Oct 28, 2013

Hello family and friends! Greetings from Henderson, NV!

Some of the highlights this week include:

Inventing a new lunch: a grilled cheese sandwich with an egg in it, used as a bun for a hot dog. Add chili on top and you have a monster of deliciousness. It was very good and I had it all over my face! 

Having a dog puke ALL over the floor in the middle of a lesson. It took us all by surprise! The poor dog had been whining before and no one understood why. After he up-chucked and interrupted a very spiritual point in the meeting, he was just fine!! He then proceeded to lick the Elder's Quorum president's hand (who arrived after this event) the entire time during the closing prayer. NASTY. 

This week has been great! We're finding a lot more people to teach and we can feel the work increasing. We are finding more things to fill our time that have turned out to be productive and beneficial to the work. This next week we have our ward Trunk Or Treat, which should be a very fun activity with tons of new faces and people to meet! 

This week I had a very great experience. We went on exchanges again and I stayed in the area once more. My personal study that morning greatly revolved around the question "Where should I go?" As I studied, I came across three verses in the Doctrine and Covenants that say that the Comforter would lead me where to go. All three used the word "Comforter." The Comforter is another title for the Holy Ghost, but I wondered why they would use the term Comforter instead of Holy Ghost or Spirit. As I pondered I found a verse in Moroni 8 that says that the Comforter fills us with hope and perfect love. I discovered that as we are filled with hope, which provides the motivation and goals to keep moving, and with perfect love, which casts out all fear, we are then in a position to act and be guided. I tried to apply that during the rest of the day and I had two unique, incredible experiences where I was led by the Comforter to someone who needed to speak with us. I know with all my heart that God answers prayers and that miracles are possible if you ask and have faith. Don't be afraid to ask for miracles. Pray for them with all your might, then go and do your best to make them happen, being filled with hope and perfect love, and I promise you that you will feel the guidance of the Comforter. It is more subtle than can be described, but if you are doing the Lord's will, He will never let you fail. I love you all! Be safe and stay close to the Lord!

Elder Norton

October 21, 2013

Happy 2 months! How weird is that? Doesn't seem like it at all.

 

The weather here is getting SO NICE. It's beautiful out here and biking feels great. I understand why people live here now. I didn't before.... too hot. The desert is quite beautiful at times! I've been kept safe, which is such a blessing. We started our second transfer, so a new 6 week period has begun. I stayed in my area with my companion, although some missionaries got transferred to new areas. My trainer will probably be transferred next time and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be training a new missionary.... YIKES.

 

This week I want to express my gratitude to all of you. I have felt the affects of your prayers. I have been uplifted and sustained by your prayers and I know it comes from you because there isn't much different in what I'm doing or how the work is. But I have felt a spiritual power that I know is a blessing from our Heavenly Father. He truly lives. He truly answers prayers and He is so invested in our well-being that we can't even comprehend it. I'm so blessed to be representing Jesus Christ. That is a privilege that I am so humbled to accept. The Lord lives and the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been fully Restored. Truth exists and can be found. Come and see what this Church has to offer and I promise you that the teachings of Christ will bless you no matter what your lifestyle is. I truly believe that. I have come to know that for myself. Thank you for your support to me and my family. I love you all!
Elder Norton

October 14, 2013

Can you believe that one transfer is already over? I've been here for 6 weeks already! Weird weird weird. It's gone by so fast and so slow. It's kinda hard to remember what life was like before this! This week has been awesome and difficult. Most weeks are. 

On Tuesday, we did this thing called an exchange. That's where a missionary from one area switches with a missionary in a different area for 24 hours. It helps us learn from other missionaries, other people, and a great experience. HOWEVER! My companion was the one who went out to a different area and I was left in charge of ours! It was so difficult but I learned a ton. It was incredible how when I really listened to the Spirit and asked the Lord where we should go, miracles happened. It was a successful day and I saw a lot of progression in myself. The Lord answers prayers. Every day I see that more and more. He's shaping me for what's to come. It's hard to be patient, but I trust in His timing. For all those who want to know my favorite Conference talk, it's so hard to pick just one. But I'd probably say either Elder Ballard's, President Uchtdorf's (Both of them) and President Eyring. There's some incredible promises in there. I know that we have a Prophet on the earth. What an incredible blessing. Thank you all for your prayers and your letters. I barely have time to write letters, but I will try to get to as many as I can. May God bless you as you do your best to learn of Him. I promise that there are blessings that He wants to give you and that if you do what He asks, they can be yours. This work is so real. With the world moving farther and farther away from the Lord, it's so great to know that God is unchangeable and that happiness comes from the Gospel. 

All of my love, 

Elder Norton

First week in October

Hello world! Is there really more people out there? My whole world is very small here for the moment and it's probably going to be so for a long time! But that's good and how it should be. 

This week was bizarre. The first half of the week we had almost  no appointments and ended up biking more than 20 miles every day. Yeah, it was SUPER tiring. My legs felt like jelly afterward. Good exercise though. The second half we had tons and tons of meetings, trainings, and General Conference, where we listen to the Prophet and the Apostles as they tell us the things the Lord would have us know at this time. So we had very minimal proselyting between Friday and Sunday. Yet the work still continues to go forward. 

In answer to the question of why I named my email what I did, I'll relate this experience. My companion and I decided to go find a less-active member of the church. We went to the address according to the records and approached it. As we did, we noticed that on the street and up the driveway was a large chalk drawing. This drawing started on the street as a potted plant, with the stems and vines going up on the driveway. On the pot was the word "JUDGE." This plant was huge and extended all around the driveway and up it. It looked as though it had been done by a child, yet on different spots on the leaves and branches was the word yet again: "JUDGE," JUDGE," "JUDGE." It was honestly kind of creepy. It would have been sinister if it had been nighttime and drawn in something else besides pink chalk. At the top was the words: "Judge Forever, Dog by choice."

Yeah, I have no idea either. That will remain a mystery for forever. If you have any insights, please share! Another mystery I'd like to pose for you is this: Are pineapples and palm trees related? they have to be. They're so similar! Someone find out for me! 

The Lord works by small and simple means. It's the every day decisions that affect eternity. By making small choices, we learn how to make larger ones. I have been trying to choose to see every day as bright and full of hope. It has helped my spiritual strength so much. We are the masters of our lives. We can use the wonderful gift of agency that God has given us as a tool to better our lives. I've seen so many people enslaved by addictions here to all sorts of things, including gambling. Addiction destroys agency. But when we follow the commandments of God, we're enabled, put into a state to act, and have the Holy Ghost with us. Make the small decisions to draw closer to God. Decide to be optimistic and it will greatly better your life. Thank you for your prayers and support. I love you all and keep you in my prayers as well. May the work of the Lord move forward!

Love, 

Elder Norton

September 30, 2013

Hello there!

What a week! We've been blessed with some great miracles and difficult trials. It's been a whirlwind of a week. One of the highlights of this week was definitely from a little boy. As we were biking through an area, he was playing with all his friends. Soccer or something, I don't remember really. As we went through, he told said: "Hey! Are you guys secret agents???" I felt so cool after that. Looking so official. Then it made me want to really take that to heart and become better at doing Secret Service. (see what I did there?) So I challenge you all to be Secret Service agents and do something for someone without letting them know who did it. I promise you'll feel the love of the Lord in your life. 

I'd like to talk about one experience we had this week. This was.... Friday? I think it was Friday. It had been a long day with not a lot of success. We had visited a few people, talked to a few more, but no one really wanted to talk to us or didn't have the time. We went to help our Bishop move from one neighborhood to the next (it's a long story) and then we went to visit a potential investigator. I had gotten a flat tire earlier that day so we were walking and getting rides from members. We went to visit someone who said they'd be interested in learning more. We got to the house but the person we talked to wasn't there and the other people there told us in no uncertain terms to leave. I felt pretty discouraged. This was at the end of the day and we had a good 20 minute walk back to our apartment. We decided to visit just one more house, a member of the Church, before we started back. When we got to this man's house, he invited us in and we visited with him for a bit. We asked if there was anything we could do for him and since most people say no when we ask that, we were surprised when he thought for a moment then said "Well, yes there is." He told us that his kids were struggling to find what was right in life. They didn't know which influences to listen to about right and wrong and had fallen off the path to God. He told us that he had been trying to help them for years but couldn't do it on his own. He asked us very humbly and sincerely to help him, to love his kids, get to know them, and to teach them true doctrine of God. We had never met him before, yet he trusted us with this because he knew who we represent and what we do. I was very humbled by that. On the walk home, I prayed the whole way. I poured out my heart to God that He would bless this man and his family and help us as missionaries to know how to help them. I prayed very hard for him and his kids. After I finished praying, I pondered for a few minutes. I was then taught this from the Holy Ghost: 

Many times we say "Thy will be done" as a message of passive resignation and a surrendering of what we feel might be right. I was taught that when I say "Thy will be done," it should be an active declaration of faith and movement. His will be done, yes. But I want to be a part of making His will be done here on earth. I want to do what He wants me to do to move His work along. No longer is it a submission of my will to His, but now an alignment of my will to His. I will pursue His will as my own, for I know that's how He will shape me and make me be who He sees me as. 

I love you all and pray for you always. May we keep in our minds and hearts to actively seek His will, then to do it. 

Elder Norton 

Aunt Carrol!

Matt got to see my Aunt Carrol in Las Vegas! He looks great!

1 Month

Hello all!

Well, as of last Saturday, I have officially been a missionary for a month. Crazy huh? It hasn't seemed like a month has it? More like a year.... This has been a super long month full of more growth than I ever imagined. Most people say it flies by. Perhaps it does, but I'm not going to let a single moment pass by me without soaking in what I can. This is the one time in my life that I get to dedicate everything in my life to God. What more can someone ask for?

This week has seen some interesting things such as:

Meeting a shirtless man from the Ivory Coast who told us he was an African Prince, singer, and dancer, who also told us about Jesus for like 30 minutes (he finally got around to understanding that we actually know who Jesus is...)

Teaching two different Chinese women at once, one of whom did not speak English like AT ALL. Thankfully we had a member of the Church there who could speak Chinese and could help us. It was super hard because I've never actually had to explain the concept of God before to someone who has never heard of such an idea. It really reaffirmed my faith that God is real and that He loves each of His children. 

Was asked if the Great Flood in the days of the Old Testament prophet Noah was a result of 30 foot tall giants in the land. (Don't really see how that would work.....)

And other things of missionary life. I'm getting used to this work now. I've really had to forget about myself and what I want and change my heart to that of what the Lord wants and how I can help his people. Changing your heart is difficult, impossible without the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But it's so worth it. I have no other desire than to do what the Lord wants me to do. That is my goal and my aim. Because I'm so very far from perfect, I fall down a lot. Every day, in fact. But as I make the effort to think more about the people I'm serving, the Lord raises my spirits and helps me to know that I'm doing right. This week I've been able to appreciate the tender mercies of the Lord. Things that I would other wise take for granted. Like food to eat, a place to rest, the opportunity to exercise, and probably the greatest gift I could ever have, the knowledge that my Heavenly Father loves me, watches over me, and answers my prayers. The knowledge that Jesus Christ is my Savior and suffered not only the penalty for my sins, but also every hard thing that I've ever gone through. He did that for me so that I would never have to be alone. I can't even begin to express that love I have for Him. That's why I'm out here. It's because I love the Lord. I know He lives. I know He is present in our lives if we seek for Him. I know that the message I have to share with people is the best way we can get closer to God in our lives. I know this and I can not deny it. Thank you all for your prayers and support. It blesses me more than you know. Keep moving onward. The Lord can direct your path, but you have to get moving first. Do your best to follow Him and you will see His hand. I love this Gospel. I testify as a representative of Him. 

All of my love, 

Elder Matt Norton