Feliz Navidad

Feliz navidad! Oye, como estamos? 

Welcome to Christmas in Mexico! The weather is balmy 75 and sunny with 3 kings anticipated to make an appearence on the night of the 24th! haha How are you wonderful people doing? This week has been awesome! I can't believe that christmas is already almost over. It is probably the hardest part of the year for me, but I will also be sad when it is over just because I Love christmas so much! The people are nicer and more willing to hear our message. This week truly has been a week of miracles! We have been trying so hard to stay busy and spiritual everyday so that, when the moment comes, we are able to help those who have been awaiting the gospel. So to start off.... BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such an incredible blessing, but, as it was my first baptism, I was SO STRESSED!!! First off, no one came because I had been forgetful in calling the bishop and other members of the ward... :/, but luckily her friends were able to come! it was such a spiritual experience because she has truly been waiting to be baptised for such a long time. She was all smile, but when she went to go under the water, she forgot to plug her nose... SHE COULDN'T HAVE CARED LESS! :) She was all smiles when she came out! Oh, you guys probably want to know who "she" is. She is Naheli! She is 15 and lives with her neighbors because her parents are divorced and work a ton! She has been going to church for like a year, and about a month ago she showed up in our ward and we got to talk to her. She had never been able to get permission from her parents before to let her get baptized, but this last week we talked to her dad (scary looking mexican police officer dude) and after about 10 minutes of talking to him and explaining the importance of baptism, he finally said ok!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!! So we got her baptized on tuesday, but schaap had to take the pictures because my camera died....

Ok, so this story is awesome! We had contacted 2 people on friday night and we needed to contact 3 before we went home. I looked at chico and told him that we really need to talk to one more person. I look up and there is a mom, daughter, and dog. I look and chico and said "I follow you". We stopped them for a second and asked if we could take a few minutes to talk. They said yeah, but first they had to put their dog back in the house. We walked down a couple houses, and they entered the house. I really wasn't sure if they were going to come back out, but THEY DID! The mom was so kind and we started talking to her about the Family and how we really can be forever through the Help of our savior jesus christ. She loved the idea of being together forever. We also talked about the pre-existance and asked her what she expected from god in this life. She responded very simply with a smile and the word "love". I then told her that she already had that. She then told me "I want more and more and more". Elder Chico then bore his testimony about how our church has the steps to help us get ever more love from god. It was such an incredible moment, and I almost started to cry as I watch my 2 week old companion testifying of the absolute truth of this gospel. Before we left, the sister was calling us her sons and told us that we are welcome in her house whenever we want. We can't start teaching her yet though because she goes to tiangiis to sell everyday until the first week in January, but it's goin happen! 

We had the ward christmas party!!!!!!!! All I can say is that mexicans know how to throw a party! (hope that didn't sound racist or weird) It started at 5 with some hymns and a small message from our "obispo" (bishop), and then there was a skit. We then set up the tables in the chapel and everyone got seated as the missionaries served dinner. It was incredible how many people were so impatient to get their food. After everyone had eaten and we had put the tables away I just thought there might be some games or everyone would just go home... NOPE! One word: SALSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm not talking about the delicious spicy condiment haha I am talking about the dance. They pulled out a big ol' speaker and cranked it! IT. WAS. SWEET! Even though we couldn't dance, everyone else was just going crazy! And what was really cool is that they were all so different in their style and how they danced. It was like they were literally water. It was so cool to watch and I got to record a couple of songs. It was really hard for my companion Elder Chico because to earn all of his money for the mission, he was a salsa and cumbia teacher. He sat there criticing everyone's dancing and how it could be better. It was so much fun! And all the people wanted to take pictures with the missionaries! The part that made my night was that it was 10 o'clock and the second counselor stands up at the pulpit " I would like to thank all of you for coming to night to enjoy this ward activity, and I would also like to.... (I lost it at that point) and then he says "Also, I need to tell you that the party is going to end.... I don't know when, but it will probably end sometimes!!!!!!!!!!!" and everyone starting cheering and dancing some more :) haha I am pretty sure they didn't go home til like 12. We have our christmas tree up in our living room! We didn't have ornaments, but we decorated with lights and put ties around it like tinsel. I sit by it every night with the lights off and just look at it for a minute. I just love chirstmast! Also, the 12 days of christmas are AWESOME! My companion loves it cause he gets story time every night :) haha  but I am truly so grateful to have the family that I do! I am so excited to talk to them on christmas! Yes mom, i did get the package! I about cried when i read "green eggs and ham"! I am so blessed to have people like you guys (all you guys) who care about me and give me so much support! I love you all and wish you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 

I truly know that this gospel is true. It will change and affect our lives in ways that we sometimes never notice or imagine. I truly love the christmas season because it is allows us to truly remember our savior and the many incredible things he has done for us. I truly testify of the atonement. It is the door that will lead us to happiness not only in this life, but the one to come! I truly know that christ is my savior and that he lives. I know that I am here in mexico for a reason and I truly bear witness that God watches over and loves each and every one of us. I love you all and wish you the best in this holiday season! FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Love Elder Norr :)

Greetings from the hardest week of my life!

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week has been the most stressful, frustrating, irritatings, spiritual, helpful, trying, loving, helping, bipolar, free, ñalskdfjañsdlkj week of my entire life!!!!!!!! Training is so stressful! I have never had to have such a large responsibility in my entire life! I had moments like "ok, I can do this!" and I have also had moments of "I will never be good enough or adequate to train a missionary of the lord", but the message that I will have in this email is that God truly does know, love, care, and help all of us. 

Ok, so you guys probably want to know about my son, Elder Chico! I find it funny because I always called madi "chica" and so I find that a lot of the time, I just say "hey, chico, vamos" :) haha but he truly is an incredible missionary! he is almost 19, and he is from leon, Mexico. He is really organized, he wants to work hard, and he is clean. LOVE HIM! He already teaches pretty well, and all he needs is more time, but he is truly an awesome missionary, and I know that the Lord was truly watching out for me when he told President Morales to put him as my son. Before his mission, he taught latin dance classes to save money, so we dance quite frequently (not together, that would be... weird). he loves my music, and he is really chill.

Firstly, I was tell you guys a little bit about my week: PRAYER! That's it! We prayed and went to work. This is the first week that we have been permitted, and encouraged to contact people on the street, and to knock on doors, but it also needs to be as directed by the spirit. We talked to quite a few people, and most of them turned us down, but for some reason, I just felt so good to contact them and to tell them things about the gospel and love of god that they probably didn't know about before. I will share 2 experiences. My companion and I have 3 words (no, maybe, and yes) if one of us is (or might be) feeling a contact, they look at the other and say a word. The other elder then responds with a word as well. We contacted a family that was walking on the street (mom, dad, 2 daughters) we expressed our message, and to our surprise, they responded "we are actually already taking your lessons" WHAT?! I respond "what are the elders names?" They respond "I don't know, but they are..... JEHOVA'S WITNESSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" We kindly explained that we are not the jehova's witnesses and we also explained eternal families, and a little about the pre-existance. They said that we could come by sometime, and we are probably going to call them today to see when we can visit. The other, we walk by 2 women taht are just sitting talking in the street. Elder Chico doesn't really even look at me, but he says "yes" and just walks up to them. He introduces us and goes into a family topic and the comfort of truly having a plan from god in our lives. The woman gave us a couple of different answers to questions and we could see in her eyes that she wasn't happy, and that she was probably having family troubles. She said we could come visit her on tuesday at 7!!!!!!! So excited! Elder Chico and I pray so much to feel what people we should talk to in the street, and we are starting to have success, poco a poco (little by little).

Ok, so another thing. I no longer speak english. It's actually kind of sad. Elder Juarez (nephew) really wants to learn english to be abl to go to BYU, and when he asked me to talk to him in english on Sunday, I COULDN'T.... I was stumbling in my sentence structure, and was speaking about half english with the other half spanish. Also, when I teach Elder Chico spanish, I forget what words are in english... I just find it easier to speak spanish now, even to the white people. I jsut figured "hey, only have 2 years to lose myself in the culture. I can learn english the rest of my life". But I am truly loving the people, the food, and everything that this country has to offer. The only thing I still struggle with a little bit is to try to plan to visit everyone. 

ok, so my mom will have already read this when you all start reading it, and she is probably freaking out, but, I have auschter-slaughter in my left knee. I went in to doctor herrera (head mission-doctor for the country of mexico) and he felt it, and heated it for about half an hour. He then told me i was good. I got down, and told him, that it still hurts when I do a squat and stuff, and I want it to be back to normal. He disappears for a second and comes back with the biggest needle I have ever seen in my entire life! probably almost 2 inches long! I started freaking out cause I thought it was cortazon. He told me to relax and that it would fix not only the auschter-slaughter, but also fix my ligaments and muscles. I still didn't want it, but I truly trust him, especially cause he is in my ward and he is awesome. My companions elder chico had to sit on my foot as my leg was bent and i laid on the bed. The doctor put half of the shot in one side, half in the other, and in the week, my auschter-slaughter will be gone and I will be perfectly healthy again. but I can honestly say it was one of the worst shots of my life, I look and ALL OF THE NEEDLE IS IN MY KNEE!!!!! It felt so weird! Ok, I think that is all almost everything.

WE HAVE A BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After talking to and teaching Naheli for about a month, we talked to her dad and got permission to baptize her... TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited and truly know that we did absolutely nothing, but the Lord truly let us have this opportunity, and for that, I am FOREVER GRATEFUL!

Finally, I can honestly tell you guys that I have never prayed so sincerely, humbly, and frequently in my entire life. I pray probably 10 or more times a day, and then even more times with Elder Chico to help us have unity and the spirit to testify in our lessons. I truly felt completely unqualified this week, and just thought that I was too small for this work. I realize now that I was completely right... But that's the point. I truly testify that God does not put us into positions that we are ready for, but does put us in positions that he knows we are able to fulfill. I will share a very personal experience with you all. So this last thursday, we didn't work because it was The virgin guadelupe day, and we aren't allowed to be out on the streets because there is an ENORMOUS group of people that walk all the streets saying rosaries, and if they see us, well... they don't like us.... But we are all good, and I hope none of you are too worried right now. But we got to chill in the house, I made pancakes, we played boardgames with the district, and just kind of got to hang out for a day. I don't know why, but the realization of inadequecy hit me like a 1000 tons of bricks. I felt aweful. I really just wanted to go somewhere and cry. I just took a nap cause I didn't want to do anything else. I expressed my feelings to elder Chico that night when we planned, and the first thing he did was hug me. I also sat down and opened my scriptures in english. You guys know when a book opens because it has papers or something in that spot? well, that's exactly what happened. I opened to ether 12:27 (which is highlighted in red with a picture) I read it: "I give unto men weaknesses that they may be humble..., but through me, their weaknesses shall be made strong". I got another feeling that made me want to cry and tears started to bead in my eyes. I truly was hit with the even greater realizations that God is watching out for me; he knows that I am struggling, but he also knows that, with his help, I can truly help Elder Chico and fulfill my calling as a trainer.

I have already grown so much after this last week. God truly does know, love, care about, and love each and every one of us. Sometimes we won't recieve an answer as direct as I recieved, but if we pay attention to the details, we will find that the lord's hand is truly working everyday in our lives. I know that this church is true, and I can truly testify that god will prepare and support those that he calls. The power of the scriptures and pray are everything. They truly are a direct connection to god, and to answers and love. 

I love you all, and hope you have an incredible week! The work will move forward! Be a part of it!

Love Elder Nathan Norr

Oye, como están? 4 Months Out

ok, so i don't have much time because it's almost 9:30, and I am actually writing from a members laptop while my companion says goodbye to everyone. We are still together, so no one worry, but Elder Lugo has been here for almost 10 months, and everyone loves him, so we have been running all day! I have a butt-load of stuff to tell all of you guys.

First, mom, the flower poinsetta yes started in Mexico, but here it is called "noche buena" and it was discovered by Taska Guerrera, and it is gorgeous and because it grows here, it is super cheap. For a large bouquet of flowers, it is like 20 pesos, or 2 dollars. We went to visit the familly that has the poinsetta tree in their courtyard and took a couple photos.

Also, because Lugo is leaving, we have been eating with everyone, and so when i checked my weight today, another 2 kilos (5 pounds), but we had teh chance to go to an awesome seafood restaurant with the Bautista Family, and I had a HUGE PLATE of shrimp completely soaked in butter. It was delicious, but as I was eating, I could almost hear my stomach pleading "Why? Why Elder Norr? I don't want to be on the biggest loser after my mission", but nonetheless, I ate it, and it was awesome!

Last night we went to a party, and we ate like 5 times yesterday, and i have never felt soo full in my entire life, but we went to the Gonzales family and ate pasole, and after we had a party to break piñatas and then we sang a bruno mars song. It was soo funny because i broke the piñata, and so the sister went up on the deck and was about to dump it out on all of us. Elder Walker and Elder Lugo were waiting in anticipation for the dilicious goodies that were about to rain down from the heavens. The sister flipped the piñata, and out they fell..... APPLES, ORANGES, and Onions!!!!!! Walker about got knocked out, and Lugo about lost some teeth, but then we all raced to pick up the fruits and vegetables that were scattered about on the ground. 

This week has been kinda hard because lots of people have been busy, and we haven't had a lot of people keep their commitments, and honestly, I feel a genuine sadness for the people that don't let us in, or choose not to keep a commitment because I understand that they are missing out on the blessings of god in their family. I only hope that this week with my son that we will be able to soften their hearts and hlep them understand the blessings that they WILL RECIEVE when they are living the commitments we leave. 

Oh yeah, and lugo and I had to teach a general authority! In front of 2 stakes! My spanish almost completely disappeared, and I have never been so nervous in my entire life! I will tell you more later. 

I got your photos this week, and I would like to say thank you for completely trunking me out with photos of the house, and inside the house! I completely love getting your emails, and I hope you guys know that I truly recieve so much support and motivation from all your letters. 

I know this letter was really short, but I hope you all know that I love you, and hope you are doing well!

Love Elder Norr

Ok, so i just wanted to send you this picture because I'm not going to lie, My butt is FREAKING HUGE in this photo. Try to show it to all the sisters. I need some prospects! totally kidding, but love you all! Hope you like the pictures. The big group is our zone!

.......I'm going to be a dad.....

Ok, so this week has truly been an incredible week, but before everyone totally just trips out over the title that I put, I have a little story for you all. So the assistants to the president came to chew us out because the mission is really losing motivation. They were talking about people who would be training. I thought "ok, cool, no big cause I won't have to." Ok, so they get to that part and start talking about the people who are going to train the brand new missionaries that are going to come in a week. "Walker, Cumbal..... blah, bah blah," and then, "Elder Norr". I really felt like that gut wrenching feeling when you are about to get pulled over, and my expression went "deer in the headlights". Me?, "Yes, you elder Norr" and then Lugo starting freaking out and hugging me and everyone congratulated me. So, here in about a week I will have a son! I have never been nervous in my entire life because my son is either going to be latin american, or from spain, and chances are that he will speak no english. Lugo is my dad, and Also, My grandpa going home in a week; his name is elder buchanan and he came to visit us today. He is really chill, and so we took a lot of "generation photos" which was pretty cool.

We had a baptism this week! It was so incredible be cause we have been teaching this young man named alan for a coupe of weeks, and we go to his house to teach him, and he wasn't there... but his mom and all his brothers were. They have never been really religious, but we took them to a guided visit of the church building. At the end, when we were explaining baptism and showing them the font, the spirit was truly so strong, and Elder Lugo extended the invitation of baptism for the 21 of december. She was very unsure, but Elder Lugo and I bore our testimonies to her, and she ended up committing her and all of her kids to that day! SO EXCITING! The only problem is that they didn't come to church on sunday, so therefore, we have to bump their date back to the 28th. It is sometimes so frustrating because people say that they will be ready to go to church, but we pass by, knock on the door, and NO ONE comes out.... :( it is truly difficult sometimes because these people do not realize the blessings they are missing out on by not coming to church. We are really going to try to amp up our teaching this week and get our people to commit and progress more. 

But anyways, I realized that I didn't tell you guys about the baptism. So Hugo Olimpo, the first man that I baptized has a wife, and her name is guadelupe. We had another guided visit with her, and at the end (on saturday night) we were showing her the baptismal font, and Lugo extended the date TOMORROW. I wasn't sure, but I was a little nervous. She thought about it for a second, and then said "I believe I'm ready" YYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally! Lugo and his wife are now both baptized and can work on getting sealed after the temple reopens because they still need to get married (by law) but also, about a year ago Hugo had a heart attack or stroke or something that completely paralyzed the right half of his body. Well, now he can almost walk normally, and he can now open and close his right hand as well as write a little bit. He still cannot talk, but he is increasing soo much, and he told me that in about a year he should be back to normal. ONLY A YEAR! I don't leave for 2! I'm soooo excited to visit him towards the end of my mission and see how much he has improved. His family truly deserves to be blessed because they really are such incredible people. 

The spanish is coming along, and apparently it's enough to train someone, but it still is something that I pray about often. My friend brailee (Sister Ogden) wrote me and told me that Quentin L. Cook came to her mission for a talk. She told me that he said "Never underestimate the power of your faith!" I just love that! Faith is truly a principle of power!" And I truly believe that. God truly wants to grant us the desires of our heart, but sometimes we are the ones who lack the faith to recieve the blessings that we want. 

Oh, and I got to wear a luchador mask! Jacobo, a young man in our ward has about 7 masks, and we were eating at his house. We all put one on, and had a little photo shoot! It was so cool, and I really hope I can find luchador masks somewhere because they really are super cool!

One more thing. We got to go teaching with the bishop on sunday night! It is so strange because the people are so much more willing to talk to the bishop than us (makes sense though) and while we were with one couple, the bishop asked them when the last time was that they had went to the temple. These people are active members and hold stake callings, but the answer that we got SHOCKED ME SO BAD...... They thoughtfully replied "6 YEARS....." I was completely blown away! I have not went to the temple in 3 months, and I want to so bad, and it makes me sad because the temple in our mission is closing the first week in January and won't open til July..... OF NEXT YEAR! I will never get to go to the temple during my mission, but I truly bore my testimony of my love for the temple to that family, and I truly hope that they can get their recommends again to be able to go to the temple.

Ok, so i think that is it for this week, but I truly am so nervous to train! I really have felt the spirit this week as we have taught people. I try to be bold and be willing to say everything that the spirit prompts me to; it's incredible at how firm and outright blunt some of the things are that I have said after being prompted and tryed to put it off. I truly have a firm faith that this church is true, and that I am here not only to teach people about christ, but also help them find the path that will lead them to become like christ. I know that Thomas S. monson is a true prophet of God, and that the holy ghost will truly guide us if we are willing to give ear to its promptings. Our lives our good, but they can always be better if will allow christ to become an active part of it. I love you all, and I will not lie, I really was missing the U.S. on thanksgiving. I had my own "special dinner" though :) I know that this church is true and I hope you all have an incredible week!

Love you all!

Elder Nathan Norr

Well, hope there is more time this week!

Oh my gosh! The time goes by soo fast! Especially when you only have less than an hour to write everyone!

Ok, so to start off, I will tell you the story about the lady and her son that we baptized last week! It is the family of Michael, the young man that we baptized about a month ago, and we had always wanted to put a date on his mom so that she could get baptized too, but everytime we wanted to and prepared a lesson to ask her, she always went off on really weird tangents. So on one appointment, we were at her house and she was giving us hot chocolate, and we were just visiting for a minute. She told Elder Lugo and I that she needed to ask us for some advice, even though we were just some young men. I responded that yes, we are young men, but as missionaries, we are set apart to help others with their problems. She gave me a little bit of a confused look, but said nothing. The next day was the interview of her son, Jordy, and she was there with us, and we asked her what she wanted to ask us, but again, she ended up not telling us. So Friday morning we wake up, we are just doing our normal stuff, and at 7 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING we get a call from her. She told us it was an emergency and she needed us to be over there in a few minutes; we ended up getting over there at 7:30. Her sons weren't at home, and so, with us sitting on one couch, and she on the other, she explained to us the problems and difficulties she has been having trying to raise her three sons (17, 15, 12)  on her own, and that she had other relationship stuff, and she just told us all of the stuff that was going on with her, and through tears, she paused, got really calm, and quietly told us, "I know it's my time to be right with the Lord, I will be baptized TOMORROW!" Elder Lugo and I were shocked to say the least of our emotions, and then suddenly the both of us broke down in tears, and in between tears, we just asked her "Seriously?" and "Really?", and I had never experienced such joy for someone in all my life. She has such incredible kids, and she really does want the blessings of God. I really just couldn't believe what happened! I was SO HAPPY, and really you guys can't understand!

Ok, so Elder Lugo and I have been excercising, but not in a normal way. I get up everyday and do my normal stuff, but because Elder Lugo's apendix burst about 5 months ago, he can't do anything to strenuous. So what did we decided to do????? That's right............. ZUMBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I know you can all see it now: Me in stretchy pants and hoodie dancing to who knows what in our living room a couple mornings each week haha and also, I didn't really explain what happened in central. There is a huge skyscraper that is called the latin tower (torre latinoamericana) and from the top, you can see the ENTIRE CITY OF MEXICO! It is crazy! There are also a ton of really old temples and cathedrals that you can enter, but it's really weird because you can take pictures. What's weird is that Elder Juarez and I walked into one, took a couple pictures, and then we looked at each other, and at the same time said " The spirit is not here" They are incredible buildings, but it's incredible how much more the spirit can be felt in a simple, loving home, rather than in an enormous catholic cathedral. 

This morning, I am putting my clothes up on the roof to dry, and I here the song "dancing queen" coming from somewhere. I wonder where it's coming from, until i here my companions Elder Lugo's voice coming out of the window! haha It was so funny! 

We have 11 investigators, and they really should all be baptized. We just need to keep working and helping them feel the spirit so they can realize that it is the right step to take in order to follow the example of Jesus Christ. 

This church is most definitely true and it's incredible how the simple things can mean the most when we really get to thinking about it and how much the Lord is involved in our lives. The big topic this week has been plan of salvation, and I can honestly say that I cannot wait to be with my family, in a state of eternal happiness, forever to continue to learn and love one another. I truly love recieveing your emails each week, and you guys really do give me so much strength and support.

I hope you all have a good thanksgiving, eating turkey and watching football. I will probably be eating tacos, and talking to investigators, but It's is totally worth it! Hope you all have an awesome week and I love you all!

Elder Nathan Norr

baptisms! isabel and Jordy

Hey mom, I don't want to freak you out, but that tostada that I'm eating is made from cut up pig's foot cartilage!!! haha Have a great day mom! LOVE YOU! and I didn't eat all of it, it was gross! and that big colorful white palace thing is the palace of beautiful arts! It's really cool!

Miracle & A Suit

Ok, so i literally have 20 minutes to read all of your letters and respond because we went to the center today! CRAZY! It was soo sweet! But we have done pretty much nothing but that all day, and it has been crazy! I got to eat my first ice cream cone in 4 months, and we had to go to the offices today to drop off all of our baptismal sheets and stuff.

I really do have an incredible story to tell you guys about one of our investigators named isabel, but I really don't have time so you will all have to wait to see what happens next week on "mexican dreamin by Elder Nathan Norr" haha, but some other stuff that has happened this week is that we had 3 baptisms in our ward, and this really has been a good week of hard work and fun. I love getting all of your emails that you guys send me, and I promise I will respond to them this next week. 

Ok, so the scale has now become my best friend. When we went to the offices today, it was the first time I have seen a scale in 4 months. The last time I weighed myself at the mtc, I was 135, and this time, I stood on the scale. looked down. and BAM! 150!!!!!!!!!!!! YES! Finally, i gained 15 POUNDS! Its feeling good. I can almost feel the back fat coming now haha but seriously this week has been awesome, and I have got to do so many incredible things.

Black Friday1 Except for here it is 4 days and everything is dirt cheap. With my new found weight, my suit got a week bit snug, and short. So today while we were at the center of mexico, I BOUGHT A NEW ONE! today is the last day of "buen fin" which is their black friday, and I went into a super nice custom suit store, and all of their suits were dirt cheap. So i bought a custom fit solid black really classy suit for... 1000 pesos (75 dollars) and I also got a sweater and stuff, but I just love it here! The people are starting to be more open with me, and I try to bare my testimony often to them as strong and I feel I can. The language is growing, and I can't believe that thanksgiving is almost here.,

No, Mexico doesn't celebrate thanksgiving, but we are going to have a thanksgiving dinner and turkey bowl anyway!

I have to go to a meeting in the stake center, but I hope you all have an incredible week, and I hope you can all really understand how incredible the gospel is. No matter how good our lives may already be, it will always get better with the gospel. I love this church, and I hope this letter finds you all safe, sound, and happy!

Love

Elder Nathan Norr

Hey mom, I took this last monday, but couldn't send it! Love you lots and hope you have an awesome week mom!

LOVE YOU!!!! :)

Yay Mexico

Well hello there everyone! How are you all doing this wonderful day?! I know I have been doing fantastic on account that I have pretty much chilled all day because all of my errands are done, and I am now chewing on melty, chocolately goodness known as an American Snickers bar. OH YEAH! Life is good! And also, this week has been really good as well. I don't know why, but I really struggle with being bold with people. I guess I am afraid that what I say will do more to prevent the lord's work from progressing than helping it. But I am done being complacent. I realized, especially yesterday, that we aren't just teaching lessons to people; we are helping them find the correct path that leads to eternal salvation with their families, and I will not look back and wish that I had done more.

But anyways, this week has been a pretty good one, but I really just can't believe how fast the time goes. I legitimately cannot remember what happened this week, and the stuff I remember, I'm not sure if I should write because I'm not sure if I already wrote about it last week, but here we go. I will do my best. This week went well, we had quite a few investigators to talk to, but there really just wasn't enough. I just feel like we could be doing soo much more, but we are just going to less actives, actives, and recent converts, and the investigators don't seem to realize the importance of our message, and most of our appointments with them fall through... :( 

Ok, so I will jsut talk about the stuff i remember. First off, THEY HAD THE HUGE BREAD AGAIN!!!! This time I got a doughnut instead, but i ended up not eating it because it just wasn't hittin the spot, but really, that bread is so incredibly huge it is insane! I wish we had pan (bread) like that in the U.S. because everyone would buy it! So we just happened to be walking by that place that sells the pan because we had an appointment. Luckily they were putting the bread in the cars to leave. We asked if we could buy it from the cars, but they said that if we wanted to, we were welcome to go into the place and buy it. So, we walk in. You would have thought we were there to either arrest them or shut them down because everyone in there looked at the two dudes (good-looking dudes too if i might add) and froze. Then we asked with pan we could buy and they went back to doing their stuff, but that place makes such good bread, but i'm pretty sure no one knows they use it. 

Also, this crazy dude tried to get me to marry one of his daughters. So, after we drop the pan off at Schaap's house, we have an appointment. we walk by this family who has a little tienda (little store to buy everything) and this guy just yells at me "Yerno" which translated is son-in-law. I just look because he was obviously yelling at me. I say "buenas tardes, como están?" and he just yells at me, here is your future wife, come talk to her, or if you want, I have another daughter!!!!! I was like "dude........ PSYCH! No! and we took off. Sad part is that he lives by a lady that we teach quite a bit, and there is no way that we can really avoid him, but we are going to try to get him to at least not call me his son. The next time we visit Hermana cruz, we'll just do it like seal team 6. Do some covert ops and stuff. Lugo will take the back door, and i will hide behind the mobile taco vender until I can get close enough to james bond, arnold swartzheneger (who knows how to spell that) army dive through her cement opening to get into her house. I can already see it now. Operation BOM. Initiative: get in. Preach the gospel. Give a blessing. and get out. We hope for no fatalities, but who knows haha

we also have a rather intersting story. We have a couple baptisms this week, but what's funny is that our investigator Jordy had his first communion on saturday (how to become initiated into the catholic church) and this saturday he is going to be baptised into the LDS church! His mom made him do his first communion even though she loves the Mormon church and I know she is going to be baptized. She said that jordy had been preparing for almost 8 months when we starting teaching them, and she said that he had to do it. He wanted to do his first communion in the morning, and his baptism in the night, and even though we thought that would be awesome, we decided to do otherwise. however, we did get to go to his little fiesta after his first communion. we walked in. Silence... I could almost here their thoughts "what is this white dude dressed in a shirt and tie with a name tag that says JESUCRISTO doing in our party" well, the answer is easy. I'm here to convert you all! haha not really, but really yes!

We talked a lot to them, and they wanted to know what we believed and why were were in mexico. We explained to them that we are here to teach about the gospel of Jesus christ, and we are here for 2 years. They actually grew to like us I think.

SURPRISE!!! Christmas came early!!!!! Not really, but seriously. I got all of my packages for christmas today.... Not sure what I'm going to do for the next 7 weeks before christmas, but I refuse to open them! I will wait til christmas. I already bought wrapping paper so I can wrap stuff up that I buy for myself so my christmas can be more exciting haha :) But hopefully the last package shows up in about a month because I can't handle having all of them here early. 

I do want to share one last story before I finish. I was with my nephew elder juarez last night, and we went to a lady's house at about 7:30. She hadn't talked to the missionaries in a couple months because her daughter died two months ago after having surgery. we started just getting to know her and started to talk to her. Like a freight train, I got hit with the words "Plan of salvation, eternal families, where her daughter is" We bore our testimonies about what our church really believes, and elder juarez gave me the look of "hey, it's your time to talk". he handed me the plan of salvacion pamphlet, and I started to cry. I felt so terrible, and I couldn't even imagine losing a daughter, even though i don't have any. Through my tears, I bear my testimony about the plan of salvation. I promised her that I knew where her daughter was and that, someday, they would be together again in a state of happiness. I also asked her if she would please read the pamphlet so that she too could understand why she lost her daughter and understand the plan that god has for her. She agreed, and we gave her a blessing. I have never felt the spirit so strong during a lesson, and she promised me that she would read the pamphlet with a huge smile on her face! I am so excited to go back and visit her again. it was one of those moments when I really understood what it meant to be a missionary of Jesus christ. 

I truly know that this church is true, and that someday we will all be together forever with our families. I know that God truly does love each and every one of us, and worries about us, but also, helps us through all of our trials. I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life that helps us have the answers to so many hard questions in this life. I truly do know that the spirit will guide our words, and that we will be able to touch not only the hearts of people, but their souls too. I love you all!

AND MOM, you are the most incredible woman in my life, and I hope you have an INCREDIBLE BIRTHDAY TOMORROW! I will be thinking about you. Stay looking young! All of my companions and elders think you are my sister haha LOVE YOU!

Love, Elder Nathan Bill Norr

 I guess we worked harder than I thought. The last thing I remember was reading my scriptures haha

 That huge guy is my nephew elder juarez. That doughnut was dope, and the little kid is Jordy (our investigor) it was his 12th birthday.

Classic Rock and Penalties-3 Months Out

Well hello there Family, and all you other people who read my emails too... haha just kidding. I hope you are all having an incredible week because I know that I am. This week has been LOCO!!!! We don't just celebrate halloween. we celebrate 6 days of alters, and day of the day candies, breads, sugar skulls, and all that stuff. It was so different, but it was so incredible to see the culture that they have here and how they really get into it. 

First off, we got a ton of new investigators this week. We got 11!!!!! Yep. The lord is truly allowing us to teach 11 of his incredible children! We are so lucky! But it was also pretty sad because the 11 people are 3 families, and 2 or our appointments fell through... that sucked, but we will continue to pray for them because I know that they will progress in the gospel. 

I really can't explain how fast the time goes here. I swear. I go to write you guys, go to bed, and the next day.... I'm writing you guys again! it is just so weird how the more we work, the faster the time goes. 

Ok, so for the weird food... i don't think I have anything. yes mom. You are welcome :) but we did get SOOO MUCH FOOD! So many of the members gave us food, and it was soo good. I really am starting to eat a lot of food now. On sunday, we ate with Michael's house (our recent convert) and schaap ate 11 tacos (he played football for byu) and I ended up eating 13 TACOS! that's right! I ACT those tacos, and guess what??? Didn't get sick! Who's the man? ... no really. Who's the man? We need a new guy to teach haha 

Ok, so now that I talked about a lot of stuff already, I will now tell you why I titled my email "classic rock and penalties". First off, dad, I gotta give it to ya. You definitely got some good taste in music. I have noticed that all the songs that I just randomly sing or have stuck in my head are ALWAYS songs that we listened to when you were working out in the garage, or when we were riding in your car. I have developed a rather impressive air guitar solo that I randomly bust into as I think about a song and there is absolutely NO MUSIC ANYWHERE AROUND US haha. But also, not that you guys didn't already know this, but Mexican's love their soccer. So we just happened to walking past a nieve store. it's a lot like ice cream, but it has the texture of slightly freezer-burned ice cream. Who doesn't care. ME. I LOVE ICE CREAM! I NEED MY GALLON BACK!  but anyways, we were walking by, and the Mexico v. Brazil game was on, and it was already into the penalty kicks. Both teams had already went 6 and 6 and they were on the 7th PK. The mexican goalie blocked it. The ice cream shop got pretty excited. then the mexican player made his PK. Oh SHOOT! I have never felt so much energy anywhere. It was like the country shook with the raucous chants of spanish. and this one dude ran down the street while stripping in excitement. Actually that last part didn't happen, but he did run down the street and freak out. 

Sometimes in the scriptures when it describes the earth as feeling like it was going to part asunder, it really just meant that Mexico won an important Soccer game. yeah. it's that crazy!

I loved getting all of your emails this week, and I know that I didn't write a whole bunch this week, but this week wasn't too crazy. I did get to take a picture with an awesome altar (not sure if that's ok to say) and I got a HUGE BAG of cotton candy. The pictures will be on the blog, but I hope you are all doing incredible! This time really is flying, and before we know it, it will be christmas. One question. Please tell me there isn't anything perishable in the packages you guys sent me, because I am going to wait til christmas to open them. 

Anyways, I will end with my testimony. We taught about the anti-nefi-lehites this week, and I had never really got into it, but now that my spanish is better, I start getting really animated in my lessons. I just always read it and wonder how it is possible to have that much faith and conversion. they were willing to go to war, simply to meet their enemies while sitting on the ground praying. They truly were converted to the gospel. I know that we, each and every one of us has the ability to become as the anti-nefi-lehites, and that if we are willing to put our trust in god, he will never let us down, and will help us with moments that will help us strengthen our faith. This church really is true, and I know that for all the problems we have, God loves us and want to help us. I know that someday, we will all be together forever in happiness and peace with our father in heaven. I love you all, and hope you have and incredible week!

Love Elder Nathan Norr :)

What's Up What's Up?-Week 11

OK everyone! What´s going on? I hope you are all doing fantastic. I know I am! Ok So this week has been pretty crazy! We haven't had too many appointments, and that kinda bums me out, but I do have quite a few funny stories to tell you about, and got a couple things to let you guys know about. First off, I am going to answer all the questions that everyone asks me different emails in an attempt to finish typing to everyone before I run out of either time or money (not sure which will happen first) yes, Nat I have been getting all of your emails, and the email  ".net" is the right one. Heck to the yes we celebrate Halloween, but I'm also a little nervous because some of the people down here are pretty creepy...  I also got the package, and I think that you guys will like the picture that I have to show you guys :) 

Ok, so first off, I am going to tell you gus a little more about the culture of mexico, and it is one word... FOOD! Oh my gosh, each day i just feel fat. I'm starting to get fat like a normal person, and I´'m not sure if that is good or not... But the good thing is that I don't know why but I have tons of energy, and so I have been going to the gym a lot and excercising a lot, and to answer the question that no one will ever ask me, YES, I am getting pretty buff, thank you for noticing haha totally kidding, that still will probably never happen. But anyways, they eat sooo much food here. I am literally forcing food down my throat to try to eat as much as possible so I don't affend the person that is feeding us. So we went and had pizza at a members house, and she made 30 7 inch pizzas and expected the whole army of us 6 missionaries to eat them ALL. ummm... I don't think so. So i only ate 4 pizzas, but hey, I tried. Also, we go to Sister Rosa Albas house, and after trying to eat as much as I can, I apologize for not eating enough. I only ate a huge plate of rice, two bowls of soup and 2 bowls of dessert... and after I apologize, she says to me "it's ok elder, but you need to start eating more, because you won't be able to find any girl that wants to marry you if you return home that thin" MAN! Woman please! I did not know how to respond, so I laughed and told her that I would eat more. 

ok, so we had another baptism this week, and and what's even more crazy is that I got the chance to confirm MICHAEL during sacrament meeting. I have given so many blessing already, and I think I have done like 7 this week, but each time, it gets easier for the spirit to guide my spanish to say the words that God wants me to, but still, it was nerve racking to give michael a blessing in front of the whole ward.

So we were having our weekly planning meeting on thursday at the stake center, and i was aobut to walk out in the hall, and all these WHITE PEOPLE WALK IN!! WHAT?! WHITE PEOPLE!? I politely greet them in spanish, and then I realize that they don't speak spanish! BLASPHEMY! Turns out they were all from utah, and they were part of some chruch resource division, and they all spoke ENGLISH! You guys really can't understand how incredible it was. It was like I just met Justin Bieber (yeah not really), but I did kinda freak out in front of all of them at how cool it was that they spoke english. They were all so nice, and it was awesome to speak english for a minute.  

So yesterday, I learned.... HOW TO MAKE TACOS from the best taco guy in our ward! he legitimately has the greatest tacos, and he showed us all of his ingredients and how much and how to make everything. Watch out america! When I get back, you won't know what hit you. BOOM! Nathan the Taco Man! I LIKE IT! I might just decide to have a career shift on my mission! PSYCH! But seriously, I am going to make you guys some awesome tacos! :)

Ok, so mom, it's funny that you told me that I should write a book, because that's what I did this week! Elder Holley is coming home on wednesday, and I always joked about making a Returning to Normal book. I decided that that was what I was going to do! So walker and I made 10 incredible, completely one-sided, incorrect comical pages at how an elder can return to the normal world. We included 10 topics: Music, Movies and TV, Driving, Dancing, Dating, Talking to women, How to dress, Dealing with PMCWS (Post-mission companion withdrawl syndrome) sociality, and social trends. It was awesome! I have a picture of it, and I will send it to you guys!

Well, that should be all the fun stuff for this week! Also, Day of the dead is this week, and that is oging to be CRAZY! I should have tons of pictures of that! Before I go, I would lik to talk about someone we taught this week! We taught michael's family, and we were oging to baptize them the 9th, but jordy's first comunion is that day. YEP! He is giong to become catholic and the week after, he will become mormon. He doesn't want to be catholic, but his mom is a little weird, and says he has to do it. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. We talked about the importance of reading and praying everyday. We bore our testimonies that as they continue to read and pray, they will know like us, that they are supposed to be baptized. I realized something. WE are nothing! The spirit teaches everything, and my big thing is staying diligent so that when the spirit needs to teach through me, I will be able to deliver the correct message. I have a testimony of testimonies. Each time we bear them, we are fortifying ourselves against the attacks and thoughts of the adversary. I know that if we read and pray each day, we will be able to overcome any and all problems that we will have! I love you all, and Hope that you have an incredible week! This church is most definitely true, and I have the opportunity to tell other people that  each and every day!

have a great week!

Love Elder Nathan Norr

Pictures from last week.....here are just some random funny pictures we took last week! Schaap is smiling when I'm not and walker is in green! LOVE YOU GUYS!

 Love this one...the true him

 His 1st Package....it arrived safely and pretty timely sent Oct 3(so roughly 25 days to arrive)

 That's guy that we are holding is our bishop! He is so cool! and That guy standing next to me is Elder Holley (probably one of my best friends) oh, and mom, Holley would LOVE for you guys to come to his home coming! It is Nov. 10 in the Meadows 8th ward, but he doesn't know what time it starts. He should call you!

 The Book