Jan 24, 2011

Dear Family!

Well, another transfer has come and gone. First week was pretty good. We only had a couple missionaries in our zone get transferred so we're excited to continue to work with the awesome missionaries we have! To be honest, I don't feel physically I work as hard as I did as a normal missionary because we're always planning and traveling and doing leadership stuff, but, I feel like I am a lot more tired! Sunday mornings we get up and go teach on Ft. Knox. We have a mtg there at 7 and then have sac at 8 and then teach from 9 to 10 every sunday. Right after we leave there we go to our ward. It's hard to stay awake sometimes :) It's a lot of fun though. I really am enjoying being in leadership. So this last week..... what happened? Hmmm. First off, did you get my letter I wrote? It was a short hand written letter but it explained a little bit about the baptisms? If not it should come today.

So Tuesday we had a miracle. Received a text in the morning for a man named Sean Bailey. Called him up and asked if we could meet up with him that evening. He was excited for us to come. We showed up and everything just went perfect. He's a drill sergeant in the army. He has a wife and a step son. He also has a nephew moving here in march. He has had soldiers around him that were LDS and he could always tell them apart. He told us they were always happy, there was just something different about them and he wanted to know. So finally he decided he wanted to meet with missionaries. So two weeks before he called, he prayed to find out if this is what he should do before he even got involved in anything and he said he received a spiritual confirmation that it was true. So, he dropped everything that would prevent someone from being baptized. Word of Wisdom stuff. When we met him he said he hadn't done anything like that for 2 weeks and felt the best he ever has. Basically we just went in, met him, taught for like 30 minutes and committed him to be baptized Feb 19th. The next day we toured the church with him and he said he called one of his soldier buddies and told him to fly down for his baptism. He's so solid! So we have been given a family of 3, with the nephew coming in march. His wife and step son are out of town right now for family reasons but will be coming to church on the weekends. They're all aboard as well. It is a huge blessing from the Lord!

We had a little scare last week. Our Service men's group leader on Ft. Knox (the bishop) had to go to the hospital because of a mistake that was made on him while the doctors were doing a checkup. Turns out he was bleeding to death and didn't even know it. So this weekend he was in the hospital recovering and didn't make it to church. Well, Elder Fielding and I didn't get to take the Sacrament at the Ft because we missed it and we had stake conference yesterday which we also missed because we were at Ft. Knox but anyway we had the privilege to be able to take it to Brother and Sister Byrnes(bishop and wife). So, I have a testimony of the power of the sacrament. I won't lie I was really bummed when we didn't get to take it. I was excited when I found out we could take it to them because we were able to take it. Well we were at their house last night and were just in their humble little kitchen. No chapel, no hymns, no speakers. Just the quiet of their peaceful home. I was able to bless the bread. I don't know what it was, or why it was so much more powerful and meaningful to me, but as I knelt and blessed it I just felt the spirit very strong. Of coarse I teared up and choked up through the prayer, but it was an awesome experience. I don't think I have ever felt like more of a "representative" of Jesus Christ before in my life. I guess we just get in the routine of taking it every week in the same setting at church. It just felt so much more meaningful being able to personally bring it to them. I thought of the Savior. I know he would personally bring it to us if he was here. I believe that that was the reason it was so much more meaningful, because my thoughts were completely focused on Him. It's hard to do that, but I challenge you to make every effort you can to be completely focused on Him during the sacrament. The deacons that pass are acting in His name. If the Savior was here he would be doing the very thing they do each week. To them it may seem routine, or insignificant, but what a blessing they get to partake in. Just picture the Savior as they pass it to you. I promise you will feel the spirit testify of the truth of what they are doing. I know it did to us, as well as the couple we gave it to. They were so grateful for us to be there to be able to give them that opportunity. It was a wonderful experience to be able to partake and be involved in a such a sacred ordinance. I guess I forgot what it is like. I think the last time I did it was when I was in Carrollton. I felt like sharing that.

Well I don't think anything else too exciting happened. We were able to spend a good two hours Friday night searching for our family. We were tracting in a pretty dang wealthy neighborhood around 7:30. It was already pitch black. Well this one man let us in and he was muslim. So we were just sharing beliefs and having a good discussion when all of the sudden he stands up and looks out the window. He was a little startled because there was three police cars driving slowly down the road with spotlights searching up and down the streets. We were in a wooded area so there were trees everywhere so it sort of added to the situation. It looked like they were searching for a fugitive. Well, to our dismay, they pulled up into his driveway. DANG IT! Well he went and opened the door and asked what they wanted and they said they were looking for two men dressed in black. He pointed inside his house to us and said "Yeah they're inside my house. They're missionaries teaching me about Jesus." Well we were caught! No where to go. So they all came in and told us we had been a disturbance to the neighborhood that they had received multiple phone calls of us ringing doorbells for 5 minutes straight and banging on doors and running and all these other disruptive things that we as missionaries love to do.......yeah we were innocent! I promise mom this time "it wasn't me!" So we just politely explained what we were doing and they told us to try to be more careful and left. I won't lie it got me down a little bit. Made me hesitant to knock on someones door because I didn't want the cops called again. Elder Fielding luckily got my spirits up by explaining that it was simply satan trying to stop us. I DON"T THINK SO! It was a fun experience.

Well, things are great. The Lord is taking care of us. I weigh 179. It's filling in a little differently then it did with drew though :) haha In a good way. We had a mission conference this transfer. It never happens. The whole mission is going to meet together and one of the 12 is coming to visit with us and also H. David Burton? Is that his name. He's presiding bishop I think. So them and two 70's are coming so we'll have a lot of authority in the room. It'll be sweet...It's going to be a fun next few weeks. I'm excited. It's good to hear about the family. Tell Olivia thank you for the picture! I loved it. Totally made my day! I'd draw her a picture back but...... I stink. :) So our car has been damaged from a wreck that happened before I got here and it's just now getting fixed so we are driving the assistants mini van for the next few weeks. It's sweet! I know that means nothing to you all but I just thought I'd share. It makes me miss driving our big BMW. Well I love you all so much. I hope this letter was beneficial. I'm doing my best to serve like a champion everyday. I definitely fall short sometimes, but the Lord is helping me along. Continue to pray for us that we'll find our family. I know they're prepared! I hope to here from you all next week. Take care.

Elder Norton#2