crazy week...

ok, so this is going to be a quick one. So, highlights: Almost got robbed...again. but they were drunk, so this time we just dipped. 

second: i didn't see noah, but I was worried we were in for a rough one. It rained so hard. We had to goback home to change,and that was 4days ago, my shoes still aren't dry... 

third: We found 3 new investigators! they are awesome,but information will be withheld for now.

Fourth: My kid isn't coming.... He hurt his knee in the MTC and has been released so he can get surgery probably... :/

Fifth: I'm staying with elder clark! he's a champ!

Sixth: Saw a 75 year old man named ignacio break into his own home. He's just a small skinnyman, but he locked his house from the inside by accident. So he grabs a hammer and busts out one of his door windows that is filled by thick cardboard. then,he jumps up grabs the frame of the door and ninja swings in through a hole thatisprobably 15x 12 inches. Itwas sweet!!!!

so, Idon't really have much to say this time, but I hope you all know that i love you. I read areally interesting talk yesterday from the may 2013 conference. It talked about a man who served in the war in vietnam and was taken prisoner. he did not talk to his family for 2 years, and they didn't know if he was still alive. finally, he was able to send a message of 25 words or less. I am going to do my best to write this next message in 25words....

Live the Gospel. Study the scriptures. go to the temple. Live and love like Christ. Never Settle. Families are forever. remember I LOVE YOU!

Elder Norr :)

YOLO district!!!!

Hmmmm.... I think I have an idea haha

this is me 2 months without getting a haircut...it's worse than I thought....

 this is my candy bar!

everything you see is a small part of the ward(not sure this is what he meant to send)

PURE POWA!‏ 14 Months Out

ok, well this is probably going to be the shortest email I ever written in my mission, but it is going to be awesome,and i hope you guys can feel thespirit!

So, sad news.... My schedule to give birth has been pushed back til next week... apparently he hurt his knee in the mtc (kinda ironic) but he'll be great for me then! haha I am currently with Elder Clarke, he is from Latin Ut, and he isawesome! this week has just been PURE POWA!!!!! we are eating healthy, and we have already found 3 new investigators!!!!!!!1 they are great. First off, Isela. we taught herthe first time and she was just like "in theend, we are all going to believe what we want to".Soiwaspretty  bummed, but we got a return visit, and she had changed! we explained the book of mormon, and we invited her to read and to pray again, and thistime she just asked "how will God let me know?" well, we explained a little bit, andthen we just promised her "you will know". AWESOME!!!!!

Other than that, I am healthy, everything isgoing well, I love you all lots.

Something important and then we have to bounce. I realized something: every time we have struggles, we don't have to return to square one and doubt the church. I'm done with that junk.This church is true. I know it, God knows it, and if you ask, you too shall know it! the atonement makes possible repentance unto the cleaning of our souls. I would love to write more,but the keyboard iskinda wigging out. I love you all andhope you have an excellent week!

Chao!

Elder Norr

week 6‏

HMMMM...... Are we really in october already? dang.... The time really does just go by soo quickly... I can't believe that this week with Elder Harper is already gone. Things have been pretty rough in xochitenco. We are trying to work hard, but our investigators for some reason keep disappearing and we haven't been able to teach them as often as we would like, but we keep working because that's why we are here! 

This week was pretty good, but it was hot! it is staying up in the 80s but with the humidity and the lack of protection due to all the pollution, it gets pretty hot. We have mainly just been trying to swing by with less actives and help them come back to the gospel that they once loved. It's crazy down here in our ward. Our ward directory is 52 pages long and if all the members were active, our ward could be it's own stake, but so many of them have fallen away and it's hard to find them again. But this week is going to be great!

Yes, we do have changes this cycle therefore "los guapos" will no longer be with each other (elder harper and I) haha but I know that this is part of the lords plan to help us be better. 

This week in the training meeting, president told us some awesome stuff. I just love him and his wife and the love that they have for us! The sister doesn't speak hardly any spanish and I always see her go straight up to the latino elders and, in spanish, ask "hola elder, como està?" (how are you) and then i watch as they respond in normal spanish as she obviously works very hard to try to understand a small chunk. When I asked her if she needed help, she said "nope, I'm getting a little bit." She really is such a great lady and she has such a great testimony of the gospel!

Sad news. My kid will not be getting here for another 2 weeks, so tomorrow in the changes I am going to get a temporary companion for a couple weeks until my AMERICAN SON gets here! I am pretty nervous to have to teach spanish, but it is going to be great! I am really excited for whoever it may be!

I think that might be it! I am so excited for the General conference so that we may here the voice of the Lord through his beloved prophet and other leaders of the church! I am so grateful to have this gospel in my life, and even though we are imperfect, because of the atonement of our savior jesus Christ, we may be be made better and cleaner amidst all the filth and iniquity that surrounds us. I lvoe the lord, this is his church, and this is his work. If you don't know when the conference will be, I invite you to look at "lds.org" or ask the missionaries, and I invite you all to invite one friend or neighbor (preferable nonmember) to watch it with you! Hope you guys have an awesome week!

Love Elder Norr :)

Not Much Time....

Well, I don't really have much time but I will be quick about things.

First, our investigators Deisy and her daughters Jimena and sofia. They are SO CHOSEN! I was on divisions with an other elder in the district, but they get there, and they ask "did you read the book of Mormon chapter we left?" (3 nefi 11) She says "not much, sorry....". "ok, well what did you understand from what you read?" "well" she says, "God the father introduces his son Jesus Christ to the inhabitants of the americas through the holy ghost, and then Christ calls a man names Nefi and names him the prophet and gives him the authority to baptize correctly; then he establishes the true name of the church..." 

US: ................... WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! SO CHOSEN! They are so great and they are planning on getting baptized this saturday and being confirmed on Sunday!

Second, I would like to invite everyone to try something. Every morning after starting your studies with a prayer, open the book of mormon, the bible, or the ensign (preferably conference edition) to wherever it happens to be. God WILL GIVE YOU A MESSAGE. I had an AWESOME experience this week and i would love to have to guys be able to feel the same! 

Third, I'M PREGNANT! yep, baby number 3 is on the way from the MTC this next tuesday in the changes! I'm sad that Harper and I are having changes, but it is part of the mission and I know it will continue being a great learning and growing experience for the both of us! :)

Finally, We went to a stake mission activity on saturday night and it was awesome! We got to do guidedc visits of the church and explain about the baptismal font and how there we can perform our first covenant with God! I will send pictures because then there were native mexican performances by the wards and then a huge dance party afterwards, but it was an awesome chance to talk to people and have fun! :)

Well, I think that's it for now. We have to get to the district meeting and then we are going with a sister to find out how to make white flour tortillas! Turns out, there actually isn't any white flour.... But I'm going to be a cafe RIO expert before you know it!

Every day is a gift! Every day is a chance to make our lives and the lives of others better! Let us use the days that we still have wisely so that we may be tools in the hands of God! :) LOVE YA!

Elder Norr!

A couple of native mexican dance numbers 

 Elder Harper us with Hermano Villaseñor in his matador suit! SWEET!

Quick Week

Hijoles! Esta semana fue, pero se fue con un rapidez impresionante! (Elder Cuscagua aka my colombian kid's favorite word)

This week really went by quickly! We started off last week with a zone conference! It was so great! The president stutznegger and his wife are gust so great and they love us soo much! Every time we get out of a zone conference with them, I just feel a higher level of the spirit and i just want to go preach to the peeps on the street, mototaxi and all! 

We FOUND SOME NEW PEOPLE! First off, Luis. He is 20. He goes to a christian church and he's a little hard to get a hold of (especially when we don't have a phone...) but every time we are with him, the lessons have the strongest spirit, I JUST LOVE IT!

Second, Brenda. She's 29. has 3 kids. We taught her and after explaining everything I asked if she had a question. She was like "nope. I'll just have to keep having you guys over and I'll go to church and I think I will be able to get a hold of things after a little while.... (jaw drop9 she didn't come to church, but we are going to pass by with her early this week!

Ok, well anyways, Daisy. We contacted her on friday morning and put an appointment to see her in the afternoon on friday. We went and she said "I thought you guys weren't going to come...." But we did! We taught the restoration and the spirit was really strong. We asked her to be baptized and she said YES! We then invited her to church and she was ready.... at 7:15 in the morning!!!!!! That's right! Let's us all take some notes because the lord knows that even we have problems with that :) haha on sunday, the stake presidency came and they talked all about self-suffiency... for the whole 3 hours... Afterwards I talke to daisy (like 35, 2 kids, married) and I asked her how she liked it? She said" Wow, that was awesome, I loved it!"..... The is so great and we have an appointment tomorrow with her!!!! :)

This week i got thinking about the temple. By the time I go home, I won't have gone to the temple in almost 2 full years. I am saying this because the temple really is SOO IMPORTANT! It is where we become more one with God and learn his teachings at a level that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. I hope that each of you who has a current recommend is using it often to go visit the house of the Lord because there is no other place like it in this world.

So, this week Elder Harper finished building our home gym. We go through about 2 gallons of milk....each week. and we have been filling up the milk jugs with water and we use a broomstick for a bar. we then have a rope to do other exercises with the jugs. I am currently up to lifting a gatorade bottle... lame :/ but the shoulder therapy will pay off someday! 

I have really enjoyed this week and the sweet spirit that has been present in the work. I know that this church is true and that our resurrected savior Jesus Christ stands at its head. I know the book of mormon is true, and if you are feeling like you need a special message from God, offer a prayer, open it up to whereever and start reading; GOD WILL SPEAK TO YOU! I know this. I know that the holy ghost really is a sacred privelage that we only recieve by living worthily and keeping the commandments. I love the Lord, this is his work! I hope you all have a wonderful week! love ya!

And thank you for all the letters! I love getting emails and pictures; it makes my monday! Oh, and tomorrow is MEXICO'S INDEPENDENCE DAY! Should be sweet!

Have a great week!

Love Elder Norr

Finally, DAISY.,..... buh buh buh buh, CHOSEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, so this computer is being stupid and I don't want to wait 50 years for it to load so here is elder harper and I today in front of our new curtain! VIVA MEXICO! :)

13 Months Out...Building up to Saturday

Hola guapos! Como estàis? Espero que todos estèn bien! Esta semana estuvo CHIDA!!!!!!

Well, how do we start things off. I will probably put in some random stuff that doesn't make sense, but it will all fall into place at the end. Sale? Ok, so this week has really been a week of small miracles that have been given to us from a loving father in heaven. We started this week without investigators, and we haven't had investigators that have progressed in almost 10 weeks... Pues, NI MODO! We stacked tuesday with 8 set appointment with potential new investigators to go teach! They all fell through.... We stacked wednesday with another 8 set appointments to find some new investigators... they all fell through... Thursday we had 1... nope. Friday we hade like 4 or 5.... nope. Saturday!

Backstory: So we went with the familia Mendoza to visit on Monday night. We shared a spiritual message and then they invited us to eat dinner with them. we ate ham and cheese sandwhiches with onion, tomato, mayonaise, and cheese, DELICIOUS, and very popular here. They had one of their daughter's friends over to do math homework named "rubi". I helped the girls with their math homework while we were eating our sandwhiches.

ok, so saturday we had 4 plans to find new investigators. One of which was "javier". We contacted him friday night and he told us to come over saturday at 10 in the morning. DEAL! Alli estamos! We get up on saturday, and everything was normal, but I just had a weird feeling, wasn't sure why, but i did. We called Javier about 9:40 to see if he would be home. yep! Sweet! We did our hair, put on our shoes and left. We get to his house. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.... no one. Again, KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, but again, no one. This guy comes walking up the street smokin (not javier) and asks us who we are and what we were doing. I replied that we were missionaries and that this man had asked us to swing by to share a message of god. He just keeps talking to us for a minute, and I just decide to contact him, give him a plan of salvation pamphlet, and invite him to read it.

Long story short, this guy tells us some pretty strange stuff, and it just never really clicked that this guy wanted to rob us... I finally just leaned into him and asked "are you trying to rob us? do you want our money?" 

Just so turns out that he did. So I gave him our phone and the 20 pesos I had in my pocket and he took harpers watch and wallet (which included his idaho driver's license, his mexico identification, his temple recommend, his insurance card from home, and his missionary insurance card). I told the man to have a nice day and we kept knocking on Javier's door. he didn't ever come out. Elder Harper and I were laughing that i had to ask the guy if he was robbing us, and it was really calm. Nothing happened. we are completely ok, and we kept working like normal. But then I asked harper what he had in his wallet. he told me. OH NO. So, we just happened to be on the other side of our area and swung by the store to break a bill we had to have some change for the day. We looked around for a minute and then went to check out. We were checking out when rubi (the little girl from monday night) comes up behind Harper and taps him on the arm. We turn around and in Rubi's hand are harper's things from his wallet! MIRACLE ALERT! We got robbed on the completely other side of our area, but this little girl and her mom just so happened to find harper's things thrown on the street and then they ran into us. harper had told me that he prayed, and IT WAS ANSWERED! 

So, we went to eat tacos with the same familia mendoza from monday because they have a breakfast taco stand. We went to english class at the church and then went to wash a dog! The little girls in this family are so cute, and when i took out the camera to take a picture with them, the 2 that are always pretty rambuncious and fighting started posing! (i will send a picture) So, the rest of our new investigators on saturday fell through until we got to our last appointment at about 8 with a lady named "lluvia". She ACCEPTED THE BAPTISMAL INVITATION! WE HAVE ANOTHER APPOINTMENT WEDNESDAY AT 7:30!  I am SO HAPPY! This week was just so full of little miracles and fun experiences, including getting robbed. I am ready for another great week!

I really do knowt hat this church is true. I can't believe that I already have 13 months! The time really has went so fast. I testify that my redeemer lives, and that he stands at the head of HIS church: The church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints! I know the book of mormon is true and I know that it holds of special message for each and every one of us each time we upen its pages! I truly do love my family and I know that we will be together forever! Thank you for all that you guys do for me!

have an awesome week!

Love Elder Nathan Norr

us with them and the dog we washed!

us with them and the dog we washed!

a couple shots of the area.

The huge mexico flag that harper bought on thursday because independence day is next week!

Flu bug... great leadership meeting

hello there everyone! How have you all been doing?!

Well, by now I know that you all know that "the mexican adeventures of Elder Norr" just so happened to be out of comission this last week. I apologize for that, but we had district meeting in the morning and afterwards, my companion was shaking saying that he was freezing. We got him home, and he just crashed on the bed all afternoon. Then, at about 10 o'clock on monday night, "hey, elder norr, could you go grab me a bucket? My stomach is a little upset." I went, got a bucket, give it to him, and lay in my bed...one... two.... BLLLLAAHHHHHHHHH! cough cough cough BLLLLAAAAHHHH! Harper starts throwing up... So the next day I get up and harper still isn't feeling good. He threw up again during the night, but we had some important citas so I went to the doctor in the morning to have my last checkup for my UTI and then I go work with Elder Puello for a couple hours. We get back, I get some food in me, and then I realize "hmmmm, I'm not really feeling so hot either. Before you know it, I went to bed with a fever and chillswith my stomach not knowing what was really happeneing either. Long story short, the 24 hour flu bug hit our small apartment, but thursday we were good to get working again! :)

 

So, we had a leadership meeting a 2 weeks ago on thurday. Elder Valenzuela, a member of the area presidency, came to talk to all the zone leaders and district leaders. It was so great, and I absolutely loved it! He shared the question if Abraham had told his wife when he received direction from God to sacrifice his son Isaac. He explained the importance that we are all "one" in the mission, in our districts, n our companionship! We talked a lot about love, patience, understanding. I truly felt a very strong and sweet spirit in that meeting!

You guys probably want to know about our area. Things have been going a little rough lately... We haven't had a new investigator (we had 1, but after the first visit, we never found her) in the last month and a half. The work here in our area has been a little slower, but I know that this week is going to be SO GREAT! We just need to show our desire and faith by action and diligence! I heard a quote this week that I liked in church. " When much is given, much is required. When much is required, much is given." I think that is a big thing in missionary work. We are fighting for the most precious thing on this earth: Truth. We need to show how much we are willing to do to help God establish that truth here in this part of mexico!

I really don't know what to write this week. Things have been a little frustrating lately and I am trying to work out how things are going to be smoother in this next week...

I'll just end with my testimony,

I just hope you all know how much I love you all, and how much I love the gospel. It has truly changed my life, and my being. I pray that it keeps on doing so because i have a long way to go to one day become like our savior and redeemer Jesus Christ! I know that this church is true, and I know that God has a very special, perfect, and timed plan for each and every one of his children. Each second of every day is part of it! I know that christ is our savior, and only through him and by him may we once again return to the presence of our beloved Father in Heaven with our loved ones for eternity. I heard that the mission is like ice cream: If you eat it,enjoy it, and savor it or not, it is still going to disappear. May we all look for the most in each day, and look to our savior for the perfect example of how to do so! Such is my prayer! I know that this week will be a great week! I may be a little down on my weight, but the Spirit is going to be way up this week! Love you all!