We were all able to talk to Spencer on Mother's Day via Skype. It was nice because we were able to see him and talk to him and he was able to see us. He told us the story of how his camera got ruined. Him and his companion were crossing a bridge when they saw someone they knew so they stopped to talk to them. When Spencer put his foot down it was over the edge of the bridge and he fell off into the water with his bike. His camera ended up getting wet and was ruined. The worst part was that it happened the same day that he had eaten octopus and his face swelled up.
It was good to see him and talk to him and hear how he is doing. He seemed to be doing well and now we will all be looking forward to Christmas when we can talk to him again.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Email 5/1/11
Dear Family
First off I'm sorry about last week, when we got to store where we email they had taken down all of their computers because they are redoing the store so I couldn't email last week, i was really sad. I'm glad to hear that everyone had a good Easter (even though you made me hungry from your explanation). I was sad to hear about Emily and Matt's kids and Grandpa. I hope they all get better soon, let them know I said hi and get well soon. I have actually already gotten the Easter package you sent but the camera hasn't come yet, I was surprised. But anyways, thank you so much mom for everything you sent it was really exciting to get, hopefully the camera comes soon (its kind of been killing me not being able to take pictures of some of the cool stuff I've seen).
I am really looking forward to talking to you all in a few days my time is Sunday at 8 in the morning for me so that will be Saturday for you at I think 1 in the afternoon but you'll want to double check the time difference because I'm not sure. I know this is mom's call but hopefully everyone will be able to pop their head in for a minute I'm excited to hear people (and see them). I just want to double check, is dad's skype address eric.david.norton I'm not sure, I know I have written it down before but I haven't looked for it yet. If you could just send an email with all the info before Saturday so if there is a problem I can check that. And one other thing I have forgotten my pin # for my debit card so if you have that available mom you could let me know on Saturday.
The past couple weeks have been really good mostly because we had baptisms each week. On the 23rd Tabera got baptized but the other two ladies who where supposed to get baptized had things come up that prevented their baptisms. Nei Tuhe went to an outer island for her son's school so hopefully when she comes back she will be baptized. And Nei Anna had someone from her family show up at her house that morning and insist that she come to Botaki for a birthday in the family (she had already told them no earlier in the week) but she was able to be baptized on the 30th. Both baptisms went pretty well Tabera was baptized by her cousin who is the second councilor in the branch presidency and I got to baptize Anna. It is always awesome seeing someone be baptized but the actual baptismal service is definitely different from back home. They're sometimes pretty hectic it can be hard getting people to come and they almost never start on time (Anna`s baptism started 45 min late because we needed another witness) but it's still awesome.
The rest of our work is doing well we only lost three people because of the Catholic missionary, hopefully they will want to continue being taught in the future. But in the meantime we have a lot of cool people we are teaching and we should have some baptisms next week and in the weeks following.
I think I will close things now, if things don't make sense i guess you can ask me about it on Saturday. Until then I love you all and tiabo.
Love Elder Norton
P.S. I'm really sorry I haven't sent pictures I will do it, it just seems like there is so much to get done on P day I just never get to it, I'm sorry. I'm going to try sending some with the email
First off I'm sorry about last week, when we got to store where we email they had taken down all of their computers because they are redoing the store so I couldn't email last week, i was really sad. I'm glad to hear that everyone had a good Easter (even though you made me hungry from your explanation). I was sad to hear about Emily and Matt's kids and Grandpa. I hope they all get better soon, let them know I said hi and get well soon. I have actually already gotten the Easter package you sent but the camera hasn't come yet, I was surprised. But anyways, thank you so much mom for everything you sent it was really exciting to get, hopefully the camera comes soon (its kind of been killing me not being able to take pictures of some of the cool stuff I've seen).
I am really looking forward to talking to you all in a few days my time is Sunday at 8 in the morning for me so that will be Saturday for you at I think 1 in the afternoon but you'll want to double check the time difference because I'm not sure. I know this is mom's call but hopefully everyone will be able to pop their head in for a minute I'm excited to hear people (and see them). I just want to double check, is dad's skype address eric.david.norton I'm not sure, I know I have written it down before but I haven't looked for it yet. If you could just send an email with all the info before Saturday so if there is a problem I can check that. And one other thing I have forgotten my pin # for my debit card so if you have that available mom you could let me know on Saturday.
The past couple weeks have been really good mostly because we had baptisms each week. On the 23rd Tabera got baptized but the other two ladies who where supposed to get baptized had things come up that prevented their baptisms. Nei Tuhe went to an outer island for her son's school so hopefully when she comes back she will be baptized. And Nei Anna had someone from her family show up at her house that morning and insist that she come to Botaki for a birthday in the family (she had already told them no earlier in the week) but she was able to be baptized on the 30th. Both baptisms went pretty well Tabera was baptized by her cousin who is the second councilor in the branch presidency and I got to baptize Anna. It is always awesome seeing someone be baptized but the actual baptismal service is definitely different from back home. They're sometimes pretty hectic it can be hard getting people to come and they almost never start on time (Anna`s baptism started 45 min late because we needed another witness) but it's still awesome.
The rest of our work is doing well we only lost three people because of the Catholic missionary, hopefully they will want to continue being taught in the future. But in the meantime we have a lot of cool people we are teaching and we should have some baptisms next week and in the weeks following.
I think I will close things now, if things don't make sense i guess you can ask me about it on Saturday. Until then I love you all and tiabo.
Love Elder Norton
P.S. I'm really sorry I haven't sent pictures I will do it, it just seems like there is so much to get done on P day I just never get to it, I'm sorry. I'm going to try sending some with the email
Email 4/17/11
Dear family
I don't know if I can remember everything from that other email, mostly I just talked about a couple of people we are teaching. One I mentioned was Nei Tabera, we just started teaching her a few weeks ago. She was a referral from her brother who is the 2nd councilor in the branch presidency. It's been cool teaching her, she seemed really interested from the start, she is 19 and has really good fellowship from the YSA in the branch. She should be baptized this Saturday along with two other people. Ones name is Nei Anna, her husband is a member but is less active. She always comes to church with their kids, they have four. The other that should be baptized is Nei Tuhe she was taught with her husband by the elders before but a week after I got here her husband went to work on a ship, he will be gone for I think one and a half years but they both seemed ready to be baptized before he left so she should be baptized this week. We have some other really cool people we are teaching as well but i'm too slow to tell about all of them.
This week has been pretty good for the most part, stake conference was really good. We had Elder Hamula from the Area Presidency here, he met with the missionaries on Thursday which was really cool. He started by asking about general conference which led to a really cool discussion on hearing the voice of the Lord and then gave us timeto ask questions which was cool, I wish we had more time with him. Afterwards the senior couples had made a really good lunch for us, some kind of casserole (it tasted like something from home), with chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. Then on Sunday morning there was a special mtg for recent converts and investigators(and the missionaries) with Elder Hamula and the Stake President. They both talked about how they knew the church was true, the Stake President, President Tunei came in contact with the church as a teenager while in Tonga attending the church school there, he was actually in large part resposible for the church coming to Kiribati. It was a really cool meeting especialy because we had some investigators come. The general session was also great. Other then that it was a pretty normal week. One really annoying thing happened up in Tabetuea the part we walk to, it actually happened a little while ago. Anyways we went up there to to teach one day and
apparentaly the Catholic missionary went around to some of our people and bubuti'ed them to stop having lessons and all the people he went to told us they didnt want lessons so that was really sad. We have heard from members up there that the church is not really liked there. But this past week we actually found a few more investigators up there so hopefully things will change. I think that is all for now. Thank you so much for all you do mom, don't say you aren't good at things, you're
the best. I love you all until next week ti a bo.
Love Elder Norton
I don't know if I can remember everything from that other email, mostly I just talked about a couple of people we are teaching. One I mentioned was Nei Tabera, we just started teaching her a few weeks ago. She was a referral from her brother who is the 2nd councilor in the branch presidency. It's been cool teaching her, she seemed really interested from the start, she is 19 and has really good fellowship from the YSA in the branch. She should be baptized this Saturday along with two other people. Ones name is Nei Anna, her husband is a member but is less active. She always comes to church with their kids, they have four. The other that should be baptized is Nei Tuhe she was taught with her husband by the elders before but a week after I got here her husband went to work on a ship, he will be gone for I think one and a half years but they both seemed ready to be baptized before he left so she should be baptized this week. We have some other really cool people we are teaching as well but i'm too slow to tell about all of them.
This week has been pretty good for the most part, stake conference was really good. We had Elder Hamula from the Area Presidency here, he met with the missionaries on Thursday which was really cool. He started by asking about general conference which led to a really cool discussion on hearing the voice of the Lord and then gave us timeto ask questions which was cool, I wish we had more time with him. Afterwards the senior couples had made a really good lunch for us, some kind of casserole (it tasted like something from home), with chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. Then on Sunday morning there was a special mtg for recent converts and investigators(and the missionaries) with Elder Hamula and the Stake President. They both talked about how they knew the church was true, the Stake President, President Tunei came in contact with the church as a teenager while in Tonga attending the church school there, he was actually in large part resposible for the church coming to Kiribati. It was a really cool meeting especialy because we had some investigators come. The general session was also great. Other then that it was a pretty normal week. One really annoying thing happened up in Tabetuea the part we walk to, it actually happened a little while ago. Anyways we went up there to to teach one day and
apparentaly the Catholic missionary went around to some of our people and bubuti'ed them to stop having lessons and all the people he went to told us they didnt want lessons so that was really sad. We have heard from members up there that the church is not really liked there. But this past week we actually found a few more investigators up there so hopefully things will change. I think that is all for now. Thank you so much for all you do mom, don't say you aren't good at things, you're
the best. I love you all until next week ti a bo.
Love Elder Norton
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Email 4/10/2011
Mauri Tinau (mom)
It was great hearing from you, I'm sorry if you guys didnt get an email last week I wrote one but the computer was being really slow and when I sent it something happened and I didnt think it sent but wasn't sure, tell me next week if you didn't and I will try and resay stuff. One question, who sent the email on april 3rd? I wasnt sure if it was a reply to my email or not it didnt sound like mom, was it Kelly? I guess first off I will try and answer your titirake or questions, I am in a different house from before, Bouta is a little ways from Tamaiku but in the same district. Our house isn't bad but it's not great either, I was just excited to be in a house with with power again. About the pictures, I feel really bad that you were expecting them but I havent sent them, I thought I would have time to send them before I left for Marakei with Elder Cole but I didnt have a chance, I'm sorry. My other card was fine after the camera broke and as soon as I get the other card backed up I will send them out. We did see conference this past weekend. It was at the stake center at Moroni high school and it was awesome to hear as always. As for baptisms there was one my first week here so i didnt have much to do with that one and we havent had any since, we have a few people who are ready to be baptized but it was general conference this week so it wasnt going to work and next week is stake conference so they will have to wait one more week. That was the one bad thing about conference. We actually have 6 people with baptism dates for the 23rd of april but three are in Bouta where the branch is and three are in Tabituea the part thats an hour and a half walk away so we might have do Tabituea the week after. And your question about our area, we go to a point in Tabituea, there are elders further on and I do think there is a branch there but that is pretty much considered an outer Island up there. I think that was all of your questions. I'm doing pretty good here, o my companion, its been interesting some days have been pretty difficult to get through but nothing too bad really. Hopefully things will get better im trying to be patient but its not easy some days. Really, I'm sure it's me who needs to change.
It's really good to hear that everyone is doing alright back ther. Thats cool about Johns new job, I hope he loves it. Thank you so much for getting the camera I hope it didnt cost to much to send it here, I'm really excited I hope it comes before I leave Bouta. Elder Tamwe doesnt have a camera either so I have no pictures here and its a pretty area. If you havent sent the other box yet there are a couple things I thought of that would be good to have, a belt 34 waist, some more centrum vitamins, some shave gel. And then a couple things that I dont really need, a Tshirt of some kind, and maybe some pictures but I dont really need this stuff and the other stuff isn't urgent so if you have already sent things or there isnt room dont worry about it please. I have one question John will probably know, what is Missionary Mall's policy for white shirts what if they just get really stained and gross can you get a new one and are the van huesen shirts covered, I forgot? I think I will close up now, let everyone know I love them and am grateful for all they do for me. And one other thing as far as I know others can email me as well so if others in the family want to let them know.
I tatangiringkami (i love you all always)
Love Elder Norton
It was great hearing from you, I'm sorry if you guys didnt get an email last week I wrote one but the computer was being really slow and when I sent it something happened and I didnt think it sent but wasn't sure, tell me next week if you didn't and I will try and resay stuff. One question, who sent the email on april 3rd? I wasnt sure if it was a reply to my email or not it didnt sound like mom, was it Kelly? I guess first off I will try and answer your titirake or questions, I am in a different house from before, Bouta is a little ways from Tamaiku but in the same district. Our house isn't bad but it's not great either, I was just excited to be in a house with with power again. About the pictures, I feel really bad that you were expecting them but I havent sent them, I thought I would have time to send them before I left for Marakei with Elder Cole but I didnt have a chance, I'm sorry. My other card was fine after the camera broke and as soon as I get the other card backed up I will send them out. We did see conference this past weekend. It was at the stake center at Moroni high school and it was awesome to hear as always. As for baptisms there was one my first week here so i didnt have much to do with that one and we havent had any since, we have a few people who are ready to be baptized but it was general conference this week so it wasnt going to work and next week is stake conference so they will have to wait one more week. That was the one bad thing about conference. We actually have 6 people with baptism dates for the 23rd of april but three are in Bouta where the branch is and three are in Tabituea the part thats an hour and a half walk away so we might have do Tabituea the week after. And your question about our area, we go to a point in Tabituea, there are elders further on and I do think there is a branch there but that is pretty much considered an outer Island up there. I think that was all of your questions. I'm doing pretty good here, o my companion, its been interesting some days have been pretty difficult to get through but nothing too bad really. Hopefully things will get better im trying to be patient but its not easy some days. Really, I'm sure it's me who needs to change.
It's really good to hear that everyone is doing alright back ther. Thats cool about Johns new job, I hope he loves it. Thank you so much for getting the camera I hope it didnt cost to much to send it here, I'm really excited I hope it comes before I leave Bouta. Elder Tamwe doesnt have a camera either so I have no pictures here and its a pretty area. If you havent sent the other box yet there are a couple things I thought of that would be good to have, a belt 34 waist, some more centrum vitamins, some shave gel. And then a couple things that I dont really need, a Tshirt of some kind, and maybe some pictures but I dont really need this stuff and the other stuff isn't urgent so if you have already sent things or there isnt room dont worry about it please. I have one question John will probably know, what is Missionary Mall's policy for white shirts what if they just get really stained and gross can you get a new one and are the van huesen shirts covered, I forgot? I think I will close up now, let everyone know I love them and am grateful for all they do for me. And one other thing as far as I know others can email me as well so if others in the family want to let them know.
I tatangiringkami (i love you all always)
Love Elder Norton
Email 3/27/11
Mauri au utu! (hello my family)
I guess first of all I am back from Marakei (which was obvious since I'm emailing) and I'm healthy and doing good. Sorry
I freaked you out mom I questioned whether I should of written that, I guess I shouldn't have, I probably shouldn't tell you but I have had to eat octopus again but with no ill affects so please don't worry. Marakei was great and i really enjoyed working with Elder Cole so I was pretty sad about leaving, mostly because I will more than likely never go back there and I came to really love the people. But I'm sure its like that for every missionary and I'm sure I will come to love the people in my new area just as much. My new area Bouta is in the same district as Temaiku which has been interesting since I've run into a few people I knew from before. I'm actually emailing from the Slimprice store in Temaiku so that's been cool. My new companion is a Kiribati elder named Elder Tamwe. I wasn't really exited when I found out where i was going and who I was going to be with, Tamwe has a bit of a reputation for being hard to work with and Bouta would be fine it's just that it is the most isolated area on Tarawa so not to much different from an outer island. I've been trying really hard keep a positive attitude things and so far it's been alright. I'm sure I will learn heaps from Elder Tamwe and the branch in Bouta seems like it functions pretty well and I have already met some cool people. One thing that's interesting about my new area is that it takes in part of Tabutuea or north Tarawa which is a separate island so to get there we have to cross the gap. At high tide there is a canoe or waa that ferries people across but at low tide you walk, the water just goes up to your knees in some places, and then there is another smaller spot later on where you have to walk through the water again but there is a bridge its just a long way out of the way. On Sunday we borrowed bikes so we could go to church in the unit up there (its an hour and a half walk) so we got to Carry our bikes through one bit,
I got a big grease stain on one shirt from it, it was pretty cool.
I'm sorry this is just kind of rambling on there is just so much to say and I'm not very good at saying it. So how is everyone there doing? I just recently got a bunch of letters, I'll try to reply to them all but its hard when so many come at once.Please tell people I really, really appreciate all of the letters so please don't stop, it just might take me a little while to reply. Apparently there are also 4 packages waiting for me but I have to wait for the zone leaders to get them to me so I don't know when that will happen but I'm exited. How are things at home? Mattie said in her email that you might get chickens, that's cool. How is grandpa Norton doing? How is dad's work going? I'm sure there are a million other questions as well, I'm really exited to be able to email again, I wish I was better at it. I guess I will close now, sorry this is kind of long and random but I love you all. Thanks for all your prayers and support, I look forward to hearing from you again.
Love Elder Norton
I guess first of all I am back from Marakei (which was obvious since I'm emailing) and I'm healthy and doing good. Sorry
I freaked you out mom I questioned whether I should of written that, I guess I shouldn't have, I probably shouldn't tell you but I have had to eat octopus again but with no ill affects so please don't worry. Marakei was great and i really enjoyed working with Elder Cole so I was pretty sad about leaving, mostly because I will more than likely never go back there and I came to really love the people. But I'm sure its like that for every missionary and I'm sure I will come to love the people in my new area just as much. My new area Bouta is in the same district as Temaiku which has been interesting since I've run into a few people I knew from before. I'm actually emailing from the Slimprice store in Temaiku so that's been cool. My new companion is a Kiribati elder named Elder Tamwe. I wasn't really exited when I found out where i was going and who I was going to be with, Tamwe has a bit of a reputation for being hard to work with and Bouta would be fine it's just that it is the most isolated area on Tarawa so not to much different from an outer island. I've been trying really hard keep a positive attitude things and so far it's been alright. I'm sure I will learn heaps from Elder Tamwe and the branch in Bouta seems like it functions pretty well and I have already met some cool people. One thing that's interesting about my new area is that it takes in part of Tabutuea or north Tarawa which is a separate island so to get there we have to cross the gap. At high tide there is a canoe or waa that ferries people across but at low tide you walk, the water just goes up to your knees in some places, and then there is another smaller spot later on where you have to walk through the water again but there is a bridge its just a long way out of the way. On Sunday we borrowed bikes so we could go to church in the unit up there (its an hour and a half walk) so we got to Carry our bikes through one bit,
I got a big grease stain on one shirt from it, it was pretty cool.
I'm sorry this is just kind of rambling on there is just so much to say and I'm not very good at saying it. So how is everyone there doing? I just recently got a bunch of letters, I'll try to reply to them all but its hard when so many come at once.Please tell people I really, really appreciate all of the letters so please don't stop, it just might take me a little while to reply. Apparently there are also 4 packages waiting for me but I have to wait for the zone leaders to get them to me so I don't know when that will happen but I'm exited. How are things at home? Mattie said in her email that you might get chickens, that's cool. How is grandpa Norton doing? How is dad's work going? I'm sure there are a million other questions as well, I'm really exited to be able to email again, I wish I was better at it. I guess I will close now, sorry this is kind of long and random but I love you all. Thanks for all your prayers and support, I look forward to hearing from you again.
Love Elder Norton
Friday, June 10, 2011
Letter 2/14/11
In this letter Spencer says that he is doing well except that he did discover an allergy that he didn't know that he had before. They were eating some kika (octopus), he said they were quite large so he didn't really want any but it was Elder Coles favorite so he tred it. He started chewing on a big tentacle and it tasted surpisingly good but about halfway through his lips started feeling funny and the ended up swelling up really big and his throat started to feel weird. It never got hard to breathe but it was hard to swallow. He said they were back to normal in about half an hour. He said he hasn't had any reactions since but he has had some regular seasonal allergies.
He said that things are going well for them. The most exciting thing was that Tebantaake got baptized and her husband was able to baptize her. They did the baptism in the ocean and the waves were so big that he said he and his companion were soaked up to their shoulders just being witnesses.
They are working with some really good investigators and a few less actives. Inactivity is a big problem in Marakei. A lot of the less actives seem to want to come back but are shy or scared of what their family members and friend who are not members will think. There is one village, Norauea, where the missionaries lived years ago and during that time there were quitea few members but when the missionaries left everything just stopped. They are working with some families there and they have been able to start having sacrament meeting there. They already had three other villages they were taking the sacrament to that were to far away from Rawanawi where the chapel is to come to church. They were not sure how they would be able to manage another but they talked to the Branch President and worked it out. Now him and Elder cole go one way and take the sacrament to two of the villages and the Branch President and someone else go the other way and take it to the other two villages.
They should be having another baptism of a 15 year old boy named Teberia. Also, President Shaw is planning on coming to visit them on Marakei while he is in Tarawa for Zone conference.
He said that things are going well for them. The most exciting thing was that Tebantaake got baptized and her husband was able to baptize her. They did the baptism in the ocean and the waves were so big that he said he and his companion were soaked up to their shoulders just being witnesses.
They are working with some really good investigators and a few less actives. Inactivity is a big problem in Marakei. A lot of the less actives seem to want to come back but are shy or scared of what their family members and friend who are not members will think. There is one village, Norauea, where the missionaries lived years ago and during that time there were quitea few members but when the missionaries left everything just stopped. They are working with some families there and they have been able to start having sacrament meeting there. They already had three other villages they were taking the sacrament to that were to far away from Rawanawi where the chapel is to come to church. They were not sure how they would be able to manage another but they talked to the Branch President and worked it out. Now him and Elder cole go one way and take the sacrament to two of the villages and the Branch President and someone else go the other way and take it to the other two villages.
They should be having another baptism of a 15 year old boy named Teberia. Also, President Shaw is planning on coming to visit them on Marakei while he is in Tarawa for Zone conference.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Letter 1/24/11
I have not been great at keeping this blog up lately so I am going back to January, the first letter from Spencer after Christmas. This will be the first of several new posts.
He said that he got back safely to Marakei with his new companion and that though it was hard and slow at first things have started picking up for them and now they have quite a few investigators who are progressing really well. He says there is one lady in particular that he is really excited about named Tebuntaake. Her husband has been a member for about a year and is very active but she would never commit to anything. The first lesson she told them that she knew the church was true because she had seen the change in her husband and how much it had blessed his life but she didn't feel like she could come to church or be baptized because her mother, a very strong Catholic, would be angry. the next lesson the taught her about fasting and asked her to fast and offered to fast with her. The next time they saw her she had talked to her mother and she was no longer angry about the church. They thought things would be better after that but there was always some kind of problem preventing her from coming. Finally they realized that she was just to shy to come to church. Eventually she promised to come to church and she did. He said it was really cool to see her there and she said she didn't care what other people thought anymore she was going to keep coming to church. She was going to be baptized that Saturday. He said his companion has been good and he has learned a lot from him. He said Elder Cole makes him teach a lot which was frustrating at first but has helped him a lot.
He said that he had just recieved two letters, one sent right after Christmas and one from before Thanksgiving, he said getting mail is pretty crazy on Marakei.
He said that he got back safely to Marakei with his new companion and that though it was hard and slow at first things have started picking up for them and now they have quite a few investigators who are progressing really well. He says there is one lady in particular that he is really excited about named Tebuntaake. Her husband has been a member for about a year and is very active but she would never commit to anything. The first lesson she told them that she knew the church was true because she had seen the change in her husband and how much it had blessed his life but she didn't feel like she could come to church or be baptized because her mother, a very strong Catholic, would be angry. the next lesson the taught her about fasting and asked her to fast and offered to fast with her. The next time they saw her she had talked to her mother and she was no longer angry about the church. They thought things would be better after that but there was always some kind of problem preventing her from coming. Finally they realized that she was just to shy to come to church. Eventually she promised to come to church and she did. He said it was really cool to see her there and she said she didn't care what other people thought anymore she was going to keep coming to church. She was going to be baptized that Saturday. He said his companion has been good and he has learned a lot from him. He said Elder Cole makes him teach a lot which was frustrating at first but has helped him a lot.
He said that he had just recieved two letters, one sent right after Christmas and one from before Thanksgiving, he said getting mail is pretty crazy on Marakei.
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