June 6, 2011

My dear family!

I had a wonderful week! The first couple days Elder Thompson and I spent all the time we could searching for people to teach and baptize. Last tuesday was zone leader council so that was fun to see a lot of my previous companions at once. Wednesday we spent most of the day finding. Thursday and Friday we had leadership trainings. The first was in Louisville. We're focusing on Alma 32: 26-37 and helping our investigators have a desire for the gospel and then help them "give place" so that the seed can be planted. There was a lot of great concepts and truths I learned the first two days of doing it. I am stoked for the next 5 times this week. The hardest part was the end. We sang God be with you till we meet again. This is probably the last time president and sister Glende will be with the missionaries in a meeting like this. Everyone was in tears. I believe that angels were the ones singing because none of us could get the words out. The spirit was very strong and you could really feel the love President and Sister Glende had for their mission and for us. They are wonderful people. Evansville luckily wasn't as bad Friday. It was rough to sing but wasn't as choked up as it was in the zone in Louisville. President asked Elder Thompson and I to close each meeting with one of us bearing our testimony. He shared his in the first meeting so I did it in Evansville. It is such a wonderful opportunity to bear your testimony. Of course your heart always pounds before you get up and do it and you're nervous, but when you do you have the greatest feeling of peace. All your cares and sorrows and stress and anything bad you can think of just melts away. Did anyone in the family share theirs yesterday?

So we had two baptismal dates. One with Axxxxa and the other with Wxxxxxy. Well Axxxxa lives in a town outside of Louisville and we have been working with her through the member that referred her to us and he all of the sudden hasn't been answering his phone and we don't have her number or address and so we haven't had contact with either of them since Elder Davis left :( Wxxxxxy on the other hand is doing amazing and wants to be baptized and wants to be a member of the church. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, she just has a living condition that is keeping her from baptism. When she moved to Louisville she found a place that was cheap and worked perfect for her. The only problem is in this apartment it is rented by the rooms. So she is renting a room in this three room apartment and in one of the others rooms being rented there is a guy living in it. The apartment shares a bathroom and kitchen. So, until that is figured out nothing can really happen. They both have year leases as well So we're praying for a miracle on that one. We were hoping that both would be baptized this weekend.

Ft. Knox was amazing for me. Elder Davis and I baptized a soldier named Txxy Sxxxxl. He is amazing. When he first got to Knox he didn't pray and didn't really have a strong faith in anything. Well I'll tell you the long story when I get home but he had a battle buddy who was a member that invited him to come and as he came he felt really good and "at home" and as we taught him he didn't feel like he should get baptized because he didn't know if he was ready but as he read the Book of Mormon he said he knew that it was what he needed to do. Anyway, yesterday was his last Sunday on Knox and it has been 2 weeks since he has been baptized but he was the first one to get up and bare his testimony. It was so amazing! He has such a strong testimony. It is a bummer because when we leave Ft. Knox every Sunday, if there weren't any baptisms, to everyone else it was basically considered a failure (for lack of a better word). Because of it's history in the past of baptizing so much we just look like scrubs when we come back and no one was baptized. Yesterday was a success. I don't care what anyone else says. Brother Sxxxxl has a strong testimony in the gospel and now generations of people will be blessed because of his conversion! I believe I told you about Elder Tolman right? He was in the military before and served two tours in Afghani. He got up and bore his testimony to the soldiers. He poured his heart out to the soldiers and started to tear up and just let them know how much he loves them. He bore a powerful testimony on the power of the Atonement! It has healed him from all of the horrible things that happened to him while overseas. He told the soldiers that he knew exactly what they were going through. He has been away from his family going on 7 years now. 5 in the military and 2 at the end of his mission. He shared such a powerful testimony on the blessings of the gospel. I respect him so much! He is an amazing missionary. His testimony on the Atonement though is wonderful. I wish I could have recorded it. I'll remember the feeling forever though. Then, when we got up after sacrament meeting to introduce our classes and what we'd be teaching in Sunday school, it was my turn to explain what was going to happen. As I looked out at all of the soldiers I just started to cry. It has never happened to me like that before. I just felt so much love for the soldiers. They die for us! I have been praying for charity lately. I definitely know that I felt it for them. I struggled to get through explaining why we do what we do and what we would be teaching them but I just was so overwhelmed with a feeling of love for each one of them. It was a great experience.

Don't worry about the info that you share with me mom. I enjoy it regardless. I'll probably ask you to cut some of it out when August rolls around just to make sure I don't get trunky but it's ok. How is the thatcher thing working out for Joseph? I hope he is enjoying it. Crazy about the "fire downtown, but hey.......... I don't drive home that way." haha Sounds like you'll have tons of fun in the backyard. The house looks good from google earth :) So David is engaged huh? Not sure I know the young woman you mentioned. Is she a member? I hear Adam Wright is already engaged. I think Drew told me that. Any truth? Skyler arrives home to day as well right? He is from animas. It freaked me out hearing that because I remember hanging out with him the night before he got shipped out. He was just out of it. He kept saying my life is over haha If he only knew that his life was about to be so blessed!! It is just crazy how fast that went. I remember hugging him goodbye like it was yesterday! I guess Elder Rapier and then me right? Yikes!

Well this next week we will be going to 4 more training sessions and then one more the following week and then we're done. I wrote President and Sister Woodbury a couple weeks ago. They both wrote me separate letters last week. They have been writing all of the missionaries in the GKLM. They sound wonderful. I am excited to work with them! Everything is going great though. Elder Thompson and I are having a great time. Singles work is a lot different then regular family work. It is fun though and a great blessing. We're doing the best we can. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Sounds like some fun things will be going on. It'll just be another week come and gone. In a second I'll be writing you next week. I love you all so much and have been so blessed by the Lord. I'd like to encourage you to share the gospel with someone this week. It'll make you feel better I promise. Hope to hear from you soon! Love yall!

Elder Norton#2

June 14

Mother!

I apologize from the bottom of my heart for not writing you yesterday. I felt so terrible trying to imagine you going to the computer to check if you received my email, and then being disappointed for nothing being there. I don't ever want you to be disappointed in me. I'll try my best to never let that happen. I hope you had a wonderful week! It was neat to here about your camping adventures. I hope you feel satisfied with your efforts in helping the YW feeling their potential and self worth. I know you did a great job and will have a lasting impact on those young women's lives. I know how you feel. It always seems like the jokesters are the best speakers, but I know that silence brings the spirit, and usually means people are listening. Thank you for being such a wonderful person and sharing your humility with me. I am sure there are a lot of things that happen that could easily lead to a lot of drama. Probably more than I'll ever know ;) It seems though that you are making a conscious effort to do the right thing. I know as you do that the Lord will bless you. I love your approach of, "will this make a difference/ be important in 5 years." I have seriously considered that statement many times in the last few months. There are many small things that just get me heated that I could have really lost it over, but because that statement came to my mind, I just let it go. You have been such a miracle to me on my mission. Don't stress about what my problems are I'll talk to you about it when I get home but just know that you have helped me in so many ways to have confidence in myself and to rise up and achieve better things. It is all in our thoughts! I love you mother so much!

Yikes the clock is against me. I need to write you when I am supposed to! This won't happen again. So I had a very rebuking humbling experience this week. We were preparing to go to Lexington for one of our leadership trainings. We had to travel to one side of Louisville to take care of some things before we met up at President Glende's house. Of course we didn't want to be late so I was stressing and hurrying to get to where we needed to go. It was sad now that I think about it. Every red light I would get frustrated. Someone would pull in front of me and not go as fast as I wanted them to and I was honestly getting really worked up about it. Well as we started to head back, on the opposite side of the interstate where we were driving, there was a sea of cars lined up as far back as the eye could see. Probably a good 3 miles worth of cars and semis just stopped completely. There was an accident. As we drove by the scene there was a car flipped upside down and was completely smashed in. It was so bad that we knew that anyone who was in that vehicle probably didn't make it. As I looked at that car shredded to pieces, the thought came into my mind almost as if someone was whispering to me, "your day could be worse." I almost cried I'll tell ya. I felt so guilty. I felt so bad. I still feel terrible about it. Here I am complaining because I didn't make it through a stop light and someone's loved one or relative was probably killed in a car accident. Sometimes I need to just stop and think about how blessed I truly am. Sorry for sharing that. It was just a wake up call that I badly needed.

On to better things! There were 5 soldiers baptized at Ft. Knox this Sunday. It was wonderful. As I mentioned before 4 were first baptized and then we had a surprise at the end because a soldier felt the spirit and desired it as well. We are hoping for 5 more next week. I know as we continue to be more obedient to even the little things that the Lord will bless us tremendously. That is something we are really trying to work on as a companionship and as a mission. Put the Lord first and he'll do the rest. We had our last leadership training today. It was really good. Elder Thompson and I have just been so blessed to spend the time that we have with President and Sister Glende. They are always so positive and happy! I could probably come up with a million reasons why they could not be happy, but they still are. I love them so much! I love Elder Thompson. He is such a great example to me. The missionaries look up to him so much! So do I. He has such a love for the gospel and a desire to help those around him be better. I have a lot of confidence with him. We make a good team. Trying to serve like champions everyday. Some days I feel like the load is too much. Let me tell you though the spirit does a good job of bringing the Savior to my "remembrance." He suffered it all so he could succor us. That includes lamp post assistants. I am so grateful to know that I have a loving heavenly father, who cares about my every need. More importantly though I am so grateful to have a loving earthly mother, who cares and worries about my every need, and will do anything to help me :) I am grateful that you allowed me to make mistakes so that I could learn, but that you cared enough to teach me what was right, so that I would know how to overcome my mistakes. You mean the world to me mom! I hope you'll forgive me of my weaknesses. I hope you will forgive me for every negative or rude comment I made to you. I hope that you will forgive me for every time I didn't let you know that I cared or loved you or failed to notice or thank you when you went out of your way to do something kind for me. I just have felt extremely grateful today for the wonderful mother I have! I hope again that you will forgive me for not writing on monday. This week is going to go by quickly so I look forward to writing you again soon. I love you so much mom! In just a couple months I'll get to give you that big hug!!!! Until then, this will have to do Hope you have a good night. Give dad and the others hugs and kisses for me. I love you mom!

Love, Your Elder Christopher

June 20

Dear Family,

Elder Thompson and I had an eventful week this week. We finished up with the leadership trainings this last Tuesday. It was tough. The final meeting with President and Sister Glende. It definitely has been a blessing to get 7 doses of these trainings. I really feel like I needed it 7 times. I think the last few weeks I have been able to recognize the spirit more then ever before. It is sad how the smallest things can drive him away. Music, inappropriate language, irreverence, unclean thoughts. I think I have gained a small understanding on my mission of how important the spirit really is. Not just in missionary work but in our daily lives. Something I don't want to happen when I go home is to lose the spirit that I feel out here. Why should it change once I go home? The only fear is, all the worldly temptations will be around me. The music I listened to wasn't vulgar or bad, but it probably didn't invite the spirit at all. I guess the last few days have just been so wonderful because of spiritual experiences and I don't want that to end once I go home ya know?

Anyway, Elder Thompson and I spent most of the week traveling. Out to Evansville the far west end of our mission back to Lexington the far east end of our mission all in a day. We exchanged with some missionaries as well. Elder Eliot is serving out in the Lexington area now. He is in Berea. I spent Thursday working with him. It was a good experience to be able to work with him and talk about good ol Carrolton. He's doing well. Friday we worked with some other missionaries in the Northern Lexington area. We were helping a missionary who is struggling right now with thoughts of why am I out here. It makes me sad because he is a great missionary. Quite, not very outspoken, but very sincere! As I worked with him I was amazed at his skills as a missionary and the spirit that was with him. I hope our efforts in getting him "fired up" for missionary work was successful. We had a wonderful time and he seemed to enjoy himself while we worked with him and his companion so we're hoping and praying he'll make it through. I think about the wonderful people the Lord has allowed me to help and think of the people that He has prepared for this young man. Besides the people I have been able to bring the gospel to I also feel like there are some lessons that I could only learn while out on a mission. If he'll stay I know the Lord will bless him so much! It is great to be able to work with and help other missionaries. This week we'll be going out with 3 more companionships. Friday we'll be attending a district meeting that neither Elder Thompson nor I have been to. We are trying to become as familiar with the mission as possible. Saturday Elder Gardner goes home. I don't know if you remember him or not. I sent some pictures of he and I wearing sunglasses back in the Greenville days. He served right next door in Madisonville. We became pretty close friends. He and I drove up to the first training we had in Louisville on my birthday. It is crazy that his time is up. I guess I need to accept that it isn't going to slow down. YIKES!

So because this is a 7 week transfer, when does Elder Rapier go home? Saturday we had some missionaries who needed a baptismal interview done for one of their investigators. The person was hispanic and so we needed someone who could speak spanish to do the interview. So we had a little exchange and I picked up Elder Eyres and we drove down to Evansville and did the interview. He was Elder Rapier's MTC companion. It was kinda funny talking about it and being together. Small world. Elder Eyres goes home in 3 weeks I believe so that means Josh is about done as well right? Well I guess whenever he gets home give him a big hug for me. And a picture :)

Well not a whole not more to share. I wrote half of this letter and then we had to go pick up some more new cars. So I just got back from that. We have the first two subarus in the mission ever. They're neat little cars. I personally like the mini van we get to drive :) We were stuck in traffic for about 25-30 minutes and were weaving in and out of cars to make sure that we stayed together. It's actually a fun task. The last trip I shared with you though was hilarious. Ft. Knox went well. No baptisms but there will be hopefully a couple next week. I need to learn to rely upon the spirit more and trust in Him. Elder Thompson and I taught the first lesson yesterday and I didn't feel like I was teaching well at all. When it came time at the end I was almost afraid to invite them to be baptized because I thought that I didn't teach them well enough that they would willingly accept a date. Well, I invited them anyways and all 3 of the nonmembers in our class accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 10th of July. I was pretty rebuked. I was worrying to much about what I was saying and how well I was doing and wasn't even paying attention to the spirit. He was doing His job and letting them know what we were saying was true. Had I not invited them who knows what would have happened. I need to trust in the Spirit more that when we're sharing truths about the restored gospel and bearing testimony about it, He will let them know that what we are sharing is true. I can't let my weaknesses and doubts get in the way. I still have a lot to learn and work on.

Well sounds like by the time I get home we won't have a state left. Everything is on fire........."Run to water soldiers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I guess I shouldn't joke around about that it seems like some people really suffered some major losses. I hope they can get a hold of it. Sister Rowley wrote me and said that Joseph has started his papers? Is that right? He hasn't turned them in yet has he? Keep me updated on that please. Elder Lunt is now in the MTC now right? (josh) I am so happy for him. He is going to be a great missionary. I am sure there are many souls prepared for him. I bet he has a ton of success. I'll wrap this letter up. It is a wonderful humid day out here in Ky. It's only gonna get worse. It's going to be hard to leave in September because that is the most beautiful time of the year hear. Late September early October is when all of the colors start changing. I really love it here. I need to go and talk to someone about the Book of Mormon before I trunk myself out. I love you family. Hope yall have a wonderful week haha Talk to you in a second!

Elder Norton#2

June 27
Hey family!

This week was eventful! I have to say that I am pretty dang tired! Monday was a normal day. Computer work, conference call, and the rest of that good stuff. Monday night we drove down to sulfur well and worked with them all Tuesday. I was working with a younger missionary most of the day. We went out and were tracting and it started pouring rain on us. I remember him looking at me, he didn't ask me, but almost had the look of should we go wait it out in the car? I looked at him and said we don't have time to wait for this storm to end. So on we went. By the end of the trailer park we tracted we were completely drenched! The missionary though was grinning from ear to ear. He's such a great missionary. So much potential. I wish I was as prepared as he was when I came out. They're just getting better and better. It was a good experience to get out and work hard outside for once. Tuesday night we drove a couple hours to Lexington and spent time with the missionaries serving in Paris. We worked with them all day Wednesday. One of them is a missionary who came out with me, Elder Frandsen. He has grown a lot in the last couple years. It is neat to see the change the mission makes in people. Wednesday night we headed back to Louisville to spend our final exchange with some bike Elders. This is a story for ya~

So driving from Lexington the weather was pretty nice. There were a little bit of clouds but nothing too bad. As we were coming up on Louisville the city was just covered by a huge circle of dark dark grey clouds. It almost looked black. Still, where we were it was very nice but we could tell it was going to be bad. We were running a little low on gas so we thought we'd fill up before we met up with the bike Elders. We pulled into this gas station and noticed that everyone was outside of the stores and looking up into the sky. We thought it was like the second coming or something. We got out of the van to see what everyone was looking at and I won't lie it was a rush. We looked up and the clouds in front of us were going one way, and then the clouds behind us were going another way. Then, there was all of these little thin clouds that were floating ridiculously close to the ground that all of the sudden started getting sucked into the sky................Well I am from Arizona and have never seen that before so I was like, WHOOOOOAAAAHH, and then Elder Thompson was like WHOOOOOAAAAHHH, and then we were both like, WHOOOOAH!........................ Then we started screaming and jumped in the van and booked it the opposite direction. TORNADO!!!!!!!!!!!!! To be honest I started talking to this guy outside of the gas station and asked what was going on and he said yeah guys we're in a tornado right now. He was super calm just sippin' on his soda looking up. Well just about right when he said that all of these loud sirens started going off throughout the whole city. That was all we needed to hear. So we wished the man well and told him to say hi to Auntie Em and the wicked witch of the west for us because we wanted nothing to do with that. ha This is where the story gets dumb. Elder Thompson and I drove for awhile through the rain. It finally calmed down and the sirens stopped. So we pulled into this park where we had a pretty good view of the sky from all angles. We sat outside for about 15 minutes just watching it. Well the whole swirling upside down toilet bowl motions started happening again in the sky and so we decide to just keep watching......."What are you an imbecile Brian.....APPARENTLY!!!!!" (Comedian Brian Regan) Yeah we just sat there and watched the little thin clouds get sucked up into the sky again. I won't lie I was pretty dang scared but Elder Thompson insisted that we just keep watching. Don't worry it's not his fault if I really wanted to go we could have. Anyway, we finally decided "green skies at night, neighbor takes flight" (movie, the burbs) that it was time to go. We didn't need to take anymore advice from Ricky Butler (movie, the burbs) at the gas station. So we finally met up with the other elders at their apartment and the rest of the night was fine and dandy. We had some good thunder storms and the sirens went off a couple more times but everything was ok.

Next cool story. One of the missionaries that is serving in this bike area is from Az. On his info at the office it says he's from thatcher but he's from a little town down by the border. He went to EAC and so he just said he's from Thatcher. His name is Elder Hubbell. We started talking about people we know and things we did back home and it was crazy how much we both knew. He only went to seminar and devotionals at the institute and so I don't know if dad would remember him. He didn't remember dad. Funny story, Elder Hubbell was Elder (Josh) Lunt's roommate in the towers next to the institute back in 09 when I first came out. He was so happy when I told him that he was in the MTC headed for Bama. Small world huh. So we had a great day working Thursday talking about people we knew and eating at Jilbertos. I mentioned they're bike Elders right? haha That day definitely kicked my trash! I haven't ridden a bike since Carrolton with Elder Eliot. WOW! Maybe my last transfer Pres Woodbury will let me train and ride a bike. That would be sweet! Anywho, we had a fun week traveling and working with other missionaries. Friday we attended a district meeting that neither of us have been to before on the mish so we wanted to familiarize ourselves with it. The rest of the day we basically planned for the next week and the trainings we would be doing. Saturday we drove down to Evansville with a big van like ours and a trailer behind it to go clean out some furniture in an apartment whos area was closed down. That took up most of the day. We ate lunch on the way back with a member from Elder Thompson's old area in Jasper Indiana. Jasper to Elder Thompson is like Carrolton is to me. He had a lot of success there. It was a long day of travel. To finish of Saturday we traveled down to Elizabethtown for our Ft. Knox meeting. We did a lot of driving this week. Next week it's only getting better :) Now for the miracle!

So on Ft. Knox yesterday we didn't have anyone scheduled to be baptized. We're always looking for surprises though :) The speakers that were supposed to come were sick and couldn't make it and so they asked another missionary and me to talk for a little bit. I love being put on the spot haha Well that wasn't the good part. I spoke and the other missionary spoke and it was fine and dandy. In the mean time, Elder Thompson was in his seat just praying that he would know who in the room needed to be baptized. As he finished his prayer, there is a soldier named Brother Txxxxr that he and I are teaching. Quick history on Bro Txxxxr. He was a minister for a protestant faith. Has traveled the world doing mission trips. Knows the scriptures well, and had been coming for the past 4 months but won't commit to being baptized. Well Elder Thompson and I have been teaching him for the past few weeks and he has been feeling the spirit for sure. He has watched the last few baptisms we've had and you can just tell he really wants it. Going back to what happened. He tapped Elder Thompson on the shoulder right after he said his prayer and asked if it was possible if he could receive a blessing after sacrament. Elder Thompson knew the Lord showed him who needed to be baptized. So, he asked him when he wanted to get baptized. Brother Txxxxr said I want to be baptized right now! YAY-YUH! So he was interviewed and baptized. After the baptism we went back to teach our class. We only had one soldier in their and he watched the baptism. Brother Txxxxr decided to just come to our class after he was baptized. I hope you're following all of this. I am typing it pretty fast. Anyway, Brother Bxxxxxxxxr was the other soldier in our class. Brother Txxxxr right off the bat bore his testimony to him. He said his week was really rough and he was super stressed out about all of these different things and that when he got off the bus and started walking towards us and saw everyone's smiling faces, the stress left and he was filled with peace. He knew that he needed to be baptized. Brother Bxxxxxxxxr said he felt the same way when he comes. So again, we invited him to be baptized right then and there and he said yes. Well, Elder Thompson hurried up and jumped back into his jumpsuit and we interviewed and baptized Brother Bxxxxxxxxr. It was a miracle! Both of them weren't going to be here next week and the following week will be there last Sunday and a lot of times the drill sergeants make them stay and get everything cleaned up. This spirit is so strong at Ft. Knox! I hate leaving every week! So it was a huge blessing to be a part of that. When Brother Bxxxxxxxxr came up out of the water he started to cry pretty good. He turned and gave Elder Thompson a huge hug. It was so powerful. I have never seen a soldier come up out of the water crying. He felt the spirit very strong! I have been so blessed to be a part of so many wonderful experiences on my mission. The Lord is so good to me!

To conclude this letter, we attended President and Sister Glende's last mission home fireside last night. It was rough. I love them both so much. It is weird to think of how many of those I have been to and that that is there last one. We're excited to meet President and Sister Woodbury tomorrow though. It will be a blast. The work is going great. Elder Thompson and I are staying busy. We'll be on the road all week with President and Sister Woodbury meeting the zones and all the missionaries. It should be fun. The most joy and happiness comes from keeping the commandments. This I know is true. It brings the most blessings. The gospel is true. It is the only thing that can protect us and our families. What a blessing it is to know that we can be eternal as families. I am so grateful for my family! I hope you all have a wonderful week. I am excited to report next week and let you know how everything will be. I know it's going to be great. I love you all!

Elder Norton#2