Got a Date for Heading to Mexico!

....So the mission is going well, all of our investigators lost their baptismal dates though. I don't know much about the Visa, they just sent me a letter telling me they are still working on it. Agghh! So I am trying to convert my friends back home too. I am Skyping them and they have promised to read the book of Mormon. It is so hard to get people to keep commitments here.

So we didn't go laser tagging this week, instead we played basketball. It is harder to have cardio up here. I gave my first talk in church last week, and then that night I gave another talk on missionary work that members can do. Oh, I just got a call from the mission office. I am going to Mexico on february 17. Woohoo!!!  MMMMMMEEEEEEEXXXXXXXIIIIIIICCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

NOTE: Do you think he's excited?

Latest email - the work is going forward

So this week so far has been amazing. We had the privilege to go to the temple in Brigham City today, and we are playing laser tag again today. The Lord has super blessed my companion and I this last week. We had the goal of 11 lessons with a member present by Sunday, and on Saturday night we only had seven. We prayed hard, and never thought a negative thought on Sunday. Our only planned lesson for Sunday cancelled, and we had an hour long meeting after church, and then a two hour ward activity as well, giving us four and a half open hours to just find people. My companion and I just packed a lunch, found three different members to go with us at different times, and skipped dinner (we let the other missionaries have our dinner appointment) and at the last moment, were able to get exactly four lessons. Since then (Monday I guess) we have had four more, with two planned today, and another nine already planned for the rest of this week! The Lord is amazing!

On another note, one of the missionaries here prayed to win an I pod, and did! He won a seventh generation touchscreen I pod nano with sixteen gigabytes of information. I haven't gotten any paper mail in over a week, which means hopefully I will get a lot very soon. :)  When I tell people I am from Washington everyone asks me if it snows there, and also if I like the forest and the mountains. They are surprised when I say, we have a desert and as well, that it snows there. Still haven't received word about a visa, oh well. I have been pretty worn out from the work in the last few days. There is a new woman who wants to get baptized, but her family and her ex are against it. She even has witch doctors from Mexico who are cursing her with charms and spells. We testified of the power of God to expel all evil though, and the spirit was very strong in our lesson. We brought her outside, showed her the stars, and the moon, the grass and the trees, and told her the Lord has power over all, and would protect her.

I am not good at just talking about everyday stuff, so just ask me some random questions, and I will be able to answer them. Oh, I took a huge, really expensive test by gallop survey services, (paid for by the mission) to tell me what my talents are. They are pretty interesting, take a look. 

NOTE: I don't think he would care if anyone wants to see his results of his  Gallop survey.  Just email me and I will send it to you if you didn't get a copy of it.

Email from January 7th that should have been posted prior to the last two posts...ooppss!

we have a lady who is trying to get married so she can get baptized, but her husband got deported, so there might be some problems there. We visit many people, but they have a HARD time keeping commitments and teaching appointments. We keep pressing forward though. 

Everyone feeds us well though. We haven't gone one night without eating! I have had Guatemalan food, Mexican food, food from Honduras, Chile, Peru, Argentina, and all these people buy ingredients from their home country so it is super authentic!

I am feeling pretty well, I got sick the other day and just cleaned the apartment. It just won the golden plunger award for the cleanest apartment in the whole mission. I am proud of that. :) We are trying to get investigators active, but the Spanish branch meets at nine now! Ahhh! They hear that and get uncomfortable. Oh well. I don't know when I will head down to Mexico, and I might get as little as two day's notice. I have actually gained ten pounds. I am back on the Atkins diet, and am gaining a lot of weight because I do ten push-ups or twenty sit-ups or eight pull ups or ten dips every time I walk through a doorway at the apartment. I am definitely dancing, and the Elders are slowly learning. I also learned how to juggle! A member is going to let us use his punching bag and gloves to work on cardio as well.

...I pray for you, all of the family, and my friends, every night before I go to bed. I hope you have a great January. Look up on youtube the dance of the parachicos. It is a celebration that takes place in Chiapas for most of the month of January. One of the members of our Spanish ward here is from Chiapas. It is great! He fed is Chiapan food last night. He said when I get there I will be eating a lot of bugs. Hmmm...

I gave my first 3 blessings for the sick this month. I need to practice those in Spanish...

Love you all,

Que les Vayan Bien,

Elder Norris

 

Email from January 14, 2014

Elder Norris sent this and the Mission Newsletter from the previous post early on p-day. Can you tell by the last two sentences?

...Debbi drew me some pictures which was awesome, she drew me riding a jaguar with a book of Mormon in my hand. She drew me saying something very clever: " I can teach you about the book of Mormon or how to swing dance. Either way, you will turn out better". So funny! Turn out better spiritually, or turn out better as in the swing dance move. Ha!

Well, one of our investigators is getting married this Saturday, and she is getting baptized on the 25th. Looking forward to it. We also have two other investigators targeted for the 25th. It might be a big day for the ward. There is still snow on the ground here. Anything you want to know about the mission? I can't really think right now. I am about to go play laser tag!

Your Grandson,

Elder Norris