March 2011

March 7, 2011

Dearest Family,

This week has probably been the most tiring week of my life! Elder Robbins is the coolest person on earth! Mom do you remember that comedian Greg Hahn? The crazy guy who "likes to throw staplers! BLAHHAA!" He reminds me so much of that guy. I think we laugh too much together. It's going to be a good transfer :) So this last week we've been off traveling working with other missionaries. It's a blast doing that. Another missionary and I were out one night and found this awesome family. The mother said the closing prayer and just starting crying. She talked about the chaos that has been in her life the last year and that this was the first time she had felt peace since that. I don't take any credit for what we did. I'm so grateful that the spirit is with us. It changes peoples lives. Elder Robbins and I also taught a Potentially Active family this week who has a 10 year old son who has not been baptized yet. They're such a wonderful family. We just talked about Jesus Christ and the blessing of his example to us. The young boy started talking about all the things He did in his life and brought up baptism. We started to talk about the importance of Christ being baptized. It was a spiritual lesson. At the end Elder Robbins and I were at a loss of words what to say. So we just waited. We were silent and didn't speak. After about 15 seconds the dad said, "well son, what do you think?" The boy quickly replied, "I want this in my life dad." It was amazing. The dad set up a return appointment for the next week and we had a kneeling prayer together. The young boy said it. When we got off of our knees the father was in tears. The spirit was just working so powerfully with all of them. It was a great experience. We're excited to see them next week.

So big news of the week....RHONDA WAS BAPTIZED!!! Elder Robbins and I went and taught her last wednesday at the church outside on the lawn and just talked about the past experiences she's had while investigating the church. We helped her recognize all of the spiritual experiences she's had and how Heavenly Father has given her answers that this is true. We told her we would be having another baptismal service on Sunday and committed her for it. She asked if she could do it before church so she could receive the Holy Ghost during church so we definitely took advantage of that and had the service Saturday evening. It was great. There wasn't a ton of members that came but the spirit was definitely there. She has been looking for peace her whole life and said up until this point she has never felt that before. She's grateful that her search is over :) I had the opportunity to confirm her yesterday and that was a great experience also. Ft. Knox was great as well. We were able to baptize a soldier yesterday morning. Elder Robbins was able to perform his first one in the ol' horse trough. It was great. We finally have the portable one ordered so it should be here in the next few weeks and we'll be able to start baptizing at Cav Chapel where we teach. Either way it's a great blessing. Definitely an experience few missionaries get to have. Thankfully the joy outweighs the stress. I don't know why I do it but I do. The Lord always has come through for me so I don't know why I continue to stress out. Our zone leader calling has a little more planning and work to do because we cover Ft. Knox so having to explain all of that to E-Robbins and try to plan for it and work with other missionaries this week definitely drained me. It does feel good though to go to sleep exhausted. The best part though about the whole thing is the fact that I get to wake up the next day and do it all over again. I love this calling because there is no time to think about yourself! That is where I have found the most joy on my mission is when we are focusing and thinking about others.

Fast and testimony mtg was yesterday. It was pretty good. I think the most spiritual part for me was when this little girl got up and bore here testimony. Her dad is in the bishopric and the angle I was sitting at I could see her and then his face right behind her. As she bore her simple yet pure testimony you could just see how proud he was of her. When she finished she turned around and he gave her a big hug. Idk why that was so profound to me, but it was. It just instantly made me first think about Heavenly Fathers love for us. When we do something good, I can just see Him with his harms wide open ready to embrace us. Won't that be a happy day! It trunked me out a little bit too though because it made me think of Olivia running up and sitting on Dad's lap :) I can't wait to give you all hugs! It was a great day though. We talked to Lea as well last night and had a great lesson with her. We're going to have FHE with the Steen family and teach Lea. She's so close. She proclaimed yesterday, "I know that this is true!" She is just struggling with a social concern. We're working on getting a German girl who lives in the branch that she'll attend to start pin-palling her. That should be good. We also found out that the young women's president lives in her town! Pretty sweet. I don't think that's a coincidence. We're having a really good time teaching her though.

Good to hear about the family. The family room looks sweet! I would say mom the only thing that I "need" would be like a 4 or 8 gig flash drive. We have to save a lot of files as zl's and my other one is full from pics and videos so I need to get a new one. If it wouldn't be a hassle I wouldn't mind you sending one :) How's drew doing? I guess I could just email him and ask? Is their piano thing working out? I hope so. Things are just going great here. E-Town is awesome. Elder Robbins and I are having a blast. Couldn't be better. I hope this letter is long enough. I try to write down important things that happen in my planner so when monday comes I know what to write. Hope you all have a blessed week! Love you with all my heart! Serve Like A Champion Today!

Elder Norton #2

March 14, 2011
Dear Family

WHAT!?!?! TaZ Lunt is on a mission!?!?!?!!? THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was just scanning through the monthly missionary letters because I really don't have time to just sit down and read all of it and read Elder Jordan Lunts letter and he mentioned taz? That's the same taz that used to live in duncan right? He's serving in Madagascar too!?!?! I guess it's probably bad of me to sound so surprised he's on a mission. I don't know I guess when we worked together a long time ago in the fields of Dean Lunt's farm I never thought he would choose to go. Rebuke for not having faith in the gospel. Isn't it amazing how it changes people's life, and I'm not referring to Taz either. It's just crazy how transforming it is! It's pretty cool to hear about kendalls experience in the MTC. Crazy he's out already. So is Dave done for good? It sounded like he had some great experiences the 5 months he was out. It feels like he learned the things the Lord needed him to learn. He will be a great example to the young men that are preparing to serve from Virden.

So sweet news, the portable baptismal font came in last week for Ft. Knox. It supposedly was going to get here in April but seems like the Lord had other things in mind :) From the beginning when I arrived here the leaders said that our numbers of sacrament attendance and non member soldiers attending would greatly decrease because they sent soldiers in basic in infantry to Ft. Benning Georgia. So basically statistically because half the numbers of soldiers coming into basic dropped they thought that it would drop the numbers coming to our church......WRONG AGAIN!!! (rafiki from the lion king! haha) I don't know mom you've really sparked a vision of faith in me. I just felt from the beginning that because we were moving to a bigger chapel, there was probably a reason for it. Bigger chapel, more soldiers coming, more baptisms, more children prepared. That was my thought. So, as week after week goes by, our numbers keep going up. 3 weeks ago we had like 81 attend. Next week 86, last week..................126 baby!!!!!!!!!! So yeah obviously we all need to have more faith because more and more soldiers are showing up to church. Not all of those are non members but the larger the numbers get the more the non members show up. As far as success with baptisms, Ft. Knox has always had success here. We actually are way behind in baptisms then what it has had in previous years but that is because of issues that I will address later. Needless to say, we are seeing miracles take place here and it's a blast. Kinda stressful because missionary wise Elder Robbins and I are in charge of everything so it definitely keeps us busy. Once in a lifetime opportunity that's for sure. The Lord has blessed me so much. Elder Robbins and I taught the restoration to our new class of soldiers yesterday. It was definitely the most spiritual lesson I've been a part of since I've been here. I don't know what it was, but as we just shared the simple truths of the Restoration, I felt the spirit so strong. As the soldiers accepted to be baptized 3 weeks from now it was just witness of the power of the spirit. It's amazing that your testimony can still grow of the restoration even when you've taught it hundreds of times for 18 months. BLAHH! Bad llama! Don't mention that number. Anyways, Ft. Knox is awesome!

Investigator wise things are going great. Lea is being persistent with her parents and really trying to help them understand her desire to be baptized here. We have located her future YW's Pres in Germany. We're working on getting a young woman from there to start pin palling Lea. The Potentially active family we taught last week showed up to church! It was awesome! They were all smiles! alsdkjfasldkfja;slerhj;ahsdfkja.skdfhas;ofjbnas! Sorry Elder Robbins is banging on my key board. Anyway we're striving to spend more time going out in our own area and finding new investigators. It's hard. We work a lot with our missionaries in the zone. This week we're going out with 3 different sets. Oh, Elder Whipple is in a 3some right now mom in Radcliff. They serve right next door to us. Kinda like Duncan-Virden. E-town- Radcliff. So I get to see him quite a bit. He's hilarious. They're on bikes so he's definitely LOVING it.

I haven't received the flash drive yet but I'm sure it will come today or tomorrow. Thank you so much for that momma. Sounds like things back home are shaping up. Stay positive. I love just knowing that something better is always coming. We're having super success here in E-town. I have probably not spent over 10-15 hours of my own finding since I've been here and we've been blessed with 6 baptisms! We have 4 dates right now with some other great people and are working on increasing that number. That doesn't include Ft. Knox. Since I finally set my goal of people I know the Lord could allow me to baptize, I just passed my half way point. I have a solid 6 months left and I know I can hit my goal! He's just placing me in areas that are full of people who are prepared. The people I have come in contact with on my mission have really just blessed my life!

Welp, I think that will wrap up the week for me. I guess to end I just want to share with you all a portion of my testimony that has really stuck out to me the last couple weeks. Ever since President Glende gave me the opportunity to share the first vision in our first mission training in Louisville, back a long time ago on my B-day, I have heard countless missionaries share in their testimonies the experience they had when they were there and I shared it. Now this isn't to brag, but every missionary that is still out here that was present for that, in some way or another has thanked me for sharing that. In almost every meeting we have as ZL's or mission leadership trainings that experience is brought up. I was simply praying for an answer that I had a testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and of the first vision, and by President Glende asking me to share it, not only was my testimony re-affirmed but it strengthened many other missionaries as well. Missionaries who have gone home have written me and thanked me for that experience. It was the first thing Elder Robbins mentioned to me when we were put together that that was an experience that really helped him. My testimony has grown so much of that. So what I wanted to share was that I not only know that Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, but that they are two separate beings, with separate perfect and glorified, immortal bodies of flesh and bone. Every time since then when I have been given the opportunity to share the first vision, when it comes to the part of the young boy sharing that he saw, "two personages," the spirit rings loud and clear to me that that is true! Every time the words "two" comes out of my mouth I instantly recognize the spirit. I don't know why, but it has stuck out to me ever since I had that experience back in August. I know what I know and no one can take that away from me. Because that experience happened, I am in Kentucky typing an email to my family :) I love it. This is the Church of Jesus Christ. What a blessing to share the restored gospel with the children of the Lord. Look for opportunities to share it with your friends. They need it. It will change their lives. It's changed mine. I thank the Lord for allowing me to serve a mission. There are things I just could have never learned by myself if I had not of chosen to do so. Never think twice about making the decision to go. The blessing are far greater then anything you could stay home for. I love you so much family for all the support you've given me and for being patient with me when I have a bad day. You're in my prayers. I hope you all have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Norton#2

March 21, 2011

Dear Family,

I receive the scholarship info email or whatever that was. It was basically in a different language to me I had no clue what it meant. So........... yeah mom is there anything you want me to do with it? We have another training meeting in Louisville on Friday. I'm sure I'll receive the EA letter before then so I'll try to sign it and get it back to you before then. I haven't received the flash drive yet so I'll still be looking for that in the mail. Thanks again for sending that mom! So real quick about the 5500 dollar thing. Is that on top of the scholarship I already have at EA or what? I emailed my mission president and asked him to write me a letter. I sent him your address so I guess just look out for that.

Well you definitely gave me some interesting news. Crazy that Mike is married! Who was the lucky gal? Is she a local? Is he at EA right now? What's the status on Chase? Crazy home life! Who needs it BLECK! That's sweet about Sister Mosley. I hope she gets better quick. Keep me updated on how the song plays out. It's crazy how talented she is. I kick myself in the butt every time I see a piano. I wish I could play. I really do. Maybe one day I"ll be able to pick it back up again. I am definitely grateful though for all the hard work Sister Mosley put in with me. I know from the outcome it may not seem like she helped me at all but her sacrifice of time to try to share her talent with me definitely means a lot. I just wish I would have realized how much I could have used it later in life. Oh well. How was Drew's spring break? Did he just go visit his mission or what? Let me know how Jobo's contest goes. I'm excited for him. So I watched a little clip on lds.org of the gila valley temple celebration. If you go to the youth section its the first thing that shows up. It was pretty cool looking. Definitely saw some people I know. I couldn't catch any of my siblings though. About BYU. Yeah I hear about them all the time. To be honest the first time someone asked me about their point guard I had no clue who it was. I didn't even know he played for BYU. I can't lie it's been a huge struggle for me not to keep up with it or ask members how they're doing. It's harder then last year. I guess I long for the spotlight of playing ball and being the one making the shots. It's hard to keep it out sometimes. Not knowing if you'll ever play again. I won't lie I wish BYU's stud point guard was me, but hey, maybe my time will come. Who knows. I just know that I am glad I made the decision to serve.

So Lea is going crazy! She wants to be baptized super bad. We're praying that missionaries will have the opportunity to teach her family so their hearts will be softened. We'll let you know what happens. We're working with some other folks and things are progressing along. We're working hard to help the zone overcome their fears in finding as missionaries. It's scary to go up to a car and knock on the window to talk to someone. Or if they're on their cell phone or in mid conversation. It's scary to interrupt someone to try to share the gospel. We're trying to help the missionaries overcome those. Dad is so inspired. He sent me a sweet talk about overcoming Goliath. We're going to send a copy to every missionary in our zone. Can't wait!

Well the work is good. The Lord is blessing us. We're working hard and trying to be diligent and obedient. Mom, for an early birthday present, or maybe even until my birthday either one is fine, could I get another set of scriptures? Payment wise I don't know if I have money in my account or not and I know that they're not cheap so if you want to wait on it I'll definitely have patience. I have never had a set of scriptures with my name engraved on it and thought it would be cool to get a set as a missionary with Elder engraved. I don't know if you've ever seen the compact set the church has. Not the quad but the Bible and Triple separate from each other. It's more of a want then a need so don't make it a priority. Just throwing it out there. http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product3_10705_10551_21229_-1__197035
http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product3_10705_10551_21225_-1__197050

Yeah I've looked at them dang it :) Elder Christopher L Norton. Anyway, enough about me. Sorry. I'm really looking forward to general conference. I missed a session last october and I felt like I had been robbed! So it will be exciting to watch. I also love telling people we have a prophet on the earth and can actually invite them to come listen to him speak. I love every week that goes by. I feel like a part of my testimony is strengthened about another principle of the gospel. We learn everyday. I love it. Well I think I'm going to get running. While typing this letter I have been doing a thousand other things so I apologize if it's scatter brained. I pray for your success daily. It makes me happy to hear how the Lord blesses us even though we're all apart. It will be a happy day when the family is ALL together again. Can't wait! I love you all a ton! Hope you have a great day!

Elder Norton #2

March 28, 2011

Dear Family!

Crazy to see Mike in a wedding picture. I am happy for him. Drew's NEXT!!!!!! Does that seem weird to you at all mom or dad? You all are gonna be grandparents within the next 2 or 3 years! Anyway, we're done with that conversation. The work is going great!

Yes Lea is on hold for now. She is doing great. Coming to church, reading the scriptures and everything, just no permission to get baptized. Crazy experience for me. We had a couple investigators come to church that I have been working with since December. They've been on and off as far as teaching them goes but they finally came. I am hoping this means they're serious now because they have a lot of potential to be great members of the church. More importantly their family is in NEED of the gospel. It's hard for people not to accept or at least to take their time accepting something that can bless their lives so much. It's hard to explain that to someone also. If I had a million dollars and said if you do these things you can have it, sadly I think some people would progress a lot faster. I am just so grateful for the spirit because it puts things into a lot better words then I could ever say. I have been amazed at some of the things I have seen people overcome and do because of the things the spirit has said to them. Things you would never think someone could overcome they overcome because of it. I think I told you about the man we ran into last week while I was on an exchange with another missionary. Used to serve in the stake presidency. Was a worthy temple recommend holder. Was living the commandments. But, because of some other peoples opionions he was persuaded to walk away from all of that and asked that his name be removed. As we walked away not even going to let him try to argue with us, he kept yelling for us to read something Brigham Young wrote. I simply responded by telling him to read Moroni 10:3-5.

3 "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

I underlined (bold) some things that stuck out to me. I know I have said this time and time again but I love that we gain our own personal testimonies through the power of the Holy Ghost. When the spirit bears witness to us that something is true, we can declare like Elder McConkie did so powerfully in his final testimony of the Saviors divinity, "This I know of myself independent of any other person." If anyone does the things the book of mormon asks you to do, they WILL gain a testimony of its truth and divinity, I promise you that. Everyone who has told me that the book of mormon is false or that the cities don't exist or whatever unintelligent idea they can conjure up in their minds is because they have not put to test Moroni's challenge. They have not read it or asked God if it is true. They're afraid because they know they will receive an answer! I asked the man who fell away what he thought about the Book of Mormon. He said "well I know it's true." That makes me sad. So basically if they are fighting against the church after once being a part of it, then as Elder Holland said, they have been deceived. I am sorry that I am ranting about this. I just want to bare my testimony that I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know this not because mom or dad told me it was. Not because an apostle of the Lord told the world it is, but because the spirit of God has told me it is! I will not go on about what it means if the Book of Mormon is true. It just stands as a witness to me that where I am at right now is where the Lord wants and needs me to be. I could be doing nothing more important.

We had a mission training again in Louisville last week. It was a lot of fun. It's always good to learn new ways and ideas on how to improve our teaching. I feel like I need a lot of help. It's humbling to think about the people I have been able to see be baptized that I have actually found on my own by knocking on their door. Do you guys know how many people that is? One. We didn't say anything grand or special to Rebecca Singleton. That's what amazed me so much. We didn't teach a great lesson on her doorstep when she came out, on how much the gospel is true and how much she needed it. The reason she let us in and the reason she was baptized a few weeks later was because she had been prepared by the Lord. I think since her I have knocked on probably hundreds of other peoples doors, all of which have rejected me. To be honest, out of those hundreds of doors there were a couple that I thought I came up with something pretty clever on the doorstep. I thought I taught simply and profound. There were doors that I felt like I was a good teacher after what I said that the door then closed on me. Why? That I don't know. It just helps me know that I am weak. I still have a lot to work on. Drew mentioned this in his homecoming talk I believe. Teaching a not so great lesson near the end of his mission. It's funny how the Lord works. How he brings things to our attention. I am grateful that he has helped me recognize my weaknesses. As long as we bring those before him humbly, they will become strengths. I hope I can become who he needs me to be. It is a struggle. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family who loves and supports me through my weaknesses. I apologize to all of you for the times when I was selfish or may have offended you. I am trying to be better.

Elder Robbins and I are having a blast together. He is such a great example of service. I don't think I can count on one hand the number of days that he hasn't made me breakfast in the morning. I get busy doing other things and he just makes it for the both of us. There's always just little things that he does to try and serve me. Not for recognition or to "suck up," but because he understands the pure love of Christ. One day I hope to figure that out. I still get frustrated and loose patience and think of myself before others sometimes, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to spend two years to work and overcome that bad habit. I hope to be better when it is time to return home. It is good to hear how your weeks go. It makes me happy to know everything is going well. I hope you all can continue to keep the gospel the number one priority in your lives. As you do, you will find that the most happiness and joy will come from living it. I know this because I am doing it. Or trying at least. Have a great week. Fill me in on anything exciting that happens. I am grateful for all you do for me. I love you so much!

Elder Norton#2