said he's extremely pleased with how things are going in Carrollton, but he didn't leave me with any hope to whether or not I'm staying or going. It's hard sometimes to not think about it. There's always mission rumors. Pres Graves keeps telling us that the stake presidency doesn't want to rock the boat where we're at. Missionaries keep saying it would be insane if they split Elder Eliot and I up because of how great things are going, but who knows, I know there are people in other parts of Kentucky that need me. I've praying to except the Lord's will no matter what happens at the end of this transfer.
Tiffany's baptism went awesome. Friday night we decided we were going to postpone it until next week because of lack of communication with her. At about 5pm saturday evening she called us and asked if we could still do it. We obviously weren't going to turn her down but we had to last second get it all put together. We drove down to the stake center in Crestwood for it. Some other elders filled the font up just in time for us and some sister missionaries found a suit that fit her. It was one HUGE miracle! I didn't doubt it wouldn't happen but I was about to lose faith in our goal. It was a very spiritual baptism. Last second I gave the talk on baptism.
Listening to Drew's story of the scriptures that just come to your mind and then experiences of my own, it's amazing how much "revelation" we receive for ourselves and don't even recognize it. I didn't really know what to say. We teach and talk about baptism all the time but sometimes there's just nothing there. I just simply said a prayer, stood up with my scriptures in front of everybody and just started talking. A few scriptures came to my mind that I shared that were applicable to Tiffany. I truly felt like a mouthpiece for the Lord, even though it was a short baptismal talk that probably no one will remember. She was terrified to get into the water. The YW's leader, Tiffany, and Elder Eliot and I all went outside real quick before we started and just said a prayer for her. Pres Graves baptized her and gave her a blessing of comfort as well. It gave her the strength to get her into the water. She was breathing pretty hard once she came up out of the water but it was a wonderful experience for everyone there and her.
Vince and Chris were there. They're growing so much in their testimonies! Vince left for a 6 month military camp at Ft. Knox Sunday morning and so after the baptism was time for goodbye. It was hard. We've come a long way with Vince. He and I are pretty close. I just hope and pray I'll be able to see him again before I go home. His mother is doing very well though. She's been wanting to come to church and the baptisms but Vince kept telling her not to go. WHAT!?!! We don't really understand why he didn't want her to come to church with him but I would say the only good thing about Vince being gone is we can know bring his mother and family into the gospel! He's going to have a nice surprise when he gets home :) It's the least we can do right?
I also had the opportunity to ordain Kevin to be a priest in the Aaronic priesthood. That was a neat experience. The youth are just doing so great here. The families are coming along well too. It's been a humbling experience to be a part of this branch since day one!
Well, it's good to hear that the trip back east went well. That's something I hope to do soon after my mission. Crazy to think of how close you were to me :) Yeah don't worry about not getting one without a video recording, it's just something to consider. I'm sure missionaries will still continue to take videos but sometimes it causes people to do "stupid" things so that they can catch it on tape (Like getting snapped in the face by a snapping turtle) So, before everyone comes home in these next few months you should get one of those digital recorders and record each one of their home coming talks. Just put it up there on the podium and then have them turn it off when they're done and then send it to me! Sounds like a good idea. Well I gotta run. Sorry my letter isn't very interesting today. The weeks start to melt together and I forget what I have and haven't told you. I'll try to do better. Hope you all have a great week and travel safe! LOVE YOU!
Elder Norton
July 26, 2010
News? What news? I'm not going anywhere! That's only because I find out saturday what's going to happen. This transfer really just flew. Yesterday was a pretty spiritual sacrament meeting. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have each week to renew our covenants. They asked us on the spot to get up and bear our testimonies as well. I always love the opportunity to do that. The topic was on family history and temple work so we based our testimonies on that but it was just a great sabbath day! It's good to hear your trip is going well.
Tell the family hi for all of me. I busted up when I heard Noah's little poo flinging comment. haha He's awesome! I don't have a lot of time so this letter is going to be short.
We taught 30 lessons this week. It was a new goal we achieved. Everything is just going awesome with Elder Eliot. We get along, have fun, are diligent, and everything just goes right. I've got the feeling that I'm going to have a "faith trying" experience after all the great success I've had here. I don't want to attract that though so let's change the subject. Anyway everything is going great. I "organized" everything this morning so that if I do get a phone call that says I"m leaving I'll be up and ready to go. We'll see what happens though. You'll know by next monday :) I guess we'll see if the Lord has anything else for me to do here. I couldn't be happier though. I'm really trying to master thoughts though so I can be more successful. Mother, you'll have to help me with that. Anyway I'm about to get booted so know that I love you all and I hope your week is awesome! Take Luck!
Elder Norton
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